Business

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN—In February of 2012, author Victor Hwang published a book titled: The Rainforest: The Secret to Building the Next Silicon Valley. The book relates innovation in business and entrepreneurship to random propagations of life in the rainforest. It also happens to be one of Ted Baker’s favorite books. Ted is the executive director of the Innovation Connector in Muncie. “If you fly over a rainforest, pretty much all you see is the tops of the trees,” said Ted. “But, what is really happening down there? There’s an entire ecosystem under those trees. You’ve got the trees, the bushes…

By: Sheena Peters— Muncie, IN—Whitinger Strategic Services’ design work was recognized at the 2018 East Central Indiana American Advertising Awards Ceremony. The company was honored with three Gold Addy Awards and one Silver Addy. Strategic Services was well represented in multiple categories this year. The first Addy Award of the evening was presented to Whitinger Strategic in the category Sales & Marketing Promotion for their work for Kiddo Keepsakes. In the fall of 2017, WSS completed a full identity and branding campaign for this newly established business. WSS worked alongside Ashley Runkle to develop her business and the WSS team developed…

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN— The  Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA)  2018 State Leadership Conference was held at the Horizon Convention Center on March 8-10 in downtown Muncie. Over 1,000 student members from across Indiana attended the conference. Family, Career and Community Leaders of America is a non-profit national career and technical student organization for young men and women in Family and Consumer Sciences education in public and private school systems. The FCCLA organization helps students explore different careers and offers in-depth activities related to different career areas such as: Culinary arts, entrepreneurship, fashion design, leadership, communications,…

By: Brenda Brumfield— Muncie, IN— The Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce honored twenty five of its members for their longevity in, and impact on, the Muncie –Delaware County community at the Chamber Champions Award Luncheon at the Horizon Convention Center on March 21. “We know that existing business is the backbone of our local economy and we want to congratulate our members when they reach a milestone in their history and do outstanding work for our community.” —Chamber of Commerce president Jay Julian The Al Rent Spirit of Muncie Award recognizes respected leaders, valued community volunteers, and role models who…

By: Stephanie L. Hoover, Attorney at Law— Muncie, IN—Whether a couple is going through a dissolution with children or a paternity matter due to never marrying, two common issues that arise are regarding parenting time and child support.  It is important to note that while these two topics are often discussed together they are separate issues. For example, if a parent ordered to pay child support is behind on child support they remain entitled to parenting time.  The other parent cannot deny parenting time. It is always best for the parties to try to come to an agreement outside of the…

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN—March 15, 2018 was a special day inside the WLBC studio as station owner J Chapman, president of Woof Boom radio, surprised morning show host Steve Lindell and congratulated him for his 25 years with the station. “This is actually a very special day,” said Chapman. “It’s a rare moment because Steve Lindell has been with this radio station (WLBC) for 25 years. That’s unheard of in most ANY company these days, but particularly rare in the broadcasting industry.” 25 years ago, when Steve Lindell was first hired at WLBC, he worked as the program director…

By: Mike Rhodes— Muncie, IN—Silver Birch of Muncie, located at 2500 West Kilgore, is now open for residents. Silver Birch of Muncie is a new 55-and-over affordable assisted living residential community with a combined total of 119 studio and one bedroom apartments. Mellissa Carpenter is the administrator of Silver Birch of Muncie. She says affordable assisted living is a new concept for Muncie and Delaware County. “Because Silver Birch of Muncie is considered to be an affordable assisted living community, there are two qualifiers,” she said. “For the tax credit portion, an individual resident must have a gross income of less…

By: Marc Ransford— Muncie, IN— The Innovate WithIN Pitch Competition will host one of its nine regional competitions on March 9 in Muncie, Indiana, at the Ball State Alumni Center. The top 10 high school entrepreneurs from around Delaware County, Indiana, who made it through round one of the competition, are invited to compete in front of panel of judges from their region. One team or innovator from each region will be selected to compete in the state competition on April 9 at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis. The pitch competition, sponsored by Ball State University, the Indiana Economic…