Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino has given the Blank Park Zoo Foundation $100,000 for its Wild About Animals capital campaign. The foundation is seeking $40 million to expand and renovate Blank Park Zoo.

A.M. Best Co. has downgraded Des Moines-based Aviva USA’s financial strength rating to an “A” (Excellent) rating from an “A+,” and maintained a “stable” outlook for Aviva. The rating change was part of an overall downgrade in ratings by Best for London-based Aviva plc’s subsidiary companies. Aviva USA officials said in a release that they don’t expect the decision to change the way it manages its business, and that the company’s fundamentals remain strong.

The Nielsen Co. said today that U.S. advertising spending was down 2.6 percent in 2008, dropping nearly $3.7 billion to $136.8 billion. The decline hit all categories except cable television and Hispanic cable television.

Des Moines Metro Opera said its education touring troupe, OPERA Iowa, will give a concert performance of The Barber of Seville at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, with proceeds benefiting Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre’s flood recovery efforts. The performance will be at 7:30 p.m. April 1. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children in grades K-12, and free for Mount Mercy faculty and students.