Report: Holiday sales up 7.9% this season

By user | December 28, 2015 |
Strong online sales and demand for furniture and women’s apparel helped U.S. retail sales grow by a “solid” 7.9 percent this holiday season, according to the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report, Reuters reported.
U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles…Read More

Report: Iowa has lowest teen drug use

By user | December 28, 2015 |
A new federal report ranks Iowa as having the nation’s second-lowest overall rate of current illicit drug use, and the lowest rate of illicit drug use among middle school- and high school-age youths.   However,…Read More

Event Jan. 12: Iowa BIO legislative reception

By user | December 28, 2015 |
The Iowa Biotechnology Association plans a legislative reception from 5 to 7 p.m. at the State Historical Building. The event, co-sponsored by the Iowa Communications Alliance, Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Stores of America, the Iowa Association…Read More

Pot growing is a buzz kill at power plants

By user | December 28, 2015 |
Turns out pot is associated with hunger even before someone smokes it.  A hunger for power.   The $3.5 billion U.S. cannabis market is becoming one of the most power-hungry industries in the United States, Bloomberg…Read More

IPR: Why 2015 was so toasty

By user | December 28, 2015 |
Climate experts tell National Public Radio that 2015 likely will go down as the warmest year on record. The cause, they say, is a combination of climate change – caused in large part by burning…Read More

Guest Opinion: What’s your 2016 theme?

By user | December 28, 2015 |
BY CHRISTI HEGSTAD | President, MAP Professional Development

A decade or so ago, I had “one of those weeks”: a crashed computer, ill children, a new business to get off the ground, several deadlines approaching…Read More

Female billionaires increase sevenfold in 20 years

By user | December 28, 2015 |


The number of female billionaires worldwide has increased nearly sevenfold in the past 20 years to 145, and Asian entrepreneurs are driving this growth, according to a study.

The report, which builds upon UBS/PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Billionaires…Read More