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Meredith earnings drop, but not as much as expected

April 30, 2009 By

The Des Moines-based Meredith Corporation — publisher of Better Homes and Gardens magazine — saw its third-quarter earnings drop by 45 percent, but that was better than traders expected and the price of Meredith stock soared.

The company owns magazines, like Ladies Home Journal, as well as television stations and saw its revenue in January, February and March fall 14 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Stephen Lacey, the company’s chief executive officer, says ad revenue on Meredith’s broadcast side was down 31 percent.

"The largest declines were in automotive, traditionally the number one category for local broadcasters," he says. "Auto advertising was down about 55 percent." Advertising sales in Meredith’s publishing division dropped 12 percent compared to the third-quarter of last year.

"That’s an improvement over the two preceeding quarters of fiscal ’09 which saw decreases of 17 and 19 percent respectively," he says. Earlier this year, Meredith laid off 250 employees and stopped publishing Country Home magazine. Those moves helped the company report net earnings of 25 million for the just-concluded quarter, and the price of Meredith’s stock jumped significantly Wednesday.

Meredith publishes 23 magazines which are available through subscription, including Family Circle, Parents and Successful Farming magazines.

 

Filed Under: Business

Health officials say prevention best way to combat H1N1 virus

April 30, 2009 By

State health officials say they will learn today if two people suspected of having the swine flu or H-1-N-1 virus are actually infected. There is one confirmed death from the virus in the U.S. and hundreds reported in Mexico.

State epidemiologist Patricia Quinlisk said Wednesday that the man and woman suspected in the Iowa cases are close to returning to normal — which follows what’s been seen in other states.

Quinlisk says we are seeing “relatively mild disease” in this country, with people typically feeling like they are coming down with something for a day or two, and then there’s a day or two of typical flu, fever, feeling lousy, with a sore throat and cough.

Quinlisk says people then start recovering and within four or five days are back to normal. While most cases are mild, Quinlisk says the threat has to be taken seriously. Quinlisk says there are people who are getting more seriously ill and that the case in Mexico. She says they don’t understand quite why the Mexico situation is different.

Quinlisk says the best defense against H-1-N-1 is to use good hygiene by washing your hands and if you are sick, stay home from work, and keep sick kids home from school. The state does have a supply of antiviral medication — but Quinlisk says that won’t do anything to prevent the disease.

She says the antivirals are “not the perfect answer” as they will decrease the severity of the illness and the time that you are ill. Quinlisk says the antivirals are not a “magic bullet” that will immediately stop you from becoming ill, but they will help prevent complications.

The state has a hotline available to answer questions about the virus. Call: 800-447-1985 with questions about the disease. More information is also available at the Governor’s website or the Iowa Department of Public Health’s website .  

Filed Under: Health & Medicine

Harkin calls Vice President’s statement on flu outbreak "very unfortunate"

April 30, 2009 By

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin says Vice President Joe Biden clearly hasn’t done his homework on the swine flu. Biden told NBC this morning, he’s advising his family to stay off commercial airlines and subways, noting, if one person sneezes on a plane, "it goes all the way through the aircraft."

Harkin says that’s simply not accurate and is just the sort of thing that can whip people into a panic when they hear of a pending pandemic. "I think that’s a very unfortunate statement by the vice president," Harkin says. "We just don’t need that kind of misinformation going out. I wish the vice president had checked with the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Preparedness before he made such a statement."

Harkin says the World Health Organization has issued a Phase Five Alert, which suggests a worldwide pandemic could be imminent. Harkin chaired an "emergency meeting" of his Health Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday and heard from a host of medical experts about the flu outbreak. Even with all the advice, he says prevention boils down to simple hygiene.

"The best thing to do is basically to wash your hands very often, cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze with a handkerchief or tissue paper, I say that to everybody," Harkin says. "As far as not riding on subways or planes, we’re not going to shut down our system and that doesn’t get to the nub of the problem anyway."

Two possible cases of H-1-N-1 have been identified in Iowa and state health officials expect to have confirmation on them today. The question that sparked the comments from Vice President Biden was about how he’s advising members of his family to react to the outbreak. Harkin was asked the same question.

"Actually, my daughter did call me and asked me about this," Harkin says. "She’s in law school, just finishing up. I said, ‘Wash your hands a lot, if you sneeze cover your mouth. If others around you are sneezing, cover your face or ask them to do so.’ That’s the best thing you can do."

Harkin says he had included $870-million for pandemic preparedness in the massive stimulus package earlier this year, to stockpile antiviral medications and medical equipment while improving the public health infrastructure. "Regrettably," he says, "it was taken out in the final bill."

Both Harkin and Biden are Democrats.

 

Filed Under: Health & Medicine, Politics & Government Tagged With: ,

New Hampton man found guilty of murder

April 30, 2009 By

A New Hampton man has been found guilty of murder after a stabbing in Charles City last year. A Floyd County jury Wednesday found 43-year-old Richard Cortez guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Kenyon Armstrong of Charles City, after a fight at Tori’s Bar last May 17th.

The jury also found Cortez guilty of two counts of assault with the intent to inflict serious injury and two counts of willful injury for stabbing and injuring 24-year-old Cyrus Riley of Charles City and 17-year-old Robert Luckett of Chicago in the same fight.

Cortez did not react as the judge read the verdict convicting him of the lesser second-degree murder charge after facing a first-degree murder verdict that would have meant life in prison without parole.

Cortez faces up to 50 years in prison on the second-degree murder charge.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts

Three bars agree to liquor license suspensions over smoking ban

April 30, 2009 By

Three more bars have agreed to suspensions and fines for violating Iowa’s Smokefree Air Act. The establishments were all notified by state health officials that police had witnessed open smoking in the bars.

The owners of the bars have all agreed to liquor license suspensions of seven-days and fines of $1,000.

The bars are identified as Joeseppe’s in Des Moines, The Keg in Ottumwa and T. McGill’s in Moulton. To date, the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division has filed 41 administrative hearing complaints against liquor licensees for violating the smoking ban that took effect in July 2008.

Filed Under: Crime & Courts Tagged With: ,

Video Game Hall of Fame planned for Ottumwa

April 30, 2009 By

Pacman lovers from around the globe may soon be converging on southeast Iowa. A Fairfield businessman thinks Ottumwa could become the Video Game Capitol of the World.

Walter Day, founder of Twin Galaxies Incorporated, is announcing plans to create a Video Game Hall of Fame and Museum in Ottumwa. Day also wants to create an annual festival associated with the facility which would draw in gamers from all over. It would be a hands-on museum where people could come to break world records.

Billy Mitchell was in Ottumwa for the announcement — a famous video game player and current world record holder. Mitchell donated the Donkey Kong game to the museum project, the same machine on which he set his high score, which has yet to be beaten.

 

Filed Under: Recreation & Entertainment
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