The defunct Regency Homes and an affiliate have been ordered to pay $443,184 in back pay and bonuses to their former president. Polk County District Judge Karen Romano signed a default judgment against the company last month on a motion by James Cramer, who was the president and chief operating officer from June 28, 2006, to April 25 of this year, when he was laid off along with about 100 other Regency workers. Cramer said in a lawsuit filed in May that the company owed him eight months’ severance pay, vacation time and performance bonuses. The order was filed Aug. 6. The previous day a judge in Minneapolis signed an $8.2 million judgment against Regency principals James and Robert Myers, their late father’s trust and investment partner Michael Medved in connection with a failed condominium project in that city.

United Way of Central Iowa will announce its 2008 campaign fund-raising goal at a community-wide Live United photo shoot on Sept. 9 at 7:30 a.m. at Principal Park. More than 500 Central Iowans are expected to wear a Live United T-shirt to the event to kick off the campaign, and Jim Noyce, the 2008 United Way campaign chair and CEO of FBL Financial Group Inc., will announce the fund-raising goal. After the event, more than 3,000 volunteers will spend the day working on a variety of projects in the community as part of the annual “Day of Caring.” For more information, go to www.unitedwaydm.org.

GMAC Financial Services will close its Urbandale office as part of a plan to shutter all 200 of its retail offices and lay off about 5,000 employees. The Associated Press reported that the majority of the layoffs will be in GMAC’s mortgage lending division, Residential Capital LLC, or ResCap, and are a result of a downturn in the housing market. ResCap’s U.S. mortgage loan production was valued at $35.7 billion in the first half of the year, down nearly 39 percent from the first half of 2007. ResCap is the latest lender to stop using external wholesale brokers to originate loans. The company will continue lending through brands such as Ditech and GMAC Mortgage Direct, which customers can access online or through call centers. Severance costs will be about $90 million to $120 million against earnings.

Health benefit costs could increase 5.7 percent in 2009, the smallest hike in more than 10 years and slightly down from the 6 percent annual growth rate since 2005, according to Mercer LLC’s preliminary survey of 1,317 employer health-plan sponsors. If employers renew their current health plans, costs would grow nearly 8 percent on average, with smaller employers (10 to 499 employees) seeing a greater increase of about 10 percent. But many of those surveyed indicated that they would take action to mitigate their cost increases. More than half (59 percent) plan to raise deductibles, co-payments, coinsurance or employee out-of-pocket spending limits, and 19 percent say they will add a consumer-directed health plan, which is a high-deductible plan with an employee-controlled spending account. Mercer will release its National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans 2008 at the end of the year.

A good chance for cool temperatures this fall could hurt agriculture while boosting retail sales, according to Storm Exchange Inc.’s Fall 2008 Weather Risk Outlook, a 90-day projection of the impacts of weather on businesses in the agriculture, retail and energy industries. It predicted an average corn yield of 144 bushels per acre, 6 percent below average, due to a delayed planting season and the likelihood of an early frost. Retailers could see a boost as cold temperatures in the Northeast and Midwest influence consumers to buy seasonal merchandise. Meanwhile, the energy sector could experience price volatility as hurricane danger remains at a peak until mid-October. Storm Exchange expects six to seven more named storms, with a 69 percent chance of the storms hitting the U.S. mainland. The Mid-Atlantic region is especially at risk.

Community Housing Development Corp. will break ground on two sustainable homes that will be sold to low- or moderate-income families. The house at 1622 Forest Ave., designed by Iowa State University’s College of Design students, and the house at 1347 Forest Ave., a Wells + Associates green demonstration home, will be completed in December. The groundbreaking celebration will take place Sept. 9 at 10 a.m. at the 1347 Forest Ave. site. A reception will follow at Evelyn Davis Park.

Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins Inc. has received an $8.2 million order from the U.S. Navy to upgrade its radio system, the Associated Press Reported.