Cedar Rapids, Mount Pleasant women featured in NYT for Vocation Vacations experience February 5, 2008
Posted by John in Business.Tags: Cedar Rapids, Dawn Walton, Dog Zone, Mount Pleasant (Iowa), Vocation Vacations, VocationVacations
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AFTER 28 years at an electronics plant in her hometown, Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Toni Cory found herself out of a job when the plant closed. Instead of looking for another manufacturing job, she vowed to start a dog day-care and kennel business.
Although she had dogs of her own, she had no clue where to start. To help, she called on VocationVacations, a company based in Portland, Ore., that enables the curious to spend time trying out potential new jobs. The company hooked up Ms. Cory with Dawn Walton, an owner of the Dog Zone, a dog day care business in nearby Cedar Rapids.
There, Ms. Cory had an experience she says she will never forget. …
The Gazette published a similar article in 2005, ‘Vacations’ allow peek at jobs.
Corridor architect wins AIA Young Architects Award February 1, 2008
Posted by John in Architecture.Tags: Architecture, Awards, Cedar Rapids, coralville, Iowa City, Neumann Monson Architects
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From Archinect:
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) announced the ten recipients of the 2008 AIA Young Architects Award. Young Architects are defined as professionals who have been licensed 10 years or fewer regardless of their age. This award honors individuals who have shown exceptional leadership and made significant contributions to the profession early in their careers. …
Tim Schroeder, AIA
Graduating cum laude from Iowa State University in 1994, Tim Schoeder received the Kocimski Award, the highest award available to graduating architecture students. Schroeder, in 2000 at age 30, became a vice president of Neumann Monson Architects and has led…
Wyoming man gets 5 to 10 years in prison for C.R. motorcyclist’s death January 26, 2008
Posted by John in Accidents, Crime/Courts, Deaths.Tags: Accidents, Cedar Rapids, drunk driving, John Lindgren, Motorcycle accidents, Russell DeSantis, Wyoming
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From Jackson Hole Star Tribune:
SHERIDAN — A judge has sentenced a Sheridan man to serve between five to 10 years in prison on a conviction of vehicular homicide.
District Judge John Fenn on Thursday sentenced Russell Lloyd DeSantis, 35. Authorities say DeSantis was drunk when he drove head on into a motorcycle driven by John A. Lindgren of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The crash happened Sept. 3 on …
John Lindgren’s Gazette obituary is here.
And the DVD release date for “The Final Season” is… January 18, 2008
Posted by John in Entertainers.Tags: Cedar Rapids, DVD releases, Films, Movies, Norway (Iowa), Sean Astin, The Final Season, Tom Arnold
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[UPDATED 3/31 - date was April 8]
The Final Season DVD release date is April 15, 2008, according to VideoETA.com.
For expanded Gazette coverage on the Iowa-filmed “Final Season,” starring Sean Astin, go here.
Syracuse N.Y. article about C.R.’s Diane Langton and kidney recipient who died January 17, 2008
Posted by John in Deaths, Medicine.Tags: Cedar Rapids, Diane Langton, Jim Wilson Jr, Kidney transplants, Oswego (New York)
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Jim Wilson, Jr. died this week after cardiac arrest:
… On June 13, 2003, Diane Langton e-mailed the Wilsons. She had read about what happened and wanted to help.
Cedar Rapids is Langton’s hometown. She and her husband were born and raised there, and it pained her to have the city associated with the Wilsons’ heartache.
She was healthy, her blood type matched Jim Jr.’s, and she, too, had a son the same age as Jim Jr. “(I) would certainly wish that someone would volunteer to help save his life if necessary,” she wrote the family.
In a four-hour surgery March 16, 2004, doctors at University Hospital removed Langton’s left kidney and placed it in Jim’s body. The surgery was a success.
The Wilsons called Langton an angel.
Langton, who now has five grandchildren, said she always felt this is something God wanted done. …
Diane Langton is Assistant Librarian here at The Gazette.
New photos of bearded Cedar Rapids native Elijah Wood promoting movie January 15, 2008
Posted by John in Entertainers.Tags: Cedar Rapids, Elijah Wood, Madrid, The Oxford Murders
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Reuters and AP photos here. Elijah Wood and others pose during the presentation of the movie “The Oxford Murders” in Madrid January 14, 2008.
McLeodUSA expanding service area in Texas January 15, 2008
Posted by John in Business.Tags: Cedar Rapids, McLeodUSA, Royce Holland, Texas
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From Dallas Business Journal:
McLeodUSA, a large phone company that competes with incumbents such as AT&T for business customers, is expanding its service area in the Metroplex.
The company, which is based in Iowa but has its CEO and other key execs in North Texas, has broadened its local territory to include Plano, Garland, Irving, Carrollton, Lewisville and parts of Rowlett and Wylie. …
C.R. battalion chief a finalist for Rochester fire chief January 15, 2008
Posted by John in Government.Tags: Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Fire Department, emergency services, firefighters, Mark English, Rochester Minnesota
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From Rochester, Minnesota, Post-Bulletin:
City officials will begin interviewing four finalists for Rochester fire chief this week.
The finalists are: Mark English, a battalion chief in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Greg Martin, the fire chief in Sioux City, Iowa; James Sideras, the assistant fire chief for Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Gary Trulson, the fire chief in Joplin, Mo. …
Former Rockwell Collins COO Neal Keating now CEO of Kaman Corp. January 2, 2008
Posted by John in Business.Tags: Bloomfield (Connecticut), Cedar Rapids, Kaman Corp, Neal Keating, Paul Kuhn, Rockwell Collins
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From PR Newswire:
Kaman Corp. today announced that Neal J. Keating has assumed the role of president and chief executive officer of the company. He is also a member of the company’s board of directors. As CEO, he succeeds Paul R. Kuhn, who will continue as chairman until his retirement on February 29, 2008. …
He started his career with Rockwell Automation, rising over a 24-year period to the position of executive vice president and chief operating officer of Rockwell Collins Commercial Systems. …
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