Landlord Told To Raise Height Of Balcony Railing
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court is ordering another trial in a
lawsuit against a landlord blamed for the 2011 death of a woman who fell over a low
balcony railing.
Twenty-one-year-old Shannon Potts fell from a second-floor balcony at the
Grand Stratford Apartments after a night of drinking with friends.
The landlord had been cited for having guardrails 10 inches lower than the 42
-inch height that city code requires. Days before the death, a city board had given
the landlord an extension to fix the railings.
Jurors awarded Potts’ parents $1.1 million after finding CM negligent.
The landlord argues that the railings were compliant when the apartments were
built in 1968 and that they were grandfathered when the code changed.
The court ruled Friday that issue should be litigated at trial.
Red Dye In River Traced Back To Clarinda Co-op
CLARINDA, Iowa (AP) – State officials have determined how red dye ended up in a
creek that feeds in the West Nodaway River in southwestern Iowa.
A local resident noticed the bright red water flowing into the tributary
Thursday evening and notified the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. During the
investigation, the department determined that an employee with Clarinda Co-op
rinsed a jug of dye used in the treatment of soybeans into a storm sewer in
Clarinda.
Environmental specialists have not found any dead fish in the tributary. Water
samples have been collected for analysis.
The city of Clarinda is working to identify storm sewer connections to
determine if any other parts of the system may have been affected.
Food Prices Drop
(Des Moines) — A federal report finds Iowans are paying less at the grocery store
for a variety of products, including: pork, poultry, eggs, dairy products and fresh
vegetables. Annemarie Kuhns (COONS), an ag economist with the U-S-D-A, says food
prices overall have fallen five out of the last seven months. Kuhns says there are
only two categories where prices have gone up.
“Beef prices, we paid 0.2% more in May than we did in April but prices
are still down, year over year. We’re paying 5.4% less than we did in May of 2015,”
Kuhns says. “Fresh fruit prices also rose in May, increasing 1.2% from April.”
Fruit prices are up 2.8-percent from a year ago. There are likely several reasons
for the overall drop, according to Kuhns, including lower prices at the farm level
for many products.
She says, “The strength of the U.S. dollar making imports less expensive
and also keeping more product on the U.S. market as exports become more expensive
for other countries.” Transportation costs are also down due to lower gasoline
prices, according to Kuhns.
Cultural Affairs Awards 119 Grants
(Des Moines) — The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs has awarded 119 grants totaling more than one-point-two million dollars for projects in 40 communities. Spokesman Michael Morain (more-AYN, rhymes with “more rain”) says the grants are given in several categories with the goal strengthening the quality of life and cultural vitality of Iowa.
“There are grants for individual artists, we have a handful of Iowa artist fellowships that we hand out every year. There are grants for specific art projects,” Morain says. There are also grants for operating support and stability.
“To help fund some of those organizations and nonprofits that need help just with day-to-day operations. The stuff that isn’t as easy to raise money for, just the day-to-day stuff that is harder to build a campaign around,” Morain says. He says a panel of experts reviews each grant application.
Morain says the panels are “really picky” and it can sometimes take someone two or three applications to refine their plan so that when they do get a grant they can make the most of it.
The new Des Moines Jazz Festival at the Des Moines Social Club won a 10-thousand dollar grant.
“Obviously the Social Club has lots of different programs, but we really wanted to give this one a boost, just because of jazz’s heritage in Iowa,” according to Morain. “Jazz has so many different aspects in Iowa and we have some real jazz leaders, so we wanted to promote that.” Another grant was awarded to a project in Dubuque.
“The Dubuque Symphony Orchestra is doing some programming around hometown heroes — so they are really celebrating some local heroes that really resonate with their own audiences in Dubuque,” Morain says. Mural artist Jordan Weber won a grant for an individual project.
“He’s from Des Moines, but he partnered with Creston. So, he’ll be doing a mural in a visible spot in downtown Creston,” Morain explains. He says the hope for some of these grants is that they serve as seed money for projects. Morain says a good past example is artist Rose Francis, who won a grant to do portraits of Maquoketa residents.
“Just from that little boost, it turned into this huge, huge community project where she ended up with 180 portraits of Maquoketans. And that collection of portraits traveled to Washington, D-C, it was displayed at the national portrait gallery,” Morain says. “Eventually the Figge (Fig-ee) Museum in Davenport bought the whole collection, and right now they have loaned it to the State Historical Museum so you can see it here on display.”
