General Growth Properties Inc., developer of Jordan Creek Town Center, has given a $300,000 raise to its interim chief financial officer, Edmund Hoyt, who was appointed following the Oct. 2 departure of former CFO Bernard Friebaum, the Baltimore Business Journal reported. Hoyt will earn an annual salary of $710,000. The company is facing $19 billion in debt through 2011, according to Securities and Exchange Commission data. Shares of General Growth have fallen from an opening price Sept. 22 of $20.60 to a closing price Wednesday of $4.97.

Construction starts on new homes fell to a new 17 1/2-year low in September, and growing turmoil in financial markets pushed permits for new homes to a nearly 27-year low, Reuters reported. The Commerce Department said today that starts on new homes fell 6.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 817,000 units, the slowest pace since January 1991. The September rate of starts on single-family homes fell 12 percent to a 544,000-unit annual rate, the slowest pace since August 1982.

Meredith Corp. recently announced that Diane Newman, who joined the company as vice president and publisher of Parents magazine in March 2007, is now the vice president and group publisher for Meredith Parenthood Group, which includes Parents and American Baby. Newman will also oversee ParentsTV, which hired former “Early Show” anchor Rene Syler back in May. Meredith also announced that David Algire will join the company as vice president of retail sales for the Meredith Publishing Group on Oct. 30. He will help drive performance and visibility on newsstands and other channels of single-copy magazine sales. He also will oversee Meredith’s relationships with major retailers, wholesalers and Time Warner Retail. Algire is currently serving as vice president of North American retail sales with Reader’s Digest Association.

West Des Moines-based West Bancorporation Inc. has declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of 16 cents per share, payable on Nov. 12 to shareholders of record on Oct. 27. As of Oct. 15, the company had 17,403,882 shares of common stock outstanding. The company will announce its earnings for the third quarter on Oct. 30. A conference call to discuss the earnings is scheduled for 2 p.m. that day. To listen to the call, dial (800) 860-2442.

Sioux City-based Terra Industries Inc. has scheduled a webcast of its third-quarter 2008 results conference call, which will be held at 2 p.m. Iowa time on Oct. 23. Terra President and CEO Michael Bennett and Chief Financial Officer Dan Greenwell will discuss Terra’s third-quarter results and outlook. Interested parties can access the webcast at http://www.terraindustries.com/Investors/Terra-Industries-(TRA).aspx. A recording of the webcast will be archived on the company’s Web site for three months.

Dubuque-based Flexsteel Industries Inc. will release its operating results for the first fiscal quarter ending Sept. 30 on Oct. 20 after U.S. markets close. Senior management will host a conference call with analysts to review the results at 10:30 a.m. Iowa time on Oct. 21. The call is available to the general public in listen-only mode and can be accessed by dialing (888) 275-4480, and entering 65674887. A telephone playback will be available for two weeks, starting two hours after the conclusion of the call, by dialing (800) 642-1687 and entering 65674887.