Back in March, as the pandemic was unfolding in Indiana, podcast host Mason King talked with Eddie Sahm, who owns the Sahm's restaurant group with his father. At the time, Eddie talked about the company's pivot to providing meals to Second Helpings, in part to keep their staff employed, and converting some of the restaurant to marketplaces. Six months later, King catches up with Eddie about which Sahm's restaurants have survived, how business is going overall and how worried he is about the coming cold weather, which will end patio seating. There's one thing Eddie is certain about: Without more government assistance, a large percentage of local restaurants will close. And that, he said, won't be good for the community. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Election Day is just weeks away and, already, thousands of Hoosiers are voting early in person and through mail-in absentee ballots. So podcast host Mason King talks with IBJ politics reporter Lindsey Erdody and Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Purdue University-Fort Wayne, about how the races are shaping up. They break down battles for the Governors' Office and the 5th Congressional District and evaluate the vice presidential debate. Plus, they consider the impact of early voting and what mail-in ballots will mean for how quickly the votes are counted. To learn more, click here to sign up for Lindsey's weekly politics email, called The Rundown. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Does Indianapolis need a new vision? A new strategy for its economic development, talent attraction and overall economy that will take the city into the next 40 or 50 years? A growing chorus of community and business leaders are saying yes, says Nate Feltman, co-owner and CEO of IBJ. He says the city's long-time strategy related to conventions and sports will continue to be a part of its strengths and successes. But he tells podcast host Mason King that a changing economy and the changing preferences of young workers and families means Indianapolis must find a new way to grow and thrive. He's calling on young leaders from across the city to step forward with ideas. And he says IBJ can help play a role in hosting those conversations. Plus, Feltman provides an update on how IBJ is doing during the pandemic and what he sees as the news organization's future. Read more in Feltman's column at IBJ.com. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

When the pandemic hit and the Big Ten and NCAA last spring began canceling sports events — many of them planned for Indianapolis — the Indiana Sports Corp. didn't go into hibernation. Instead, it went to work, trying to figure out how to be a player in whatever the sports world would become. The result is an idea that appears to have captured the fancy of a number of colleges and athletic conferences — although it's too soon to know whether any of them will take Indy up on the idea. The Indiana Sports Corp. is proposing to create a basketball bubble at the Indiana Convention Center by turning exhibit halls and meeting rooms into basketball courts and locker rooms. There would be expansive safety measures and daily COVID-19 testing. Indiana Sports Corp. President Ryan Vaughn talks to host Mason King about the proposal, as well as the group's finances and plans as it prepares to host major events in the coming months. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Since the pandemic began, Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn has been talking on the IBJ Podcast and writing in the pages of IBJ about the need to get your discretionary spending under control to deal with the current economic downturn. But now, Pete has a new message to those who are stable: Spend some money at your favorite restaurant. We all know that restaurants have been devastated by the pandemic. Some have closed, and Pete predicts more are about to shutter. So he suggests determining how much you can afford to help and then spending  that cash at two or three restaurants that are meaningful to you. You can read more details about Pete's plan to save restaurants at IBJ.com. Plus, in the second half of the podcast, host Mason King shoots a rapid series of questions at Pete about paying off your house early, dumping bad investments, switching careers and more. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

When Katara McCarty sees a need, she tries to find a solution. That's what led McCarty and her husband to start a church, a center for kids and a school in Africa. Now, McCarty has a new project—a smart phone app called Exhale that is meant to help women of color cope with the stress, mind their mental health and develop confidence to achieve their goals. McCarty talks with IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle about why she thinks the app is needed, what it took to launch it and how she hopes to expand its offerings. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

IBJ health reporter John Russell has been covering Indiana University Health's plans to expand the Methodist Hospital campus by eight blocks, or 44 acres, anchored by a new $1.6 billion hospital. The campus also will consolidate the operations of University Hospital, the Simon Cancer Center and much of the IU School of Medicine, all of which will move from the IUPUI campus. Russell joins podcast host Mason King to talk about what IU Health has revealed about the campus—and what key questions remain. You can also read Russell's latest story about why the Simon Cancer Center building will be closing, just a dozen years after it opened to significant fanfare.  The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

The pandemic has been a boon for the home design and renovation industry, as many people scramble to create office space, improve their yards and make other changes to make life in quarantine more acceptable. So podcast host Mason King talks to three industry experts about what clients now want, how the pandemic has affected their companies and how they work safely in clients’ homes. They are: interior designer Heidi Woodman, owner of Haus Love Interiors; Matt Troyer, owner of Emergent Construction; and Patrick Kestner, owner and principal architect of Still Architecture + Design. They also talk about the latest trends, including larger kitchens, more color and dedicated pantry spaces.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Six months into the pandemic, parents are still struggling with what COVID-19 means for the kids. Should they be in school? Can they go on play dates? Can they hug grandma? Of course, in many cases, there are no black and white answers to those questions. But host Mason King gets some educated opinions from Dr. James Wood, a pediatrician at Riley Children's Health and an expert in pediatric infectious diseases. Plus, Wood explains multi system inflammatory syndrome (which he describes as "extremely rare") and theorizes why children may not be as affected by COVID-19 as adults. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

As the pandemic has stretched into months and the days seem to melt into each other, a vast majority of remote workers are burning out, according to a recent survey from Monster.com. At the very least, many are mired in remote working ruts. And the volume of boring and unnecessary video meetings just makes it worse. As some workforces face at least several more months of working from home, burnout threatens to become a dire business problem. But is this as good as it’s going to get? And what can we do to improve Zoom calls? Surely there are ways to tighten focus and become more productive, while keeping jobs from seeping further into home lives. And the answer requires help from managers, some of whom haven’t figured out how managing a virtual workforce is a different from supervising on-site employees. For the latest edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King spoke with three experts in remote working who have been watching the transition during the pandemic. They provide concrete suggestions for how employees and bosses can get on top of these challenges. First up are Kim and Todd Saxton, faculty members of the IU Kelley School of Business at IUPUI. The second guest is Karen Mangia, vice president of customer and market insights for Salesforce out of its Indianapolis office. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

The pandemic has raised all kinds of new questions about college and student loans—and the value of an online education versus attending in person.  Plus, what do you do if you graduated in May and still don't have a job? Host Mason King explores those issues and more with IBJ columnist Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn. Also, read Dunn's latest column here. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.      

Windsor Jewelry, located just south of the Circle on Meridian Street, was one of the businesses hardest hit by the riots that followed Black Lives Matter protests at the end of May.   The vandalism and looting came just days after Windsor Jewelry reopened following the pandemic shutdown.    The store is open again now, and the owner, Greg Bires, talked with podcast host Mason King about the one-two punch of the pandemic and violence and what it will take for Windsor and for downtown to recover.   Plus, hear from Mayor Joe Hogsett, who spoke to IBJ's editorial board last month about some of the very problems Bires is concerned about for downtown.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.    

Diana Brugh is a microbiologist with experience working with bacteria- and virus-killing ultraviolet lights. Her husband, Jason Brugh, is one of the state’s foremost robotics experts. And together, they've created a coronavirus-killing robot that they've just moved into the market.   UVNinja Lux is the first product from the couple's newest company, AutoBio Reduction. It moves around a workplace (after mapping the space) and uses ultraviolet let to kill bacteria and viruses.    Diana and Jason talks with podcast host Mason King about how they were able develop the product in just weeks, what it has been like working together, and what the robot costs. Plus, Diana explains her family's experience with the coronavirus that helped motivate the project.   To learn more, check out IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle's story about AutoBio Reduction.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Dr. Virginia Caine has been in charge of the Marion County Public Health Department since 1994. Over her tenure she has fought waves of public health crises including HIV and AIDS, the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the ongoing scourge of black infant mortality. But never has she taken such a visible and constant public role of authority as she has over the last five months of the coronavirus crisis. For Indianapolis, she is as one of the key interpreters of data, prime shapers of policy and chief evangelizers for protective measures. IBJ reporter Lindsey Erdody interviewed Dr. Caine last week about the frustrations and challenges of tackling the pandemic. Caine addresses the current state of local testing and contact tracing. She explains the reasoning behind the recent mask mandate and when it will be possible to make a call on running the Indianapolis 500. And she has an emphatic message for Marion Country residents who might not see the wisdom of following public health recommendations. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.    

Before the pandemic hit Indianapolis in March, some 155,000 people were working regularly downtown. In the weeks after Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered all non-essential workers to go home, just 5% or so of those workers remained. Essentially, the Mile Square became a ghost town. Today, some of those workers are returning. Many restaurants are open again. And a few offices are open. But IBJ reporters Samm Quinn and Anthony Schoettle spent a week talking with the leaders of downtown companies and learned that many are delaying plans to bring workers back to the office.  What are the ramifications for downtown? That's the subject of this week's podcast. Want to know more? See Quinn and Schoettle's story at IBJ.com. -- The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

It's been nearly four months since host Mason King sat down with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn to talk about personal finance. In fact, their last get together took place in person—and it was March 12, what some are now calling Black Thursday 2020, the day Wall Street suffered its largest single-day percentage drop since 1987. Pete talks about what he got right and wrong about the economy, jobs and the stock market the last time he and King talked. And Pete explains what is scaring him the most about the economy right now. Plus, he offers advice for people who are in financial trouble right now because of the pandemic, those who are at risk of trouble and those who are likely to escape relatively unscathed, if not in a better position than when the pandemic started. You can read more in Dunn's "Pete the Planner" columns for IBJ.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

Angela Freeman is an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg, formerly a molecular biologist at Eli Lilly and Co., and is finishing up a six-year stint on the board of the not-for-profit Women & Hi Tech, the last year as president. And in those roles, she's served on a number of search and hiring committees, which have often been charged with hiring diverse candidates. Freeman talks with podcast host Mason King about the biases that exist in hiring and promoting and explains some of the mistakes that companies make when they seek to diversify their workforce. Here's one: If a company doesn't have a diversity statement, a diversity committee or a diversity officer, "that is a big red flag" to minority candidates. And it's not good enough to have the only person of color on an executive team be that diversity officer. Among her many suggestions, Freeman recommends using a diverse committee for hiring (rather than leaving the job to one individual) and then assigning new employees, especially minority hires, to mentors who are invested in their success. You can learn more about Freeman in this profile by IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.  

The city of Indianapolis and Indy Chamber are close partners. Not only does Indy Chamber's Develop Indy division have a $1 million contract to handle the city's economic development efforts, the city has also given it millions of dollars for grants and loans to help companies deal with the pandemic. The Indy Black Chamber of Commerce, which launched in 2015, wants a piece of that action. Host Mason King with the Black Chamber's Larry Williams about why he thinks the city should be working more with his organization—and providing it funding. And Mason also talks with Angela Smith Jones, the deputy mayor of economic development, about the reasons the city is working with Indy Chamber. Read more about the issue in reporter Samm Quinn's story in this week's IBJ. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are putting all their energy into running the Indy 500 with fans in August, despite continuing concerns about big crowds and the coronavirus. In fact, just weeks after IMS announced that NASCAR's Brickyard 400 would run in front of empty stands, the track's new owner—Roger Penske—said the Indy 500 would not run if fans couldn't be there. So we talked with IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle about the Indy 500 and his conversation with IMS President Doug Boles about the track's plans. You can read Anthony's Q&A with Boles by clicking here. And see our story about Penske's comments about the race and fans. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Protests focused on racial inequality and police treatment of African Americans boiled over on May 29-30 into violence and vandalism that left businesses across downtown damaged and looted. Eric Wells, president of the Stadium Village Business Association, says the city failed to adequately protect businesses and has not communicated a plan or a vision for bringing the city's core back after the one-two punch of coronavirus and the riots.  She talks with podcast host Mason King about ways the city could step up to help businesses not just survive but thrive again.  Then Mason talks with Mayor Joe Hogsett's chief of staff, Thomas Cook, about the city's reaction, whether it acted quickly enough to quell the violence and how the administration plans to move forward from here. You can read about the actions the Stadium Village Business Association is requesting here. Wells is also one of four columnists featured in IBJ talking about the protests and the damage. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Those familiar with Indianapolis-based Energy Systems Network say it’s one of the most innovative organizations in energy and transportation—not only in the state, but in the nation. But it’s not particularly well-known. Its officials prefer to work in the background while pushing forward initiatives like IndyGo’s bus rapid transit program, the Blue Indy electric car-sharing program, and an early initiative that helps some of the state’s biggest manufacturers make big moves in heavy-duty hybrid industry, including buses and trucks.Over 11 years, the small not-for-profit has generated about $750 million in direct investments in ESN-related projects from public, private and philanthropic sources. In the latest edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King speaks with CEO Paul Mitchell about how ESN has helped power so many high-profile initiatives. Not every project has been a winner. Blue Indy folded earlier this year, although Mitchell says it still could pay dividends for the city. And he details one of ESN’s flashiest projects: the Indy Autonomous Challenge, an IndyCar-style race with cars completely controlled by computers scheduled to take place next year. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Conversations around the family dinner table during the coronavirus crisis have taken on incredibly high stakes. Deciding whether or not the kids can see Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend now requires research into the latest physical distancing guidelines and any chronic conditions they might have. Deciding whether or not to play baseball, basketball or soccer in youth summer leagues requires a serious calculation of the risks and rewards, as well as a working knowledge of all of the precautions that coaches and venues will take. Some families are agonizing over whether to let their young children go back to day care. Some already are weighing what to do when—or if—schools open in the fall.For this week’s edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King asked local families to share the questions they’ve been wrestling with—and added a few of his own. The topics above are all covered, as well as best practices for wearing masks, eating at restaurants and taking safe vacations. Our experts this week are Heidi Hancher-Rauch, who is an associate professor and director of the public health program at the University of Indianapolis, and Kara Cecil, an assistant professor of public health at University of Indianapolis. Both have families with kids and are willing to share the thought processes that have led to their decisions on these vital questionsThe IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb has put himself in the public spotlight—or, if you will, the crosshairs of public opinion—nearly every weekday for the last two months, hosting press conferences about the state’s response to the coronavirus crisis. It is not an easy job, as the governor and his staff must address new fatalities, respond to questions that have no easy answer, and ask residents to make difficult sacrifices to beat an enemy we don’t totally understand. This also happens to be an election year. On one hand, Holcomb has the opportunity to show voters how he can handle a dire crisis—and without having to spend a dime from his immense campaign war chest. On the other hand, if he makes an obvious mistake or miscalculates how quickly the state should reopen, it’ll be in front of millions of voters with a deep, vested interest in the outcome. In this week’s edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King examines the political risks and potential rewards of managing the state’s response to COVID-19 in real time and in the public eye nearly every day. His guests are reporter Lindsey Erdody, who has written about this topic in the latest issue of IBJ, and Robert Dion, associate political science professor at the University of Evansville. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.

Hundreds of thousands of couple who for months have been picking preachers, flowers, venues, bridesmaid dresses, reception menus and deejay playlists now find themselves making a no-win decision: Do we keep the dates for our spring 2020 wedding and scale it way down, or do we reschedule the whole shebang and hope we’re not in the middle of another wave of infections?The coronavirus crisis and its social-distancing protocols have wreaked havoc on the multibillion-dollar wedding industry—not to mention the lives of an untold number of couples who thought they’d be betrothed by fall. In this week’s edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King explores the tumult from the perspective of two Indianapolis women: a bride who decided to keep her wedding date—May 2—and scale the festivities way down (including an after-party with pizza); and a wedding planner who had 23 weddings on the books for this year but now spends much of her time working on Plan Bs and Plan Cs for clients. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault. -----Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March," from "A Midsummer's Night Dream," arranged for drunk organist (or sober organist pretending to be drunk) by Jonathan Mui.

As the economy swan-dives into a deep recession due to the coronavirus crisis, many of the people who live in apartments or rented homes find themselves in a frightening bind. Unemployment has surged in the working-class sectors, making it difficult for tens of thousands of tenants in Indiana to make their monthly rent payments. According to industry estimates, about 8% to 10% of renters were delinquent on their April rents, both in Indiana and nationwide. Tenants in Indiana have been shielded from eviction since mid-March thanks to a moratorium issued by Gov. Eric Holcomb. But that doesn’t make their past-due rents go away. Advocates for both low-income residents and for landlords say more must be done to aid renters. Both sides are working their political connections to establish an emergency rental assistance program, that would help tenants cover the rent and keep revenue flowing for apartment owners. For this week’s edition of The IBJ Podcast, host Mason King interviews Lynne Peterson, president of the Indiana Apartment Association, and Andrew Bradley, policy director for Prosperity Indiana, about the need for assistance and the fix that both tenants and landlords find themselves in. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.