Dragseth wins national award for business journalism

Active writer and speaker, Dickinson State University studentelected outstanding college professor, curriculum designer for Fortune 200 companies, hiker and runner, Dr. Debora Dragseth can now add national award winning journalist to her list of accomplishments.

On Sept. 12, at its annual awards banquet in San Antonio, the National Federation of Press Women honored Dragseth with a national first-place award in business journalism. Dragseth won the category with an article titled “Once upon a time … corporate storytelling” that she wrote for Business Watch, published by the Bismarck Tribune.

According to Dragseth, storytelling is a tool used by business leaders when they wish to inspire and engage employees, transform cultures and communicate the values of their organization in a powerful and memorable way.

To develop the award-winning article, she interviewed five North Dakota business leaders—consummate storytellers who believe that storytelling has the power to lift an organization to a higher level.

“Every organization has a story to tell,” Dragseth said, “and I hoped to bring to my readers some inspiring examples.”

NFPW, founded in 1937, is a nationwide organization of professional journalists and communicators. With members that are both men and women, the NFPW is one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious organizations of writers, designers, podcasters and editors in the country.

First-place award winners at the state level in their respective categories are sent to the national level where independent experts judge contest categories in print, broadcast and Internet communication.

Housing data signals a fragile recovery

WASHINGTON (AP) – Adding to evidence the recession has ended, housing construction rose in August. Still, the report suggested a slow and fragile economic recovery. The rise in housing starts was due solely to a jump in the volatile apartmentbuilding category.

And even as the housing industry begins to recover from its worst downturn in decades, a glut of unsold homes and record levels of home foreclosures are weighing on the industry. Construction of single-family homes and apartments rose 1.5 percent to an annual rate of 598,000 units, the highest level since November, the Commerce Department said Sept. 17.

That was slightly lower than the 600,000-unit pace economists had expected. And it remains more than 70 percent below the peak rate hit in 2006. The tentative improvements in housing are most likely a rebound “from unsustainably weak results … reinforced by a temporary boost to demand” from the $8,000 fi rst-time homebuyer tax credit that ends Nov. 30, Joshua Shapiro, chief economist at MFR Inc., wrote in a note to clients.

“Gains from here on will probably be much more difficult to achieve,” due to high unemployment, tight credit and the large number of homes already on the market, he said.

Applications for building permits, a gauge of future activity, rose 2.7 percent in August to an annual rate of 579,000 units, slightly below the 580,000 level that had been forecast. But for single-family homes, permits dipped 0.2 percent. They rose 15.8 percent for multifamily units.

The 1.5 percent rise in overall housing starts followed a small 0.2 percent dip in July. The August strength refl ected a 25.3 percent surge in construction of multifamily units, a volatile sector that had fallen 15.2 percent in July. Single-family home construction dipped 3 percent last month to an annual rate of 479,000 units, the fi rst setback following fi ve straight monthly gains.

N.D. sees modest change in unemployment

Unemployment nationwide climbed to 9.8 percent in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, showing that joblessness could remain a persistent problem despite signs that the recession may be ending.

The latest rates for North Dakota show a slight increase in unemployment, but one that falls within the rate’s normal fl uctuations. Seasonally adjusted unemployment in North Dakota was 4.3 percent for August, compared to 4.2 percent for July and 3.3 percent in August 2008.

The national rate rose from 9.7 to 9.8 percent from August to September. Michael Ziesch, research analyst for Job Service North Dakota, said the numbers here refl ect nationwide trends, but at the same time show that the state is spared from their sharper ups and downs.

“There’s absolutely no question that we’re being affected by the national economy,” he said. However, the state economy is not dependent on the sectors that suffer during recession.

Manufacturing accounts for a small part of the economy, as do large national companies. That means that an international manufacturer like Bobcat gets hit – along with the workers who will lose their jobs when the company’s Bismarck factory closes – but it is still a relatively small part of North Dakota’s overall picture, though “no one wants to see excellent jobs leaving their hometown,” Ziesch said.

The 475 jobs cut at Bobcat are not yet refl ected in the unemployment numbers. While they will likely raise Bismarck-Mandan’s unemployment rate, the state’s numbers will be mostly unaffected since the company is opening 390 positions in Gwinner.

Area bankers: Rural economy better but still weak

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – A monthly survey of bankers suggests the rural economy in 11 Midwest and Plains states improved slightly over the past month but remains weak. The Rural Mainstreet Index grew to 36.5 in September from August’s 32 and July’s 32.6.

That overall index remains well below the growthneutral score of 50, but it is much higher than the index’s record low of 16.9 set in February. The index ranges from 0 to 100. A score below 50 suggests the economy will contract in the next three to six months, while a score above 50 indicates the economy will expand.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who oversees the survey, said concerns about farm income and the relatively low crop prices this year appear to be limiting growth in rural areas. Bill Anderson, CEO of First State Bank in Hordville, Neb. said corn prices, which are currently around $3.10 a bushel, are a particular concern in his area.

Current corn prices are significantly lower than the highs of $6.80 a bushel that were set last summer. “The recent decline in corn prices has us concerned as we enter harvest time,” Anderson said.

Goss and Bill McQuillan, CEO of City National Bank in Greeley, Neb., created the survey, which covers Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. (Business briefs were compiled from local reports and Associated Press stories.)