A Wartburg College student has filed a class action lawsuit over the cost of tuition after losing on-campus educational time last year due to the pandemic. Sydney Warner filed the lawsuit this week in Bremer County District Court saying the value of the remote learning provided by the college was less than the value of the on-campus experience promised by the college, therefore a portion of the tuition fees for the spring 2020 semester should be refunded as a result. The lawsuit notes that she paid student fees for the 2020 spring semester for access to campus facilities, activities and in-person classes. It also notes online courses cost substantially less than in-person classes, and were “subpar in practically every aspect.” Wartburg moved to fully remote learning on March 18, 2020, and classes remained online through the rest of the spring semester.
Waterloo firefighters rescued a man who was trapped under a skid loader at a burial vault business this morning. A mechanic was working on the vehicle at Waterloo Wilbert Vault Co. when the accident happened around 6 a.m. Hydraulics on the vehicle failed and a piece of the machinery pinned him to the ground. Paramedics took the man to a hospital for treatment.
A family escaped injury as the result of an overnight mobile home fire in Waterloo. Residents were awakened around 3 o’clock this morning when they started coughing from smoke in the residence. Fire officials say the cause was an electrical fire from an extension cord.
The Iowa Transportation Commission has approved using nearly $122 million in federal COVID-19 relief funds to make up for fuel tax revenue lost over the past year and to pay for trail development across the state. The federal funds, which were approved in December, will offset lost state revenue and allow the commission to proceed with its building program without reductions. The DOT estimates that through June, there will be about a $50 million reduction in state road funding due to COVID-19.
The Iowa Department of Revenue says it is looking at extending this year’s tax deadline after also doing so last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This comes after the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday it would delay the federal filing deadline for one month to give families more time to figure out rules involving enhanced federal unemployment income, as well as other pandemic-related changes. Iowans had additional time to file state taxes last year as the department of revenue extended the deadline for three months, to parallel the change in federal deadlines.
The Iowa Supreme Court today upheld the civil judgment in a high-profile wrongful-death dispute in Marion County. Jason Carter had been found civilly responsible for the death of his mother Shirley during a 2018 jury trial and had appealed the judgment. Shirley Carter was shot and killed in her Lacona home back in 2015. Jason Carter’s father and brother brought the wrongful death lawsuit against him after becoming frustrated with law enforcement, who had not charged Jason criminally. The judgment in the civil trial ordered Jason Carter to pay $10 million to his father. Just days after the civil trial, authorities charged Jason Carter with his mother’s murder. They claimed evidence brought to light during the civil trial provided them with what they needed to make a criminal case. However, Jason Carter was acquitted of his mother’s murder in the 2019 criminal trial. He appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, asking it to throw out the judgment from the civil trial. But today, the judgment was instead affirmed by the court. Carter has filed civil lawsuits against the state of Iowa, investigators and lawyers involved in his prosecution, as well as his father. Those lawsuits are still pending.
A man linked by fingerprints to a Winnebago County burglary has entered a plea of not guilty. 35-year-old Andrew Sterrenberg of Forest City is scheduled to stand trial beginning May 5th on charges of second-degree theft and third-degree burglary. Sterrenberg is accused of stealing about $2,000 in personal property from a home in Forest City on September 29, 2020. Investigators say Sterrenberg’s fingerprints were found on a flashlight left behind at the scene. Authorities say Sterrenberg claimed he had never been in the home and had no idea why his fingerprints would be there.
