West Bank Des Moines

Wells Fargo cuts 80 short-term workers

Officials at Wells Fargo on Wednesday told 80 short-term employees hired last fall that they will be laid off.

The workers, all of them located at the company's Bell Avenue office, were hired to help process loan applications, then they were shifted to a different mortgage servicing assignment in February.

They will continue to work and receive regular pay and benefits for 60 days and will be able to apply for other positions in Wells Fargo, a company spokesman said.

This is the third round of short-term employee layoffs in 2011 for the San Francisco bank, which employs about 13,000 people in metro Des Moines and has its mortgage headquarters in West Des Moines.

The closing of a Fort Dodge plant in 2014 will eliminate nearly 100 jobs, though many of those employees could still find work within the company.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica spokeswoman Cory Sullivan says officials recently decided to gradually remove production from the plant after pharmaceutical giant Pfizer opted to shift work away from the facility.

Sullivan said about 90 percent of the work done at the plant is manufacturing Pfizer products.

The company is preparing to expand its research capabilities at its main Fort Dodge facility. The Messenger newspaper in Fort Dodge says that expansion will yield nearly 60 new jobs.

Sullivan said the company hopes the majority of the laid-off workers can transfer to another facility.

Attorney General Tom Miller says a judge has penalized a northwest Iowa pharmaceutical company $20,000 for wastewater violations at a storage lagoon in rural Sioux County.

Miller sued Sioux Pharm Inc. of Sioux Center in 2009, claiming it illegally discharged wastewater into surface and groundwater. The company makes a nutritional supplement from animal cartilage that is used to alleviate pain.

Miller said in a consent decree filed on Monday that Sioux County Judge Edward Jacobson ordered the company to permanently close the lagoon by removing the contents and leveling the site by Friday. The company has already closed the site and agreed not to apply the wastewater any longer.

A telephone call on Wednesday to the company's attorney, Lloyd Bierma of Sioux Center, was not immediately returned.

Yum Brands Inc.

Ground broken for new Cedar Rapids amphitheater | TheGazette

City, county and community leaders broke ground Wednesday on the city’s new downtown Riverfront Amphitheater that, when complete in 2012, will be part outdoor entertainment venue and part flood-protection levee.

On community wish lists for more than a decade, the $8.2-million amphitheater project is expected to feature more than 50 events a year and attract thousands of people to the city, Mayor Ron Corbett told a hundred or so officials and citizens on hand for the lunchtime groundbreaking on the west bank of the Cedar River upstream from the Police Department.

Corbett said the amphitheater project would serve as a “catalyst” for other west-side development.

The amphitheater will be designed to hold between 3,000 and 5,000 for national touring shows, but also will be used for an assortment of smaller concerts and events. It will be the largest such venue of its kind in Iowa. The Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater in Des Moines lists its seating capacity at about 2,000.

The amphitheater will feature a permanent stage and a few rows of benches made of stone or concrete that will be designed to take on flood water. A lawn also will be used for seating. A walkway from the amphitheater will lead to a new park, Festival Park, which will provide parking and space for events like the city’s BBQ Roundup during the annual Freedom Festival.

City Manager Jeff Pomeranz on Wednesday called the amphitheater project “a true public-private partnership.”

The project has received a $1.9 million worth of land from the city and Linn County with the city contributing an additional $1.675 million and the county an additional $10,000.

In addition, the project has secured a $1.6-million state I-JOBS grant and a $1.075-million state River Enhancement Community Attraction and Tourism grant. The project also is receiving $2 million in private donations, including a $1-million grant from the Hall-Perrine Foundation of Cedar Rapids and several large corporate gifts.

At the Wednesday event, Jack Evans, president of the Hall-Perrine Foundation, said the decision to financially support the amphitheater project was an easy one for the foundation’s board for two reasons.

“Firstly, the natural beauty of the facility sitting right here,” he said, with the downtown skyline just across the river. “We were very impressed just with the ambience that it would create for the downtown.

“And the second one was the diversity of the performers that will be here. We felt it will add richly to the arts and cultural fabric of Cedar Rapids and Linn County.

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