One of Governor Culver’s stops on the Moving Iowa Forward Tour today was Newton. Formerly the home of Maytag, this community was hit hard when the company shut their factory down.

Since then, two alternative energy companies have brought their operations to the community: Trinity Structural Towers and TPI Composites.

Governor Culver shared some good news with the audience that came to see him at the Jasper County Courthouse: TPI Composites had just hired its 500th employee, keeping its promise to the community. “No one knows resiliency like Newton,” the Governor told the crowd. He talked about the success of I-JOBS in Jasper County and the other stops he had made today such as Ottumwa where the money went towards flood recovery.

Here are some pictures from the event.