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Economic Development Board awards money for several projects

October 15, 2009 By

The Iowa Economic Development Board approved state money for several projects Thursday that are expected to create hundreds of new jobs. Department of Economic Development spokesperson, Erin Seidler says one of the projects involves reopening a plant in Independence.

Seidler says Tyson Foods subsidiary Provemex International Holdings will re-open an Independence plant to make pet treats. She says they will add up to 105 people at the plant. Seidler says the board approved several hundred thousand dollars in aid for the venture.

They awarded $400,000 from the value-added agricultural component of the Grow Iowa Values Financial Assistance Program and tax benefits from the High Quality Job Program for the creation of 13 of the initial 63 jobs as the plant reopens.

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Filed Under: Business, Politics & Government Tagged With:

Gates talks about genetic crops at World Food Prize Symposium

October 15, 2009 By
Bill Gates at World Food Prize Symposium

Bill Gates at World Food Prize Symposium

Technology guru Bill Gates is defending the use of genetically engineered crops to help fight global poverty and hunger. The Microsoft chairman delivered the keynote speech at the World Food Prize Symposium in Des Moines this morning.

“Some voices are instantly hostile to any emphasis on productivity,” Gates said. “They act as if there is no emergency, even though in the poorest, hungriest places on earth, population is growing faster than productivity.”

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Filed Under: Agriculture, Business, Politics & Government

Winnebago CEO optimistic despite 4th quarter losses

October 15, 2009 By

The C.E.O. of Winnebago Industries says his company is starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Financial data released today shows fourth-quarter losses for the Forest City-based company widened, but C.E.O. Bob Olson says the company reached a turning point this week on the factory floor.

“We are running all three lines at the same time and that hasn’t been the case since August of 2008,” Olson says, “so this is really a happy week for us.” Ten motor home companies have close for good due to the recession, while three other companies have either been sold to new owners or are in the process of being restructured or sold. Olson says there are several factors that helped his company weather this recession.

“I think that the solid foundation that this company was built on with the fact that we had no debt. We’ve got money in the bank. We’ve got employees that are second to none — employees that have really sacrificed over the past 24 months has kept us strong and we didn’t end up with the same fate that a lot of our competition did,” Olson says.

“So I think it really speaks volumes for the culture at Winnebago, and, you know, we had to do a lot of things that we really didn’t like to do, but the result was we’re still here.” The company reports its backlog of orders for new motor homes climbed 58 percent during the quarter, suggesting a recovery may be beginning. About 1,700 people are employed at Winnebago and Olson says with demand rising, the firm hired 130 employees in the past seven weeks. The value of Winnebago stock went up on that news.

Contributed by Bob Fisher,KRIB, Mason City

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,

Braley says effort continues to get extended unemployment benefits

October 15, 2009 By

Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, says efforts continue in the U.S. House to get Iowa included in the federal 13-week extension of unemployment benefits. Iowa and more than 20 other states were not included in the extension as it applies only to states with unemployment rates above 8.5%.

Braley says the sad reality is the recent announcement by the governor of a 10% across the board budget cut will led to employees being laid off and he says it will have a “significant impact” on the existing unemployment numbers in Iowa. Braley says an effort is underway to get the extension quickly through.

Braley says they are trying to get the change enacted through what’s called the “suspension calendar” in the House, which would take a two-thirds vote, but then the issue would not have to go to a committee. Braley says they are looking for the best way to get the issue going and to the floor of the House for a vote as quickly as possible.

Braley says he voted against the original bill extending the unemployment benefits because it excluded Iowa from the extension. Legislation to extend the benefits to Iowa and other states has stalled in the Senate.

Filed Under: Politics & Government Tagged With: , ,

Harkin: there’s room to maneuver on health care

October 15, 2009 By

Senator Tom Harkin says there’s “quite a bit of room” for maneuvering as he and other top Democrats in the senate craft a health care reform package.  Harkin recently became chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions or HELP Committee and he’s working behind the scenes to merge the bill passed by his committee with the legislation that cleared the Senate Finance Committee this week.

“Don’t forget the HELP Committee’s bill came out in July and, you know, it’s sort of like the forgotten little brother…It got kind of lost in all this tumult in the Finance Committee, but we have a bill that is broadly supported among Democrats,” Harkin says.  “…We accepted 161 Republican amendments, for crying out loud.”

Harkin expects Senate Democrats to be able to stop a Republican filibuster of the bill themselves “with or without” moderate Republican senators like Olympia Snowe who voted for the Senate Finance Committee bill this week.

“It’s sort of like what the Republicans are saying is, ‘We want it all our way or we won’t vote for anything,’” Harkin says.  “Well, we’ve been accommodating.  We’ve reached compromises, but they still say they are going to vote against it.”

Harkin says a so-called “public option” will be in the senate bill.  ”And especially if we’re going to have a mandate that everyone has to buy insurance, then certainly it would be bordering on the unconscionable to mandate that you have to buy insurance from a private company,” Harkin says.  “At least, then, by having a public option out there, people at least have the choice of a private or a public option.”  

Harkin made his comments this morning during a conference call with Iowa reporters.  Harkin did not signal support or opposition to the provision in the bill which cleared the Senate Finance Committee this week that would require that all Americans obtain health insurance.

Listen to Harkin talk with reporters here: Tom Harkin 15:00 MP3

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

Branstad “was” DMU president; announcement Friday

October 15, 2009 By

A statement issued this morning seems to confirm former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad is going to seek a fifth term as governor. 

Branstad, a Republican, has been president and C.E.O. of Des Moines University since 2003.  The university issued a statement which talks about Branstad in the past tense, saying he “was the 14th president” of the osteopathic school.  The university release invites Iowa media to attend a “Branstad announcement” on the Des Moines University campus at one o’clock on Friday. 

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

Branstad announcement at one o’clock Friday

October 15, 2009 By

Des Moines University officials issued a news release this morning, inviting Iowa media to a “Branstad announcement” on Friday at 1 p.m.

Terry Branstad served four terms as Iowa’s governor, leaving office in January, 1999, and has been laying plans to seek a fifth term in 2010.  Branstad became president and C.E.O. of Des Moines University in 2003.  The school is located on Grand Avenue in Des Moines just eight blocks away from the governor’s mansion where Branstad and his family lived for 16 years.  The institution, which was founded in 1898,  is the “only private medical school in Iowa,” according to a university release, “offering graduate-level, professional degree programs in osteopathic medicine, podiatric medicine, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, anatomy, biomedical sciences, health care administration and public health.”

According to the university’s release: “Des Moines University President Terry E. Branstad will make an announcement related to his future with the University.”   In a perhaps accidental admission that Branstad is leaving the university, the release goes on to talk about Branstad in the past tense.  “He was the 14th president in the University’s 111-year history,” the release says in its closing paragraph.

Filed Under: Politics & Government, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,
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