(Radio Iowa) – Senate Democrats are proposing an extension of unemployment benefits for workers at a Perry pork plant who’ll be laid off at the end of June. Tyson announced earlier this week it will close the plant, which employs nearly 13-hundred people and is Perry’s largest employer. Senate Democratic Leader Pam Jochum of Dubuque says she has an inkling of what’s ahead for Perry.

“About 20 years ago Smithfield came in and bought out the Dubuque Packing Company and threw 2000 workers out of work and it took our community many, many years to recover from that plant closing,” Jochum says, “so I do know how difficult this is and how difficult it’s going to be for Perry to overcome the many challenges they’re going to be facing.”

In 2022, Governor Reynolds signed a law that reduced the number of weeks Iowans are eligible for unemployment benefits from 26 to 16 weeks. Jochum and other Senate Democrats are proposing that those who lose their jobs due to a plant closure — like the workers in Perry — should be eligible for up to 39 weeks of unemployment. “We, as Democrats, stand with Perry and the Iowans losing their jobs and their livelihoods because of Tyson’s decision,” Jochum says. “The effects of this closure are going to touch every corner of Dallas County, from schools to city services to Main Streets and beyond and it’s going to all of us working together to meet these challenges and keep Perry strong.”

The Senate’s Republican leader says he can’t comment on Jochum’s proposal because he hasn’t seen it and hasn’t had a chance to review its impact. Tyson is encouraging its employees in Perry to apply for job openings at its other meat packing plants in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain continues pushing toward its goal of adding 150 stores this fiscal year. Senior Vice President of business development, Brian Johnson, talked about it in an investor update on the third quarter. “In the third quarter we closed on a transaction to enter our 17th state in Texas and through the end of the quarter we have built or acquired over 125 stores,” he says.

Casey’s President and CEO, Darren Rebelez, says they like to have a mix of building new stores along with merging or acquiring existing stores. He says acquiring stores is more attractive now as the cost of construction has gone up, so installing or upgrading the kitchen in an existing store is less than the cost to replace the whole store.

“I think we’ve learned how to get our prepared foods into these acquisitions more quickly. Historically this has taken us a long time to do and to the extent that some of these stores that we acquire have some level of kitchen space available our team has gotten really effective at getting equipment in early and getting the food into the stores quicker,” Rebelez says. He says that allows them to gain the advantage from the prepared food sales much quicker than in the past. Rebelez says the acquisitions recently have mostly been competitors with under 100 stores.

“We’re also having discussions on larger potential deals but we just haven’t gotten anything over the finish line yet,” he says. Rebelez says even with the acquisitions, they will still end up building in the neighborhood of 50 new stores this year. Casey’s now has more than 26-hundred stores in 17 states.

[Update 3/16/24 – The victim of the crash was identified as Larry Nielson, of Anamosa]

(Anamosa, Iowa) – A collision between a car and a small SUV this (Thursday) afternoon in eastern Iowa Iowa, resulted in one person deceased and four others injured. The Iowa State Patrol reports the crash happened at U-S Highway 151 and Shaw Road, south of Anamosa, in Jones County.

The Patrol says a 1989 Oldsmobile Delta 88 was traveling east on Shaw Road at around 12:45-p.m., when the driver failed to yield to a 2015 Nissan Juke that was traveling south on Highway 151. The Nissan struck the car on the Highway. Two juveniles and two adults were injured and transported to area hospitals by Anamosa, Mt. Vernon and Monticello Ambulances.

Another adult was transported to St. Lukes Hospital where they died from their injuries. All of the crash victims were wearing seat belts. No names had been released as of the time of this report.