Iowa State University President And Athletic Director Comments On University of Iowa’s Concerns Following Game
(Ames) — Iowa State University president Wendy Wintersteen and Athletic Director Jamie Pollard on Tuesday addressed the ongoing controversy after members of the University of Iowa band said they were assaulted after the game in Ames September 14th. Wintersteen says Iowa State does not have a
crowd control problem.
Wintersteen says she will work with University of Iowa president Bruce Harreld to make sure the series continues.
Cyclone Athletic Director Jamie Pollard says they received a list of five incidents last week from Iowa, including one that a band member who was injured.
Pollard says the problem started when the Iowa band took an exit out of the stadium other than the one recommended.
I-S-U Police Chief Michael Newton says they have not heard from any of the Iowa Band members who were victims of alleged abuse.
The news conference in Ames comes after U-I president Harreld told the student newspaper he does not want the series to continue until they can work out issues with the security and safety of everyone. Harreld did say he believes they can work it out. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has said she would like to see the rival game continue.
Day Care Director Accused Of Theft
TOLEDO, Iowa (AP) – A federal theft charge has been leveled against a former Tama County day care director accused of using thousands of its dollars to buy things for herself.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that 48-year-old Kristine Daniel was charged Monday. The court records say Daniel took more than $5,000 from Tama County Day Care Inc./Kids’ Corner between December 2009 and April 2016. Kids’ Corner was receiving federal money at the time.
Daniel already has pleaded not guilty to state charges of theft and other crimes and awaits trial in January.
The state auditor’s office says auditors identified nearly $279,000 in improper and unsupported spending, undeposited collections and forgone grant revenue involved in the finances of Kids’ Corner. The audit covered December 2009 through May 31, 2016, when Daniel was working for Kids’ Corner.
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Sheriff’s Office Employees Disciplined For Comments Toward Deputy
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – The sheriff of Iowa’s second-largest county says an investigation has found that a deputy was harassed by co-workers who were angry that he took time off work for family reasons.
Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner announced Wednesday that he will be disciplining multiple employees for inappropriate behavior discovered during the investigation.
A deputy assigned to the county jail filed a complaint alleging he was harassed for using parental leave authorized by the Family Medical Leave Act. Gardner hired Ohio attorney Douglas Duckett to investigate.
The sheriff says the inquiry found that some employees who were working long hours improperly targeted the employee out of anger about the impact of his leave.
Gardner says the investigation also found that some employees “were behaving in a less than professional manner.” Employees will face disciplinary action and training, but none are expected to be fired or demoted.
Southern Iowa Woman Found Guilty Of Killing Husband With Fire
ALBIA, Iowa (AP) – A jury has convicted a south-central Iowa woman of killing her husband, whose body was found in their burned home last year.
Monroe County District Court records say the jury handed up the arson and first-degree murder verdicts Wednesday morning at a courtroom in Albia. The 47-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 15 to life in prison without possibility of parole.
The badly burned body of 50-year-old Tim Pasa was found in a bed on May 5, 2018, and investigators determined the fire at the Centerville home was started intentionally. The Daily Iowegian reports that an autopsy determined his death was related to an injection of an anesthetic, propofol.
Barbara Pasa was a nurse in the surgery department at MercyOne Centerville Medical Center at the time of Tim Pasa’s death.
Investigators say Barbara Pasa had bought a $200,000 life insurance policy on her husband. They also say he’d told family members he believed his wife was poisoning him.
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Injured Workers Waiting Longer For Workmen’s Compensation
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Injured Iowa workers seeking benefits from their employers are waiting longer to get their hearing dates as a state agency transitions to a new filing system.
Iowa Workers’ Compensation Commissioner Joseph Cortese told
lawmakers in a letter Tuesday that a moratorium on scheduling new hearings will likely continue for another four to six weeks.
His agency imposed the moratorium in July when it launched a new online case management system to replace a legacy system that dated to the 1970s.
Shutting down the old system has temporarily prevented the agency from being able to schedule new hearings because that tool isn’t ready to be launched yet.
Sen. Nate Boulton, D-Des Moines, says there is growing frustration among lawyers, claimants and employers about the impact. He says workers “need to know when their date to get justice is” and that hearing deadlines can lead to settlements.
Cortese says the situation shouldn’t result in delays in deciding
claims. He says it means only that cases that will go to hearing after June 30, 2020 will be scheduled later than normal.
