Tennessee moves past 11th-seeded Kansas 84-73 - Des Moines Register

Meighan Simmons scored 22 points off the bench and Tennessee rallied past 11th-seeded Kansas 84-73 Saturday and advanced to its second straight regional final.

Glory Johnson added 18 points for the second-seeded Lady Vols (27-8), who'll meet the winner of Georgia Tech-Baylor on Monday night for a spot in the Final Four.

The Lady Vols trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half, but they cut it to five by the break. Tennessee took the lead for good with a 19-9 run to open the second half, as Simmons had 16 points in the final 20 minutes.

Angel Goodrich had a game-high 23 points and Aishah Sutherland had 19 for Kansas (21-13), which fell to 0-3 in regional semifinals.

Tennessee couldn't do anything right for the first 11 minutes, falling behind 26-12 to a Kansas team that finished below .500 in the Big 12.

But there's a reason the Lady Vols are headed to their 25th regional final in 31 years.

The Jayhawks found out why from the moment the second half began, as Tennessee's superior depth and athleticism simply overwhelmed the underdogs.

The Lady Vols finally took the lead, 44-42, thanks largely to back-to-back 3s from Ariel Massengale, and a pair of free throws made it 53-46 Tennessee with 11:07 to go.

Freshman post player Chelsea Gardner did her best to keep the Jayhawks close with 14 points and 10 rebounds. But Simmons hit a layup off a give-and-go from Baugh to give the Lady Vols their first double-digit lead, 63-53, with 7:07 left.

Shekinna Stricklen had 16 points and nine rebounds for Tennessee, which shot 51. 5 percent in the second half.

This looked like the ultimate mismatch at the outset. Kansas was playing in just its third regional semifinal, while Tennessee was playing in its 30th ? and shooting for a record 19th Final Four.

But early on, the Jayhawks looked like the only ones awake for the late morning start.

Gardner bullied her way for four inside buckets in the opening five minutes, and back-to-back layups through the paint by Goodrich gave Kansas a surprising 18-10 lead. The Lady Vols called timeout in an effort to quell the run, but Goodrich and Tania Jackson buried 3s to help push the lead to as much as 26-12.

That's the kind of deficit that will get anyone's attention. They Lady Vols came out of a timeout with considerably more energy, responding with an energetic 19-5 run to get back within 31-29.

Tennessee went into halftime trailing 35-30 ? and knowing it could have been much worse.

Kansas lost star Carolyn Davis to a knee injury last month, but rallied to earn its first regional semifinals berth since 1998 with upsets of Nebraska and third-seeded Delaware.

Though Kansas was the better team to start the game, the Lady Vols finished it and gave their seniors the opportunity to avoid becoming the first four-year class in school history to miss the Final Four.

View the original article here

Chinese visit a 'big positive' for Iowa and its businesses - Des Moines Register

Iowa business leaders say high-level Chinese visits this week could lead to more open discussions about trade and some of the hurdles that hamper it.

A whirlwind of meetings this week between business leaders and Vice President Xi Jinping and Hebei province officials is already creating business for the state. Chinese leaders signed agreements to buy $4.3 billion in U.S. soybeans, and Pioneer Hi-Bred announced that it will build a seed technology hub in Beijing this year.

Xi, who left Iowa Thursday, has invited Gov. Terry Branstad to return to China.

Debi Durham, the state?s economic development leader, said Xi?s mention of Pioneer and Principal Financial Group during his toast at a state dinner Wednesday night has sparked optimism that China will open new markets to Iowa companies, especially involving bioscience and financial services.

?When you have that level of attention, you can anticipate an intense increase in activity and increased efforts around trade,? said Durham.

Here are some observations from Iowa business leaders about this week?s visit:

William Niebur, who leads Pioneer?s China operations, said CEO Paul Schickler ?discussed key issues that we?re working on collectively,? including the adoption of genetically modified corn in China, during a private reception for Xi with Iowa leaders.

China now uses biotech cotton but so far has not adopted the use of biotechnology to grow corn, soybeans and other crops. The use of biotech helps plants better resist pests and disease and has been credited with rapidly ramping up U.S. crop yields.

Squeezing more crops out of China?s relatively limited farm-able acres is key to providing China?s rising middle class with food and feed for animals, say experts.

?The questions on biotechnology are complex and challenging, and the opinions are diverse,? said Niebur, a vice president at Des Moines-based Pioneer, one of the world?s largest seed companies. ?The dialogue is shifting, and there?s a greater realization of the imminent need and opportunity for biotechnology.?

Xi?s developing relationship with Iowa ?will provide him with the insights and enlightenment required to support his government as it moves to a biotech-based agriculture,? said Niebur.

Larry Zimpleman, chief executive of Principal Financial, said he talked with Xi about his company?s interest in entering China?s developing retirement market. The group now provides mutual fund investments with its partner, the China Construction Bank.

The partners? request to provide retirement products has been ?stuck, but we?re not exactly sure where,? Zimpleman said. He hopes the meeting with Xi will move regulators? approval along.

He said Xi?s visit is ?clearly a big, big positive? for Iowa and its businesses. ?Any business located in Iowa that goes to China will get a much more receptive audience. No question about it,? Zimpleman said.

Durham, the state?s economic development leader, said Xi?s visit and his growing friendship with Branstad will enable Iowa to expand markets, not only for farm products, but for Iowa financial services companies, biosciences and manufacturers ? from food processors to makers of wind turbines and towers.

?We obviously have a very strong partnership around trade when it comes to agriculture. But when the vice president names Principal from the podium, my hope is that the financial services market will open up to us,? Durham said.

Durham said Iowa opportunities will include increased exports to China, partnerships with Iowa companies and direct foreign investment in Iowa. ?The more those trade opportunities open up with China, the more jobs it supports in the state of Iowa,? she said. ?That?s the win-win from these trade agreements.?

R.W. Nelson, co-founder of Kemin Industries with his wife, Mary, said he hopes his visit with Hebei delegates earlier this week will help improve that company?s product registration in China.

?China has been a very good market, and it could be really be beneficial for us,? said Nelson, whose company makes human and animal nutrients. The company?s Chinese plant employs 150 and serves Kemin?s Asian market.

?We get a lot of ?yes, yes, yes,? but we?ll have to wait and see,? he said.

Mary Andringa, CEO of Vermeer, the Pella maker of farm, construction and mining equipment, said the visit gives the United States a good foundation to have difficult discussion about issues like currency and ?indigenous innovation,? guidelines China set to reduce dependence on foreign technology.

She has said relaxing restrictions on U.S. technology could help Iowa companies that have developed sophisticated farm equipment and products. ?We?ll always have issues to work through, but this is a positive place where we can build cooperation,? said Andringa, whose company has had a factory in China for five years.

Jay Byers, chief executive of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a regional economic development group, said Xi?s visit showcases the state and its businesses.

He said Xi?s visit opens the door for ?reverse investment? in Iowa from Chinese companies looking to build factories, open distribution centers or launch other U.S. operations.

?We?re making those connections with a variety of folks who have been able to see what Des Moines and Iowa is like first- hand,? said Byers. ?We think we?re on a radar that we had not been on before.?

View the original article here

Chinese visit a 'big positive' for Iowa and its businesses - Des Moines Register

Iowa business leaders say high-level Chinese visits this week could lead to more open discussions about trade and some of the hurdles that hamper it.

A whirlwind of meetings this week between business leaders and Vice President Xi Jinping and Hebei province officials is already creating business for the state. Chinese leaders signed agreements to buy $4.3 billion in U.S. soybeans, and Pioneer Hi-Bred announced that it will build a seed technology hub in Beijing this year.

Xi, who left Iowa Thursday, has invited Gov. Terry Branstad to return to China.

Debi Durham, the state?s economic development leader, said Xi?s mention of Pioneer and Principal Financial Group during his toast at a state dinner Wednesday night has sparked optimism that China will open new markets to Iowa companies, especially involving bioscience and financial services.

?When you have that level of attention, you can anticipate an intense increase in activity and increased efforts around trade,? said Durham.

Here are some observations from Iowa business leaders about this week?s visit:

William Niebur, who leads Pioneer?s China operations, said CEO Paul Schickler ?discussed key issues that we?re working on collectively,? including the adoption of genetically modified corn in China, during a private reception for Xi with Iowa leaders.

China now uses biotech cotton but so far has not adopted the use of biotechnology to grow corn, soybeans and other crops. The use of biotech helps plants better resist pests and disease and has been credited with rapidly ramping up U.S. crop yields.

Squeezing more crops out of China?s relatively limited farm-able acres is key to providing China?s rising middle class with food and feed for animals, say experts.

?The questions on biotechnology are complex and challenging, and the opinions are diverse,? said Niebur, a vice president at Des Moines-based Pioneer, one of the world?s largest seed companies. ?The dialogue is shifting, and there?s a greater realization of the imminent need and opportunity for biotechnology.?

Xi?s developing relationship with Iowa ?will provide him with the insights and enlightenment required to support his government as it moves to a biotech-based agriculture,? said Niebur.

Larry Zimpleman, chief executive of Principal Financial, said he talked with Xi about his company?s interest in entering China?s developing retirement market. The group now provides mutual fund investments with its partner, the China Construction Bank.

The partners? request to provide retirement products has been ?stuck, but we?re not exactly sure where,? Zimpleman said. He hopes the meeting with Xi will move regulators? approval along.

He said Xi?s visit is ?clearly a big, big positive? for Iowa and its businesses. ?Any business located in Iowa that goes to China will get a much more receptive audience. No question about it,? Zimpleman said.

Durham, the state?s economic development leader, said Xi?s visit and his growing friendship with Branstad will enable Iowa to expand markets, not only for farm products, but for Iowa financial services companies, biosciences and manufacturers ? from food processors to makers of wind turbines and towers.

?We obviously have a very strong partnership around trade when it comes to agriculture. But when the vice president names Principal from the podium, my hope is that the financial services market will open up to us,? Durham said.

Durham said Iowa opportunities will include increased exports to China, partnerships with Iowa companies and direct foreign investment in Iowa. ?The more those trade opportunities open up with China, the more jobs it supports in the state of Iowa,? she said. ?That?s the win-win from these trade agreements.?

R.W. Nelson, co-founder of Kemin Industries with his wife, Mary, said he hopes his visit with Hebei delegates earlier this week will help improve that company?s product registration in China.

?China has been a very good market, and it could be really be beneficial for us,? said Nelson, whose company makes human and animal nutrients. The company?s Chinese plant employs 150 and serves Kemin?s Asian market.

?We get a lot of ?yes, yes, yes,? but we?ll have to wait and see,? he said.

Mary Andringa, CEO of Vermeer, the Pella maker of farm, construction and mining equipment, said the visit gives the United States a good foundation to have difficult discussion about issues like currency and ?indigenous innovation,? guidelines China set to reduce dependence on foreign technology.

She has said relaxing restrictions on U.S. technology could help Iowa companies that have developed sophisticated farm equipment and products. ?We?ll always have issues to work through, but this is a positive place where we can build cooperation,? said Andringa, whose company has had a factory in China for five years.

Jay Byers, chief executive of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, a regional economic development group, said Xi?s visit showcases the state and its businesses.

He said Xi?s visit opens the door for ?reverse investment? in Iowa from Chinese companies looking to build factories, open distribution centers or launch other U.S. operations.

?We?re making those connections with a variety of folks who have been able to see what Des Moines and Iowa is like first- hand,? said Byers. ?We think we?re on a radar that we had not been on before.?

View the original article here

Hicks: Group wants U.S. rebirth of opportunity - Des Moines Register

Is the self-made American an endangered species?

Our history celebrates the man or woman who overcame adversity and disadvantage to reach great heights. It?s the American way: Get a good education, work hard, and the good life is yours.

But a growing body of evidence undermines our claim as the land of opportunity. It?s easier to move up the economic ladder in several European nations than in the United States, according to studies by Pew Charitable Trusts and others.

Politicians from both parties, including Rick Santorum and President Barack Obama, have raised the same concerns. A coalition called Opportunity Nation is leading the charge for economic mobility.

Iowa became the first state to support the national movement. Gov. Terry Branstad has declared February ?Opportunity in Iowa Month? and encouraged all Iowans to take action to ?reinvigorate the American dream.?

Sounds like something we can all get behind, right? But when we dig into causes and solutions, the typical tensions emerge.

John Stauffer, a Harvard professor and former Iowan, said the question over how individuals can rise above their circumstances has long been controversial.

?Conservatives want to downplay the role of social forces and the environment. Liberals downplay the role of individual volition,? he said. ?Both take extreme positions. Both are clearly wrong.?

Both sides also need to find solutions to the growing income inequality. ?Based on all evidence, the more stratified a society is, the harder it is to rise up,? he said.

Stauffer is a scholar of self making. His books include ?Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln,? in which he traces how Lincoln ? ?known as poor white trash? ? and Douglass, a former slave, became ?the two pre-eminent self-made men in American history.?

Stauffer?s own story contains elements of the self-made journey. He came from a ?solidly middle-class home? where both parents were college educated. His father started as a farm-town journalist in Nebraska and rose up as a manager in the Northwestern Bell system.

A state tennis champion who graduated from Des Moines Roosevelt in 1977, Stauffer enrolled at Duke University on a tennis scholarship and studied mechanical engineering. After becoming vice president of investments at Paine Webber, he went back to school to study literature and history. He now chairs the History of American Civilization program at Harvard.

He credits much of his success to public education, including a solid start at Greenwood Elementary in Des Moines. ?I can?t speak highly enough about my education. I feel very fortunate,? he said.

He worries, however, that the cost of tuition today can keep the poor in place. ?For decades, education was the ideal way to rise up,? he said.

Concern over economic mobility is nothing new, Stauffer said. He compares the current era to the period of 1880-1930, when the inequality of wealth increased and the poor had a harder time rising. But the current level of angst over the American dream is unusual since World War II, he said.

High unemployment and the housing crisis have fed those concerns, of course. But economists point to longer-term trends, such as the loss of middle-class jobs to overseas competition. New technology creates jobs but also destroys them as computers replace workers. Innovation is a double-edged sword.

Supporters of Opportunity Iowa, the local branch of the national movement, will emphasize education and worker retraining as solutions. The group plans to offer free career exploration and assessment services, help connect youth with summer jobs and use social media and summits to discuss opportunity.

United Way, Character Counts, the Boys and Girls Club, AARP and other groups are involved. Those nonprofits already see the impact of a shifting economy, changing populations, evolving family structures and other forces that affect opportunity in Iowa.

?I don?t think we adapted well enough? to those changes, said Barry Griswell, CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines. He and Rob Denson, president of Des Moines Area Community College, serve on the Leadership Council of Opportunity Nation.

The national group chose to start in Iowa in part because of Denson?s efforts to educate and retrain Iowa workers, said Mark Edwards, executive director of Opportunity Nation.

Griswell and Denson are self-made men who are continually remaking themselves.

Denson was raised on a farm near Homestead, Ia. He worked his way through college as a truck driver and became an assistant dean at Iowa State and the University of Florida. He ran a successful law practice, and after retirement, he started a new career as a community college president.

Griswell?s background has become legend. The son of an alcoholic, abusive father, he grew up in poverty in Atlanta. By the time he was 16, Griswell had moved 16 times and spent time in juvenile detention. But he learned to work hard and attended college on a basketball scholarship. He rose through the insurance industry to become CEO and chairman of Principal Financial Group. In 2003, Griswell was inducted into the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, the hall of fame for the self-made.

Griswell and Denson know how to achieve the American dream. They also know it will take more than inspiring stories to help many Iowans do the same.

View the original article here

Branstad: Iowa business leaders put focus on growth - Des Moines Register

Vision is what keeps Iowa at the forefront of economic growth and progress.

To this end, I recently named 18 top business leaders to lend their expertise and vision to Iowa?s economic development efforts.

The Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress board is set to meet for the first time this month as Iowa reshapes its approach to business growth. The board is charged with developing a comprehensive economic development strategy for the state.

These private sector business leaders will help the state better understand opportunities for job creation as we work toward my goal of creating 200,000 Iowa jobs and raising family incomes by 25 percent.

Membership of the partnership board spans Iowa industry and includes executives in the financial services, advanced manufacturing and technology sectors, among others. Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and I will serve as co-chairs of the board, and Iowa Economic Development Authority Director Debi Durham will serve as an ex-officio, non-voting member, as will other state economic development officials.

Linking the public and private sectors will allow us to tap the vast knowledge of Iowa?s business leaders in attracting, expanding and retaining high-paying jobs in the state. I think you would agree, Iowans are lucky to have some of the smartest minds in business willing to lend their time and business savvy to fueling Iowa?s economic growth.

Iowa has made gains in important industries. The biofuels, wind energy, information technology, and advanced manufacturing sectors have made advancements that led to new, high-paying jobs. We need to ensure that Iowa?s home-grown businesses and companies locating here continue to have a chance to thrive.

Encouraging start-ups is also an important part of the equation. Entrepreneurs who will create the jobs of the future need to find a favorable environment in Iowa. Support systems have been put in place to help launch start-up businesses here, and we will continue to look for ways to smooth the pathway for emerging companies by linking them with capital, investors and mentors to help them create the high-paying jobs of tomorrow.

As the nation emerges from the economic downturn, Iowa is one of a handful of states revamping its economic development programs to take advantage of the rebound. We are constantly fine-tuning our efforts to drive growth, thriving on innovation. The new partnership board and the restructured Iowa Economic Development Authority will make us even more nimble in our efforts to bring jobs to Iowa.

It is in that mindset that Iowa has gained a national reputation as a great place to do business and earn a living. CNBC recently credited Iowa with having the lowest cost of doing business in the nation. Iowa placed ninth overall in its 2011 ?America?s Top States For Business? ranking. Our economy placed fifth overall, and we scored in the top 20 in education, quality of life, business friendliness and cost of living.

These high rankings come as no surprise to the Iowans contributing daily to the economic health of the state. We have long understood that innovation and forward thinking breed progress. To continue to capitalize on our opportunities for business growth, we need to be cognizant of current economic trends and future possibilities. Members of the partnership board will provide guidance and a real-time pulse of changing market forces.

Innovation and a commitment to growth are the hallmarks of Iowa?s economic progress. By creating a partnership between the public and private sectors, Iowa?s leaders will transform their vision of job growth into reality.

View the original article here