Complaints to two state agencies about for-profit colleges have risen dramatically in recent years, enough so that it’s become a top priority for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. Many of the student complaints involve billing practices or student loan issues, according to data from the Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa College Student Aid Commission. [...]
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Iowa State University economist Ken Stone made headlines in 1988 when he released the first academic study on Wal-Mart’s economic impact on the economies of small communities. Twenty-five years later, the professor emeritus, who retired in 2007, has co-authored a new ISU study that could make another splash, but for different reasons. Read more at [...]
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday forecast a sharply higher corn surplus after a bumper 2012 crop is harvested, slashing the average price from a record $6.25 per bushel in 2011 to as low as $4.20 per bushel. The USDA report, if realized, would mean less income for Iowa corn farmers, reduced production costs [...]
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Rockwell Collins CEO Clay Jones warned of potential job cuts due to federal budget and legislative inaction Wednesday during the first of Gov. Terry Branstad’s statewide stops to show gratitude for existing employers. A Rockwell Collins stop Wednesday morning kicked off the Branstad administration’s “Operation Thank You” campaign to foster relations with long-term growth companies [...]
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The national recession began in December 2007 and has affected Iowa much less than the country as a whole. Here’s a look at which job sectors have shrunk, which grew and which held steady between November 2007 and March 2012: CEDAR RAPIDS METRO AREA (Linn, Benton, Jones counties) Shrunk Construction: Minus 2,400 jobs to 5,900, [...]
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The City Council will vote today on heading to the bargaining table with Penford Products Co., which wants to buy Riverside Park next door to its plant for a possible expansion. The council’s vote will finalize the terms — discussed a month ago — that it will try to get into [...]
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U.S. Census Bureau data show Iowa’s average commute is nearly 6 minutes shorter than the national average. The Des Moines Register reports that the average Iowa commute is 19.1 minutes. That ties the state with Kansas for the seventh-fastest average commute in the country. The national average is 25 minutes. The Census Bureau’s American Community [...]
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The site plan for a new Hy-Vee Food Store west of C Avenue NE and south of the proposed Tower Terrace Road NE, near Cedar Rapids’ border with Robins, won unanimous backing Thursday from the City Planning Commission. The store will begin as an 80,000-square-foot one and be designed to expand to 107,000 square feet [...]
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