Business News

The SOS Thrift Store is open again following a shut-down earlier this spring related to the recent pandemic.  Since 2005, this organization has worked to sell gently-used houseware, clothing, books, furniture, and more, with the revenue it earns going to support St. ...

When Kevin Rohan and his partners opened The Pawn Shop, a board, card and roll playing game shop, in a 2,800-square-foot location on West Fifth Street in 2014, they were hopeful the unique offering in Spencer’s downtown district would not just serve local gamers but draw from outside the area. Six years later, Rohan who took over sole ownership of the renamed Game State business in April of this year, is ready to take the entertainment venue to the next level...

Hy-Vee, Inc. announces today that Mike Drefke, a driver from the Cherokee Distribution Center, has become the area’s eighth driver to reach the 2-million-mile mark for miles driven without a preventable accident. Drefke reached the milestone late Wednesday evening as he left the Cherokee Distribution Center with 439 miles to go until the 2-million-mile mark. ...

State Medical Director Caitlin Pedati said Friday she never accepted an offer of federal assistance to deal with COVID-19 outbreaks in meatpacking plants because Iowa didn’t need the help. Emails from federal agencies show that on April 15, Pedati declined an offer of on-site assistance from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention with regard to COVID-19 outbreaks in Iowa’s meatpacking plants. ...

Iowa is the leading producer of field corn. In 2016, Iowa produced 18% of all corn grown in the United States. While there are endless rows of field corn across the state, this is not the corn on your dinner plate. In this week’s edition of the Sow, Grow, Eat and Keep Webinar, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach specialists discuss sweet corn...

Kiley Miller, President & CEO of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation, has been awarded recertification by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) through April 2021. Miller first achieved the Certified Economic Developer (CEcD) designation in 2015. Recertification required that he fulfill demanding standards for continuing education and service to the profession...

While farmers have had to contend with all sorts of challenges over the past years due to precipitation and flooding, this year the weather has been much kinder to the crops growing in fields throughout the region. Area agriculture professionals who’ve been out in the fields said the only thing that could potentially cause havoc as we head through the summer is hot weather...

Sterk Financial Services is pleased to announce the opening of a new branch office in Storm Lake, Iowa. Financial advisor Lindsay Brechwald will lead the office and is available by appointment only. “We are expanding our locations to be better able to serve clients who share our Midwest family values and local roots.” said Brechwald. “Storm Lake is a wonderful location to serve both the diverse local population and to connect in with the surrounding farm and ag based small communities.”...

Walmart will require customers at all of its U.S. stores to wear masks beginning July 20, as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads to 3.3 million positive cases nationwide. All stores will have only a single entrance open. “Health Ambassadors” in black polo shirts will be posted at the entries of the stores including Storm Lake’s, to stop customers who do not have masks and help them find a solution. ...

MidAmerican Energy Company today announced a 50% increase in rebate amounts for certain high-efficiency equipment that residential and small business customers in Iowa and Illinois purchase through the end of the year. The increased residential customer rebates apply to high-efficiency air conditioners, high-efficiency heat pumps and smart thermostats. ...

When the federal government offered businesses the first round of the Paycheck Protection Program back in March, Des Moines restaurateur Scott Carlson immediately applied for the aid, looking for a lifeboat as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his industry...

Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach’s annual Land Leasing and Value Meetings for agriculture property owners and tenants will be held at 11 different locations throughout August 2020. Proper social distancing and safety precautions will be taken for each in-person mEach land leasing and value meeting will focus on current farmland value and lease rate trends, methods for determining fair ag rents for 2021 and farmland lease communication and legalities, including how to write and terminate a lease.. ...

Corn growers may need to be on the lookout for a common insect pest this year, especially if they’re no longer using a transgenic Bt seed that is resistant. In 2019, about 15% of corn grown in Iowa and 17% grown in the United States did not contain a Bt trait, according to an article by Ashley Dean and Erin Hodgson, extension entomologists with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach...

Buena Vista Regional Medical Center has achieved recognition as an Adopter of the Healthcare Financial Management Association’s PATIENT FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS BEST PRACTICES®. As a Best Practices Adopter, Buena Vista Regional Medical Center demonstrated that it follows nearly 100 best practices covering all aspects of financial interactions that take place in a variety of care settings...

“Romel has been cooking since he was 6, and I started young, because when you have family, you gotta learn how to cook - it’s a given!”

“Practical experience is something you can’t get in a book. It’s something that you have to do,” says Tom Fitzpatrick. It’s an overcast Friday morning out at the Storm Lake Marina – the temps have cooled off somewhat, since a heavy rain made it through the area, the night before, and Tom sits behind his desk, in his office, next to the shop area where some boats are in to get a once-over. ...

A vacant downtown site that was once a beauty shop, and a pharmacy before that, has been re-invented into Storm Lake’s first Cuban restaurant. “Cafe Havana believes in amazing food that helps bring people together at one table to share and love life,” say the proprietors of the restaurant located at Lake and Railroad. It will feature recipes from Cuba, Puerto Rico and across the Caribbean...

Cristian Andrade from Security Trust & Savings Bank recently presented Kimberly Hickman from Upper Des Moines Opportunity a check from proceeds of employee fundraising, and a match by the bank, to benefit the food pantry. Instead of their usual food collections at this time of year for the food pantry, employees raised money by holding jean days and raffles. / Photo submitted...

Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), both members of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee, along with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, are calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide assistance, through the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), to turkey producers across the state...

Iowans, including MidAmerican Energy Company customers, are reporting three separate imposter scams that threaten to disconnect potential victims’ electric service unless they pay immediately by phone with a prepaid money card. In each case, scammers pretend to represent a utility company or the Iowa Utilities Board:...

In an age where we look at creative ways to keep used pictures, furniture, lamps, and other household items out of the landfill, and put back into use, the term ‘repurposing’ has come into everyday use, because of this function. As we try to lessen our manufacturing footprint in society, second-hand, and thrift shop items can be taken to the next level, and a new life. ...

In a letter sent to Secretary Sonny Perdue this week, U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig asked the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to include egg producers in the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP)...