Ticker: Dec. 22
The Des Moines City Council unanimously voted to approve the Evelyn Davis Project on Monday night. The project, spearheaded by the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, Des Moines Area Community College and Save-A-Lot grocery stores, aims to bring a first-of-its-kind center that will double as a grocery store while providing workforce counseling and training in a retail services setting. The center will be located in the former Top Value Foods store at 801 University Ave. Read more.
Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC announced today it has acquired The NIA Group LLC, the 34th-largest insurance agency in the United States. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The NIA Group has annual revenues of $62 million and has approximately 400 employees in offices on the East Coast. Read more.
CBS affiliate KCCI dominated the latest Central Iowa news ratings, according to November 2009 Nielsen Media Research. It won all six time slots in which it has a program in both rating (the percentage of all TV households in the Des Moines/Ames market) and share (the percentage of all TV households using television in the Des Moines/Ames market). NBC affiliate WHO-TV finished second in every time slot, and ABC affiliate WOI-TV finished last. The closest time slot was the Monday-Friday 5:30 p.m. spot in which KCCI had a 11 percent rating and 28 percent share and WHO had a 10 percent rating and 26 percent share.
State Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone, one of five candidates for governor in the Republican primary, announced today that he is leaving the race and endorsing former Gov. Terry Branstad, according to IowaPolitics.com. Behn said he will now focus on electing Branstad governor. Read more.