Homers -- What's going right

STAYING PUT: Next-day mail delivery and 214 jobs remain in Cedar Rapids, after the U.S. Postal Service announced it will not close its processing center here because there aren't enough financial or service efficiencies to be gained by consolidation with a Quad Cities center, as had been proposed. Waterloo's center also was spared.

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HELP FOR HOMELESS VETERANS: A new outreach center to assist a growing number of homeless veterans in Linn County opened Friday at 1535 First Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids. It's part of a national program launched by the departments of Veterans of Affairs and Housing and Urban Development.

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LESS WASTE, MORE GREEN: Stepped-up use of recycling, reuse and salvaging in two major local projects diverted most of the waste that otherwise would have gone to the landfill, with relatively little impact on costs.

The TrueNorth Companies building was demolished to make way for the new Cedar Rapids Public Library. And the demolition of the former Allis-Chalmers complex along First Avenue clears the site for Raining Rose Inc.'s new headquarters.