Time Running Out For Powerball Winner To Collect Prize
CLIVE, Iowa (AP) — Time runs out this week for the winner of a $1 million Powerball prize to claim the money.
Iowa Lottery officials say the winning ticket was bought April 11, 2018, at a Casey’s convenience store in Nevada (nuh-VAYE’-duh).
The ticket matched the first five numbers but missed the Powerball.
The winner has a year to claim the prize. Lottery officials say that means the purchaser will need to get to lottery headquarters in Clive by 4 p.m. Thursday.
Unclaimed prizes go into a pool for future prizes. The lottery says that in the 2018 fiscal year, more than $1.4 million in prizes went unclaimed in Iowa.
Motorists With Unpaid Traffic Camera Fines Challenging The State For Seizure Of Tax Refunds
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drivers who have unpaid traffic camera tickets are challenging the state of Iowa’s ability to seize part of their tax refunds to collect the money.
Attorney Jim Larew argued in a petition filed last week that the Department of Administrative Services doesn’t have the legal authority to collect unpaid speeding and red light infractions issued by traffic cameras.
He’s representing drivers who are facing the seizure of parts of their refunds for old tickets that they dispute. The state has contracts with cities like Cedar Rapids and Des Moines to take funds to offset those debts, and assesses an additional 6 % fee for itself.
The petition argues that, under a recent Iowa Supreme Court ruling, vehicle owners are not liable for traffic camera citations until municipalities prove them in District Court. Because that typically doesn’t happen, Larew argues the unpaid tickets are not debts and the state cannot collect them.
An administrative law hearing will now take place.
Jury Awards Man For $12 Million Malpractice Suit
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A Polk County jury has awarded $12.25 million to a man who learned after prostate cancer surgery that a mistake had been made with his tissue samples: He didn’t have cancer.
The jury said Friday that Iowa Clinic and its pathologist should pay 67-year-old Rickie Huitt and his wife the damages. The lawsuit they filed said Huitt’s tissue sample slides had been mixed up with those of a man who did have prostate cancer. The subsequent misdiagnosis led to removal of Huitt’s prostate gland in an April 2017 surgery that left him impotent and incontinent.
The Des Moines Register reports that the clinic acknowledged the error but fought the $15 million in damages the Huitts sought in their lawsuit. A lawyer for the clinic and the pathologist recommended Friday that jurors award the Huitts $750,000.
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Iowa City Woman’s Death Classified As A Homicide
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say a 65-year-old woman whose body was found inside an Iowa City home was a homicide victim.
Police released the woman’s name Sunday: Joellen Browning.
Emergency responders who were called to the house Friday morning found Browning dead inside. Police haven’t released other details about the case.
No arrests have been reported.
West Des Moines Police Investigate Death Of A Woman
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police in West Des Moines are investigating the death of a woman there.
Police were called late Friday night to an area west of Interstate 35 near a busy retail district for reports of a woman lying in the road. Police say as officers were en route to the area, other reports of gunshots from the same area were reported.
Arriving officers found the woman, who was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died. Station KCCI reports that police have identified the woman as 18-year-old Sakira Kezia Tamara Bonner, of Des Moines.
Her cause of death has not been released, but police are calling her death a homicide.
No arrests have been reported.
