Faculty Numbers Down at Iowa, Iowa State and Northern Iowa
(Urbandale, IA) — Faculty numbers at Iowa’s three state universities are on the decline and the number of professors being considered for tenure is the lowest its been in five years. The Iowa Board of Regents takes the final vote that grants tenure. Iowa State University officials are asking the
board to approve tenure for 59 faculty members. Tenure is recommended for 45 University of Iowa faculty members and University of Northern Iowa administrators recommend tenure for 17 faculty. Republican lawmakers this year proposed and advanced bills to end the tenure systems at the state
universities. While those proposals failed to clear last week’s procedural deadline, key Republicans say rather a ban on tenure, next year they may propose limitations or new guidelines for tenure. The number of overall faculty at the University of Northern Iowa has dropped eight percent in the
past year. At the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, faculty positions dropped three percent.
Fayette County Man Draws Life Sentence For Death of 4-Year-Old Boy
(West Union, IA) — The sentence is life in prison for a northeast Iowa man convicted in the death of a four-week-old child. Twenty-four-year-old Dean Hettinger of Westgate was sentenced Monday in Fayette County for the first-degree murder and child endangerment of Holten Smith. The boy was
hospitalized in April of 2018 when he began having seizures. Smith died a month later at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Doctors found bleeding in the child’s brain and an autopsy discovered 36 rib fractures.
Hettinger was caring for Smith when he was injured.
Forest City Man Killed in Winnebago County ATV Crash
(Forest City, IA) — The Iowa State Patrol is investigating an A-T-V crash in Winnebago County that left one man dead and another injured. The accident report says the A-T-V was driving through a field Monday night when it went off a terrace and rolled. Troopers say 49-year-old John E. West of Forest
City was ejected and died at the scene. Twenty-three-year-old Terence West
was airlifted to a Mason City hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Northwest Iowa Man Pleads Not Guilty in Fatal Osceola County ATV Crash
(Sibley, IA) — A northwest Iowa man is pleading not guilty to causing a fatal utility terrain vehicle crash last summer in Osceola County. Forty-eight-year-old Christopher Bosma of Lake Park is charged with criminal vehicular homicide in the death of 34-year-old Kelsie Sturm. Sturm was thrown from a U-T-V driven by Bosma when he made a sharp turn on a trail near
Harris July 18th and died in the hospital. Court records show Bosma admitted to having eight or nine drinks at different bars that day as a part of a poker ride. His trial date hasn’t been scheduled.
