Grinnell- Deb Collum-Calderwood has been named Poweshiek Iowa Development executive director. Calderwood served as Tama County’s first economic development director from 2000-07.

Collum-Calderwood is a Grinnell native and 1988 grad of Grinnell High School. She holds a B.A. from Buena Vista University.

She was executive director of Imagine Grinnell (Grinnell 2000) in the late 1990s. Calderwood had been serving as Iowa County Extension director until those jobs were consolidated across the state this summer. She then took the job as head of Iowa county’s economic development group for a short time. -Grinnell Herald -Register

Marshalltown- Fisher Controls laid off 79 hourly employees on Sept. 30 at one of the mainstay industries there.

“This is a very difficult decision that is not a reflection on the hard work of our employees,” the Fisher Division of Emerson Process Management said in a statement. “Rather, this business decision is based on the competitive global landscape resulting in a drop in demand for our products manufactured at the Marshalltown facility and changing market dynamics in the global economy.”

The Baumann valve plant in Portsmouth, N.H., owned by Emerson was shut down it was also revealed.

Meanwhile, it was reported Alliant Energy, which scrapped the plans for a $1 billion coal-fired electrical generating plant in Marshalltown is now considering building a natural-gas fired plant. Marshalltown may be a site under consideration for this plan

-Marshalltown Times Republican

Clutier- Kent Herink, son of Margaret A. Herink and the late Ernest A. Herink, Clutier, has been recognized by Best Lawyers in America 2009. He is a senior shareholder of the Davis Brown Law Firm’s intellectual property practice. -Traer Star-Clipper

Dysart- Dysart’s Historical Musuem received a grant for a window restoration project which will include preserving a 115-year-old Gothic-style stained glass window. The grant was from the Dysart Community Foundation. – Dysart Reporter