Courtesy of Jackie King, ISU News Service

• Dave Swenson did an interview Friday with Jennifer Jacobs, a reporter with The Des Moines Register, asking about the consequences of the Maytag shutdown in terms of job and income losses, and whether charitable giving should have been relied on to offset the losses.  This is related to a story that Donald Trump made donations or provided assistance to three families in Newton following the plant closing. He also was interviewed Friday by Trent Rice, News Director, KASI,  on energy prices and their cause. And he was also interviewed Friday by Angie Hunt, Ames correspondent, KCCI-TV on energy prices, their cause, and the outlook for the summer.
• Mike Duffy spoke with Dan Piller of the DM Register regarding women land owners and the aging population of land owners.
• An update of an earlier analysis at CARD of the effect of ethanol on gasoline prices has received some attention. The report, by Xiaodong Du, U of Wisconsin, and Dermot Hayes, ISU professor of economics, has been covered by the Western Farm Press, DomesticFuel.com, Ethanol Producer Magazine, and the New York Times in the Business Day section. Mike LePorte of KRVN Rural Radio (Lexington, NE) e-mailed to arrange an interview. He was given contact information for Xiaodong Du, who is the lead author.
• Chad Hart, assistant professor of economics and grain markets specialist, talked to Phillip Brasher of the Des Moines Register about perennial grains and alternative biofuels. He also talked to Andrea Johnson of the Minnesota Farm and Range Guide about crop prices. And he talked to Dirck Steimel, news services manager of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, for an article on extreme market volatility and how important marketing plans are for producers.
• Bruce Babcock, professor of economics and director of CARD, spoke to David Mercer of the Associated Press about worries concerning possible weather-related delays in corn crop planting.
• Western Farm Press covered an analysis by Professor Dermot Hayes and his co-author that updated their previous study about the effect of ethanol on gas prices.