Bloomington Herald-Times
November 3, 2009
IU to dedicate new $32 million Data Center with tours of bunker-like building
November 3, 2009
Indiana University president Michael McRobbie and others will on Thursday dedicate IU's new $32.7 million Data Center, the home of supercomputers Big Red and Quarry.
The bunker-like building at East 10th Street and the Ind. 45/46 bypass can withstand a F5 tornado. It is designed to keep safe and secure IU's networking, computer processing and data storage equipment, which hold more than 2.8 petabytes of information, according to a university news release.
A public ceremony is set for 3:30 p.m. Thursday. A reception and tours will follow the ceremony.
The center, at 2737 E. 10th St., is 82,700 gross square feet and includes three 11,000-square-foot computer equipment rooms. It will serve as the Bloomington hub of Indiana's statewide I-Light network, the IU news release stated.
IU officials say the Data Center is a key component of the IU Bloomington technology park being constructed at 10th and the bypass. The adjacent IU Innovation Center is set to be dedicated Monday, and plans are in the works for the recently-funded, 118,000-square-foot Cyberinfrastructure Building.
Local stores preparing for holiday shoppers
Shop owners face tough decisions when it comes to predicting spending patterns
By Chris Fyall
November 3, 2009, last update: 11/3 @ 12:12 am
More than a year after Wall Street's tumult led customers everywhere to lock away their checkbooks, local and national retailers are facing tough holiday decisions.
When it comes to stocking up, for instance, the questions aren't easy: How many products will customers want? What type of things are they looking for? And, most importantly, how much are they willing to pay?
Shop owners are facing more guesswork than normal, said Jaime Sweany, who owns Bloomington's Wandering Turtle Art Gallery & Gifts, downtown's 2009 Business of the Year.
"I am going out on more of a limb this year, because I don't really know what to expect," said Sweany, who has decided to bite the bullet. Her store is already stocked with holiday gift items made by local artisans.
"I can't sell it if I don't order it," Sweany said.
Historically, the holiday season has been a good time to bet on buyers. Last year, though, retail spending slipped 3.8 percent.
This year, it's expected to drop 1 percent more, according to a study released last week by the Center for Education and Research in Retailing (CERR) at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.
Still, shoppers are expected to spend $437 billion at brick-and-mortar retail stores by the end of the year, according to the study. That excludes sales at restaurants, gas stations and online purchases.
Local retailers want to compete for those customers, but after a year of slumping sales, that's tough, Sweany said.
"It is pretty much across the board for little retail stores that it is difficult to purchase inventory (now), because sales have been down," she said.
Big box retailers are having the same problem, according to the IU study. Many retail stores have cut inventories by as much as 15 percent, which could affect the availability of highly desired toys and hot products, the study said.
While Bloomington retailers are hoping Hoosiers shop locally, the IU study gives some indication customers are likely to do the exact opposite.
People will probably gravitate toward large discount retailers such as Walmart and Target, the study shows.
"Until the shoppers that are out there feel that the recession is over or see some differences in daily discretionary income and their opportunities to purchase, they're going to act the same way they have been and trade down," said Theresa Williams, director of the CERR and a professor of marketing.
Customers don't need to shop at a big box store to save money, said Sweany, who has some products as inexpensive as $1, and many in the $10-$25 range.
"It is important to dispel (the idea) that it is too expensive to shop downtown," she said. "It is just not true."
Local businesses know that people are looking to cut costs, said Kelley Brown, director of marketing and public relations at the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce. Business are too, she said.
That's why the chamber has added new ways of marketing member services to other businesses and the community, she said. The chamber's new Web site includes places for customers to find coupons from local companies, and a new e-mail service lets businesses reach out to each other for reduced prices.
As holiday businesses such as catering companies ramp up for the season, some have started taking advantage of the e-mail service in particular, Brown said.
"We were hearing from (members) that they just didn't have the resources, especially the staff resources, to put together a good piece," she said. "This is very easy."
Meet the new IU dean of students today
November 2, 2009, last update: 11/2 @ 8:45 am
All Indiana University students are invited to meet the new dean of students today at an open house in the Memorial Union's Frangipani Room.
Harold "Pete" Goldsmith will greet students from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the event, hosted by Provost Karen Hanson.
Goldsmith earned two degrees from IU Bloomington, an undergraduate degree in government and a Doctor of Education degree in higher education administration.
He joined IU this fall following Dick McKaig's retirement. Goldsmith had overseen student affairs and enrollment management at Kent State since 2003.
Finelight embroiled in $17 million lawsuit
Former client claims Bloomington-based company billed for ads not placed; Finelight officials reject charges
By Chris Fyall
October 31, 2009, last update: 10/30 @ 3:43 pm
A long-time client of Finelight Inc. is suing the Bloomington-based advertising agency in federal court, seeking proof that more than $17 million paid to Finelight between 2003 and last summer was spent -- as intended -- on advertising.
In at least some instances, the lawsuit alleges, Finelight failed to use the client's money appropriately.
Finelight officials firmly deny the allegations. They are fighting the charges in court, and still refuse to release the proof requested by their former client.
Metropolitan Jewish Health Systems has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. MJHS, a Brooklyn-based non-profit healthcare provider, was a high-profile Finelight client from the mid-1990s until last fall.
Ads created by Finelight ran on New York television stations, graced billboards in Times Square, and were seen on the roofs of New York City taxi cabs. Examples of many of the ads are still prominently featured on Finelight's Web site.
But, after more than a decade with Finelight, MJHS began searching last summer for a new advertising agency. The search was prompted by unusual results of an independent investigation into the relationship, said Mike Lasky, a partner with Manhattan's Davis & Gilbert LLP, which is representing MJHS.
The parties were in federal court in late October, and will return before Judge Sterling Johnson in April 2010.
Troubles last fall
Before MJHS's search for a new ad agency was over, company officials discovered something else that troubled them, according the legal complaint filed by MJHS.
The lawsuit charges that when MJHS tried to buy local television ads in New York in September 2008, it discovered that Finelight had failed to pay "a majority" of the stations for ads that had already run, even though Finelight had already billed -- and collected from -- the healthcare network.
The network owed "at least tens of thousands" of dollars, Lansky said.
"Finelight then admitted to MJHS that it was experiencing financial distress, and did not pay" some stations for ads purchased on behalf of its client, the complaint says.
Finelight acknowledged in court documents that "at some point it informed MJHS that it was in arrears on certain payments to certain Media Vendors and that it did not pay certain Media Vendors for media purchased on behalf of MJHS."
On Dec. 4, 2008, MJHS terminated its contract with Finelight.
Also that month, the healthcare network discovered another problem, the complaint says.
In June 2008, the network had sent Finelight $50,000. The money was intended as sponsorship money for a summer outdoor concert series in Brooklyn. Organizers for the concert series never got any of the money, the lawsuit charges. Instead, MJHS later paid an additional $50,000 directly to organizers, according to the lawsuit.
Finelight acknowledged in court documents that it had reached an agreement with MJHS "with respect to payment of" the concert sponsorship.
Lawsuit seeks proof
MJHS's lawsuit is about more than those incidents, Lansky said.
During the nearly 13-year relationship between Finelight and MJHS, the network was never given proof that Finelight had paid for the advertising for which it billed MJHS, he said.
Alan Pope, the president of Finelight, denied that.
"Finelight has denied all material allegations made by MJHS in its lawsuit and Finelight is aggressively pursuing its rights through the courts," Pope said in a statement. "Because the litigation is ongoing, Finelight believes further comment on the pending claims made by MJHS or the possible outcome of the litigation is not appropriate."
MJHS's lawsuit says Finelight never provided proof of advertising purchases such as tear sheets or affidavits from television station.
That's troubling because, particularly in television advertising, it is relatively common for ads not to run as planned, Lanksy said. Advertisers can be eligible for monetary refunds, or additional free advertising.
As the relationship between the companies soured, MJHS's formal and informal efforts to secure proof of purchases were rebuffed, Lanksy said.
"Finelight has absolutely refused and stonewalled to turn those documents over," Lansky said.
There could be reasons for Finelight to protect that information, said Ann Bastianelli, a senior marketing lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, and the former director of advertising for Dow Chemical.
A media buyer that purchases advertising in bulk does not want to tell various clients about rates charged to other clients, she said. That can complicate negotiations.
"The agency certainly does not want to publicize this kind of stuff," Bastianelli said.
Lawsuits like this one can get tricky, she said.
Advertising is an industry that depends on individual negotiations with different parties, she said. Still, the allegations leveled against Finelight for the failure to pay the concert series and the television stations last fall is serious, she said.
"The industry is so dependent on confidentiality," she said. "But at the end of the day, somebody has got to get paid."
Letter: IU coal plant
November 1, 2009
IU should phase out coal
To the editor:
I am writing to express my concern with the on-campus Indiana University coal plant. The detrimental effects to both the environment and public health that coal causes have been widely cataloged but include the release of CO2 (a leading cause of global warming), wildlife destruction, asthma and lung cancer.
A place like IU that encourages enlightenment and education shouldn't be so stupid as to have such an archaic industrial-era relic fueling this institution. If IU wants to be at the forefront of the future, then it should take action and do so.
Most people I speak to concede that a switch to renewable power would be an improvement, but no one believes it's a practical option right now. However, this transition is not impossible, or even prohibitively unfeasible.
Ball State University has just recently begun a switch from coal to geothermal power, and their motivation is economical as well as environmental, saving them a considerable amount of money over the long run. We have the desire, the technology, the economic imperative and the environmental responsibility to switch from coal to renewable energy; all we lack is administrative action.
Please, support action towards renewable energy projects at Indiana University.
Novella Shuck, Bloomington
