ANAMOSA — More than 25,000 people — most of them arriving on motorcycles — are expected to converge on Eastern Iowa next Saturday and Sunday for the annual two-day open house rally at J&P Cycles near Anamosa. The aftermarket retailer of motorcycle parts, located off Highway 151, has lined up more than 100 motorcycle vendors [...]

IOWA CITY — Goodwill of the Heartland has named Pat Airy, the organization’s chief operations officer, as its new chief executive officer. Airy, who will begin serving as CEO on Monday, was selected from a pool of 80 national candidates. Her experience with the organization is one reason the board of directors chose Airy. “Pat [...]

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa students, faculty, and staff will soon be able to use their university identification cards as proximity cards to access buildings or rooms on campus.

Casey’s General Stores, with locations throughout Eastern Iowa, posted fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations as margins on gasoline sales narrowed. The Ankeny-based convenience store chain recorded net income of $23.1 million, or 61 cents per share, in the quarter that ended April 30, compared with $22.8 million, or 60 cents per share, in the final [...]

Luther College in Decorah has selected Opus Design Build of Minneapolis as the design builder for its new $5.9 million aquatics center. The 17,800-square-foot facility, many years in the planning, will be used by thousands of competitors from colleges and high schools, Luther students and community members. Construction is expected to begin in September and completion [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Building on the success it has enjoyed in Iowa and several other states, Involta LLC of Cedar Rapids is planning a $15 million Tier III multiple tenant data center in Tucson, Ariz. Bruce Lehrman, Involta chief executive officer, said final approvals from local agencies are still pending, but design of the company’s [...]

MANCHESTER — Sixteen years after it was constructed by Manchester Enterprises to attract business to the community, a 30,000-square-foot “spec” building has been sold to a Wisconsin company. LaBudde Group Inc., a Grafton, Wis., trading company primarily focused on the movement of physical commodities, will set up shop in the building located in the Manchester [...]

When the U.S. Coast Guard needed a waterproof computer to store videos of drug smuggling and other “bad guy” pursuits on the high seas, it turned to Crystal Group in Hiawatha. “We have become an engineering services organization,” said James Shaw, executive vice president of engineering for Crystal Group. “People come to us with ‘I like this product [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Demolition of a former Ruby Tuesday’s on the perimeter of Lindale Mall is under way in preparation for construction of a new freestanding Chick-fil-A restaurant, expected to open in the fall. The 7,794-square-foot building at 217 Collins Road NE, which has housed a number of eateries in recent years, will be replaced [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Construction has begun on a new branch office of Alliant Credit Union near Coe College. A fall opening is planned for the 3,108-square-foot full service location at 1305 First Ave. SE. It will include drive-up teller lanes, a 24-hour depository ATM, lock boxes and free off-street parking. With the new branch, Alliant [...]

The value of good Iowa farmland continued to rise in the first quarter of the year and scored double-digit gains in every area of the state year over year, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Farmland values rose 4 percent in Iowa from Jan. 1 through April 1 and jumped [...]

New figures show the broadband availability gap in Iowa is shrinking, with 93.5 of residents having access to fixed broadband of 3 megabits per second  download or higher, compared with 92.5 percent last year. Connect Iowa, a nonprofit subsidiary of Connected Nation, has been working since 2009 to ensure that Iowans have access to the [...]

When the Kmart in southwest Cedar Rapids closed in late April, it added to an ever-growing inventory of empty “big boxes” in the Corridor and the nation. As Best Buy, Home Depot, Kmart, Sears, Target, Walmart and other regional and national retailers close underperforming stores or move to larger buildings, millions of square feet of commercial [...]

IOWA CITY — The recent 2012 U.S. Olympic Wrestling Team Trials at the University of Iowa generated a projected $5.6 million economic impact for Johnson County. A study released Friday by the Iowa City-Coralville Convention and Visitors Bureau showed the average visitor spent $201 and the average expenditure per party was $707. The event attracted 14,214 [...]

An organization representing Iowa’s largest employers, banks and Regents universities is forecasting more capital spending, improving employment and higher sales over the next six months. The Iowa Business Council on Friday said its Overall Economic Outlook Survey Index rose to 68.3 in the second quarter, up two points from 66.3 in the first quarter and three [...]

A redevelopment feasibility study conducted by business students at the University of Iowa recommends major structural changes for Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids. The students, enrolled in an advanced real estate course taught by John Gallo at the UI Tippie College of Business, studied several other declining malls in communities demographically similar to Cedar Rapids. They [...]

Veridian Credit Union has begun to offer Western Union global money-transfer and expedited bill payment services at its 26 branches in Iowa. Waterloo-based Veridian on Thursday said its members will have the ability to send and receive domestic or international money transfers with funds accessible for pay-out at more than 500,000 Western Unionagent locations in [...]

Whirlpool, which has a major appliance manufacturing plant in Amana, on Wednesday won a victory in its trade dispute with three South Korean appliance manufacturers. The U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday announced a preliminary finding that Seoul-based LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics of Suwon, South Korea, and Daewoo Electronics Corp. sell washing machines to U.S. customers [...]

The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board plan to hold a referendum on July 10 to increase the corn checkoff by 0.25 cents per bushel. The checkoff is currently 0.75 cents per bushel. If the increase is approved, the checkoff would be 1 cent per bushel. Any producer [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop opened Wednesday on the first floor of the Iowa Building in downtown Cedar Rapids. Nick Warson, area manager for Jimmy John’s, said the doors of the 2,200-square-foot restaurant at 411 Third St. SE opened at 10:30 a.m. Warson said Jimmy John’s corporate completed its final inspection on Tuesday. [...]