Devotay Owner Takes New Position Giving New Spice to Shelter House's Culinary Starts: Iowa City Daily News Links, April 30

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Bright and sunny for one more day!

On to the Links!

Luke Voelz of the Iowa City Press-Citizen has a cool story about Kurt Friese, the owner of Devotay, taking a position as head of the Culinary Starts program at Shelter House, Iowa City's homeless shelter. Culinary Starts is a 12-week program that provides culinary training to Shelter House patrons.

Adam Sullivan of the Press-Citizen has a story about local leaders meeting to discuss dealing with pockets of poverty in the Iowa City area.

Sullivan also writes that officials say they will do something about the inflated ratio of minorities incarcerated locally.

Mitch Schmidt writes about the dilemma facing the Johnson County Supervisors as they decide whether the fire-damaged Secondary Roads building should be repaired or rebuilt.

Former Hawkeye coach Steve Alford is balking at paying his buyout to the University of New Mexico after leaving to coach UCLA. (Press Citizen via Associated Press)

Mark Carlson of KCRG reports that a new ambassador program is aimed at making downtown Iowa City more inviting.

A proposed ban of redlight traffic cameras narrowly failed in the Iowa Senate. (Des Moines RegisteR)

Des Moines based tech company Dwolla is expanding into San Francisco. (Des Moines Register)

A world record for hugging could be set at the IMU this Friday in support of LGBT rights. (Press-Citizen)

Gov. Branstad said he is tired of state legislators being gridlocked on education reform. (Des Moines Register)

Daily Links Featured Excerpt of the Day:

For Friese, the job was an opportunity to renovate a training program that he said had become less efficient because an established culinary official was not overseeing it. He said he plans to offer more practice-intensive training for Shelter House kitchen employees to avoid further breaks in efficiency if a chef suddenly leaves.

“(Any kitchen) can’t be based on the talents or experience of one person or a small number of people,” he said, “because the moment they get hit by a bus or just decide to quit, everything falls apart. I’m here to install systems that survive on everyone, so if I get hit by a bus, while everyone’s mourning my loss, the system can still get food out on time.”

Featured Directory Link of the Day: Sycamore Mall Shopping Center