Business in Brief

Bagel shop closes\nHowie's Bagels & Cafe, 2620 E. 3rd St., served its customers for the last time Sunday.\nSeveral factors led to the store's closing, said senior Robert Wittenberg, manager and son of owner Howard Wittenberg.\n"It's not necessarily that (business) was going poorly, it's just that it wasn't what it was... He didn't want to have to do it anymore," Robert said, whose Jordan Hall location closed Friday. "Being in the restaurant and retail business is a tough thing and I think he enjoys teaching more."\nHoward, who received both his undergraduate and law degrees from IU, teaches business law and an introductory business course at Ivy Tech State College in Bloomington. He will focus his time on teaching now that the bagel shop is closed, his son said.\nIn addition to his father losing interest, Robert said that his graduation in May was another consideration in his father's decision to close the store.\nHoward opened Howie's Bagels & Cafe in 1996 when his oldest child came to IU. He now closes the store as his youngest graduates. \nRobert, a business management major, said his experience working at Howie's was invaluable and he enjoyed the experience because it kept him busy and close to his father.\nRed trash bins upset local residents\nSome southern Indiana residents are mad about new 96-gallon red "Hoosier Hoppers" recently delivered to their homes for trash collection.\n"I don't particularly want to be looking at 200 of these fire engine-red things as I drive in and out of the neighborhood," said Rob Westcott.\nCallers have complained to area radio stations and to local newspapers about the bins, which were delivered to customers in and around the IU campus.\nThe containers were given to customers of Hoosier Disposal and Recycling Services, a company owned by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Republic Services Inc.\nBut Jeff Wilson, manager at Hoosier Disposal, said last Tuesday that only about 50 of the company's 8,100 customers have called with complaints about the bins or to request additional ones.\n"Red is part of our company colors. It fits in with Bloomington," Wilson said. "Everybody likes red. I thought everybody did."\nA notice given to customers said all trash must be placed in the new bins.\nThe company will work with older customers having problems navigating the large containers by providing them with smaller ones, Wilson said.\nThe containers were given to customers so that the trash collection company could cut down on worker injuries and worker's compensation costs by making it easier to move the trash, he said.\nPurdue business plan climbs to $144,000 with new sponsors\nWest Lafayette, Ind. -- Four new sponsors have increased the prize in Purdue University's 2003 Life Sciences Business Plan Competition to $144,000.\nCentral Indiana Corporate Partnership and the Indiana Health Industry Forum announced they will contribute a combined $20,000 for the best business plan presented by an Indiana-connected team in the inaugural competition. \nThe event is scheduled for April 22-23 on the West Lafayette campus.\nThe lead sponsors of the competition are Purdue's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship and Indianapolis-based Roche Diagnostics, which is contributing $100,000 in prize money for business plans that describe the path to market products and technologies in the life sciences, biotechnology and biomedicine.\nIndianapolis-based law firm Baker & Daniels and its health technologies consulting affiliate Aventor is contributing $10,000 to support the competition and a total of $12,000 in services to the top three finishers. Clifton Gunderson LLP, a national accounting firm with an office in Indianapolis, is contributing $5,000 and $12,000 in services to the top three finishers.\nTeams connected to universities and colleges, research and teaching hospitals, and other academic institutions engaged in bioresearch are eligible to enter. Teams must submit their full business plans by March 10.