With the holidays upon us—and only a small percentage of kids vaccinated against COVID-19—host Mason King has been wondering what's safe when it comes to family gatherings, parties and public events So he called Dr. James Wood, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Riley Children's Health, to talk about vaccinations for children, how latest strains of coronavirus are affecting younger kids and whether it's safe for grandkids to gather with their grandparents at the holidays. (Hint: You're safest if the kids are vaccinated and the adults are boosted.) Plus, King asks Dr. Woods to share what he's done about vaccinations with his own young kids and how they're treating family outings. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.      

Local tech executive Eric Tobias and two partners bought the entertainment business that stages events at the Vogue in Broad Ripple in early 2019. “When people ask me about this, I say, ‘Owning a music venue—best first year of my life … but maybe one of the most challenging second years,’” Tobias says.The Vogue closed abruptly on March 12, 2020, just as that night’s band—Drive-By Truckers—was warming up on stage. The pandemic of course hit the live entertainment industry like a sledgehammer, and Tobias and his partners had to think outside the box—literally, outside the venue itself—to keep the business going.In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, longtime local music journalist (and newly minted IBJ reporter) Dave Lindquist catches up with Tobias to discuss how the group has been able to weather the pandemic. Tobias says he has seen convincing proof that some patrons aren't sold on attending live events. The ownership group is getting more involved in livestreaming concerts and promoting shows in other venues. Tobias also explains the Vogue’s policy on health checks for patrons, how the Vogue intersects with his high-tech daytime gig, and what he sees as a vital need in order for the local music scene to thrive going forward.The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.  

Investment adviser Morningstar has issued new guidance that changes the conventional wisdom about how much you can expect to withdraw from your investment accounts in retirement. The change in the so-called 4% rule has podcast host Mason King worried, and so he and Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn dive into the details in search of clarity. Pete also predicts what the omicron variant will mean for the market and why the debate about the debt ceiling might actually be more important. You can read more from Pete at IBJ.com. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.  

Experts expect shoppers to drop a record amount of money this holiday season. The National Retail Federation forecasts sales for November and December to grow between 8.5% and 10.5% over the same months in 2020. In total dollars, that would be between $843.4 billion and $859 billion.At the same time, the supply-chain issues that have plagued commerce since the start of the pandemic are expected to complicate gift buying and limit stock for some products.The answer is to get your shopping done as soon as possible, because you might not get a second chance, says John Talbott, the director of the Center for Education and Research in Retailing at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. In the latest edition of the IBJ Podcast, Talbott explores other big questions with host Mason King. Does Indy’s status as a leading U.S. logistics hub give Hoosiers a leg up on gift availability? What role might inflation play in this year’s shopping season? Why are gift cards even more valuable than usual this year? How can we avoid cybercrime? And are there any blockbuster, must-have gifts for this season? The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.  

In the second part of a two-episode interview, Martha Hoover—founder of the Indianapolis-based Patachou Inc. restaurant company—explains how the pandemic pulled back the curtain on problems in the restaurant industry, especially how little workers are paid and how vulnerable most eateries really are. Hoover—known for restaurants including Cafe Patachou, Public Greens and Napolese—tells host Mason King that because she came from outside the restaurant world, she charged appropriate prices from the start, with the goal of providing a living wage to workers. But she said the industry has historically put too much emphasis on quantity and price at the expense of quality, as well as the people making the food.  She talks about what she thinks the public and the media get wrong about the industry and what might change things. Click here to listen to Part 1 of the interview with Hoover.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.      

Indianapolis restauranteur Martha Hoover launched her first Cafe Patachou at 49th and Pennsylvania in 1989 and has since expanded her company to 13 eateries spread across several distinct concepts. Like other restaurants, though, Hoover had to close the doors at all of her Patachou Inc. locations when the pandemic hit, a time she calls "frightening." But Hoover tells host Mason King — in the first of a two-part interview — that Patachou is now "very healthy," in part because she and her leadership team started making some tough decisions pre-pandemic to streamline and become more efficient. Now, Patachou is looking to expand. Tune in next week for part 2 of King's interview with Hoover, when she explains what she thinks the public — and especially the media — don't understand about the restaurant business. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.  

Veteran real estate agent Matt McLaughlin reached more than $1 billion in career sales in September after some 22 years as an agent for F.C. Tucker. It's a milestone the firm's CEO, Jim Litten, called "one of the most challenging to attain in our industry." And yet McLaughlin said it was not particularly a goal and he wasn't fully aware he was approaching it until the folks in his office mentioned it earlier this year. Host Mason King sat down with McLaughlin to learn how he closed so many sales (he attributes some early success to the gray hair he had as a young man), what makes his approach different (he still dresses up for clients) and what he thinks about central Indiana's red-hot real estate market (it's not a bubble). Plus, McClaughlin shares the advice he'd give a young broker.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.  

Indiana’s unemployment rate inched down to 4% in September, but what does that actually mean? How many people are in the Indiana workforce? And why are so many companies struggling to find workers? Host Mason King talks with Fred Payne, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Workforce Development, about what the state is doing to help more Hoosiers find jobs and more companies find workers.  Plus, King quizzes Payne about whether Indiana should join most of its neighbors in raising the minimum wage. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

A record 4.3 million workers in the U.S. quit their jobs in August and more are expected to do so as part of what analysts are calling the "Great Resignation." But can you afford to join them? Host Mason King talks with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn about how to prepare financially to leave your job. Plus, Pete offers a prediction about the stock market as the year comes to a close. Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ's The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, an exploration of diversity and inclusion issues in the central Indiana business community.

Nine teams representing students, researchers and autonomous vehicle experts from across the globe will convene at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Oct. 23 for an auto-racing competition without drivers. Or at least without a human in the cockpit. The "drivers" in this case are software systems coded in advance by the teams, who must just sit back on "race day" to see if the cars can direct themselves out of the pits, around the track and avoid obstacles (which might or might not include another car). The Indy Autonomous Challenge has been more than two years in the making. And so podcast host Mason King talks with Paul MItchell, CEO of Energy Systems Network, the Indianapolis-based not-for-profit that dreamed up and organized the event, about why the competition is important and what the group wants to achieve. And then he talks with Michael Saxon, who is leading the Black & Gold Racing team, made up of students and researchers from Purdue University, West Point and IUPUI. To learn more, read IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey's story about the challenge. Photo courtesy of Central Indiana Corporate Partnership.

In the wake of criticism about conditions at last spring's women's basketball championship, the NCAA is considering a number of changes, including whether the men's and women's Final Fours should be played on the same weekend in the same city. IBJ's sports business reporter Mickey Shuey talks with host Mason King about why that would significantly shorten the list of cities that could host the Final Four and whether Indianapolis could handle a combined event.  And King talks with Michelle Perry, a former NCAA executive and now a sports consultant, about what the change would mean for the women's game—and its fans. You can read more about the issue in Mickey's story in this week's IBJ.   Looking for another podcast to try? Check out IBJ's The Freedom Forum with Angela B. Freeman, a monthly discussion about diversity and inclusion in central Indiana's business community.  

Riley Hospital for Children is preparing to unveil its $142 million maternity center—five floors of renovated space that will house labor and delivery rooms, intensive-care-unit rooms, emergency and triage rooms, operating rooms, and infant-resuscitation rooms. It's a new direction for Riley, which has traditionally served sick children and babies who need special care. But Indiana University Health is now moving its well-baby maternity services from Methodist Hospital to Riley, giving moms and their babies one place to receive all the care they need. IBJ health reporter John Russell toured the facility and talked with host Mason King about what he saw and how the tower fits into the increasingly competitive business of maternity care. You can read more about the maternity tower in John's story here.

Some 11.5 million Americans quit their jobs in April, May and June, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And a recent Gallup poll found that nearly half of all workers are actively searching for other work. It's part of what's become known as the Great Resignation—and if you're a manager, you might be wondering whether there's anything you can do to keep your employees on the job. Host Mason King talks with IBJ workplace columnists Garrett Mintz, founder of consulting firm Ambition in Motion, and Mandy Haskett, a leadership consultant at Carmel-based Advisa, about the trend and how companies can engage with workers in a way that encourages them to stay. You can read IBJ's weekly workplace column here. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Podcast host Mason King recently used an online calculator to estimate what it might cost to send his 5-year-old son to college someday—and the answer shocked him. So he's talking with Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn this week about when parents need to start saving, what savings vehicles to use and whether parents should go into debt to fund their kids' education.   The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.    

Dale Neuburger is a former president of the Indiana Sports Corp. and treasurer of FINA, the International Federation for Aquatics. He spent several weeks in Japan for the Olympic Games, where he served as the International Olympic Committee’s competition director for swimming, with additional responsibilities for diving, water polo, artistic swimming and open-water swimming. IBJ sports business reporter Mickey Shuey talked with Dale about his experiences in Tokyo and what Indiana can learn from them.  You can read a column written by Dale in this week's IBJ. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

IBJ Media’s recent acquisition of competitor Grow Indiana Media Ventures and the Inside INdiana Business and Inside Edge multimedia platforms raises a series of questions, starting with the extent to which the state’s two biggest business news brands actually overlap. Some see the deal as a combination of complementary businesses with different audiences, but the irony of the acquisition is that one is often mistaken for the other in central Indiana.In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, IBJ Media CEO and co-owner Nate Feltman joins Gerry Dick, formerly the owner of Grow Indiana and now president of the new Inside INdiana Business division of IBJ Media, to break down what the deal means for subscribers, other news consumers and the business community in general. They push back on any suggestion that this is yet another example of media consolidation, promising that this will lead to wider and deeper coverage of business around the state that preserves the Inside INdiana Business brand and perspective. At the same time, the deal gives IBJ the ability to make a strong push into new mediums and grow outside the Indy area.Feltman and Dick tell host Mason King that they foresee very few changes in the two brands’ editorial output and products in the near term. But how might IBJ influence Inside INdiana Business, and vice versa? How much will one bleed into the other? Are there any redundancies between the two businesses? How big is IBJ Media now? How closely will the teams be working? They address these questions here.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears told IBJ last week that he hasn't decided whether his office will move to the new Community Justice Campus, which remains under construction in the Twin Aire neighborhood. The office was expected to be part of a second office building that Browning Investments planned to build at the site to complement a jail, Sheriff's Office and court system that will be moving to the campus at the end of the year. Host Mason King talks with IBJ reporters Leslie Bonilla Muñiz and Mickey Shuey about their reporting on the topic, including the reasons Mears gave for his hesitancy and why the mayor wants the prosecutor at the campus.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.    

It was about six years ago when Indianapolis arts organization Big Car bought an old factory in the Garfield Park neighborhood and started working on a plan to create an arts campus there. Fast forward to today and the group owns the Tube Factory Artspace in that former factory, an audio art space that houses a radio station, nine houses it has renovated for artists and another factory—this one 40,000 square feet—that it is starting to renovate. Plus, it's creating a public green space between the buildings.  Host Mason King talks with Big Car CEO Jim Walker about the vision, what the project means for the neighborhood and how the group is trying to ensure artists aren't eventually priced out of being there. You can read more about Big Car's Garfield Park project in this story by IBJ reporter Susan Orr.   The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.    

At emergency rooms across central Indiana, “No Vacancy” signs are flashing at unprecedented rates. Emergency rooms are often overflowing with patients, prompting hospitals to divert ambulances to other hospitals for hours at a stretch, provided the cases aren’t life-threatening. On July 26, for example, at least 10 large hospitals in central Indiana went on diversion at some point, causing ambulance drivers to look high and low for a place to take their patients.In the latest edition of the IBJ Podcast, reporter John Russell explains that this is the latest indication that local and area hospitals are struggling with a growing nursing shortage and, to a lesser extent, that the pandemic is roaring back to life.Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to pin hospitals down on just how often this has been happening. No federal or state agency tracks ambulance diversions or requires the hospitals to report it, so the fine details are closely guarded secrets.The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

While intense heat waves and wildfires scorch the Western U.S. and freak rainstorms spawn massive floods in Europe and China, the weather in central Indiana has been fairly tame so far this year.Indeed, Indiana very well could sidestep some of the most extreme effects of climate change, but don’t get lulled into complacency, says Jeffrey Dukes, director of the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and a professor of forestry and natural resources.Indiana’s weather already has been altered by man-made climate change, and the effects could be significantly more intense in coming decades, Dukes says. Since 1895, Indiana’s statewide annual average temperature has risen by 1.3°F, and some models show it rising another 5°F by mid-century. Winters will be shorter and the number of days above 95°F could rise by dozens per year.The state also is getting wetter. Since 1895, average annual precipitation in Indiana has increased by about 15%, or about 5.6 inches. Models show winters and springs are likely to be much wetter by mid-century. Heavy rain events will increase flooding risks and increase the amount of pollutants washing into waterways from city streets and farm fields.In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Dukes explains to host Mason King how these changes will impact our day-to-day lives and some of the state’s most important industries, such as agriculture, energy and tourism and recreation. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

Indy Chamber last month was recognized by its peers for work it has been doing that's not quite typical of chambers of commerce nationwide. The group won the 2021 Chamber of the Year award from an association that represents 1,600 chambers and economic development organizations. And it earned the honor for the work it has done on inclusive growth—primarily a rework of the city's economic incentives program—and for the Rapid Response Hub it deployed during the pandemic. Guest host Lesley Weidenbener interviews Indy Chamber CEO Michael Huber and the group's director of economic development, Vincent Ash, about the programs and the honor. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Resultant, formerly KSM Consulting.

The pandemic wreaked havoc on the hospitality industry in Indianapolis and across the nation. Still, IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey finds that many of the hotels in the planning stages for downtown Indianapolis before the pandemic are still moving forward today. In fact, three hotels have opened since COVID-19 struck the state in March 2020. Host Mason King chats with Shuey about the state of the hotel industry in Indy and which projects are completed, underway and on hold. For more, read Shuey's story detailing the city's downtown hotel pipeline. The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Host Mason King and the folks in the Midtown Parents Facebook Group in Indianapolis have a lot of questions about money—specifically how they should be saving it for retirement and college. Should homeowners pay off a mortgage early? How do you plan for the future when one partner in a relationship is significantly older than the other? Should you prioritize retirement savings over college savings for your kids? So Mason asked IBJ personal finance columnist Peter "Pete the Planner" Dunn to come on the podcast to get some answers to those questions and others. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

Drag racer Antron Brown of Pittsboro has won three NHRA championships in his 14 years in the sport, but he may be about to take on his biggest challenge yet: racing team owner. Next year, Brown will become one of the few Black team owners ever in the 70-year-old NHRA— and one of the few Black majority team owners in any motorsports series. He will be the only Black owner in the modern era of Top Fuel or Funny Car racing. Brown talks with host Mason King about why he decided to make the move, what it will cost (hint: a lot) and why the sport is more diverse than you might think. For more, read this profile of Brown by former IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle. The IBJ podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.

If you've ever been inside the historic Chatterbox Jazz Club on Massachusetts Avenue downtown, you have a pretty good idea why it didn't reopen at 50% or even 75% capacity. It's so tiny, the restrictions would have meant only about 20 patrons could be inside at any given time. And owner David Andrichik said that's a recipe for losing more money than being closed completely.  But now that Marion County health officials have eliminated all pandemic restrictions, the Chatterbox is about to reopen for the first time in more than 15 months.  Andrichik talks with podcast Mason King about what it will take to reopen the bar, what the closure has cost him and what he's been thinking about while he's been waiting. The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by First Person Advisors, a subsidiary of NFP.