Steve Gravelle

“Everything that you eat, that you touch, that you buy, it all comes through trucking in some fashion,” said Fred Grask, president of Grask Truck Group. “The trucking industry in Iowa and across the country is important to our economy.”

The BioVentures Center in Coralville is home to several companies that are developing new approaches to treating cancer

Having grown up in furniture stores, Jeff Jones adopted what he calls an “old school” approach to the business: low overhead and high volume. It has worked for him as owner of Jeff Jones Furniture for 35 years. Now, after receiving a “perfect” review on Google, he’s making plans to retire and close the store.

The project, which was funded through a $7 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $400,000 from the Iowa DOT, tested the automated vehicle on rural roads over the last two years. It made 80 trips on a 47-mile loop through Iowa City, Hills, Riverside and Kalona.

Corey Seibert estimates he has owned more than 100 VW Beetles and its variants from collecting, rebuilding, customizing and trading, a passion that was instilled in him at age 8 after watching Disney’s “Herbie: The Love Bug.”

The Rays own and operate The Yard Dr. and The Petsitter

Back Porch Pickers and Artisans in Mount Vernon features 56 antique dealers, artists and crafters sharing the 9,000-square-foot space.

Vintage Market and Supply in Cedar Rapids’ Czech Village opened in July, with an emphasis on local and regional historic items.

Cedar Rapids business All Out Rampage is space for trashing cellphones, computers and other appliances with baseball bats, golf clubs and sledgehammers, located at 371 Edgewood Road NW.

Scribe Stationer, a stationery shop in an old Cedar Rapids firehouse in the New Bohemia neighborhood, promotes an “authentic way to communicate.”

Bargain hunters and families going through transition have helped Upscale Retail support local community-service organizations since 2016.

Hy-Vee grocery near Lindale Mall closed earlier this month, but the mall’s manager and other business experts aren’t worried — the mall is in one of Cedar Rapids’ busiest retail districts.

Since 2016, Comic Sandwiches in Hiawatha has supplied shields and other props — batons, maces and battle hammers — to cosplayers and comic-book fans in two dozen countries.

For 35 years, Hiawatha-based Banacom has evolved to include decals, life-sized cardboard cutouts and vinyl wraps for virtually anything that can carry a message.

Brice Lukasko will recount his experience starting BLX during a 1 Million Cups discussion Dec. 15.