Cindy Browne, executive director of Iowa Public Radio (IPR), will leave the job on June 30 after nearly three years with the organization. She plans to return to Minnesota to be with her family and to manage a progressive health condition. Browne led the effort to merge the three public radio stations licensed to Iowa’s state universities into a statewide network and started the “We’re All Ears” project, which surveyed thousands of Iowa residents on what they wanted to hear on public radio. IPR’s board of directors will conduct a national search for a new executive director; board member Steve Carignan will serve as acting executive director.

The Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service voted today to give out more than $3.25 million in AmeriCorps state grants and education awards to support the placement of 442 AmeriCorps members within community-based organizations across Iowa. Since 1994, more than 4,000 Iowans have provided more than 5.2 million hours to local communities through the AmeriCorps program. It is a federally funded service program administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service and enables Americans of any age to serve their community on a full- or part-time basis. For more information, go to www.volunteeriowa.org.

Iowa Telecommunications Services Inc. Chairman and CEO Alan Wells and Craig Knock, vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer, will present at the Lehman Brothers Worldwide Wireless and Wireline Conference in New York City on May 28. An online simulcast and replay of the company’s presentation will be available at 2:30 p.m. Iowa time at www.iowatelecom.com under “investor relations.”

Biotechnology companies raised a record amount of money in 2007, the Washington Business Journal reported. According to Ernst & Young’s “Beyond Borders: Global Biotechnology Report 2008,” European and U.S. companies raised nearly $30 billion, an amount surpassed only in 2000. Global venture financing was more than $7.5 billion, a new record. Meanwhile, global biotechnology net losses were $2.7 billion, down from $7.4 billion in 2006. The report said that U.S. biotech companies were almost profitable for the first time.

According to a Storm Exchange report, corn planting lags 10 days behind the national five-year average, with about 73 percent of U.S. corn planted. Cold weather in the upper Midwest has kept corn emergence levels under 10 percent and some upper Midwest corn farmers have switched to soybeans. Iowa is at 18 percent emergence.

The Saylorville Yacht Sailing School will offer sailing lessons to promote the sport of sailing in Greater Des Moines. The classes are taught by instructors certified by the U.S. Sailing Association and are offered this summer beginning June 16 and lasting throughout the summer. Classes are available for 8-year-olds through adults and are conducted at Big Creek and Saylorville lakes. For more information, visit www.saylorvilleyachtclub.com.