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The Insider Notebook

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NOTEBOOK: Whitson: Female role models help women pursue NASA careers

Record-breaking astronaut Peggy Whitson was in Iowa last week to speak to classes and to headline a gala for the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs. I interviewed her briefly at the Iowa Historical Building, near …

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NOTEBOOK: Zumbach on sales tax: This time is different

Steve Zumbach, a Des Moines lawyer and economic development leader, has watched Polk County voters blowtorch several local-option sales tax proposals he and other leaders held up as a chance to move the community ahead …

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NOTEBOOK – One Good Read: Inside Facebook’s office culture

When Glassdoor released a list of the 100 best places to work, they somehow overlooked the Business Record, which often is referred to as the “Google of Fourth Street” when it comes to cool office digs and …

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NOTEBOOK: Math, science top youth poll results

With STEM fields getting a lot of attention in education, the results of the 2017 Iowa Youth Straw Poll caught our eyes. It turns out just 26 percent of students who participated consider math their …

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NOTEBOOK: Small businesses get a break

Small Business Saturday, a creation of American Express, on Nov. 25 featured Tim McGrath’s Des Moines Small Biz Support Squad surprising small-business owners with the likes of balloons, food, gifts and massages. The event, started …

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NOTEBOOK: Startups still hatching at Drake through alum’s gifts

When John Lorentzen graduated with a business degree from Drake University 40 years ago, he thought he had a pretty complete grounding in business topics. 

It wasn’t until after he was practicing corporate tax law …

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NOTEBOOK: Des Moines has the top natural birth rate in the Midwest

Sometimes after one of our events, as people ask me how it went and what I found interesting as moderator, I find myself repeating a nugget of info over and over. In the case of our …

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NOTEBOOK: Who’s in the December 8 issue?

Here’s a list of local people in the December 8 issue of the Business Record and the page number of the article in which they are mentioned. Members can read all of this week’s stories …

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NOTEBOOK: Thorne decries ‘insult’

We reported recently that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had booted respected University of Iowa occupational health researcher — and EPA grant recipient — Peter Thorne from the EPA science advisory panel he led. 

Now …

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NOTEBOOK: Hickman: Never stop learning

I heard Lea Hickman, a partner at Silicon Valley Product Group and former product lead for Adobe’s Creative Cloud, give the keynote at the Technology Association of Iowa’s 10th annual Women of Innovation Awards at …