PYCO, based in Redmond, Wash., says Keota has more extroverts per capita than any other city in the United States, with 61.6 percent of its adult population rated as those “who get energized from interacting with people and activities.”

Small towns are more extroverted, in general, than large cities, PYCO reports, and none of the cities on its top 10 list were metros. Manchester, N.Y, pop. 9,395, came in second to Keota, a city of about 1,000 in Keokuk County.

How did PYCO determine this? The company has a database of 181 million Americans age 18 and older and created a predictive algorithm that leverages publicly available data on US consumers to predict personality or psychological types.

Here’s further proof: Keota’s motto is “Where Progress and Friendship Continue to Grow,” according to the city’s website.

Southwest Airlines lands in Des Moines Sept. 30, when it begins flights to Chicago’s Midway Airport. Southwest purchased AirTran last year.

Smithey said he believes other airlines are preparing for the new competition by lowering prices in some instances. He’s seen flights to Denver, where Southwest flies, for as low as $177, and he said to watch rates to Chicago, which have been as much as $850.

Today, we’re seeing round-trip flights to Denver for travel in mid-June for the $260-$280 range, and fares to O’Hare in the $414-$464 range.

Total passengers were up 11 percent in March over the same month last year, Smithey said.

When Smithey was director in Omaha, Southwest launched service to four cities in 1995. In six months, fares had fallen 40-45 percent and  enplanements were up 100 percent, he said.

If all goes well, Smithey hopes Southwest will add more routes. He has shared with Southwest Des Moines’ top destinations, including Orlando, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Smithey also told the Rotary Club of Des Moines that Southwest could help solve another problem at the airport: Long lines at security. More people with carry-on bags who are trying to avoid baggage fees have made the lines longer, he said, but Southwest charges no baggage fees.

The ranking of the largest U.S. companies by revenue listed Principal Financial Group at No. 295, down from 268^th last year. The Des Moines-based financial services company had revenues of $8.7 billion.

Casey’s General Stores was No. 473. The Ankeny company had revenues of $5.1 billion. The company ranked 485 two years ago but fell off the list last year.

Casey’s had a 22.7 percent return on investment last year, ranking it 78^th among all 500 companies. Since 2001, the stock has had a 14.3 percent return, ranking it 77^th overall, according to Fortune.

Rockwell Collins squeaked in at No. 496, down from No. 478 last year. The Cedar Rapids aeronautics company had $4.8 billion in revenues.

Exxon Mobil and Wal-Mart Stores switched spots on the list, with Exxon taking over the top spot and Wal-Mart falling to No. 2. Exxon had revenues of $452.9 billion.

Other companies on the list with Iowa operations include Berkshire Hathaway (No. 7), Wells Fargo (26), DuPont (72), Tyson Foods (96), Deere (97), Nationwide (100), Whirlpool (147), Smithfield Foods (218), Monsanto (224) and Gannett (465).

The nearly 87-year-old home is “in remarkably good shape,” said Rick Wanamaker, an Iowa Realty agent showing the home for owner Hubbell Realty.

Hubbell picked up the mansion for $1.75 million in 2009 when it bought several properties from Clarke Co. The home at 2801 Fleur Drive is assessed at $1.15 million.

The mansion hasn’t seen much action lately, except for some fundraising events and other parties. Clarke used the mansion as its offices.

The property is zoned commercial, but Wanamaker is pushing its residential virtues — or as a live-work space — including more favorable property taxes. Its latest annual tax bill was $30,095.

Since dropping the price, he said interest has picked up in the home, both for use as a residence and as office space.

The home has nine bedrooms, eight baths, five fireplaces and just over 12,000 square feet of living space, not including the 5,300 square feet of office space that Clarke added. The house sits on 1.86 acres.

The home is on the National Registry of Historic Places. The house was built in 1925-27 by Ralph Rollins, owner of Rollins Hosiery Mills. According to an official history of the Rollins home, “Mr. Rollins brought back 16th century ship beams and ceiling beams from the Inn where William Shakespeare performed” to use in the home’s construction. It also has stained glass designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

The foundation managed 904 funds by the end of 2011, up from the previous record of 789 in 2010, and has since topped 930, said Kristi Knous, the group’s president and chief operating officer.

The group managed $183 million in assets in 2011, up $3 million since the previous year. Since the beginning of the year, assets have grown to more than $193 million, which tops the previous high of $184 million in 2007, before assets dipped during the recession.

The tax-exempt foundation manages a range of funds, including donor-advised and community betterment funds, to support philanthropic and quality-of-life endeavors throughout the metro area.

The foundation gave out $25 million in grants last year, a drop from $28 million the year before. Knous cautioned that several big grants, such as money for the Principal Riverwalk, could have skewed the 2010 number.

“People were not necessarily less charitable last year,” Knous said.

The foundation’s long-term growth portfolio had a return of 0.7 percent in 2011, compared with 14 percent in 2010. Knous said the investment portfolio’s goal is 8 percent. Over the past 15 years, the average rate of return for the portfolio was 7.8 percent, according to the foundation.

“Historically, we’ve done pretty well,” Knous said.

At its annual luncheon Thursday at the downtown Marriott, the foundation will announce winners of the Better Together Award. The award recognizes those who build social capital and “collaborate effectively, make connections between diverse sectors, bridge differences and nurture social networks to make a difference.”

The individual recipient is David Hurd, former Principal Financial Group CEO and community leader, who will receive $1,000 to distributed to an organization of his choice.

Organization finalists are Des Moines Community Playhouse, Gateway Dance Theatre, Meals from the Heartland and the World Food Prize. The winner will receive a $2,500 grant.

The airline will fly twice a day between Washington and Des Moines, leaving Des Moines at 6 a.m. and 4:10 p.m. and arriving back in Des Moines at 3:28 p.m. and 9:48 p.m. The airline announced the new service in February.

The new service will compete with the one flight a day that Delta now flies between Des Moines and Reagan National. The Delta flight leaves at 7:49 a.m. and arrives back in Des Moines at 8:46 p.m.

The US Airways service to Washington will be operated by Republic Airlines, a US Airways Express carrier, which will fly Embraer 170 aircraft that hold 69 dual-class passengers. The Des Moines-to-Washington service will operate every day except Saturday.

US Airways also flies from Des Moines to Phoenix and Charlotte.

He was 59. Pollock is survived by his wife Nola, and three children: Travis, Hollis and Quinn.

Pollock was a reporter at the Des Moines Register for 20 years, known for his wit, his vibrant feature writing, and his skill as a   wordsmith. He also worked as an editor at Meredith Corp. before joining the Business Record in 2004.

According to the Business Record, Pollock had a non-life threatening form of cancer, but had an adverse reaction to chemotherapy and contracted an infection shortly after beginning treatment.

Funeral arrangements are still pending.

See a column from Business Record editor Chris Conetzkey about Pollock here. 

Salatin, owner-operator of Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, is an author who has appeared in documentaries “Food, Inc.” and “American Meat.” He will speak at 7:30 p.m. at Herrick Chapel on the Grinnell College campus on the topic: “Can We Feed the World?”

During the day, Salatin will speak at a Practical Farmers of Iowa event from 2:30-4:30 p.m., at the farm of Tom and Mary Cory in Elkhart. He will speak on finding viable ways to farm full-time and integrating multiple generations into the family farm. The event is free to Practical Farmers of Iowa members and $10 for nonmembers.

For more information, see here.

Pork exports annually bring more than $1 billion to Iowa

The U.S. Meat Export Federation said Friday that U.S. pork exports remained well ahead of last year’s record pace through February, while beef exports trended slightly lower in volume but posted higher value due to increased prices.

Pork export volume (187,629 metric tons) was 9 percent higher than in February 2011, while value ($526.2 million) was up 21 percent. For the first two months of the year, pork exports totaled 399,086 mt valued at $1.09 billion – increases of 18 percent and 31 percent, respectively. This is the first time U.S. pork export value has reached the $1 billion mark after only two months.

Iowa is the nation’s largest hog and pork producer, and exports from the state have topped $1 billion annually for the last two years.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week USDA revised upward, by 100 million pounds its their projection for U.S. pork exports.

Despite that seemingly good news hog futures were down Friday in early trading on the Chicago Board of Trade in response to news that China’s economic growth may be slower than expected. The May hog contract was down 82 cents per hundredweight to $83.52 and the May contract was off near limit at $2.97 per hundredweight at $93.12.

February beef export volume (87,131 mt) was 3 percent lower than a year ago but export value increased 10 percent to $409 million. Through the first two months of the year, beef exports totaled 176,585 mt (-2 percent) valued at $815 million (+12 percent).

“Export results were quite solid, especially considering the impact of market access issues in some destinations, particularly Taiwan and Southeast Asia,” said USMEF President and CEO Philip Seng. “We continue to expand the presence of U.S. pork in all key destinations – especially in North Asia and in Western Hemisphere markets.

Seng said record high beef prices in the U.S. have become a problem.

“In the beef complex, export volume may be struggling somewhat due to price, but we are having great success directing beef cuts to the markets that value them most. This is keeping beef export value very strong – well ahead of the record pace established last year.”

For more news about Iowa agriculture and energy click here for the Register’s Green Fields page on Facebook.

For corn, the USDA said “sales of 959,100 metric tons (about 374 million bushels) were up 2 percent from the previous week and 39 percent from the prior 4-week average. Increases reported for Mexico, South Kore, Japan), Venezuela, and China, were partially offset by decreases for Peru and Colombia.”

Soybean sales of 460,100 metric tons (about 179 million bushels) were up 13 percent from the previous week and unchanged from the prior 4-week average.

Increases were primarily for China, Indonesia, including the Netherlands, South Kore and Turkey.

For the marketing year that began Sept. 1 corn exports are running 7 percent behind their pace of a year ago and soybeans are off 21 percent as world markets digest larger supplies of corn, wheat and soy feedgrains.

U.S. beef exports are up 3 percent from Jan. 1 on top of a 30 percent year over year gain last year.

On the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday May corn was up 5 cents per bushel to $6.41 and May soybeans rose 18 cents per bushel to $14.23. The soybean price has climbed 20 percent since early February on news of a drought-damage crop in Brazil.

For more news about Iowa agriculture and energy click here for the Register’s Green Fields page on Facebook.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Register, Kutcher talked about how the state can encourage innovation. He’s invested in about 40 tech companies, including Des Moines’s own online payments company, Dwolla. Read more about why he invested in Dwolla here.

The actor instead talked effusively about celebrating risk and failure, embracing arts and culture and nudging Iowa’s school system into the future. He also shared what CEOs can learn from Steve Jobs, a role he will soon play.

“You don’t have to encourage investors. Bottom line is, you build a good company and investors will come,” he said.

Read more about Kutcher’s thoughts in Thursday’s Register.

Silbermann’s digital pinboard site has grown from 500,000 users to 17.8 million in just nine months – that’s a faster rate of growth than YouTube, Facebook or Twitter experienced.

The subject of a story in Fortune last week – titled “Is Pinterest the next Facebook?”  – Silbermann is a Roosevelt High grad whose parents, Jane Wang and Neil Silbermann, are doctors in Urbandale. Fortune and other media are buzzing about his soft-spoken, humble ways and persistence overcoming obstacles.

Pinterest co-founder Paul Sciarra announced he was stepping down this month, leaving Silbermann at the helm. But Fortune notes that Silbermann continues to answer customer-support emails and other mundane tasks at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based startup.

His site is the rare case of Iowans being ahead of the curve in tech circles. People in Iowa and other fly-over states began using Pinterest first a couple of years ago, but since then the site has taken off like mad.

If Silbermann has figured out how to make money off the site, he’s not saying. The company was reportedly valued at $200 million in October, but TechCrunch now estimates the site is worth more than a billion dollars. Yes, that’s with a “b.”

The Register’s Adam Belz did a profile of Silbermann before he caught the national media’s interest; read it here. 

The airline will offer two flights daily to Chicago’s Midway airport. Southwest’s planes offer 40 more seats per flight, officials said.

“This is great news for Iowa as Southwest has had a track record of increasing ridership, reducing fares and providing great competition,” said Gov. Terry Branstad in a statement. “I believe this will be a very positive development for air travelers and should be a significant benefit for our economic development efforts.”

Additional Southwest flights are expected in the future. Southwest serves 73 cities.

A new study by the trade association AGC of America lists Iowa No. 4 in percentage growth of construction jobs for the 12 months ending in February.

Iowa contractors added 4,300 jobs during that period, to produce a 7.0 percent growth rate, which was topped only by North Dakota (18.8 percent), the District of Columbia (13.2 percent) and Tennessee (7.9 percent).

AGC said that while the number of states with year-over-year construction gains continues to grow, “the industry is still struggling in too many states to declare that construction is in full recovery.”

Scott Norvell, chief executive of Master Builders of Iowa said, “The warm weather this year provided more opportunity for consistent outside employment” during the winter months.

Normally, construction employment goes down in the winter and back up in the spring, but this year, it remained fairly consistent during the traditionally cold-weather months, because it was not all that cold, Norvell said.

He cautioned that since the recession began more than four years ago there has not really been a significant upswing in construction employment in Iowa.

“We’ve been down so long, everything looks like up,” Norvell said. But, he added, “there is some optimism that things are a little better positioned this year.”

He cited several construction projects that are ready to begin this year, including:

•  A $1.3 billion fertilizer plant that a subsidiary of an Egyptian company wants to build in Lee County.

• A $300 million plant expansion by Alcoa in Riverside.

• Microsoft’s plan to build a $200 million server farm in West Des Moines.

• The University of Iowa’s launch of a massive flood rebuilding effort, which is expected to begin later this year.

Loren Kruse will retire in September, shortly after he turns 65. He has been the top editor of the national agriculture publication since 1989.

Meredith says it has begun a nationwide search for the new editorial content chief for Successful Farming. The magazine has a circulation of 420,000 and about 1.3 million readers per issue, the company said.

In an interview, Kruse mentioned several highlights from his career. He helped launch Meredith’s first website, agriculture.com, in 1995, and a spinoff magazine and TV show, “Living the Country Life.” He also supervised the creation of “The Machinery Show,” which he said continues to enjoy high viewership on RFD-TV.

Kruse, a graduate of Kansas State and Oklahoma State universities, joined Successful Farming in 1976 after serving as Extension 4-H Editor at Oklahoma State University.

“During the many years I have had the privilege of working with Loren, I have always admired his commitment to editorial integrity, his focus on service journalism and his drive to always doing what was right for the reader,” Tom Davis, vice president and group publisher for Meredith’s National Media Group, said in a statement. ”He excelled at making Successful Farming timely, relevant and well-positioned to help American farm families be successful.”

Kruse, who lives in Ankeny, said he plans to spend more time on the Grundy County farm where he grew up. He operates a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm at the site, as well as raising crops and livestock.

“The trees take up all time, and I’ve neglected the other parts of farm that need attention,” he said. He also plans to spend more time with wife, Elizabeth Anderson, golfing, traveling and volunteering. The couple has a son John, 20, and a daughter Kate, 18.

Kruse serves on the advisory council of the College of Agriculture for Kansas State University and is president of the Education Foundation of the Ankeny Christian Academy. He is a past chairman of the board of Living History Farms and a past president of the boards for the Iowa Christmas Tree Growers Association, Iowa 4-H Foundation, and the Education Foundation of the National Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity. He has served as vice president of the Fellowship of Christian Farmers International and past chairman of the National Science Foundation’s committee for the National Agro Knowledge Center.

Nationally, the unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.3 percent in February.

Iowa’s biggest employment gains during the month came in education and health services, which added 3,600 jobs during the month and leisure and hospitality, which added 2,100, according to Iowa Workforce Development.

The gain in education and health services brought total seasonally adjusted employment in that category to a record high of 218,300.

The February survey listed 88,500 Iowans as unemployed, which was 1,600 fewer than January and 11,200 fewer than February 2011.

The February numbers are very similar to the data from April 2009, when Iowa’s unemployment problems were still rising.

Historic data show Iowa’s unemployment rate peaked at 6.3 percent during several months of 2010, when as many as 106,000 Iowans were unemployed. The rate and the number of unemployed Iowans dropped gradually throughout 2011, with the pace accelerating in January.

On a year-to-year basis, the biggest employment gain was in manufacturing, where 11,000 jobs were added between February 2011 and last month, bringing manufacturing employment to 215,300, the highest it’s been since January 2009. The one-month gain, however, was only 100 jobs.

Construction also showed a significant annual increase of 4,300 jobs, and a monthly increase of 1,300 jobs, bringing total seasonally adjusted construction employment to 65,400, the highest its been since May 2009.

The February report “solidifies the gains Iowa has been making in recent months,” Workforce Development spokeswoman Karry Koonce. “We are definitely gaining good nonfarm jobs back,” she said.

“Iowa’s economy is turing the corner,” said Teresa Wahlert, director of the state agency said in a news release. “February’s job gains were also broader in scope, occurring in most industry sectors,” she said.

The report listed Iowa’s total non farm jobs in February at 1,493,500, a gain of 8,700 from January, and up 17,200 from a year earlier.

County and city unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted and are not directly comparable with the overall state rate, which is seasonally adjusted.

The Iowa county with the lowest unemployment rate was Lyon in far northwest Iowa at 3.0 percent, while the county with the highest rate was Hamilton County (Webster City) in north central Iowa at 9.0 percent.

The rate for the Des Moines metro area dropped to 6.0 percent from 6.1 percent in February, while the Cedar Rapids metro area dropped to 6.2 percent  from 6.3 percent. Iowa City had the lowest metro area rate at 4.2 percent, down from 4.4 percent in January.

J.J. Scheckel Heavy Equipment Corp. of Bellevue received the Global Iowa Export Award Thursday from the Iowa Economic Development Authority during the Opening Global Opportunities Conference at the Hotel Julien in Dubuque, Iowa.

Josh Scheckel started the company in 1996 as a resale business for Caterpillar engines and older equipment. Today, Scheckel does business in all 50 states and four countries with sales in the millions, state officials said.

The one-day conference also featured speakers from Dunlap International, Farm Tek and Midamar Corporation. The keynote address was presented by Michael Flaherty, consul and senior trade commissioner from the Canadian Consulate General in Minneapolis.

Chris Diebel

Chris Diebel, the high-profile marketing director of Orchestrate Hospitality, is moving to LPCA Public Strategies where he will continue handling public relations for several area inns, including the Fort Des Moines Hotel, and restaurants managed by Orchestrate.

Diebel, 31, will be the managing director of LPCA, the firm that was created in 2007 by former Democratic political consultants Jeff Link, Matt Paul and Brad Anderson to lobby for and provide public affairs advice to Iowa businesses. Former Iowa Atty. Gen. Bonnie Campbell joined the group as a partner in 2010.

Promotional ventures spearheaded by Des Moines native Diebel have captured wide attention in recent years, including the launch of Zombie Burger + Drink Lab in the East Village last year and promotions for Gateway Markets and Django. He’s also helped promote many non-profit events including Winefest, the Ingersoll Avenue business district and the Downtown Neighborhood Association.

Diebel was also instrumental in creating a new, profitable form of tourism in Iowa by promoting metro area hotels and restaurants as a wedding destination to same-sex couples after the Iowa Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in in Iowa.

Diebel was named “Young Professional of the Year” by The Register’s Juice magazine in 2010 and in 2008 was the named one of Des Moines’ Forty Under Forty by the Business Record.

The move will allow him to bring the public relations side of Orchestrate’s business into LPCA, Diebel said.

The move has the blessing of Orchestrate chief Paul Rottenberg, who said: “I have truly valued the working relationship and friendship Chris and I have had for the last decade and look forward to being a part of his future success.”

A PowerFilm solar panel atop an emergency vehicle

Ames-based PowerFilm has a new partnership with a company that makes lighting bars and other equipment for emergency vehicles.

The agreement will allow Streamlight Inc. to add PowerFilm’s 14-watt flexible solar panels as an option for emergency responders and others looking for an auxiliary source of power for the lights, computers, radios and other electrical components that are now built into vehicles.

The Streamlight deal is the second vehicle partnership announced by PowerFilm. In January, the company said it will join with Textron Co. to make solar power an option for E-Z-GO golf cars and other electric vehicles.

In a statement announcing the Streamlight venture, PowerFilm president Tim Neugent said the company’s new  solar panels provides enough supplemental power to the batteries of emergency vehicles “to ensure that the vehicle will start when needed and reduce the need to idle the vehicle, saving fuel and reducing emissions.”

Streamlight president Ray Sharrah said in an email: “PowerFilm is one of the few solar panel companies that specialize in human scale products. Most manufacturers, thin film or otherwise, are targeting large commercial or residential installations using thousands of square feet of panel. PowerFilm’s focus on smaller products met our needs for vehicular mobile applications and their design proved itself in a year of field trials.”

He said the Iowa company’s “solar technology is unequaled and provides us with amazing versatility.”

Streamlight will begin shipping PowerFilm products next month, Sharrah said.

The potential market is substantial, he said. “In the US alone there are 18,000 law enforcement agencies. There are 25,000 vehicles in service in just state police and highway patrols. American auto manufacturers sell more than 50,000 new police cars a year. When we add this to industrial and utility vehicles and look internationally, it presents a considerable market need.”

Many of the expansions are in states where Maid-Rite has not had operations in the past, including North Carolina, Utah, Florida and Ohio, said Maid-Rite chief Bradley Burt.

The most recent additions mean the chain now has 74 restaurants in 14 states, Burt said.

He said the recent economic turnaround has been good for selling Maid-Rite franchises to late-in-life entrepreneurs who see the chain as a chance reclaim their piece of the American dream.

“After going through the doldrums of the economic recession in 2009, 2010 and parts of 2011, it is wonderful to see the American Spirit unfold and to see our franchisees opening new restaurants across this great land,” Burt said.

He said the Des Moines-based chain has seen growing interest from potential new oweners in part because it is one of the least expensive restaurant franchises.

“Total start-up costs to open a Maid-Rite in a leased 1,500 to 1,800 square-foot space, typically costs around $300,000, which includes the franchise fee, equipment and furniture, leasehold improvements and working capital,” Burt said.

The chain’s new menu has also been a plus with it’s emphasis on more healthy foods, including smoked turkey and chicken wraps and fresh gourmet garden salads, along with Maid-Rite’s signature loose-meat sandwiches and other traditional fare.

The chain’s average per-person ticket is $6.75 to $7 with an average order fulfillment time of three to five minutes, Burt said.

New Maid-Rites opened this year in Fort Smith, Ark.; Aurora, Colo.; Wilson, N.C.; and Layton, Utah.

Locations currently under construction are in Fort Dodge and Mount Pleasant, Ia.; Fayetteville, Ark.; Lakeland, Fla.; Detroit Lakes, Minn.; Arlington, Tex.; and Waukesha, Wis.

New franchises are planned for Charles City and Webster City, Ia.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Bentonville, Ark.; Fort Collins, Col.; Chicago;  Grand Island, Neb.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Owatonna, Minn.; St. Joseph, Mo.; and Nassau Bay, Tex.

Ball follows former partner, Ladco CEO Jon Garnass, into bankruptcy. Ball had been a co-guarantor of many Ladco Development projects, along with Garnaas, who filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 1.

The Balls’ lawyer Don Neiman said that after Garnass failed, it was only a matter of time until Ball found himself in the same situation. The couple filed their Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy on Thursday.

Garnaas listed debts totaling $457 million and assets of $1.1 million on his bankruptcy filing.

Neiman said it’s likely that Ball’s father, Darrell Ball, also will have to file a bankruptcy action as early as next week because Darrell Ball was also a guarantor of Ladco debt.

The Balls worked with Garnaas on a number of high-profile development projects, including the downtown Davis Brown Tower, the Mercy Wellness Campus in Clive, and the Village of Ponderosa in West Des Moines.

The Balls and Garnaas parted ways about a year ago, giving their interest in Ball Construction to the Ladco chief, and creating a new contracting business called BallTeam LLC.

As part of the separation, the Balls were to have been released from their debt guarantees on Ladco projects, but they were unable to work out the releases in time, Neiman said.

Of the $203.5 million in debts listed by Richard and Nancy Ball, $195.3 million are unsecured and $8.1 million are secured. The collateral for most of the couple’s secured debts is their home, which is listed as being worth $460,000.

The bulk of the Balls’ creditors consist of banks and insurance companies, which provided financing for Ladco projects.

Ball’s father, Darrell Ball, was long-time partners with the late Jack Taylor in a construction business called Taylor Ball. The two went their separate ways in 2001 with Ball focusing on development, and Taylor on construction.

2008 photo of Dinesh Sethi

The owner of a Des Moines-based employment agency was sentenced Friday to 57 months in prison after pleading guilty last fall to creating a scheme to avoid paying $778,940 in workers compensation premiums.

Dinesh Sethi, owner of DES Staffing Services was also ordered to pay restitution of 778,940 and to serve a five-year-term of supervised release following his release from prison.

The sentencing in U.S. District Court provided an ironic ending to what had started out as an embezzlement case against one of Sethi’s employees.

DES Staffing is based in Des Moines and has offices in eight states.

Sethi’s problems began in 2009 when he accused an employee, Randy Stringer, of embezzling more than $1 million from two businesses that Sethi owned, DES Staffing and Des Moines Quick Cash, a check cashing and quick loan business.

Stringer pleaded guilty in February 2010 and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

Stringer turned on his former boss and began supplying the FBI with documentation of how Sethi had used illegal methods to lower the workers compensation premiums paid by his businesses to Travelers and Liberty Mutual insurance companies.

The office of Nicholas Klinefeldt, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa explained in a news release how Sethi had cheated the insurers.

“Sethi directed the creation of two shell companies, Staffing Professionals and KDM Staffing, and transferred DES employees to thos entities to avoid the larger workers compensation premiums DES owed as a result of its accident and claims history,” the statement from Klinefeldt said.

“Sethi directed his chief financial officer, Randy Stringer, to shift payroll from job classifications which had a high premium rate to job classifications which had a lower premium rate, such as clerical,” the statement said. managed to avoid

Sethi pleaded guilty last September to one count of wire fraud and acknowledged that he and Stringer had defrauded the insurance companies. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors agreed to drop five other charges against Sethi and agreed not to prosecute the company or members of his family.

Greg Peterson

Des Moines area native Greg Peterson has been hired to manage the 187-room Gateway Hotel and Conference Center in Ames, where he will take over on March 19.

Peterson is a graduate of Valley High School and the University of Northern Iowa with more than 20 years in the hotel industry, most recently as the senior director of rooms operations at Des Moines’ Downtown Marriott.

Most of Peterson’s career has been spent outside Iowa, working for Hyatt Hotels in Texas, Colorado and California, but he returned to Iowa last year to take the position at the Des Moines Marriott.

The Ames hotel was built in 1978 and 16,000 square feet of banquet and conference space. The Iowa State University Foundation sold it last October to a group of ISU alumni led by Des Moines businessman Al Jennings, lawyer John Schors and accountant Daryl Hentz.

The new owners hired Paul Rottenberg‘s Orchestrate Management to oversee operations.

The Des Moines Area Association of Realtors released February figures on Friday, saying sales “remain steady, as we move into the spring home-buying season.”

The February sales are another indication that the economy has turned a corner and there is light at the end of the tunnel, said association president Ken Clark.

“There’s nothing out there now to preclude people from buying a house,” he said. “We are outpacing the last three years on pending home sales for this time of year.”

“As the weather continues to get warmer, we anticipate more buyers and sellers entering the market,” he said.

The Realtors Association said 490 home sales closed during February, which was 17.5 percent more than the 417 sales a year earlier and 16.1 percent higher than the 422 sales in January.

Pending sales were even stronger with 814 contracts written in February that have yet to close, compared with 639 a year ago and 664 in January.

The only downside for the month was that average sales prices continued to decline. The average price for a sale in February was $140,711, compared with $145,508 a year ago and $144,717 in January.

Clark said that drop is an indication that some of the glut that built up after the housing industry collapse is working its way out of the system.

“We had 47 units that sold for under $30,000 in February,” Clark said. Most were foreclosures. “That’s more clear out than we’ve had in a lot of months,” he said.

On the other hand, sales of homes priced between $250,000 to $500,000 were as strong as they were a year ago, which is a good indication of stability at that end of the market, Clark said.

Emily Droessler

University of Northern Iowa student Emily Droessler has turned an assignment from a digital advertising class into a professional opportunity.

When UNI marketing instructor Matthew Wilson asked students to create a personal brand using social media, Droessler, a junior, created a blog called Sports & Media that wound up attracting the attention of two NBA teams, the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Among other things, her blog explains how athletic teams use social media, but it also has lots of how-to information for sports fans.

Earlier this week, she wrote that the Philadelphia Wings lacrosse team was the first American sports team “to  put their twitter handles on the back of jerseys for a game. … After the game the jerseys were auctioned off to the public and proceeds were given to the American Cancer Society.”

In another recent blog, she explained how sports teams are using Pinterest, the social media site created by Des Moines native Ben Silbermann, to attract more female fans.

Back in January, Wilson told Droessler and other members of his digital advertising class that he wanted them to “think about your dream job five or 10 years down the line, and then work towards it by using social media to create a personal brand.”

“Emily wants to be in sports marketing,”Wilson said.

Her dream job would be working for the Olympics.

Wilson suggested that she start using social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs, to write about how athletes and sports teams use social media to expand their  fan base and, ultimately, sell more tickets.

“That’s exactly what she did,” he said.

To date, she has written 14 blogs of 500 to 700 words each.

The key, of course, is to write about something that is of interest to a large number of people, Wilson said.

One of Droessler’s early efforts was about Knicks star Jeremy Lin.

Wilson had taught his class how to gather statistics for various forms of social media, and Droessler used those analytics to find out how many people were following Lin on different social media platforms.

“She started writing this great content, and content is king,” Wilson said.

“The great thing about blogs and tweets is that anybody can see them,” he said.

“You write about Jeremy Lin, a topic that everybody is talking about and everybody is searching for information about, and inevitably people find it.”

“She got contacted by a representative of the Knicks, and the same week she got contacted by a social media consultant to the Philadelphia 76ers and asked to contribute to their sports marketing blog, which is called The Field,” Wilson said.

Droessler also has her own Sports & Social Media blog.

Wilson said a lot of students in his digital advertising class think it will be easy to use social media to create a personal brand because they already use Facebook and Twitter.

“What they don’t realize is that their own personal life is a totally different thing from using social media to  create a professional brand,” he said.

“You can’t just Tweet: ‘I’m at the store now.’ You have to write engaging content.”

Which is exactly what Droessler does.

And that dream job with the Olympics? It’s a lot closer now than it was before she signed up for Wilson’s class.

President Steven Leath and Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Hoffman announced March 6 that the search for the business dean would be temporarily halted. Last month, Hoffman announced her plans to step down from her position no later than the end of the calendar year.

Labh Hira, dean of the College of Business since 2001, announced in October that he would step down on June 30.

Crum is associate dean of graduate programs in the college and inaugural holder of the Ruan Chair in Supply Chain Management. He will become interim dean and recipient of the Raisbeck Endowed Dean position, effective July 1.

“I am so pleased that a faculty member with such a distinguished record in teaching, research and administration has agreed to lead the College of Business in the interim,” Hoffman said in a statement. “We are grateful to Mike for his willingness to take on this responsibility.

“The president and I are in agreement that this is the appropriate order for these searches. Business dean candidates will want to know the provost with whom they will work,” she added.

Crum will serve as interim dean for up to two years.

“I was very happy to learn that Mike was asked to serve in this role, and I’m very happy for Mike personally,” Hira said. “He has been an excellent associate dean for nearly seven years and is more than prepared to serve as dean. I can’t think of anyone better suited and more in touch with the needs of our students, faculty and supporters.”

It also shows that uncertainty among local nonprofits about the future is higher than it was two or three years ago.

The survey by the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines is mostly good news, said foundation president Kristi Knous, in that it found private support for area nonprofits is growing and that the new money is being used to add services and hire more people.

The foundation conducted similar surveys in 2009 and 2010, and one way to read the new results is that compared with those years, the level of uncertainty over questions involving the future is much higher today, roughly 20 percentage points.

That uncertainty, Knous said, is more the result of people being disappointed because the economy failed to rebound last year, than about new financial concerns.

The online survey was conducted in January with more than 70 nonprofits representing a wide array of services participating.

The survey found that 47 percent of participating agencies expect their funding situation will improve in the next six to 12 months. That was higher than 2010 (40 percent) and 2009 (21 percent). Also, only 13 percent now expect their funding to decrease in the immediate future, which is much lower than 2010 (33 percent) and 2009 (56 percent.)

The responses showed that nonprofit cash reserves are better now than during the earlier surveys and that fewer nonprofits today have negative cash flow or need to take out short-term loans to smooth out cash flow.

There’s also evidence that more nonprofits are being strategic about their futures, which is something the Community Foundation promotes.

In the new survey, 60 percent of the nonprofits said they have a strategic plan in place.

Knous also said that survey comments show more nonprofits are thinking about and discussing merger possibilities than was the case two or three years ago. That means they are being smart about their businesses and looking for new ways to become more efficient, she said.

One final piece of good news, Knous said, is anecdotal evidence that support from corporations and individuals is returning to arts and culture agencies, including the Des Moines Civic Center and Bravo Greater Des Moines, after having fallen off during the economic downturn.

Court reporting and captioning skills are still much prized by those industries, but the economy and competition from voice recognition software has discouraged students from entering the fields, said AIB President Nancy Williams.

As a result, the school has decided to concentrate on areas of growth, including sports and events management, along with more traditional courses in business administration and accounting.

A new strategic plan for the college that trustees approved last week “promotes baccalaureate eduction with exceptional business curricula,” Williams said.

Nearly 900 full and part-time students are enrolled in AIB’s day, evening and online classes, she said.

In recent years, AIB has added men’s and women’s basketball and golf and women’s volleyball. It will also add competitive dance and men’s and women’s scoccer next fall and baseball and softball in the spring of 2014.

The influx of student athletes has translated into increased interest in sports and events management, Williams said.

AIB’s 12-month teaching schedule allows students to receive bachelors degrees in accounting and business administration in less than three years, she said, while two-year degrees are offered in 21 months for business-related majors, including financial services, leadership, insurance services, sales and marketing, sports and events management and international business.

The school will continue courts reporting and captioning majors until 2015 to allow students now in the programs to graduate.

The lack of student interest in court reporting programs is a national phenomena, Williams said. “Almost half the U.S. schools that taught the programs have closed or phased them out since 1996,” she said.

AIB has been the only Iowa school to offer court reporting and captioning degrees.

“In today’s economy, we are chosing to concentrate more strongly on our business core,” she said.

Stanley will work with St. Louis based Alberici Constructors on the project that is expected to have a contract value of more than $100 million.

The power plant involved is the Asbury Power Plant, which has a capacity of 207 megawatts. The contract calls for the new air emission controls to be operational by February 2015.

The joint venture will guarantee removal of emissions including sulfur dioxide, mercury and particulates from the power plant, which was originally put into service in 1970.

The Ankeny-based chain said the gain was driven by “strong inside sales,” with same-store sales of high-margin food and fountain drinks jumping 12.6 percent, well above the goal of a 7.7 percent gain for the category.

The sale of pizzas and other prepared foods and drinks helped offset a 2.4 percent decrease in gasoline sales for the period.

The $16.7 million profit for the three months ended Jan. 31 amounted to 43 cents per diluted share, compared with $12.9 million, or 34 cents a share, a year earlier.

“The solid third quarter results continue to demonstrate that Casey’s is executing well on our strategic plan,” Casey’s chief Robert Myers said in the earnings announcement. “We are expanding our footprint in our current market as well as development of new states,” he said.

Nine month profits were also up 30 percent to $93.7 million.

Revenue for the quarter totaled $1.58 billion, which was 15 percent higher than a year ago, but below the $1.65 billion expected by analysts.

Casey’s released the news after the market had closed Monday with the company’s shares gaining 81 cents to close at $51.14.

Myers blamed the lower gasoline sales on higher prices at the pump. He said that despite selling fewer gallons, Casey’s met its profit margin of 13.5 cents per gallon.

During the quarter, the chain converted 145 stores to 24-hour service, with 20 percent of its stores now open full-time.

Same-store grocery and other merchandize sales were up 6.3 percent for the quarter, exceeding the goal of 5.8 percent. Myers attributed that to favorable weather and new, larger stores.

Hotel Charitone as it looks today.

Executives of Hy-Vee Inc. on Friday pledged up to $1.6 million to a project that will convert a 1923 hotel in Chariton into apartments, a restaurant and other commercial space.

The Hotel Charitone is located on the northeast corner of the town square in Hy-Vee’s original hometown in south-central Iowa.

Along with the pledge from the 235-store supermarket chain, the Chariton project has received a $500,000 pledge from the Vredenburg Foundation, a charity established by the family of the late Dwight Vredenburg, a co-founder whose name represents the “Vee” in Hy-Vee.

The four-story, brick hotel was originally designed by famed Iowa architect William L. Perkins and is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Hotel Charitone as it looked in the 1940s

The 75-room hotel cost $100,000 and took nine months to build 1923. It was described at the time by the local newspaper as “the biggest building project to be launched here.”

(CLICK HERE to read a reprint of by The Lucas Countyan of the story that ran in the Chariton Herald-Patriot when the hotel opened in November 1923.)

The hotel was the first fireproof building in Chariton, the newspaper said, noting that about 100 tons of steel were used in the construction. The only wood, it said, was in the doors, window casings and lobby and dining room furniture. It was the first hotel in Iowa to feature steel furniture.

The Hotel Chairtone as it looked in the 1920s when it opened.

The hotel continued to accommodate overnight guests through the 1970s, but was later gutted and converted to a furniture store. Hy-Vee spokeswoman and Chariton native Ruth Comer said the rail passenger service in Chariton spelled the beginning of the end for the hotel.

By 2002 the building was vacant and in 2008 it was listed by the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance as one of the state’s most endangered historic sites, she said.

Last year, a group of Chariton civic leaders led by attorney Raymond Meyer, approached Hy-Vee about helping with a rehabilitation project.

Hy-vee’s headquarters was located in Chariton, which is about 50 miles southeast of Des Moines, until 1998 when the corporate office was moved 50 miles north and west to West Des Moines. The $7.3 billion supermarket chain continues to operate a major distribution center in Chariton.

During a ceremony in Chariton Friday, Hy-Vee chairman Ric Jurgens said the hotel restoration is the first step in revitalizing Chariton’s downtown. “We aren’t going to be satisfied with fixing up one building on one corner,” he said in a statement announcing the pledge.

“We see this project as a springboard to creating a beautiful vibrant town square that will be the envy of all communities in Iowa,” Jurgens said. “Anything that helps Chariton grow and prosper will have a positive impact on Hy-Vee as well.”

Upper floors of the hotel will be converted into 12 to 15 apartments, while plans call for a restaurant and other commercial space on the ground floor.

Koester Construction Co. of Grimes will over see the work. Koester has handled similar preservation projects in Osceloa, Jefferson, Stuart and other Iowa communities, Comer said.

“There is a critical need for quality rental housing in Chariton,” attorney Meyer said in the announcement.

He explained that the Vredenburg Foundation made its commitment after Hy-Vee officials said that they wanted a significant commitment from a local funding source before authorizing the design process.

The biggest improvement was in capital spending with members of the Iowa Business Council saying the outlook for the next six months is better than at any time since the fourth quarter of 2007.

“Iowa’s business leaders are predicting economic growth,” said Business Council chairman Stan Askren in a statement accompanying the new quarterly report.

“Stronger sales and capital spending forecasts are positive trends while the job market is slowly becoming more vibrant,” said Askren, who is chairman and chief executive of Muscatine-based HNI Corp., a major manufacturer of office furniture and hearth products.

The Business Council’s overall outlook based on all three factors – sales, employment and capital spending – was the best it has been since the first quarter of 2011, when the outlook index had put together five consecutive quarters of gains.

But the outlook lost ground last year during the second and third quarters, before gaining ground again in the fourth quarter. The new index marks two consecutive quarters of consistent gains by all three factors.

The Iowa Business Council uses sales, employment and capital spending by their members to create a 100 point scale, where numbers above 50 are considered positive and below 50 are negative.

The overall index for the current quarter is 66.3 compared with 62 for the fourth quarter and 66.7 a year ago. Since 2007, the index has been as low as 35.3 during the first quarter of 2009 and as high as 66.7 a year ago.

The council is composed of 20 of Iowa’s largest employers, the presidents of the three state universities and the Iowa Bankers Association.

Not sure what criteria the e-magazine used for “small towns.” The list of shops are located in, besides Des Moines, Aspen, Colo.; Charleston, S.C.; Bellevue, Wash.; Norfolk, Va.; Beachwood, Ohio; Cambridge, Mass.; Braselton, Ga.; and Hanover, N.H. — cities whose populations range from Braselton’s approximately 8,000 to Des Moines’ and Norfolk’s more than 200,000.

Complex Style is a men’s fashion, shopping and streetwear news magazine. Here’s what it said about Des Moines and Badowers: “The flyover/drivethrough capital (OK we made that up), deadset in the middle of the country, doesn’t get a lot of compliments on it’s menswear and style. But that is quickly changing with menswear shop Badowers taking over, carrying awesomeness from Tanner Goods, Gant Rugger, LBM 1911, and Baldwin Denim. We bet you don’t drive straight through without stopping in next time.”

The first batch was released in December and sold out across Iowa and Illinois with three days, and 120 bottles were sold at the Le Claire distillery in less than four hours.

This time, Mississippi River Distilling made 899 bottles, with 90 bottles on sale at  the distillery’s retail shop starting at 10 a.m. Friday. Sales will be limited to one bottle per person.

The company said the Iowa Alcohol Beverage Division is limiting retailers to six bottles per store, per week.

“Unfortunately, this batch likely won’t last much longer than the first,” said owner and distiller Ryan Burchett.

Burchett and his brother, Garrett, said they plan to increase production and have more bourbon on the shelf by late this year.

Fans can help increase production by adopting a bourbon barrel for $400. After a year of aging, the adoptive parent can help bottle the bourbon and receive six bottles and an empty barrel in return. Starting this week, 100 barrels will be available for adoption.

Iowa’s capital city was second to Washington, D.C., on the list that came out today. Madison, Wis., was fifth; Omaha, seventh; and Minneapolis, ninth.

“Relatively high household incomes  and a low unemployment rate mean this capital city five-and-a-half hours west of Chicago is primed to add good jobs that newcomers can fill. Moody’s Analytics, which compiled all the projections for this survey, estimates Des Moines-area employment will increase by 8.6% or 36,000 jobs to 461,000 by the end of 2016.”

Forbes explained that it based rankings on unemployment rate, household income and projected job growth, and gave extra weight to cities with high and rising median household incomes.

“It was the combination of raw job growth, low unemployment and high wages that advanced Des Moines to second place,” Forbes said. “Job growth isn’t all coming from state government or the John Deere factory in nearby Ankeny, which has grown 36% to 1,900 jobs in the last few years. Des Moines also has a bustling ag/biotech industry thanks to operations like DuPont’s Pioneer seed business,” which employs about 3,500 in Iowa. “And closely held Kemin Industries, started in the early 1960s to produce a better grade of pig feed, has grown 50% in the past five years to about 390 employees in Des Moines by expanding into a broad range of animal and human nutrients. Kemin’s a leading producer of lutein used in human vitamins and antioxidants used in food production.”

Forbes also said that unlike many Midwestern cities, Des Moines has maintained big downtown employers Principal Financial Group, Wells Fargo and Meredith Corp. Downtown employment has grown from 45,000 in 1980 to 75,000 today, according to the city.

The piece quoted Andrea Hauer (misspelled Howard in the article), the city’s economic development coordinator, saying:  “I hate to say the old familiar on Des Moines, but it’s true. We never have the high-highs, and in return we never have the dump-out-the-bucket lows.”

There’s still time to register your employer. The new deadline is March 23.

Already, 111 employers have agreed to participate. Any organization — including businesses, nonprofits and governments — with at least 35 employees in Iowa is eligible to participate.

Anyone can nominate a potential top workplace, from a customer to the CEO. To nominate, go to DesMoinesRegister.com/topworkplaces or call (515) 598-7192.

Participating is free, and every organization will receive confidential feedback on its workplace.

Our research partner, WorkplaceDynamics, will evaluate the workplaces by using a short survey distributed to employees.

Top employers will be ranked in small, medium and large categories. The rankings will be published in the Sunday Register this fall.

Speaking of top workplaces: I wrote the story below about a year ago, but the lessons are worth sharing again. I loved interviewing Kim Jordan, the CEO of New Belgium Brewing. Alas, if we could only have had beers together …

Feb. 27, 2011

Perks are only part of creating good workplace

By LYNN HICKS

lhicks@dmreg.com

Free beer, free bikes and open books.

That’s just part of Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing Co.’s recipe for creating a great place to work. It takes more than a menu of generous benefits.

“One thing I hear more than anything that makes us special is, ‘I get to come to work and be myself,’ ” Kim Jordan, CEO of the craft brewer that makes Fat Tire Amber Ale, said in an interview last week. “It’s OK to ask questions. It’s OK to suggest hare-brained ideas and not get a demerit.”

Jordan spoke at Iowa State University last week, and I asked her advice on creating a unique culture. Her Fort Collins, Colo., company has been named a top place to work by the Wall Street Journal, Outside magazine and WorldBlu, which measures the most democratic workplaces.

The Register this year will recognize Iowa’s top workplaces for the first time. About 3,800 employees have been surveyed so far, and we’re hearing why they love their jobs.

“We are listened to and made to feel we are part of something bigger,” said one Iowa employee. The employer is confidential – we’ll reveal our list of top workplaces this fall.

At New Belgium, doing business is about something bigger. Its purpose statement: “To operate a profitable brewery which makes our love and talent manifest.”

Jordan, a former social worker, founded the company in 1991 with her then-husband. They started brewing in their basement, and the company grew quickly. It’s the third-largest craft brewer in the United States, with more than $100 million in sales a year.

New Belgium has sold its beer in Iowa for three years, and it has become one of the top three best sellers of craft beer in central Iowa, said Mike Brewington, president of Iowa Beverage Systems in Des Moines.

New Belgium advertises more than Fat Tire, however. The company’s mission includes being a business role model for its triple bottom-line approach: people, planet and profits.

“We spend a lot of time in this endeavor called work. If it doesn’t touch you in your soul, then it’s not a good investment of time,” Jordan said.

Jordan offered her advice with a caution: If you want to emulate New Belgium’s practices, you must pursue your business passionately, not simply because you think it will give you a competitive advantage.

“For me, doing this halfheartedly or haphazardly, and some point saying, ‘Eh, this is too much work,’ is the worst outcome. It may be worse than not trying at all,” she said.

Here are some of Jordan’s tips:

Give great perks: Every employee gets two six-packs a week. After working at New Belgium for a year, all employees get ownership in the company, plus a free cruiser bike. After five years, they get a trip to Belgium. But Jordan said it’s important to know when to say no to requests, as she did when employees sought a six-month sabbatical program. “I have a responsibility to make sure the company is financially sound. Co-workers need to feel that same pinch.”

Be transparent: Jordan practices open-book management. The company is privately held, but managers share financial performance with employees. She decided to do this in 1995, when she asked employees to estimate how much the company spent on raw materials, labor and other expenses, and how much was left over for profit. Employees figured the company was making 60 percent margins.

“We looked at the answers and laughed,” she said. “If people are making up these stories about where the money goes, then this is an opportunity for transparency.” As a first step, she recommends providing financial literacy training to employees.

Live your principles: From the beginning, the company has focused on environmental stewardship. The company measures the carbon footprint of a six-pack of Fat Tire, it diverts about 97 percent of its waste from the landfill and it has the largest privately owned solar array in Colorado, among other sustainability efforts.

Create a high involvement culture: Every August, all 385 New Belgium employees gather for a staff retreat outside in the foothills of the Rockies. In small groups, workers offer ideas for the company’s one- and three-year strategic plans, as well as their personal work objectives. “It’s an incredibly powerful engine for us,” Jordan said.

Trust each other and commit to authentic communication: This core principle is one of the hardest for the company, she said. One of its strengths is also its weakness: “We’re friends with another, and emotionally close,” she said. That makes it hard to have difficult conversations. “People pass on that more than it’s good for us,” she said. The company uses the Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations training program to overcome that.

Be clear who’s in charge: Sometimes, it’s right to give employees decision-making power. In 1998, management told co-workers: We want to switch to wind power, but that would reduce your profit-sharing checks, so we’re taking this to a vote. It was unanimously supported.

Other times, leaders should get feedback but be clear about who will make the decision. “There are times leadership requires tough decisions,” she said, while the group might choose the path that hurts the least number of feelings.

Plan for the future: In the rapidly consolidating beer industry, New Belgium gets offers to sell about every week, Jordan said. She tells suitors the answer is no while she forms a “perpetuation, liquidity and succession” plan.

How would she ensure New Belgium’s culture thrived under a new owner?

“I wish I could tell you I had the answer, but I don’t. We’re working on it.”

Gannett Co. announced that it would start charging for content on its newspapers’ websites, including The Des Moines Register and the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

“We will begin to restrict some access to non-subscribers,” said Bob Dickey, president of community publishing. Online readers will be able to view a limited number of articles a month before being asked to subscribe.

A specific timetable was not shared, but executives said the new subscription model will roll out to all 80 Gannett newspapers by the end of the year. USA Today’s website will remain free.

Gannett’s stock rose more than 4 percent Wednesday, after the company outlined a plan to return $1.3 billion to shareholders by 2015. The stock was down a little over 1 percent today.

Gannett said Wednesday at a meeting with investors and analysts that it plans to more than double its annual dividend to 80 cents per share. The first quarterly dividend of 20 cents will be paid in April. It will also buy back $300 million worth of shares in the next two years.

The company’s stock rose 63 cents, or 4.2 percent, to close at $15.61 on Wednesday. That is close to the stock’s 52-week high of $16.75 set last March.

Gannett said it expects annual revenue growth between 2 percent and 4 percent by 2015. Gannett’s quarterly revenue has declined, on a year-over-year basis, for the last 20 quarters.

The company also plans to re-launch its online, mobile and tablet products over the next two years.

AirTran announced today new daily nonstop service between Des Moines and Chicago Midway, starting Sept. 30.

Des Moines International Airport Executive Director Don Smithey said in a statement: “Southwest/AirTran will replace the current Milwaukee service with service to Chicago’s Midway Airport. An early search of fares shows an introductory round-trip rate of $184. This is very good news for Des Moines and central Iowa.”

In addition, Southwest announced new nonstop service between Detroit and Las Vegas, and Southwest will now operate two daily nonstop flights between Atlanta and San Francisco as it transitions this route from an AirTran-operated city pair to one operated by Southwest. Southwest also will initiate one daily nonstop flight between Atlanta and Orlando, with AirTran continuing its nine daily flights between these cities.

To book flights, please visit: www.southwest.com or www.airtran.com.

Following are the flight times:

Sunday-Friday

Depart DSM 7:25am/Arrive MDW 8:35am
Depart MDW 12:05 pm/Arrive DSM 1:13pm
Depart DSM 1:55pm/Arrive MDW 3:05pm
Depart MDW 8:00pm/Arrive DSM 9:08pm

Saturday

Depart DSM 6:50am/Arrive MDW 8:00am
Depart MDW 12:35pm/Arrive DSM 1:43pm
Depart DSM 2:30pm/Arrive MDW 3:40pm
Depart MDW 5:10pm/Arrive DSM 6:18pm

It was inevitable. The news industry has changed a lot in the past two decades and the speed of change is ever increasing.

Ever since the Register opened its new printing plant south of the airport in 2001, it hasn’t made sense for an increasingly high-tech 21st century media company to operate from an early 20th century building. Particularly when space requirements are less than half the more than 200,000 square feet of space in the Register’s long-time headquarters at 715 Locust St.

It’s a bit of a complicated real-estate situation. The building the Register occupies and the half block of land under the building are owned by separate entities.

The Register, which is owned by Gannett Co., owns the building and one piece of the land, while the rest of the ground is owned by three family trusts that date back to the early 1900s.

Over the years, the Des Moines Register and Tribune Co. has leased the land occupied by its two buildings — a 13-story tower that was completed in 1918 and a four-story addition built in 1947 to house the newsroom and, until it was removed, the printing plant in the basement.

From the perspective of Register publisher Laura Hollingsworth, now is a good time to have a location problem. As everyone knows, a ton of commercial space is currently available at affordable lease rates in the metro area.

Hollingsworth told Buzz last week that it’s her firm intent to keep the Register’s news and advertising operations downtown.

The eventual location of other consolidated Gannett operations, such as a regional news design studio and advertising production operations, will ultimately depend on costs and availabilities.

The potential move has become a topic of discussion among business leaders recently because the lease with one of the trusts, involving the family of local business icon Dick Levitt, will expire on June 12 of this year, although the newspaper is currently negotiating for an extension of that lease, Hollingsworth said.

The airline will fly twice a day to and from Washington from Des Moines leaving Des Moines at 6 a.m. and 4:10 p.m. and arriving back in Des Moines at 3:28 p.m. and 9:48 p.m.

The new service will compete with the one flight a day that Delta now flies between Des Moines and Reagan National. The Delta flight leaves at 7:49 a.m. and arrives back in Des Moines at 8:46 p.m.

The US Airways service to Washington will be operated by Republic Airlines, a US Airways Express carrier, which will fly Embraer 170 aircraft that hold 69 dual-class passengers. The Des Moines to Washington service will operate every day except Saturday, the airline said.

Steven Leath

A new generation of males from upper middle class families are not taking challenging science and math courses and that’s causing a serious problem for a nation that needs to remain competitive in a global economy, Iowa State University’s new president told a Rotary group in Des Moines Thursday.

That gloomy forecast by Steven Leath, who has been on the job at Iowa State less than a month, was in response to a question about whether Leath intended to do anything to encourage more women to become engineers and scientists.

Leath spoke at a luncheon of meeting of Des Moines’ downtown Rotary Club in a packed ballroom at the downtown Marriott Hotel.

He said the problem is larger than the need to encourage more women to take science and math courses.

“We need to encourage more people into science and engineering courses, period,” he said.

“I don’t want to focus on the female side,” he said, when the problem is larger than one gender.

“We want to move both sexes forward,” Leath said. “We might have to approach women differently than men, but we want to do both.”

Asked why fewer men are taking science and engineering courses, Leath said he was not exactly sure but that research is showing that fewer males from upper middle class families are taking challenging math and science courses.”

“They are not as hungry any more,” he said, adding that reason could be the over abundance of attention that was paid to them during childhood by parents who failed to challenge their children.

He also said that more needs to be done to keep international students in the United States after they graduate.

“International students are 40 percent more likely to start a business than our own students,” he said. “To be forced to send them back after they graduate is a travesty.”

Sellers was president and CEO of the Science Center of Iowa for 10 years. Her tenure included the fundraising, planning and construction of the landmark $62 million facility in downtown Des Moines. She currently is president and CEO of the Children’s Museum of the Upstate in Greenville, S.C., and previously was CEO of the South Florida Science Museum.

The United Way Board of Directors approved the appointment in a special meeting this morning.

“Mary Sellers has a 20-year record of success in nonprofit management, centered on driving community impact. She is a very successful and inspirational community leader. Without question, Mary’s selection portends even greater growth and success for an organization that already is recognized as one of the strongest United Ways in the country,” says United Way of Central Iowa Board Chair and Ruan CEO Steve Chapman.

“She has a passion for central Iowa and embraces United Way’s community goals for Education, Income and Health. United Way’s board and community leadership is confident that her entrepreneurial spirit, strategic vision and organizational management skills will continue to build United Way of Central Iowa as it fulfills its mission and vision of improving lives and ensuring all individuals and families achieve their potential,” he says.

Sellers said in a statement: “I am thrilled to have been selected for this opportunity from a very qualified field of applicants. I firmly believe that everything in my career had led me to this point. The opportunity to directly impact the community I call home as the President of United Way of Central Iowa is an honor. The commitment and enthusiasm I have to accomplish our goals in education, income and health is unparalleled.”

The six-member search committee led by Chapman selected Sellers after a 60-day search process. Besides Chapman, the committee comprised  community volunteer Connie Boesen, former Wells Fargo president Cara Heiden, Principal Financial Group president Dan Houston, retired labor leader Jan Laue, Aviva USA CEO Chris Littlefield, and Bankers Trust CEO Suku Radia.

United Way’s leader, Shannon Cofield, left at the end of the year to help manage Relationship Marketing, an Urbandale company that is poised for a growth spurt in its niche, which involves helping the pharmaceutical industry provide information to the medical community.

Cofield had been the top staff person at United Way since 2004 and is credited with re-engineering the agency from passively distributing money to social service agencies to helping set goals and design programs to move families out of poverty.

A major achievement of the local United Way is that it has been able to maintain annual fundraising at a level of more than $24 million in recent years despite the economic downturn.

A Pomerantz family trust will continue to own a minority interest in the 627,356 square-foot office park, but R&R will be the principal owner and manager, said Mark Rupprecht, president of West Des Moines-based R&R.

The Polk County Assessor lists a taxable value of $51.1 million for the eight buildings and the 44 acres of land that Regency West occupies on Westown Parkway east of 50th Street in West Des Moines.

That value, however, is in the process of being appealed for a lower value, said Pomerantz trustee Steven Zumbach.

The acquisition brings R&R’s real estate holdings in the metro area to more than 6 million square feet, including more than 2.5 million square feet of office space.

During the 1980s, R&R developed, and the company still owns, the Three Fountains office park in West Des Moines, which is a nine-building complex directly across Westown Parkway from Regency West.

Regency West is more than 90 percent occupied, Rupprecht said. Major tenants include Metropolitan Life ant ITA Group.

“We decided to approach them and see if the Pomerantz family had any interest in selling,” Rupprecht said.

Zumbach, a partner in the Belin McCormick law firm, said that since Pomerantz died in August 2008, the family trust has been looking at ways to diversify its portfolio, which included a considerable amount of real estate in the metro area.

The Rupprecht offer allowed the family trust to “take some risk off the table,” Zumbach said.

He said that while there have been other offers to buy Regency West, the timing and nature of the Rupprecht offer made sense.

Rupprecht said it took about 45 days to put together the transaction, which closed Tuesday.

The transition of ownership will be seamless for Regency West tenants, Zumbach said. “The same people who managed and maintained the complex in the past will continue top do it in the future,” he said.

Pomerantz began building Regency West in 1981 at a time when top leaders of the metro business community were mostly focused on the revival of downtown area.

Two years before construction began, much of the 44 acres occupied by the complex was still a corn field.

He was one of the first commercial developers to focus on building suburban office parks.

During the eight years eight years it took to build the eight Regency buildings nearly a dozen significant buildings were added downtown, but all were at a disadvantage to Pomerantz’s suburban development.

The lower cost of land in the suburbs allowed Pomerantz and other developers to offer free parking, larger floor plans and park-like surroundings with corporate lakes and fountains.

Regency West’s large floor plans of 25,000 square feet allowed many businesses to house all their operations on one or two floors.

The downtown Marriott Hotel was completed the same year as the first 73,000 square foot Regency building. During the eight-plus years it took to complete Regency West, nearly a dozen significant buildings were erected in downtown, including Two Ruan Center, Capital Square, The Plaza and Hub Tower.

With a one notable exception, the completion of the 44-story 801 Grand in 1990 marked the end of speculative commercial building in the downtown area.

Today, the Western suburbs hold more commercial office space (13.2 million square feet) than downtown (12.8 million square feet).

In addition to extending repayment periods by two to three years, the refinancing will also result in issuing 6.7 million shares of Lee common stock to creditors, which will result in a 13 percent dilution of its shares.

Lee filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy court action on Dec. 12, after failing to get 100 percent agreement among creditors to the refinancing plan that was approved Monday by the U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Lee’s refinancing plan involves $1 billion in debt that remains from the company’s 2005 purchase the St. Louis Post Dispatch and 13 other newspapers from Pulitzer Inc. for $1.46 billion.

Lee’s shares, which had climbed to near $3 apiece a year ago, fell below $1 last July, before rebounding from a low of 53 cents on Dec. 2. Lee shares climbed back above $1 last week as it became increasingly apparent that the pre-packaged bankruptcy was on track for a projected Jan. 31 completion. Lee’s share price closed at $1.50 on Jan. 24, before falling back some. They closed Tuesday at $1.33, down 9 cents for the day.

The company publishes 48 daily newspapers including newspapers in Davenport, Muscatine, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Mason City and Sioux City.

Cedar Rapids bankruptcy attorney Joe Peiffer, who filed the bankruptcy petition last Thursday, said Monday that the company hopes to emerge from bankruptcy court in about 60 days under new ownership.

“We are currently in negotiations with several leading architectural and engineering firms to purchase the entire company,” Peiffer said. Durrant has offices in Denver, Phoenix, San Diego and Fresno, Cali., along with Dubuque and Des Moines.

Durrant is suffering from “an accumulation of problems that go back to before 2008,” Peiffer said.

He said the company remains viable and has already added $8 million of new business this year.

Durrant “was in the process of getting right sized” in 2008 when the economic downturn magnified difficulties, Peiffer said.

There could be one buyer or multiple buyers who would pick up Durrant’s contracts and carry the business forward, he said.

Durrant’s bankruptcy petition does not list specific amounts, but the company’s debts and assets are each listed as  somewhere between $1 million and $10 million with between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.

The initial creditors meeting is set for 10 a.m., Feb. 28 at the Holiday Inn in Dubuque.

Vice President Xi Jinping, who is expected to be China’s next president, will visit Iowa Feb. 15 and 16. You’ve probably heard Gov. Terry Branstad talk about his relationship with Xi, which was formed during a trade mission to China in September and Xi’s 1985 trip to Iowa as a provincial party official.

The Chinese delegation will include 160 to 200 people, said Kathy Hill of the state’s International Trade Office. No itinerary is set yet. Time magazine suspects that agriculture will be a big part of the agenda.

The Chinese delegation will fill several hundred rooms at the 417-room Marriott. Terry McLane, general manager of the hotel, declined to give a specific number. But he said hotel officials have worked to balance the Chinese security concerns with the need to find room for fans and participants of the Iowa high school wrestling tournament, which will be held that same week.

“There was concern about how the two groups would blend together,” McLane said, sounding like a diplomat. He said hotel officials have assured the foreign visitors that all the proper protocols will be followed to keep dignitaries safe – and keep a distance between the two groups.

“The current structure is very hospital-centric and less physician-centric,” said Mercy chief executive David Vellinga.

The new structure places seven physicians in lead roles where they will partner with nonmedical administrators to develop strategy and insure proper delivery of medical care and services at the hospital.

In the past, Vellinga said, two physicians had responsibilities for the organized medical staff, but they played limited roles in strategy and development of services.

“I call this a no-regrets strategy,” Vellinga said, “in that, regardless of what happens with reform, integrating physicians into leadership positions will let us achieve higher quality, better experience and the ability to better reduce health care costs.

Vellinga said the new structure will be expense neutral. Although the seven lead physicians will be paid for their added services, he said, the new structure will result in reduced costs in other areas that will compensate for the added expenses to the seven doctors.

Mercy’s new two-person administrative teams and the areas they will oversee are:

Surgery: Dr. Dennis Dornbier and Dan Varnum.

Cardiovascular: Dr. Bill Wickenmeyer and Julie Younger.

Orthopedics: Dr. Craig Mahoney and Chris Christensen.

Women & Children’s/Oncology: Dr. Richard Deming and Jackie Frost-Kunnen.

Primary Care: Dr. Steve Eckstat and Sharon Phillips.

Specialty Medicine: Dr. Bruce Hughes and Dan Varnum.

Hospital: Dr. Wael Haidar and Chris Christensen.

Equitable building (Register file photo)

Des Moines’ Equitable Building, 604 Locust St., which cost just under $3 million when it was built in 1924, was sold Wednesday for $460,000.

The reason the price was so low, said Kansas City developer Steve Foutch, was that Great Southern Bank, which acquired the title to the building in 2010 following a loan default, wanted to get the property off its books and wanted a cash sale.

Foutch plans to spend an estimated $18 million to convert most of the floors above the third floor to 100 to 120 apartments.

He said he will keep the first through third floors as office space and move some commercial tenants who are now on higher floors into available space on the second and third floors.

Exceptions to Foutch’s plan include four locations that had earlier been sold as condominium space by previous developer Bob Knapp.

Foutch said the eighth floor will continue to be occupied by an insurance company that bought the entire floor from Knapp. Also not included in the sale are three residential condominiums that Knapp had previously sold to retired Pioneer Hi-Bred chairman Charles Johnson on the 17th floor and 13th floor units owned by Des Moines lawyer Mike Kulick and entrepreneur Toby O’Berry.

Knapp bought the Equitable Building in 2005 for $5 million and had planned to convert all the upper floors to high-end condominium units, but he ran into financial problems. Knapp also wound up pleading guilty to violating federal asbestos removal rules and is currently serving a 41-month prison sentence.

When the 19-story Equitable Building opened in 1924, it was the tallest building in Iowa, rising a total of 319 feet above street level with its distinctive cooling tower.

The building was the home of the Equitable Life Insurance Cos. (now ING) and was owned by Equitable of Iowa until Chicago Investors purchased the property for $11.3 million in 1989.

Foutch hopes to begin work on the building this fall and that once work begins it will take about 18 months to complete.

The fall construction date, he said, is based on the expectation for receiving state historical tax credits in October for the project.

In addition to paying $460,000 for the Equitable Building, Foutch said his company, Foutch Brothers, also paid $115,000 for the rights to two floors of parking at a nearby garage that was developed by Nelson Construction in 2006. The garage was built on the site of the former Babe’s restaurant to serve the Equitable and Liberty buildings.

Foutch is also partnering with Nelson to convert the Des Moines Building, which is kitty-corner from the Equitable Building at Locust Street and Sixth Avenue, into apartments and other uses, including a restaurant.

Elwynn Taylor

Iowa suffered its hottest July since the mid-1950s last year and has received below-average moisture since, but agricultural meteorologist Elwynn Taylor of Iowa State University told the Land Investment Expo Friday that climate change accounts for only about 5 percent of whatever weather patterns emerge at a given time.

Taylor told the group that weather patterns tend to run in cycles as long as two decades, and that Iowa has emerged from a period of relatively mild, stable weather to a pattern of colder winters and perhaps hotter, drier summers similar to what happened in the 1950s and again in the 1970s.

“I don’t discount man-made impacts of climate change,’ Taylor said in respones to a question. “But I would put the impact of climate change on our weather right now at no more than 5 percent.”

A greater impact on Iowa’s weather this spring, Taylor said, would be the continuation of the ocean-cooling, La Nina effect that tends to disrupt normal weather patterns. An extension of the current three-year La Nina pattern, he said, could result in a dry spring for Iowa.

If so, that could be bad news for Iowa farmers who already are dealing with inadequate soil moistures in more than half of the state. Western Iowa is particularly dry, with as much as 90 percent of the northwest quadrant classified as in severe drought  and with soil moisture deficiencies of 90 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The snow this weekend won’t help much. ISU agronomist Roger Elmore said that while snow does perform a useful service in holding down wind erosion during winter, it accounts for very little new moisture to the soil because the ground is frozen.

The general ratio of snow to precipitation is given as one inch of “effective rainfall,” as agronomists like to call it, for each ten inches of snow.

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