The State of Iowa is partnering with Google on an effort to help small businesses in the state grow their online presence and reach more consumers. Secretary of State Paul Pate talked about the initiative Thursday, during a news conference at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. “What we’re doing through our office is we’re making this information available by linking up with the Google folks on our website, as well as encouraging businesses to look at becoming a part of this as a way to get their word out,” Pate said.

Whitney Cox, with Small Business Outreach at Google, says the program is called Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map. “We know that four out of five consumers use search engines to find location information, yet only 37 percent of businesses have claimed a listing on a search engine,” Cox said. “Through Google’s Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map program, we are working to change that by getting businesses the information and resources they need to verify their information on Google Search and Maps…and make sure that online information is accurate.”

Lisa Shimkat, with Iowa’s Small Business Development Center, is encouraging all Iowa business owners to take advantage of the online resource. “We don’t want a business to get left behind,” Shimkat said. “If you don’t have the right information out there, you will be left behind and it could impact your cash flow.” Pate noted that new business filings in Iowa are at an all-time high.

“We have over 200,000 businesses in Iowa and we’re really excited because this year we’ve seen a record number of new business filings which, to me, says we’ve got a growing economy,” Pate said.

Business owners can visit the Secretary of State’s booth in the Varied Industries Building throughout the Iowa State Fair to get signed up for the program — or they can do so online at sos.iowa.gov.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — The city with Iowa’s highest black population has settled lawsuits against white police officers who roughed up three African-American residents, including a 13-year-old girl who was handcuffed after yelling at a passing officer to “slow down.” The cases reveal how Waterloo’s overwhelmingly white police force has an often-rocky relationship with black residents. The city’s insurer is expected to pay $170,000 to settle three lawsuits, and an unspecified additional amount to the girl’s family.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A National Park Service report says the agency is “astonished” that superintendents at a Native American burial site in Iowa were able to break the law and damage its resources over two decades. The agency released a 50-page review Thursday examining what went wrong in two high-profile debacles at Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa.

BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) — A Des Moines County jury has found a former Burlington city councilman guilty of four felony counts of sexual abuse involving teenage girls. The Hawk Eye reports that after two days of deliberations, the jury found Chris King guilty on Thursday. King had maintained that sex with the girls was consensual, but prosecutors said the girls were incapacitated by alcohol King provided and unable to consent to sex.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Authorities in North Dakota have arrested a dozen people protesting the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said the 12 arrests as of Thursday evening were for disorderly conduct or criminal trespass. The pipeline would start in North Dakota and pass through South Dakota and Iowa before ending in Illinois.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports two men were arrested late Thursday night on drug and alcohol-related charges. At around 11:45-p.m., Police in Tabor conducted a traffic stop and with the assistance of Fremont County deputies, subsequently arrested 53-year old Donald Wayne Younts, of Tabor, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and for OWI. Younts was being held at the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center on $2,300 bond.

Donald Younts

And, at around 10-p.m. Thursday, Fremont County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to the Farragut Tavern for a disturbance. After they arrived, deputies met with 27-year old Cody Gould, of Farragut, and as a result took him into custody for Public Intoxication. Gould was being held in the Fremont County Jail on $300 bond.

Cody Gould

The Cass County Communications Center said power has been restored to at least a section of the downtown area, and the street light signals are functioning. Still, you are advised to drive with caution, as there is tree limb and other debris on the roads that may be difficult to see at night.

Atlantic Municipal Utilities had reported earlier, power was out to an estimated 300-400 households and/or businesses in town, and for a time, the Cass County Communications Center and courthouse radio building were running on an emergency generator.

AMU crews are still working to restore power to those areas affected by an outage due to the storm that struck at around 8-p.m. Winds gusted up to 60-miles per hour in Atlantic as the front pushed through, taking down large tree limbs and power lines, including two AMU feeder lines.