Nonstop flight service between Des Moines International Airport and Branson Airport in Branson, Mo., kicked off today. The service will operate five days a week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday – with a flight leaving Branson for Des Moines at 10 a.m. and a flight leaving at 11:25 a.m. for Branson.

General Motors Co. posted a first-quarter profit today and said it is making progress toward a turnaround expected to put it on track for its first full-year profit since 2004, Reuters reported. GM, which received $50 billion of U.S. government financing for its restructuring in bankruptcy, intends to launch an initial public offering that would allow the U.S. government to reduce its majority stake in the automaker later this year. The automaker’s revenues rose to $31.48 billion from the $22.43 billion the company reported a year earlier, prior to filing for bankruptcy. Net income — after preferred stock dividends of $203 million to the U.S. and Canadian governments and GM’s major union — was $865 million, compared with a loss of $5.98 billion a year before. The company had posted a $4.3 billion loss in 2009 for the period between July, when it emerged from a bankruptcy steered by the Obama administration, until the end of the year.

Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield said Friday that it will pay, with interest, members’ claims that were denied due to an error that affected some claims submitted under individual and Farm Bureau health insurance policies underwritten before August 2007. The error does not affect Medicare Supplement plans, Medicare Advantage plans, Short-Term Major Medical plans, any policies issued through a group or employer, or any policies first underwritten on or after Aug. 1, 2007, the company said in a news release. Wellmark discovered a discrepancy in the processing of some individual claims and commissioned a thorough external review to determine the nature and extent of the error. The review concluded that some claims for health services received were denied because some health condition amendments, or riders, were incorrectly applied.

Lowe’s Cos. Inc., the second-largest U.S. home-improvement retailer, posted fiscal first-quarter profits that beat some analysts’ estimates as sales advanced, Bloomberg reported. Net income rose to 34 cents a share in the quarter ended April 30, the company said today in a statement. That compared with the 32-cent average of estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit this quarter will be as much as 59 cents a share, compared with the 62-cent average of estimates. Lowe’s raised its full-year profit forecast to a minimum of $1.37 a share, compared with a previous target of at least $1.30.