Hemmingson Reflects On Historic Designation
(Le Mars) — On Friday, it was learned that Le Mars downtown district had been selected by the National Historic Preservation Registry. One woman who contributed hundreds of hours of research and volunteer time to make that designation possible is Iris Hemmingson. Iris is the chairperson for the Le Mars Historical Preservation Commission, and she says the designation is a nice honor for the community. She says in order for Le Mars to receive such recognition it took the work of many volunteers and a lot of research.
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Hemmingson says it was a challenge to document previous owners of buildings and to learn of their uses. She says the city’s streets and addresses were often incomplete.
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Hemmingson says the designation will benefit the city as well as the individual building owners.
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The Le Mars Historical Preservationist believes the designation will attract history buffs to Le Mars as well as increase the tourism trade.
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Hostess Closure Means Lost Jobs At Waterloo
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – The decision by Hostess Brands Inc. to go out of business is being felt in Waterloo.
Hostess, the maker of Twinkies, Ding Dongs and other snacks, announced Friday it would close in response to a nationwide strike. It means the loss of about 18,500 jobs, including some in Waterloo.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier ( https://bit.ly/SSufTU ) says the decision affects 59 workers at the Waterloo plant and distribution center and about 30 truck drivers. The Waterloo bakery produced Wonder, Home Pride and Nature Pride breads.
Hostess spokesman Erik Halvorson says production ceased Friday morning in Waterloo. Local retail outlets will remain open for seven to 10 days.
At the Wonder Hostess Bakery Outlet in Waterloo, store manager Sherry Yearling said the remaining inventory of Twinkies was cleaned out within an hour.
Google Invests In Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Google is investing another $200 million in its Council Bluffs data center operations as it invests $75 million in a wind farm in central Iowa.
Google announced the additional investment in the data center on Friday at a Statehouse news conference.
The Mountain View-California-based tech giant has an existing $600 million data center it announced in 2007. In April, Google said it would build a $300 million data center near the existing
campus. Friday’s announcement would add $200 million to that new site.
Google said Thursday it was investing $75 million in the Rippey Wind Farm in Greene County as part of its effort to encourage development of cleaner energy sources.
Google’s investment in Iowa now stands at $1.1 billion.
Branstad & Reynolds Applaud Decision To Uphold Ethanol Standards
(Des Moines) — Governor Terry Branstad and Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds applaud the Federal government’s decision to uphold the Renewable Fuel Standard and deny pending waiver requests. Iowa leads the nation in ethanol production, accounting for 25 percent of total U-S ethanol production. In addition, Iowa’s biofuels industry has added $13.1 billion to our economy, generated $2.4 billion in household income and supported 49,000 jobs.
DuPont Pioneer Receives Economic Assistance
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa economic development officials have approved financial assistance to DuPont Pioneer for a $50 million expansion project.
The Iowa Economic Development Board on Friday agreed to provide the company up to $4.4 million in tax credits.
The project will move into Johnston some operations and 100 jobs now in Ankeny. Pioneer will also create 100 new jobs.
Pioneer, which is headquartered in Des Moines, is a subsidiary of chemical maker DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware.
The economic development board also approved tax credits for two other companies.
Grain Millers in Saint Ansgar received $550,000 in tax credits for a $24 million expansion. Sobatka Engineering in Diagonal, doing business as Excel Engineering, received nearly $86,000 in tax
credits for a $1.6 million renovation.
