AABP EP Awards 728x90

Tickers: June 15

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The Des Moines Business Record’s Power Breakfast on Tuesday is sold out. There will be no seats available for people who wish to register the morning of the breakfast. The topic, “Breaking the Glass Ceiling,” has generated a tremendous amount of interest in the Greater Des Moines business community.

The Des Moines Business Record is a partner in a national weekly business news bulletin that provides links to online headlines from local business publications throughout the country. The Alliance National Business Report, a free service, is posted every Monday at www.bizpubs.org/headlines.asp. The bulletin provides links to headlines from the Web sites of local business publications that are members of the Alliance of Area Business Publications (AABP), an organization of more than 70 publications that deliver regional business news to business professionals in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia. The combined circulation of AABP members is more than 1.2 million. The AABP includes Crain’s Chicago Business, Florida Trend, the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Business Record. AABP President Janette Larkin, publisher of the Business Record, said the Alliance National Business Report will provide readers with local, regional and national news, as well as some headlines from member business publications in Canada. The news bulletin will allow readers to search each week’s report by city and by industry, ranging from manufacturing and technology to health care.

Drake University’s Annual Fund raised more than $3 million for the second consecutive year. The Annual Fund contributions totaled $3,027,221 in the fiscal year ended May 31, down just 2.8 percent, or $88,172, from last year’s all-time high of $3,115,393. The decline was significantly less than the average 5.5 percent drop in donations to educational institutions in 2008 reported last week in the new edition of Giving USA released by the Giving USA Foundation, Drake said in a news release. The success of the Annual Fund helped Drake end the 2008-09 fiscal year with a budget surplus for the fifth consecutive year. Since 2001, the university has invested $65 million in the renovation of classrooms, laboratories, residence halls and Drake Stadium. University officials said Drake is on track to meet its target for enrollment of first-year and transfer students for the fall semester.

I-JOBS, Gov. Chet Culver’s initiative to strengthen the state’s economy, improve public infrastructure and create jobs, is sponsoring regional meetings that begin Tuesday in Mason City and will conclude June 29 in Cedar Rapids. The Greater Des Moines meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at Courtyard by Marriott, 2405 S.E. Creekview Drive, Ankeny. The $830 million program provides funding for road and bridge construction, education, completion of the Iowa Veterans Home, promotion of renewable energy, flood prevention and improvements in water quality. It is funded with state gaming revenue.

Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc. declared a quarterly dividend today of 40.5 centers per share. The dividend is payable on July 15 to shareholders of record at the close of business on June 30.

Bank of America Corp. is experiencing “horrific” loan losses, analyst Richard Bove said in a note to clients, adding that the largest U.S. bank may set aside loan loss provisions of $46 billion this year, Reuters reported. On the other hand, Bove raised his price target on Bank of America’s stock by $5 to $19, saying confidence in the company and in its management was improving. It also is becoming increasingly apparent that the acquisitions of Countrywide Financial Corp. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. have been good for the company, he said.

BusinessWeek plans to create a special presentation of its print magazine content that will only be available to subscribers, Mediaweek.com reported. Roger Neal, general manager of BusinessWeek.com, told Mediaweek.com that while the magazine’s content will be available on the site for all to see, subscribers will get a different experience of the print content online. Neal said the subscriber-only view would be print-like in presentation. He said the goal is to serve both paying and nonpaying readers by “making all our content available to Internet users but still providing a special privilege for print subscribers.” Users will get other benefits, such as instant access to the print content online. The new paid/free strategy is part of a site relaunch in July, which will consolidate BusinessWeek’s various Web offerings into three, focused on breaking news, analysis and community.