Titan Machinery Inc. announced today that it has inked an agreement to acquire Mid-Land Equipment Co. L.C., with six dealerships in Iowa and Nebraska. The acquisition is expected to close on or about May 30, subject to completion of certain customary closing conditions. Mid-Land, with locations in Des Moines, Davenport, Clear Lake and Cedar Rapids, is a dealer for Case Construction Equipment. The six Mid-Land Case construction stores are contiguous to existing Titan Machinery CaseCE stores in South Dakota and strategically overlay the existing nine Titan Machinery CaseIH agricultural locations in Iowa.

Joseph Lee Sehr and his company, Source One Construction LLC, have been ordered to repay over $284,000 to 22 Central Iowa home-remodeling and home-repair customers as a result of a consumer fraud lawsuit filed by the Iowa attorney general’s office. The suit alleged that Sehr and Source One Construction intentionally took thousands of dollars in advance payments for home-contracting work, but then failed to do any work or used poor-quality materials or did poor work. Polk County District Judge Scott Rosenberg ruled recently that Sehr and his company intentionally committed consumer fraud and ordered the repayments. Rosenberg entered the default judgment on April 24. The attorney general’s lawsuit was filed Dec. 26, 2007.

First Federal Bankshares Inc., the parent company of Vantus Bank in Des Moines and elsewhere, has downgraded a $6.1 million land development loan and reported a $5.7 million increase in other poorly performing assets in the quarter that ended March 31. Vantus Bank loaned $6.1 million last year to Michael’s Landing LLC, a company with ties to Regency Homes that was developing a 340-acre residential and commercial project in West Des Moines. At the time it made the loan, Vantus was known as First Federal Bank. An item in the May 9 Business Daily misidentified the lender.

The Associated Press reported that Cablevision Systems Corp. is buying Long Island-based newspaper Newsday from Tribune Co. in a deal valued at $650 million, the companies announced today. Cablevision beat out Rupert Murdoch, CEO of News Corp., who withdrew his own $580 million bid on Saturday. Chicago-based Tribune, which will retain a 3 percent stake in a joint venture, had been seeking to sell Newsday to lighten an $8.2 billion debt load it took on last year. Cablevision will hold the remaining 97 percent. The deal will be financed by $650 million in debt provided by Bank of America Corp.