(Radio Iowa) – Tomorrow’s Black Friday shopping extravaganza, followed by Small Business Saturday, marks a vital kickoff to the holiday shopping season, which a University of Iowa College of Business professor says could be make-or-break time for countless Iowa merchants.

Professor Peggy Stover, who directs the UI’s Marketing Institute, says some businesses may have a so-so 11 months and they rely on this weekend’s events to kickstart consumers for December to meet their margins and stay afloat.

“They’re very important, especially for the small retailers in Iowa, since so many of them are competing against your big box retailers,” Stover says, “and then you have, of course, the online retailers who have managed to carve out a significant market share of the holiday shopping.”

Not too many years ago, a majority of stores opened on Thanksgiving Day to beat the Black Friday deals, but there was a backlash that returned the holiday’s focus to family, reserving Friday for the shop-’til-you-drop enthusiasts. Now, very few retailers are open on Thanksgiving, and even many grocery stores will be closed.

“I think it’s both a great PR move by retailers, but it also comes on the heels of consumers just really realizing that the unsung heroes during the holiday season are the retail workers,” Stover says. “They oftentimes are not able to enjoy the holiday season, much like the rest of us, because they have to work.”

Many factors may impact the shopping season ahead, including high interest rates, inflation, record credit card debt, and the restart of student loan payments. Stover also says there’s a demographic change and a shift in mindsets coming, for which retailers will need to brace.

“You have Gen Z and then the younger Millennials, who they would prefer to pay for an experience versus goods or a product,” Stover says. “Another thing to take into account is that Gen Xers are starting to retire, so now you’re losing a consumer base that could have had more disposable income.”

One regional economist predicts holiday sales may rise three to four percent, but when inflation is factored in, retailers may only see a boost of between zero and one-percent compared to last year.

(Radio Iowa) – Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa is using a half a million dollar federal grant to expand its cybersecurity training. Andy Alderson is an associate professor of cybersecurity and systems administration at the college. “We hope to be able to put more students through the program and get more students to actually graduate into the technical field,” he says.

The college already offers an associate degree in cybersecurity and systems administration. Alderson says the program is being restructured, so students could earn an associates degree in I-T fundamentals within nine months. “Part of the grant is to help us develop a second learning track after they complete the nine months,” Alderson says. “They’ll have a choice of either going to the systems administrator track or the cybersecurity track.”

The cybersecurity curriculum will be wide ranging. “We’re going to cover things like cyber law and ethics, digital forensics, server configurations and hardening — making those harder to infiltrate,” Alderson says, “how data transmits from place to place and being able to identify that and finding anomalies in it.”

Alderson is helping to plan so-called “Capture the Flag” events at area high schools, giving students a chance to compete to solve computer security puzzles and — hopefully — get them interested in pursuing a degree. “Give a little insight into what it means to be a cybersecurity professional, trying to mitigate some of these malicious attacks,” Alderson says.

Government reports indicate there were 700-thousand unfilled cybersecurity jobs in the United States this summer — and there will be a 20 percent increase in the number of cybersecurity jobs within two years.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Red Oak Police Department reports a woman was arrested this (Thursday) morning, on a Theft charge. 39-year-old Jodie Michele Vanhouten, of Red Oak, was arrested for Theft in the 4th Degree. She was taken into custody in the 1500 block of N. 8th Street at around 9:30-a.m.  Authorities say her arrest concluded an investigation of theft coming from the self-checkout lane of Hy-Vee.

Vanhouten was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $1,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) – Davenport City Administrator Corrin Spiegel will be on paid administrative leave until she resigns her position on January 2nd. The city announced it is paying Spiegel a lump sum of one-point-six million dollars. The city released its separation agreement, which says one million dollars of the payout is for emotional pain and suffering related to the actions of former Alderman Derek Cornette and other “unnamed former elected officials.”

Cornette was removed from office by the city council in September for allegedly harassing female staff members and showing up to council meetings intoxicated.

The city says in a statement that the amount of compensation given to Spiegel is small when compared to what it might cost for a lengthy lawsuit.

(Radio Iowa) – U.S. senators from Iowa and Nebraska are backing federal legislation that would return land in northwest Iowa to the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. In 1970, the federal government took 16-hundred acres from the tribe using the power of eminent domain.

The plan was to use the ground along the Missouri River in Woodbury and Monona counties for a recreation area, but it was never built. “Land is very important to us. We are stewards of the land. That’s something that we always try to take care of our Mother Earth,” according to Garan Coons, communications director for the Winnebago Tribe. Coons says they won a legal fight in the ’70s to get the land back, but it required an act of Congress to complete the process.

Tribal officials have been making a direct appeal to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to push for passage of the legislation. Coons says, “They’re just knocking on doors out there and trying to kind of tell him how important this is and what it means for the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.”

A bill co-sponsored by Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, along with the two senators from Nebraska, would return the land to the tribe. “A long time coming and I’m just glad in my lifetime, we get to see it,” Coons says, “and we’re one step closer to getting that land back for the Winnebago Tribe.” Coons says so far, there are no plans to develop the land, which is currently overseen by the Iowa DNR.

In a Radio Iowa interview, Senator Grassley said last week the bill is “non-controversial” and he expects it to pass.

(Radio Iowa) – Triple-A says Iowa gas prices fell again last week. The price of regular unleaded gas was down six cents a gallon with an average price of two dollars, 97 cents across Iowa. That gas price is down 43 cents from last year. The national average was 33 cents higher than Iowa, after falling five cents.

Diesel prices were also down — dropping seven cents to a statewide average of four-dollars, 17 cents. That’s down 83 cents from last year.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) — A 66-year-old woman was killed in a crash that happened in Des Moines this (Thanksgiving) morning. KCCI reports Des Moines police say it happened just after 1:30 a.m. Thursday at Southeast 8th Street and Emma Avenue. Police say an officer tried to pull over a driver with suspected fraudulent license plates near SE 5th Street and Hughes Avenue. The 46-year-old driver then took off along Southeast 8th street. According to investigators, about 36 seconds after the chase started, the crash happened as the driver was trying to make a turn before crashing into a ditch on Emma Avenue.

The driver and a female passenger were taken to the hospital. The man is in serious condition and the woman died. Police also say the driver has an active felony arrest warrant that’s unrelated to this incident.

This is the city’s 17th traffic-related fatality so far in 2023.

DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has ordered all flags in Iowa to be lowered to half-staff on Saturday in honor and remembrance of Rosalynn Carter. The former first lady died while in hospice care in Georgia last week.

“Rosalynn Carter modernized the role of First Lady as a trusted advisor to her husband, a working mom, and humanitarian,” Gov. Reynolds said in a press release. “America remembers her fondly and with gratitude for her incredible life of service. Kevin & I pray for peace and comfort for President Carter and their family.”

The order was issued in conjunction with President Joe Biden’s proclamation to lower U.S. flags to half-staff.

(Radio Iowa) – Quad Cities-based Deere and Company is wrapping up its fiscal year on a high note. Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is releasing its fourth quarter earnings, reporting net income of more than two-point-three billion dollars for the quarter, up from two-point-two billion at this time last year.

A Deere news release says worldwide net sales and revenues fell one-percent for the quarter and rose 16-percent for the year. The statement says Deere’s being driven by solid market conditions, differentiated products, and strong execution.

(Radio Iowa) – Creighton University Economist Ernie Goss says stores shouldn’t have the trouble with stocking merchandise this year they’ve had with the supply chain in past years. “We’ve seen that improve significantly and inventory levels are pretty good. And that’s going to provide a lot of a lot of goods out there for individuals to purchase,” Goss says. The supply of retail employees could be a problem. “The problem is the retailers are having issues finding and hiring those qualified workers. So you may find a product that you may have to stand in line a little bit longer to check it out,” Goss says.

Goss says the global economy is slowing down with China in a recession, and that could impact some holiday buying. “And what that mean means is the U-S dollar is up significantly. And that means for the U-S consume, is that dollar is going to go a longer way in purchasing imported goods. So you’ll find more bargains, imported goods this year than you did last year,” he says. Goss says you can help your area merchants by shopping at their stores. “If your local merchant is price competitive, service competitive, it helps us all to buy locally. That has a significant impact on the local economy, whereas buying from merchants such as Amazon has a less of an impact on the local economy,” Goss says.

Goss says holiday sales are likely to be up this year — but he says most of that is in inflation — and retailers are not going to make much once inflation is taken out.