Late Wednesday, siouxcityjournal.com was the first to report on the expansion of Stream’s contract call center in Sergeant Bluff, “Stream addign 300 jobs.”

The suburban Boston-based company attributed the new hiring, which will raise total local employment to about 1,100, to added business growth by the clients the local call center supports. They include Sirius XM, Apple, Nike and Intuit.

Could the “cash for clunkers” auto incentive program be contributed to at least some of the Sergeant Bluff growth growth. The Wall Street reported Thursday that Sirius in the third quarter began adding satellite radio subscribers for the first time since December, “Sirius makes strides in third quarter.”

Sirius XM, which ran into financing difficulties that nearly sent it into bankruptcy early this year, before Liberty Media Corp. took a 40% stake, got a boost during the third quarter from cash-for-clunkers, the federal goverment program that paid consumers to trade in their gas-guzzlers for new, more fuel-efficient models.

The purchase of many new models comes with a subscription to Sirius XM. To activate the service, owners must call an 800 number. Customers service representatives at the Sergeant Bluff center handle many of those inbound calls, helping Sirius subscribers not only set up their service, but also answer questions about it afterwards.

Still wanting to trade in your gas-guzzler for a new fuel-efficient ride? Worry no more. The U.S. Senate is coming to the rescue, “Deal to extend cash for clunkers.”

The world’s most deliberative body struck a deal late Wednesday to save the popular “cash-for-clunkers” program from the scrap heap. Senate Democrats and Republicans agreed to vote today on a $2 billion infusion in the program, which offers rebates of up to $4,500 to motorists who junk old vehicles with low gas mileage for qualifying new fuel-efficient models.

The deal should comes as a relief to both new car dealers and consumers, who are expected to have access to the incentives through September. The program has been so successful that it burned through its initial $1 billion in funding in just a week.

Last week, the rebate program helped Siouxland dealerships sell dozens of new cars, depleting their inventories of many models.

Compacts and subcompacts have been the top sellers nationwide, with Honda Civic, Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla topping the list, according to industry and government reports.

What type of vehicles have been the most destroyed through the program? Older SUVs, not surprisingly. The 1998, 1997, 1996 and 1999 Ford Explorer hold the top four spots currently.

Check out the Top 10 list for both clunker trade-ins and cash for clunker sales, here.