The leaders of the Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain say the weak ag economy is showing its impact as sales were up but didn’t reach the goals set for the company’s fiscal year that ended in April. Casey’s president and C-E-O Terry Handley talked about the issue during a conference call Tuesday on the fourth quarter results.

“During our fiscal year — like many others in the convenience and grocery store sector, as well as the broader food services industry — we’ve experienced downward pressure on customer traffic, which adversely impacted same-store sales across all of our categories,” Hadley says. He says customers were spending less on prepared foods.

“We believe this pressure is related to the agricultural economy in our marketing area, the growing spread between pricing of food away and food at home, as well as increased promotional activities of other competitors,” Hadley says. Handley says despite the challenging environment the company saw the 16th consecutive year of positive same-store sales growth in both the grocery and other merchandise and prepared food and fountain categories.

Chief financial officer Bill Walljasper says the company had hoped to increase the sale of prepared foods and fountain drinks in the stores by a little more than ten percent, but they didn’t hit that mark. “In the prepared food and fountain category, total sales were up nearly six-point-eight percent to over 233 million dollars for the quarter. Despite the economic environment in our market area, same store sales in the quarter were up three-point-two percent,” Walljasper says. He says steady fuel prices impacted their profit on gas sales in the fourth quarter.

“The average retail price of fuel during this period was two-dollars-22 cents-a-gallon, compared to a dollar-81 last year. The average fuel margin in the quarter was 17-point-two cents per gallon — down from the same period a year ago — primarily due to lower volatility in wholesale costs throughout the quarter,” Walljasper says.
He says the gasoline gross profit dollars for the year were down slightly to 378-point-three million dollars, primarily due to a one-point-two cents per gallon lower fuel margin.

Casey’s is lowering expectations for 2018, projecting growth in sales of between two-and-four percent for groceries and between five and seven percent for prepared foods.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley is accusing the Department of Veterans Affairs of lying about the length of time veterans wait for medical appointments at Iowa’s VA hospitals. The Iowa Republican says detailed data provided by a whistleblower shows the VA wasn’t truthful in February when it told the committee he chairs that no patients waited longer than 90 days at Iowa City and Des Moines hospitals. He says in reality thousands were in that category.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Far from coastal areas that draw most climate change concerns, many inland U.S. cities are preparing for more frequent flooding caused by intense rainstorms. One increasingly common response is to raise bridges. Doing so accommodates flooded rivers and ensures waterways don’t back up further. Bridges are being raised even in states where political leaders have questioned whether climate change is real. One Texas engineer says officials just try to stick to technicalities and ignore the politics.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa has settled a lawsuit filed by the mother of a 5-year-old child who was hit by a brick and drowned by a teenager in 2013 while in the same foster care home. The Des Moines Register reported the Iowa Appeal Board agreed Monday to pay Barbara Christo $175,000. Christo’s lawsuit alleged that the state shouldn’t have placed the boys in the same foster home because both known to have behavioral, developmental and psychiatric issues.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A judge has dismissed a criminal charge against a former Iowa judge, concluding that she was subjected to retaliatory and vindictive treatment by the state but dismissing the case because the state waited too long to file the charge. Former Administrative Law Judge Susan Ackerman was arrested for insurance fraud in November for allegedly incorrectly filling out an insurance form in 2013.

The Atlantic School Board, minus Board President Ali Bruckner, voted Tuesday to approve a much higher than expected bid for the renovation of the Cass, Incorporate Building the District purchased for $925,000 in March. Board President Ali Bruckner was unable to attend the meeting, while Board member Josh McLaren appeared via conference call.

A bid of $621,000 plus alternate options costing $74,900, was accepted from Ball Team General Contractors, of Urbandale. Board Member Kristy Pellett read the motion reached after 45-minutes of discussion.

The Alternate Options included an Administrative entry at the north door of the building, and restrooms at the Multi-purpose room. The contractor will also work with the District and the Design Alliance Architect firm to “Value-engineer” the costs lower, where possible.

The other, base bids received from General Contractors in Red Oak and Indianola, came in much higher, at $694,000 and $706,000. Design Alliance’ Jerry Purdy said the reason costs are so much higher than what he warned would be likely, just last month, is because of  increased costs for steel, drywall, and other facets of the construction industry, such as changes in the State Building Code. He said that’s where “Value Engineering” comes in. He says that incorporates revisiting details and options in the plans, in order to be more cost effective.

Early estimates are that $18,000 could be saved by going through that process. The Atlantic School Board will likely look at paying for the extra expense through the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) funds.

At the request of Superintendent Steve Barber, Purdy and the General Contractor have agreed to hold a pre-construction meeting this Thursday. Purdy said construction is likely to be completed by August 21^st, or just a couple of days before the 2017-18 School Year begins. It will initially house the Educational Opportunity Center (EOC), and the Link Center. Future flexibility may incorporate a building trades program and/or auto shop.

A road construction worker from Crawford County was injured Tuesday afternoon, when the vehicle he was on was struck by a van in northern Iowa’s Worth County. The Iowa State Patrol says 27-year old Isaak Delgadillo Cervantes, of Denison, was transported by Lake Mills Ambulance to Mercy Hospital in Mason City following the crash, that happened at around 12:53-p.m., Tuesday.

Authorities say a 2015 Ford Transit van driven by 60-year old Dean Ward McFadden, of Shakopee, MN, was northbound on Interstate 35 in a road construction zone. The left lane of the road was closed, with workers present. McFadden apparently suffered from a medical condition that caused him to lose control of the van.

When his vehicle struck a 2004 Sterling road construction vehicle, Cervantes was thrown from the construction equipment and suffered minor injuries.

The Harlan Police Department is reporting two arrests. Last Friday, 23-year old Shelby Kate Evans, of Persia, was arrested on an active warrant out of Adams County following a traffic stop in the 1500 block of Chatburn Avenue.  She was transported to the Shelby County Jail.  Evans was also cited with excessive speed.

And, as we reported earlier, on Saturday, 29-year old Theodore James Behrens, of Harlan, was arrested after a call of possible domestic abuse.  He was transported to the Shelby County Jail and charged with Domestic Abuse Assault, Violation of a No Contact Order, Sexual Abuse 3rd Degree, and Kidnapping 1st Degree.

Sheriff’s officials in Mills County say a man from Henderson was arrested today (Tuesday), on a warrant for Failure to Appear (FTA) in Court. 32-year old Nicholas John Horgdal was taken into custody at around 8:30-a.m. at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, and held on $5,000 bond.

Two people were arrested Monday at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, for FTA. 31-year old Kim Michael Britt, Jr., of Glenwood, was arrested on a warrant out of Pottawattamie County. His bond was set at $10,000. 21-year old Kayla Shae Richardson, of Glenwood, was arrested on a warrant for FTA as well. Her bond was set at $2,000.