Thirty-nine grants totaling $97.5 million have been awarded under the state’s Empower Rural Iowa Broadband Grants Program, which was created this year by the Iowa Legislature to expand high-speed internet statewide. According to a news release from the governor’s office, 178 applications were received from broadband providers requesting nearly $300 million. In the release issued Tuesday, Gov. Kim…
Chief executives of companies in insurance, finance and big tech pledged to commit billions of dollars and resources in a public-private partnership at a White House meeting convened to address the emerging national security threat of cyberattacks, BestWire reported. Top executives of tech and finance companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and…
Governance, risk and compliance technology firm ViClarity has named Kurt Sinnett as the new vice president of strategy and business development, ViClarity announced this week. Previously, Sinnett worked as vice president of client relations at Sg2, a health care analytics platform and consulting services provider, and leadership positions at Merck,…
Des Moines Area Community College Boone campus student Axl Escarcega, a first-year pre-engineering student originally from Imperial, Calif., has been accepted to join the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, DMACC announced this week. Escarcega joins three recent DMACC students and graduates with ties to NASA’s student initiatives. Noah…
Grinnell College announced that it will eliminate student loans in students’ financial aid packages as part of a “no-loan initiative” endorsed by the college’s board of trustees. In a press release, the college said the change is a response to the financial hardship that many families are experiencing because of the…
By Kathy Bolten | Business Record senior reporter High-speed internet access will be provided to every West Des Moines residence and business through an ambitious plan unveiled last week by city officials and Google Fiber, a provider of fiber-optic broadband internet service. Under a development agreement approved this week by…
Sharon Jaeschke knows that the more students are exposed to science, technology, engineering and mathematics, the more likely they are to pursue a STEM-related career. This can be a challenge in rural communities where there are fewer major industries represented. But if Jaeschke, a math teacher and robotics coach at…
Amazon.com is opening a delivery station in Grimes that will employ hundreds who prepare packages headed to customers’ doors, the company announced in November. The delivery station, the final stop for an order before being delivered to customers, is expected to open in 2020, according to a news release issued…
Each year the Business Record gets the pulse on key issues affecting the region’s business community from our audience. Back in October we reached out, and Des Moines leaders delivered. Catch a glimpse of what people thought about artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles in Des Moines and cybersecurity below, and look…
The Iowa Economic Development Board awarded an $100,000 loan from the Demonstration Fund to INSEER Inc., an Iowa City startup which develops software to prevent, predict and mitigate workplace injuries using computer vision and deep machine learning. The loan will go toward intellectual property development and evaluation, product refinement, key…