A report from Iowa State University shows retail sales in many large and small Iowa cities stabilized over the past fiscal year. Liesl Eathington, an assistant scientist in I-S-U’s Department of Economics, produced the annual analysis showing average per capita sales statewide grew by less than one-percent for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2011. “That was a pretty big improvement over the prior year when the state, as a whole, saw a 6.5-percent drop in per capita sales,” Eathington says.

More than half of Iowa’s counties experienced growth in retail sales last year. Iowa’s large metropolitan areas accounted for 64-percent of the state’s taxable sales. Eathington says retail sales declined slightly (0.6%) in micropolitan areas – which include cities with 10,000 to 50,000 residents – cities like Fort Dodge, Storm Lake and Mason City. “We saw a lot of job losses in these communities and especially manufacturing jobs, which are the core of the economy in a lot of these mid-sized cities,” Eathington says. “So, the manufacturing and other job losses in these communities would ripple through…affecting the retail sales.” 

The analysis found some positive news for Iowa’s rural areas. The state’s 21 most rural counties posted a four-percent increase in retail sales last year. Eathington says it’s difficult to determine how much rising internet sales might be impacting Iowa’s retail sector. “To really get at how internet sales are affecting Iowa’s retailers, you’d really have to do some household level research – such as surveys to find out how (Iowans) are changing their spending habits,” Eathington says. “That’s just not something that we can figure out from the sales tax return data.”

 (Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Links:

CITY:
http://www.recap.iastate.edu/retail/
COUNTY: http://www.recap.iastate.edu/retail/county.php

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A 46-year-old man Iowa man already sentenced for raping two women in Nebraska has pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual abuse in Iowa. The Omaha World-Herald reports Todd Mills made his pleas Wednesday in Council Bluffs.  Mills, of Shelby, originally was charged with four counts of kidnapping and sexually assaulting four women in Iowa from 2008 to June 2010.
 
On Wednesday he pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree sexual abuse. The newspaper says that under terms of the agreement with prosecutors, Mills will serve two terms of 25 years at the same time, then another 25-year term.
 
Mills was sentenced in Nebraska in September to up to 140 years in prison for sexually assaulting two women in Omaha.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s bishops have asked Catholics to fast as a way to demonstrate their concerns over mandates in the federal health care law. Sioux City television station KTIV reports parishioners have been asked to fast on March 30 to highlight what the bishops call “ongoing religious liberty concerns.”  The bishops say in a letter that the law will force religious people and groups to violate their “most deeply held convictions.”  The federal policy requires nearly all employers to provide insurance coverage that includes free birth control for workers. Houses of worship are exempt; religiously affiliated charities, hospitals and schools are not.  Bishops and others consider the religious exemption too narrow. President Barack Obama has said insurance companies would pay for the coverage instead of religious employers.

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Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

Business is good at the Atlantic Municipal Airport. Airport General Manager Barry Reid said at Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, that fuel sales over the past year amounted to 49,600 gallons, which is 17,300 gallons more than 2010, but not as much as in 2009, during which 63,000 gallons were sold. The City realized a profit from the sale of aviation fuel over the past year, amounting to $13,000. He says that’s because crop dusters were able to get out more often and spray the fields.

Reid said also that all of the hangars at the airport are full, and there is a waiting list of at aircraft owners and operators hoping to shelter their planes. He says 28 planes are based out of the Atlantic Airport. Of those 28 planes, 18 are owned by 15 separate businesses. If the City decides to erect additional hangars, he says  it could apply for a grant from the State, which would pay 80-percent of the cost. The City would have to pick up the remaining 20-percent. And, pending a Federal grant approval, it’s hoped work can begin soon on the taxiway grading.

Reid said this will be a busy year out at the airport, for public events. There is the annual “Flight Breakfast” this summer, the “Fly Iowa” Aviation Promotion Group will be in Atlantic September 15th – details will be available as the event draws near on the group’s website www.flyiowa.org – but, Reid says there will be a 90-minute airshow, sky divers and stunt pilots.  And, just like last year, there will be a circus held on the airport grounds. Additional details on those events are forthcoming.

In other business, the Atlantic City Council Wednesday: Approved amendments to the Fiscal Year 2012 Budget; Passed a resolution authorizing bids for improvements to the Street Maintenance Building; Approved the purchase of an asphalt paving machine from Puckett Equipment, Incorporated for $44,365; and, approved resolutions establishing fund balance policies that protect the Volunteer Fire Department’s funds, and amended a section of the City’s Personnel Policy pertaining to its health insurance plan.

The recent warm weather and official beginning of Spring have property owners in Atlantic chomping at the bit to spruce up their land by removing tree branches and other yard debris. That point was driven home during Wednesday night’s City Council meeting, by Mayor Dave Jones. Jones says property owners need to get back in the habit of trimming their trees and mowing their lawns.

The City is making it easier to get rid of lawn clippings and and other such debris, by opening the Yard Waste Site earlier this year. During the Winter, the site was only open on Saturdays, but the days and hours were officially changed on Monday, which means property owners or tenants have more hours to take advantage of the Yard Waste disposal site.

Effective immediately, the days and hours are as follows:
Tuesday-12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Thursday-12:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Saturday-9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Sunday-1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

The City of Atlantic reminds citizens that only trees, branches, grass, garden waste, and leaves are accepted at the Yard Waste site.

A Clarinda woman was killed this (Wednesday) morning during a head-on crash in northern Iowa’s Webster County. The Iowa State Patrol reports 68-year old Katheryn Anne Duley died and the driver of the other vehicle, 17-year old Patrick William Oberg, Jr., of Otho, was critically injured, when their vehicles collided on County Road P-59, about one-half mile north of Highway 20, near Coalville. The accident happened just before 8-a.m.

Officials say Duley was southbound on P-59 in a 2005 Saturn Ion, when Oberg’s northbound 1999 GMC Sierra pickup crossed the center of the road. After the vehicles collided, Duley’s car came to rest on its roof in a ditch, trapping her inside. Oberg’s vehicle came to rest on its side, on the traveled portion of the road. Both drivers were taken to Trinity Regional Medical Center in Ft. Dodge, where Duley died from her injuries.