Midwest

Features

Dinner on the patio? First, hold the stench

Parts of downtown Des Moines have been so transformed in the past decade by new apartments, trendy shops and microbreweries, it’s sometimes hard to reconcile the present with the not-so-distant past. But one strong reminder of the city's heritage remains: the stench.

Energy

FirstEnergy agrees to $306M refund to Ohio customers

Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., one of the largest public utility holding companies in the U.S, announced Monday it had reached a settlement with the Ohio Consumers' Counsel and other groups to refund its Ohio customers and lower their rates by a total of $306 million for having collected significantly excessive profits.