Meredith Corp. President and CEO Steve Lacy has been elected chairman of the board of directors, the company said today. Dianna “Mell” Meredith Frazier was elected vice chairwoman. Lacy succeeds William Kerr, who resigned as chairman but will remain on the board. Lacy will continue to hold the posts of president and CEO. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of 23 cents per share today, payable on March 15 to shareholders of record on Feb. 26. The dividend increased 2 cents, marking the 17th consecutive year Meredith has increased its dividend. Meredith has paid a dividend for 63 consecutive years.

Brian Waller starts work today as executive director of the Des Moines Downtown Chamber of Commerce. Waller succeeds Rebecca Batcheller, who will continue to help manage the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute, the Des Moines West Side Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Des Moines Partnership. In addition to chairing the Downtown Council for the chamber, Waller also serves as vice president for the Court Avenue Business Association, and led the relaunch of the Court Avenue District in 2008. He works full time at the Science Center of Iowa as public projects manager.

Citizens Republic Bancorp Inc. announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Great Western Bank of Sioux Falls, S.D., to sell the stock of its wholly owned subsidiary, F&M Bank – Iowa, for approximately $50 million in cash. F&M Bank – Iowa operates 10 branches in Greater Des Moines. The transaction includes approximately $125 million in loans and $410 million in deposits. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the second quarter of 2010.

Gannett Co. Inc., publisher of The Des Moines Register, said today it earned $133.6 million, or 56 cents a share, in the fourth quarter of 2009, MarketWatch reported. Gannett posted a loss of $4.7 billion, or $20.65 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding charges related to facility consolidations and other items, Gannett said it would have earned $172.1 million, or 72 cents a share, in the latest three months. Revenue fell to $1.49 billion from $1.74 billion. Newspaper ad revenue fell 18 percent, but Gannett said the advertising environment is improving. In the United States, classified revenue fell 22 percent from the same quarter in 2008, after dropping 37 percent in the third quarter. The relative improvement was sparked by better sales in the automotive and help-wanted categories. Paid-ad pages at flagship USA Today fell to 705 from 788 in the fourth quarter of 2008, a decline of 10.5 percent. In the third quarter, USA Today ad pages dropped 31 percent. The company also said that Gracia Martore, its chief financial officer, has been named president and CEO. She will remain as chief financial officer until a replacement is found.

Consumer spending rose slightly less than expected in December as savings jumped to a six-month high, Reuters reported today based on the U.S. Commerce Department’s monthly spending report. Spending rose 0.2 percent after increasing by an upwardly revised 0.7 percent in November. Consumer spending in November was previously reported to have climbed 0.5 percent. It was the third straight monthly gain in spending. For the whole of 2009, spending fell 0.4 percent, the largest drop since 1938.

Online job advertisements rose by 382,000 to 4,024,000 in January, according to The Conference Board Help Wanted OnLine data series released today. The January rise follows a 255,000 increase in December and a 107,000 rise in November. Such increases have been widespread across the nation and are consistent with the recent strength in the gross domestic product numbers for the fourth quarter, The Conference Board said in a news release. The gap between the number of unemployed and the number of advertised vacancies in December 2009, the latest month for which unemployment numbers are available, stands at 11.6 million, with 4.2 unemployed for every online advertised vacancy, the business organization said. In Iowa, the number of ads in January increased to 44,600 from 38,100 in December.

After rising to the highest level since 2006, relocation among job seekers slowed in the second half of 2009, with 7.3 percent of fourth-quarter job seekers taking positions in new towns, the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. said today. This is the lowest relocation rate on record, the company said in a news release. Despite the second-half slowdown, relocation for the year increased to an annual average of 13.3 percent, up from 11.6 percent in 2008, when the housing market collapse was at its worst. The 2008 average was the lowest annual figure since the Challenger Index began in 1986. The 2009 annual average is the second lowest. In 2009, job seekers were far more likely to change industries than relocate. During the year, an average of 36 percent of those finding new positions switched industries, down slightly from a 2008 annual average of 39 percent.