Heather Claybrook has been promoted to the weekend morning anchor desk at Fox 4 in Kansas City, Mo. She has been a general assignment reporter for the station since 1994. She previously was a morning anchor and reporter for WJTV in Jackson, Miss. Claybrook received a bachelor’s degree in broadcast news from Kansas University.

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Marcie Morris, Lawrence, has joined Remax Professionals, 600 Lawrence Ave., as a sales associate for the real estate company.

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Jackie Foley has been elected vice president of Commerce Bank of Lawrence. Her responsibilities include the origination of residential loans, development loans, construction loans and retail sales. Foley has worked 13 years in the residential lending industry in Lawrence. She has worked 11 years for Commerce Bank. She has been recognized as a top producing residential loan originator across all of Commerce’s 330 branch locations for the past eight years, ranking No. 1 in 2002 and 2003 with average loan production of $30 million.

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Nathan Price has been elected assistant vice president of Commerce Bank of Lawrence. His responsibilities include servicing the existing commercial clients and building new commercial relationships.

Price joined the commercial lending department of Commerce Bank in 2002 after a year with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

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Kimberly Cravotta has joined Lawrence’s Century 21 Miller and Midyett as a real estate specialist. She will specialize in residential sales in the Lawrence market area.

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Annie Myers, Lawrence, has been promoted to district office supervisor at AAA’s Lawrence office, 3514 Clinton Parkway, Suite L. Her duties include overseeing daily operations of the Lawrence office. She has worked at AAA for three years. Myers previously was an auto travel counselor. She received a bachelor’s degree from Kansas University.

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Kelly Ryan has joined Realty Executives – Hedges Real Estate, Lawrence, as an agent. She will focus on the marketing of residential property.

Honors and awards

BLAM, a Lawrence advertising agency, won honors at the 2003 Topeka Advertising Federation’s ADDY awards ceremony on Jan. 24. BLAM won Best of Show for Capitol Federal Savings television commercials and Best of Print for Market Directions direct mail campaign. It won seven gold awards and five silver awards. Doug Stremel, president, was the creative director and writer for the award-winning commercials and designs.

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Robin Haller-Evans, Lawrence, received a Child Development Associate Credential in recognition of outstanding work with children. The credential was given by the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington D.C.

Coming events

Lawrence Express Network will have its monthly meeting from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Hereford House, Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. Bruce Flanders, of the Lawrence Public Library, will be the speaker. Cost of the luncheon is $15. Guests are welcome. For more information visit www.geocities.com/lawexpnet.

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National Flood Insurance Program officials are sponsoring two workshops to help insurance producers, lenders and government officials better understand the flood insurance program.

The first workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park. The second workshop will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Kansas Association of Insurance Agents in Topeka. There is a $45 registration fee. To obtain registration forms or for more information, call Sonja Wood at (913) 780-4238 or send an e-mail to swood1@csc.com.

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Kansas businesses can apply for low-interest Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. The loans are available to help businesses meet normal operating expenses. To obtain an application or receive more information, call (800) 366-6303. The deadline is Sept. 23.

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The Kansas/Missouri Growing Growers Program is offering two workshops this spring as part of a goal to expand market-garden production in the Kansas City “food shed” — the land within 100 miles of the greater metropolitan area.

“Soil Building for Vegetable and Fruit Crops” will be from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 6 at the 4-H Building in Lansing.

“Plant Production for the Vegetable Grower” will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 12 at the St. Clair County Library in Osceola, Mo.

Registration information is available online at www.growinggrowers.org. For more information, call (913) 488-1270 or e-mail growers@ksu.edu.

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A panel of Kansas residents who have found success in exporting their products and services to global markets will share their expertise during a daylong workshop March 4 at Dodge City Community College. The seminar is geared to rural business and entrepreneurs who want to explore ways to expand their companies through expansion into international marketing.

The Kansas International Trade Coordinating Council with the assistance from the Kansas Department of Commerce’s Trade Development Division is sponsoring the seminar. The registration fee of $25 can be sent to the Kansas University Center for International Business at 1300 Sunnyside Ave., 207 Summerfield Hall, Lawrence, 66045. Registrations also will be accepted at the door.

For more information, contact John Watson at (785) 296-4027 or e-mail jwatson@kansascommerce.com.