Stolen Cremated Remains Found
DIKE, Iowa (AP) – Iowa authorities say a wooden box containing the cremated remains of a Dike man that was stolen in a home burglary has been recovered.
Grundy County sheriff’s deputies had reported that the cremains of 65-year-old Daniel Evanson were stolen during a break-in at his rural home sometime late Feb. 14 or early Feb. 15. Evanson died Feb. 6. Evanson’s family members had taken to social media to plead for the public’s help in finding the remains and the ornate wooden box holding them. Grundy County Sheriff’s
Department told WOI that a jogger Friday morning found the box of cremains on a trail in Cedar Falls, which is about 12 miles northeast of Dike.
Deere And Company Plans For Additional Layoffs
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) – Deere & Co. plans to lay off 42 workers in Waterloo – the latest round of layoffs in the state the farm equipment maker has announced in recent months. The Des Moines Register reports that the company told Waterloo workers Friday that the layoffs will take effect May 4. It
would be the fifth round of layoffs at Iowa offices and plants since November, including 113 workers in Davenport in November, 23 Des Moines workers in December, and 57 more workers in Davenport in January. The company also announced earlier this month that 105 Dubuque workers will be laid off in April.
Des Moines Police Make Arrest Following Hit-And-Run Fatal Accident
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Police in Des Moines say a suspect has been arrested in the death of a 71-year-old woman who was the victim of a hit-and-run as she crossed a Des Moines street last month. Police say in a news release that 41-year-old Isaias Flores-Morales was arrested Thursday in Illinois on suspicion of leaving the scene of a fatal crash, escaping custody and other
counts in the death of Stephanie Markert. Markert died a week after being hit on Jan. 30 near the Drake University campus, where first responders found her in the street with critical injuries. Police say she was the house mother for Delta Gamma sorority at Drake.
Iowa Man Charged With Slaying Of Nebraska Man
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – An Iowa man has been charged with the Omaha slaying of a man who’d been reported missing. Nebraska court records say Dalton Dukes, of Council Bluffs, is charged with first-degree murder and two weapons crimes. The records don’t yet list the name of his court-appointed attorney.
Council Bluffs police took a missing person report on Joseph Hellman on Feb. 21 last year. He was last seen in Omaha, and the report was referred to Omaha police. Omaha investigators determined that Hellman had been killed Jan. 29. Police say his death couldn’t be classified as a homicide until this past December.
Iowa Supreme Court Reduces Compensation
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Supreme Court has reduced the compensation a northeast Iowa man received from a jury to a fraction of the verdict awarded him in a lawsuit against an insurance company in a workers’ compensation case. Even though the court found the American Interstate Insurance Company’s treatment of Toby Thornton “reprehensible” the justices left him with a judgment Friday of $558,000. Earlier, one jury had awarded him $25 million and another $7 million. The 42-year-old Thornton was involved in an accident while driving a truck in June 2009 for Clayton County Recycling. He was left paralyzed below the chest.
Home Sales On The Increase
(Des Moines) — The number of homes sold in Iowa last month bounded more than ten-percent compared to January of 2019, according to a report from the Iowa Association of Realtors. Association president Scott Wendl (WEN-dul), a realtor in Clive, credits the warmer weather for the healthy jump.
The report says home sales prices across Iowa remained steady compared to January of 2019.
More than 21-hundred homes sold statewide last month, compared to about 19-hundred a year ago. Wendl says homes sold relatively fast compared to last year, too, as January saw an average of 70 days on market compared to 74 days in January of 2019.
He’s expecting home sales to continue rising with the temperatures as warmer weather approaches.
Compared to last January, the report says new listings were up 4.4-percent and pending sales were up 7.5-percent, which Wendl says bodes well for February.
