FRIDAY, DEC. 22, 2017  |  IN THIS ISSUE 

Ed. note: The Corridor Business Journal will be closed next week so our staff can recharge and celebrate the holidays with their families. There will be no daily or weekly newsletters next week. The CBJ's Morning Rush will return Jan. 2. Have a safe and happy holiday!
 
Para1Iowa penalizes Medicaid providers $1.5M
 
Iowa has assessed $1.5 million in penalties against three private Medicaid managed care providers for failing to meet performance standards, reports the Des Moines Register. AmeriHealth Caritas, which recently terminated its contract with the state, accounts for more than $1 million of those penalties. The state fined Amerigroup $146,486 and UnitedHealthcare $217,819 in the same 18-month period and waived at least $815,501 of the $1,561,298 total penalties against the three companies.

Iowa's rocky experience with privately-managed Medicaid did not deter neighboring Nebraska from going down a similar road. Eleven months into the launch of its new system, Heritage Health, Nebraska's Department of Health and Human Services has imposed financial sanctions once, required corrective action plans three times and issued four written warnings, reports the Omaha World-Herald.
Para2Potential Waterloo runway closure raises concerns      
Maintenance costs and the prospect of nearby industrial development are threatening to close one of three runways at the Waterloo Regional Airport, but local pilots and one aviation company are fighting to keep it open, reports the Courier. Rick Young, of Livingston Aviation, the airport's fixed base operator, said the third runway is vital to the general aviation community, which represents 93 percent of landings and takeoffs. The $2-4 million cost of needed repairs to the runway is one factor, but the city's desire to develop land along the west side of the airport is another. The ideal path for a rail spur goes through the runway's protection  zone.

As the airport board and city work through that issue, they're also waiting to hear from the U.S. Department of Transportation on another important development -- their application to switch airline passenger service from American to United for a two-year term beginning in 2018, reports KWWL.
Para3Voya to exit annuities as Athene expands  
Des Moines-based Voya Financial is selling parts of its annuities businesses to a group of investors led by Apollo Global Management and its affiliates, Crestview Partners and Reverence Capital Partners, the Wall Street Journal reports. Voya said the deal, which is a sale of its individual fixed and fixed-indexed annuity business and almost all of its closed block variable-annuity business, would let it focus on its employee benefits, investment management and retirement businesses. The company also said the deal would lower both its insurance and market risk.
 
A consortium of investors led by Apollo, Crestview and Reverence will create a new stand-alone entity, Venerable Holdings, that will administer the fixed and variable annuity blocks, reports the Des Moines Business Record. The three firms will have equal stakes in the new privately held firm. 
Para4Boeing, Embraer in takeover talks

Planemakers Boeing and Embraer are discussing a "potential combination"  that could consolidate their global passenger jet duopoly if blessed by Brazil's government. That nation's regulator's would support a partnership for São Paulo-based Embraer, but would block any takeover attempt, a senior official told Reuters. But a takeover is exactly what U.S. aerospace giant Boeing has in mind, according to the Wall Street Journal.
 
Boeing's main rival Airbus recently announced a deal to take majority stake in a jetliner program run by Canada's Bombardier, the second-largest maker of regional jets. A deal with Embraer would hand Boeing the world's top regional jet builder plus access to the company's well-regarded engineering workforce. Embraer is a big customer of Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins, which was recently acquired by United Technologies in the ongoing series of blockbuster deals remaking global plane production.  
Para5Papa John's founder ousted as CEO
 
Weeks after blaming NFL national anthem protests for hurting pizza sales Papa John's founder John Schnatter is headed for the sidelines, reports the Chicago Tribune. Mr. Schnatter, who appears in the chain's commercials and on its pizza boxes, and is the company's biggest shareholder, will step down as CEO Jan. 1 but will remain chairman of the board. COO Steve Ritchie will move into the CEO slot. He said the company will decide next year if Mr. Schnatter will still be its spokesman. Mr. Schnatter has been one of the last CEOs who also act as their brand's advertising pitchman, a list that once included Col. Harland Sanders for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Dave Thomas of Wendy's, notes USA Today. By stressing that Papa John's had better ingredients and a better tasting product, he was able to turn the chain into a national force against giants like Domino's Pizza and Pizza Hut.
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CommuteYour Morning Commute
Waze users are reporting heavy traffic on I-380 headed south of Highway 30 in Cedar Rapids. Weather forecast also calls for flurries or snow showers today, so drive with care.
See the DOT's interactive road conditions map here. 
 
Links as of 7 a.m.