EMC Insurance Group Inc. lost $1.7 million in net income, or 13 cents a share, in the year ended Dec. 31, compared with a gain of nearly $42.5 million, $3.09 cents a share, in 2007, the company reported today. The company reported fourth-quarter 2008 net income of $477,540, or 4 cents per share, compared with more than $7 million in the same quarter of 2007. The company said income was affected by hurricanes, storms and “turmoil in the financial markets.”

Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc. reported net income today of $5.2 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, on operating revenues of $65 million for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31. The company had reported net income of $6 million in 2007.

FBL Financial Group Inc. waged a defense of its economic health today in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after A.M. Best Co. downgraded the financial strength ratings of FBL subsidiaries Farm Bureau Life Insurance Co. and EquiTrust Life Insurance Co. to good from excellent, citing, among other things, FBL’s losses in its investment portfolio, level of real-estate linked assets and a rapid growth in annuity reserves. The West Des Moines-based company said A.M. Best was being “overly cautious and pessimistic in its opinions – particularly where Farm Bureau Life is concerned.” FBL said it had the “ability and intent” to hold securities until they recovered their values, that its real-estate portfolio made up the same percentage of investments in 2008 as 2000 and that it had slowed the growth of annuity sales.

Iowa hospitals generate nearly 150,000 jobs and add more than $5.8 billion to the state’s economy, the Iowa Hospital Association said today in its annual economic impact report. Looking at jobs, income, retail sales and sales tax produced by the state’s health care sector, the report showed that Iowa hospital employees spend nearly $1.9 billion on retail sales and contribute more than $112 million in state sales tax revenue. For the complete report, go to www.ihaonline.org.

Wells Fargo & Co. has suspended its bonus policy for top executives, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing today. The policy was suspended Tuesday, retroactive to Jan. 1, and also affects cash bonuses that were to have been paid for 2008 to Chief Executive John Stumpf, Chairman Richard Kovacevich, Chief Financial Officer Howard Atkins and Senior Executive Vice Presidents David Hoyt and Mark Oman. Wells Fargo also plans to boost the annual base salaries of Atkins and Hoyt to $700,000 from $600,000 on March 1, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. economy suffered its deepest contraction since 1982 in the fourth quarter of 2008, shrinking at a 6.2 percent annual rate as exports plunged and consumers slashed spending, the U.S. Commerce Department reported today.

Governor Chet Culver announced that the Iowa Finance Authority will receive $2.4 million in a loan and grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to preserve affordable housing for an estimated 1,200 families, seniors and persons with disabilities that are at-risk of losing their homes in rural Iowa.

David Roe, a retired Air Force Brigadier General and former insurance industry executive, will retire in June 2010 as the 20th president of Central College in Pella. David Wesselink, chair of the college’s board of trustees, said a search committee will be appointed in April to find a replacement who will be appointed July 2010. Roe has been president since 1998.

Jim Wallace, president and CEO of GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co., has been named chairman of the company’s board of directors. Lynn Vorbrich, who had served as chairman of the board since May 2001, has been named lead director.

Iowa State University has selected four candidates to be interviewed for its College of Engineering dean. The candidates are Theodore Bergman, program director of the Thermal Transport Processes Program at the National Science Foundation and professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Connecticut; Ishwar Puri, professor and department head of engineering science and mechanics at Virginia Tech; David Rosowsky, A.P. and Florence Wiley Chair Professor and department head of the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University; and Jonathan Wickert, Larry and Pam Pithan Professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair of mechanical engineering at Iowa State. The finalists will visit campus during the first two weeks of March. For more information, go to www.provost.iastate.edu/searchs/engineering.

The Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute and the Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) are accepting applications from current high school freshman and sophomores in Greater Des Moines for its YLI class of 2009-2010. The deadline for receiving applications is March 6. Learn more at www.youthleadershipdm.org.

Drake University’s spring “Let’s DU Lunch” series will continue on Wednesday, March 4, with a program featuring J. Barry Griswell, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines and former president and CEO of The Principal Financial Group. The event, which is open to the public, will be held at AllPlay, 615 Third St. in downtown Des Moines. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m., followed by lunch and the program at noon.