By Alex Busbee Correspondent IOWA CITY — Iowa City West Coach Brad Stiles was able to breath a sigh of relief after the game. His top-seeded Trojans struggled to score, but ultimately defeated Linn-Mar, 2-0, in a boys’ soccer substate semifinal Wednesday night. Senior Alex Troester netted both goals for the Trojans, who controlled the game with [...]

By Mike Condon Correspondent CEDAR RAPIDS – A lack of aggression on offense wasn’t going to be the reason. In their meeting with Cedar Rapids Washington to close the regular season last Thursday, a failure to finish was fatal for Cedar Rapids Kennedy in a 1-0 defeat. That wasn’t a problem in Wednesday night’s Class 3A substate [...]

Editor’s note: Here is your chance to tell your story about your team, your school or your favorite player. If you’d like to join The Gazette’s growing list of high school contributors, contact J.R. Ogden at jr.ogden@thegazette.com The Decorah boys’ golf team will compete this weekend at the Class 3A state golf tournament at the Ames [...]

By Andrew Ward  The Gazette MARION — Ty Mougin went into last night’s game without having hit a home run. He now has. “It felt great to finally get one,” the Cedar Rapids Prairie junior said. His two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth innings catapulted No. 9 Prairie past No. 8 Xavier, 10-5, in a Bob Vrbicek Metro [...]

By Jason Brummond Correspondent IOWA CITY — Hannah Petersen’s senior season couldn’t have started better Tuesday night. Cedar Rapids Jefferson’s all-state pitcher threw a one-hit shutout in the season-opener and later hit a three-run home run as the Class 5A No. 8 J-Hawks split a doubleheader with No. 5 Iowa City West. Jefferson earned a 1-0 victory [...]

Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area has awarded $59,147 to 12 Northeast Iowa sites, communities and organizations to help them tell their own unique part of the American agricultural story. Recipients for the 2012 General & Interpretive Planning Grants are: GENERAL GRANTS Bellevue Area Chamber of Commerce, Bellevue, $1,162 Through development of an agricultural heritage tour, the chamber [...]

Manager: Scott Blanchard Company: Napoli’s Italian Restaurant Address: 500 Marion Blvd, Marion Phone: (319) 377-2100 Website: Find it on Facebook Elevator pitch: Everything from scratch MARION — Napoli’s Italian Restaurant opened twice — once on February 14, 2011, and a second time just last month — and for some very good reasons. The family-owned restaurant, which built a following in its [...]

Solon’s only pharmacy, Solon Drug, 411 E. Haganman Lane, is schedule to close June 2 following a decision by the drug store’s owners to sell its prescription files to Hy-Vee. Todd Thompson, previous owner of Solon Drug, said the decision to sell was financial. He declined to disclose any details related to the sale, which was [...]

Editor’s note: Here is your chance to tell your story about your team, your school or your favorite player. If you’d like to join The Gazette’s growing list of high school contributors, contact J.R. Ogden at jr.ogden@thegazette.com By Emily Moon, MFL MarMac senior DES MOINES – After six years of school competition, it all came down to [...]

Editor’s note: Here is your chance to tell your story about your team, your school or your favorite player. If you’d like to join The Gazette’s growing list of high school contributors, contact J.R. Ogden at jr.ogden@thegazette.com By Lucy Martin, Xavier junior CEDAR RAPIDS – The Xavier softball team began its season last week, preparing for its [...]

By Andrew Ward The Gazette Tony Lombardi coached at Linn Mar Monday evening, but it wasn’t on the football field. The Cedar Rapids Washington football coach was found on the baseball diamond, leading the Warrior baseball team in his first game as head coach. He said football and baseball aren’t that different. “All sports are about mental toughness,” [...]

By Jason Brummond, Correspondent IOWA CITY – Two basketball state championships in one year. And it’s still getting better. The Iowa City West boys’ and girls’ basketball teams are one of 20 high schools nationally being honored on the MaxPreps Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard. Head coaches Steve Bergman and B.J. Mayer accepted the [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — To hear Ryan Sundermann, running the emergency department of a big hospital in some ways is not that different from any other business that has clients — people, trucks, ships, packages — coming in and clients going out. “Once the rooms are full, it’s all about throughput and moving patients through the department,” [...]

When John Miller describes where he works to someone unfamiliar with Iowa, he starts by telling them he’s four hours west of Chicago. He then asks if they’re familiar with Interstate 80 and the Mississippi River. Miller is co-owner of Cedar Rapids-based Hybrid Transit Systems Inc. , a freight broker that does business nationally and internationally. As businesses [...]

DES MOINES — “The 2012 session,” Gov. Terry Branstad said, “may be remembered as much for what failed to be accomplished as for what actually was accomplished.” The governor made his remark after the split-control Legislature adjourned for a second straight year but hadn’t found a compromise on how best to deliver relief to owners of [...]

I speak to groups about social media marketing a lot. The audience makeup can vary greatly when it comes to social adoption, from very advanced marketers seeking to take their activity to the next level to small businesses trying to grasp what this “social media thing” is and how it can benefit their brand. For fun, [...]

New Employees Adria Robertson (see photo) joined U.S. Bank as manager of the bank’s Underwood branch. She had been office manager for State Farm Insurance and Financial Services. Media technology company Syncbak recently hired two senior engineers. Erik Valberg (see photo) joined the company from APAC Customer Services and Ken Franken (see photo) was formerly with [...]

By Rob Gray Correspondent DES MOINES — Taylor Schaefers of Clayton Ridge shared a simple wish for her school Saturday at Drake Stadium. “That we put it on the map,” she said. Mission accomplished. Schaefers ran second on the Class 1A Eagles’ all-class record-setting sprint medley relay team. She, Randi Bodish, Mallory Tujetsch and anchor Jasmine Staebler [...]

By Rob Gray Correspondent DES MOINES — Conner Smock eyed history Saturday the same way he always does: Through red-and-white tinted lenses. The Lisbon standout held off a late charge from Ackley AGWSR Isaac Montes in Saturday’s Class 1A 1,600-meter run, becoming the first athlete in state track and field history to glean three golds from that [...]

By Rob Gray Correspondent DES MOINES — Will Teubel of Mount Vernon huffed, puffed and powered to the lead. Then Fort Dodge St. Edmond’s Neil Flattery showed up. Teubel’s rival — in more sports than one — made the pass to first in turn three of the final lap of Saturday’s Class 2A boys’ 800-meter run. Uh [...]