Here are a few great items I came across that I think you'll find interesting.
1. Urbandale, the city next door to me, was named th 39th "Best Place to Live" by Money Magazine.
2. The Mid-American Wine Competition just wrapped up, and plenty of Iowa wines took home honors. There are many parallels between my CA and IA lives...and I never imagined that plentiful viticulture would be one of them.
3. A Rhode Island company is considering Newton, IA (35 minutes east of my home and the great home of the Iowa Speedway), for a Wind Turbine plant that could employ over 700 people! Good luck Newton, after Maytag bailed it's looking a bit bleak over there (except for race weekends). Here are some quick and very cool facts as reported by the DSM Register.
Iowa is the third-largest producer of wind power in the United States,
behind Texas and California, and the 10th-windiest state in the nation,
according to the American Wind Energy Association.
In the wind
industry, the upper Midwest is often called "the Saudi Arabia of wind,"
comparing the Midwest's wind energy potential to the Arab country's
richness in oil, Loyd said.
4. An article titled, "The High Cost of Wooing Google" showed up in Business Week too. I've written about this a few times and will continue. The bottom line is that the company that doesn't want to do evil is leveraging the heck out of desperate "less urban" areas for a pittance of tax revenues. I believe these towns are doing what they can to survive and certainly crave the allure of the GOOG. Then again, GOOG is doing what it's supposed to also...spending as little as possible to maximize profit.
Iowa is truly an amazing place. I would have NEVER imagined the breadth of activities or how cool agri-business really is. We're fueling the food engine of the world here in the Midwest...and now we're fueling your Escalade too.
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