Hundreds of people, including members of the Urbandale City Council, Urbandale Chamber of Commerce and other elected officials, turned out to hear billionaire Warren Buffett speak last night at Homemakers Furniture Inc.’s private gala event. Buffett, chairman of Homemakers’ parent company, Berkshire Hathaway, was in town this week to help dedicate the newly remodeled 400,000-square-foot furniture store at 10215 Douglas Ave., Urbandale. Following his speech, Buffett took audience questions on topics such as President Barack Obama’s performance, investing and building a business. “It’s always a good time to start a business, in my view, that you are passionate about,” he said. “If you have a passion for something you are going to do well.” Buffett took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on the site of Homemakers $30 million expansion this morning. Click here to see a photo gallery of the event.

Valley Junction in West Des Moines will receive $20,000 and Warren County $100,000 as part of $1.9 million in grants awarded by the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs under the Great Places program. Valley Junction received its grant for work on an historic city hall. Warren County will spend its grant on the Memorial Park amphitheater. In all, six counties and 13 cities received funds for 23 projects that are intended to improve quality of life and create economic opportunities.

Karla Jones-Weber has been promoted to chief financial officer and director of administration at the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. She has been with the organization since 2001 and was most recently serving as director of finance and administration. During her tenure with the Community Foundation, she has helped launch its new Charitable Investment Partners program, which allows donors to establish funds at the foundation while their assets are managed by their preferred investment consultants, and she launched and oversees the Nonprofit Accounting Services program, which offers local nonprofits professional accounting management.

An Iowa Supreme Court decision issued this morning could make it more difficult for consumers to collect civil penalties against their telephone companies. The court ruled that the Iowa Utilities Board did not violate constitutional due process standards when it denied three appeals from the state’s Office of Consumer Advocate seeking civil penalties from telephone companies, according to the decision. The ruling affirmed an earlier decision by Polk County District Judge Michael Huppert. The complaints each involved overcharges made by the companies that were later resolved and refunded. The board determined that each overcharge was the result of errors on the companies’ part, and that there were insufficient grounds to proceed to consider civil penalties.