Looking in at Iowa

From Business Wire:

Penford Corporation (Nasdaq: PENX), a global leader in renewable, natural-based ingredient systems for food and industrial applications, today announced that it had begun commercial sales of ethanol from its new ethanol facility. The ethanol facility is an expansion of Penford’s existing wet corn milling operations located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The facility is designed to efficiently produce between 25 million and 45 million gallons of ethanol annually. …

ADM (Archer Daniels Midland Co.) operates corn processing plants in Cedar Rapids and is considered one of the area’s largest manufacturing employers.

Photos at Yahoo! News from Sunday filming of ‘The Informant‘ in Decatur, Illinois:

Matt Damon talks to director Steven Soderbergh on location for filming of ‘The Informant’ in downtown Decatur, Ill. on Sunday, May 4, 2008. Damon portrays Mark Whitacre, in the true story of an executive-turned-informant at agri-business giant Archer Daniels Midland in Central Illinois. (AP Photo/Herald & Review, Lisa Morrison)

Source of photos is Herald & Review, which has a page dedicated to the newspaper’s ongoing coverage of film-related news. They even have a Matt Damon Sightings Map - but beware of look-alikes.

From marketwire via CNN/Money:

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)–Penford Products Company (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), a subsidiary of Penford Corporation is nearing completion of an ethanol plant addition at its corn-milling and industrial-corn-starches plant in Cedar Rapids. Construction on the estimated $42 million plant began in November 2006. The plant is going through the commissioning process and is expected to be fully operational in May.

For details, view the entire article by subscribing to Industrial Info’s Premium Industry News at http://www.industrialinfo.com/showNews.jsp?newsitemID=132274 …

From New York Times story, Super Bowl Game Balls: The Pride of Ada, Ohio:

The footballs get their start on the backs of cows taken from feedlots in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. Riegle said he preferred young, lean steers over fat dairy cows because their leather does not stretch as much. By the time they arrive in Ada, the cowhides have been dyed brown and stamped with the familiar football stubble. …

Introduced yesterday:

H. R. 5127

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IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 23, 2008

Mr. Latham (for himself, Mr. King of Iowa, Mr. Loebsack, Mr. Boswell, and Mr. Braley of Iowa) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

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A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to designate the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Birthplace and Childhood Home in Cresco, Iowa, as a National Historic Site and unit of the National Park System, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Birthplace and Childhood Home national historic site.

(a) Acquisition of property; establishment of historic site.–Should the Secretary of the Interior acquire, by donation from the Norman Borlaug Heritage Foundation, fee simple, unencumbered title to the Norman E. Borlaug Birthplace site located at 20399 Timber Avenue, Cresco, Iowa, and the Norman E. Borlaug Childhood Home site located at 19518 200th Street, Cresco, Iowa, and any personal property related to the sites, the Secretary shall designate that property as a National Historic Site and unit of the National Park System to be known as the “Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Birthplace Home National Historic Site”.

(b) Applicability of other laws.–The Secretary shall administer the Dr. Norman E. Borlaug Birthplace Home National Historic Site in accordance with the laws generally applicable to national historic sites, including the Act titled “An Act to establish a National Park Service, and for other purposes”, approved August 25, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 1-4), and the Act titled “An Act to provide for the preservation of historic American sites, buildings, objects and antiquities of national significance, and for other purposes”, approved August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).