The IBJ Podcast with Mason King

At least 70 people who were homeless or had recently experienced chronic homelessness died in Indianapolis last year, according to the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention. That was the largest number of deaths recorded by CHIP since it started tracking figures more than a decade ago, and it represented a 20 percent increase from 2017. Illness, injury, homicides and drug overdose...

Indy Eleven owner Ersal Ozdemir is back at the Statehouse seeking help to build a stadium for the team. But Ozdemir has a new tactic: He's proposing to build a stadium village that would generate the tax revenue needed to pay for the 20,000-seat stadium. Ozdemir sat down with Hayleigh Colombo to talk about the proposal, why he thinks it can be successful and what it could mean for the team's bid t...

Not-for-profit education reform group The Mind Trust has received three grants totaling $24.4 million that it will use to continue opening new schools in Indianapolis and supporting those already in existence. The Mind Trust CEO Brandon Brown sat down with host Mason King to explain the group's mission, its cooperation with Indianapolis Public Schools and how the new funding will help it ramp up i...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that states can authorize wagering on sports games, something that's long taken place legally in Las Vegas and illegally every place else. Now, Indiana has the chance to legalize sports betting here — with regulations and, of course, taxes. IBJ reporter Lindsey Erdody talks with IBJ Podcast host Mason King about the legislation that will be considered in the...

We're just about a week from starting a new year and many of us are likely to make losing weight a New Year's resolution. So IBJ asked two Indianapolis business executives to tell their stories not only of losing weight but also keeping it off. Hyde Park Ventures Principal Tim Kopp, the former CMO of ExactTarget, and David Shank, CEO of Shank Public Relations Counselors, talk about the warnings fr...

Bob Stutz is a legend in the software industry but he remains somewhat of a mystery among folks in Indianapolis, where he's CEO of Salesforce Marketing Cloud. Analysts say the Salesforce division is thriving under Stutz, 62, who took the helm in July 2016.  IBJ tech reporter Anthony Schoettle interviewed Stutz and found him surprisingly relaxed and candid about his education and career, his life i...

Indiana Pacers Bikeshare will spend $1.2 million — most of the money from a federal grant — to nearly double the number of stations and expand the program's footprint as far north as Broad Ripple and south as Garfield Park. Kären Haley, executive director of the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, which oversees the bikeshare program, talks with guest host Anthony Schoettle about the timeline for the exp...

The quasi-governmental group that owns the Indiana Convention Center and Indy's major sports facilities will ask the Legislature for at least $8 million in additional funding annually as it tries to plan for its future needs. Already, the Capital Improvement Board has plans for a $120 million expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, a project that includes two private, convention-style hotels a...

A coalition of downtown businesses, homeowners and organizations is advocating a two-level highway system for the north, east and south legs of interstates 65 and 70—the so-called inner loop in downtown Indianapolis.  The proposal from Rethink 65/70 comes as state transportation officials move forward with a planned reconstruction of the north-split interchange — a project Rethink leaders hope can...

While Democrats had a strong year elsewhere, they continued to largely falter in Indiana, most notably losing a U.S. Senate seat and leaving them without a single statewide office. Host Mason King talks with IBJ reporters Lindsey Erdody and Hayleigh Colombo as well as Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Politics in Fort Wayne, about what the 2018 elections mean for the next two elect...

Just a week after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 congregants dead, IBJ Podcast host Mason King sat down with Dennis Sasso, the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis, and his wife, Sandy, the director of the Religion, Spirituality and the Arts Initiative at Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary. The couple talk about how they learned about the trag...

Indianapolis officials are planning a fifth expansion of the Indiana Convention Center plus two attached, privately-financed hotels at Pan Am Plaza, an effort to maintain and expand the city's valuable convention and tourism business. The city plans to spend about $120 million to build a 50,000-square-foot ballroom and other meeting space, which would be connected by walkway to the convention cent...

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly and Republican challenger Mike Braun are locked in one of the nation's most-watched Senate races. The winner could determine control of the U.S. Senate. Already, some $61 million has been spent by the campaigns, political parties and independent organizations trying to sway Hoosier voters, who go to the polls Nov. 6. Polls show the race is a tossup. Host Maso...

Just west of the White River and south of the Indianapolis Zoo is the site of the former GM stamping plant — 103 acres of mostly concrete that's been waiting for development for years.  Now, Ambrose Property Group is unveiling more details about its plans for the site, including the project's name. Still, the firm's president, Aasif Bade, is mum about whether the site is among those across the cou...

Jack Hope launched his plumbing company to help him pay for his master's degree in philosophy. But Hope Plumbing was so lucrative that by the time he graduated, Jack was making as much as might as a tenured college professor. So he stuck with plumbing. Today, that small startup has grown into a company with more than 40 employees and revenue projected to top $6 million this year. But that doesn't...

Ellie Symes, a rising star in the Indiana's tech ecosystem, leads The Bee Corp., a data-analytics firm that helps bee keepers and growers optimize the pollination of their orchards and fields. Symes, who started the company while a student at Indiana University, appeared on stage at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis and the company was part of the event's startup showcase.  She talks with p...

Indianapolis has about 2,800 new hotel rooms slated to come online downtown in the next five years. Some of those hotels — such as the 316-room Hyatt Place/Hyatt House project across from Bankers Life Fieldhouse — are under construction and nearing completion. Others — such as a long-discussed 800- to 1,000-room convention hotel — are only in the planning stages.  If all are completed, those proje...

Just two decades ago, Indiana had no grape and wine industry worth talking about. But today, more than 100 wineries dot Indiana. The annual harvest (and the 2.4 million gallons of wine it makes) generates an economic impact of $600 million, sustains 4,000 full-time jobs, and pays $37 million in state and local taxes and $38 million in federal taxes. The growth is thanks in part to the Purdue Wine...

Where tens of thousands of motorists every day saw just another scrubby little hill along an interstate, Tom Battista saw a park. A place for reflection or respectful debate, to the soundtrack of hundreds of wheels on pavement. Maybe more importantly, a place that could connect residents of foundational Indianapolis neighborhoods separated 50 years earlier by interstate construction. Indianapolis...

Eli Lilly and Co. pulled its Lilly Diabetes brand name off a race car driven by Conor Daly after his father — Derek Daly — was fired from his job as a WISH-TV Channel 8 racing analyst for a racial slur he uttered 35 years ago.  The move raised questions about why the Conor Daly should be punished for something his father said before he was even born. And even WISH-TV's move came under some scrutin...

NASCAR's Brickyard 400 drew a crowd of 275,000 people when it debuted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994. And it came at a great time, as then-Speedway President Tony George created the Indy Racing League, which depressed Indy 500 interest for years.  But fast forward 25 years and the Brickyard 400 is facing its own issues. Last year, only about 70,000 people attended the race — although i...

Central Indiana business leaders are pushing lawmakers to pass a hate-crime law, joining 45 states that already have one in place. They say without it, Indiana is an unappealing place for workers, especially younger workers who want their employers involved in social and community issues. Host Mason King talks with Ann Murtlow, CEO of United Way of Central Indiana, and Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis C...

Cassie Stockamp, president of the Athenaeum Foundation Inc., will leave the organization later this year to travel around the world and volunteer for charities wherever she goes. Host Mason King talks with Stockamp about why she's choosing to leave the group she has led through a reinvigoration—and why she's doing it now, at 57 years old, when most people are worried more about saving for retireme...

Karen Laine and Mina Starsiak, the mother/daughter duo who star on HGTV's "Good Bones," talked to host Mason King about the show's fourth season, why being on TV doesn't make you rich and why Laine is semi-retiring. Plus, learn about the home-decor store they're planning to open and what they think about charges that they're contributing to gentrification in Fountain Square, Bates-Hendricks and ot...

SupplyKick, which helps businesses sell their products on Amazon and other online marketplaces, grew 335 percent from 2015 through 2017, earning it a spot near the top of IBJ's Fast 25 list. CEO Josh Owens talks about how the company has managed that growth — and what Owens did right and wrong along the way. He's got great advice for any firm managing growth or hoping to do so.