Iowa Workforce Development reports an increase in initial unemployment claims last week…while continuing claims dropped. There were 504 more new unemployment claims last week than the week before, for an overall number of 3,649. But the number of continuing claims dropped by 1,500, to 26,192.
A Cedar Rapids man was injured after being caught in a roller at a quarry in Benton County. Officials received a report just before 8:30 yesterday morning that an employee at Wendling Quarries in Garrison was caught in a roller. Officials say the 24-year-old man was freed by co-workers and transported to nearby Virginia Gay Hospital with significant, but non-life-threatening injuries. The man was later transferred to another facility.
A retired Cedar Rapids police lieutenant is dead after a motorcycle accident in Jones County. 64-year-old Charles Mincks was driving a motorcycle southbound on Highway 136 just after 3:30 p.m. Wednesday when he went into a ditch near 190th Street. Officials have not said what may have caused the vehicle to leave the roadway.
A judge has dismissed a rarely used felony leak charge against a Black Lives Matter activist in Iowa who gave a confidential police bulletin to a television news reporter. Judge Jeffrey Farrell found that protester Viet Tran did not break the law when he gave the Des Moines Police Department bulletin to Channel 5 in Des Moines. Tran had been charged last summer with unauthorized dissemination of intelligence data, a felony that carries up to five years in prison. The decades-old law, intended to stop law enforcement officials from releasing certain sensitive information, had only been used a handful of times and never against a non-police suspect.
Waterloo City Council Member At-Large and Mayor Pro-Tem Sharon Juon announced yesterday she will not be seeking another term on the council, citing health concerns as the reason for her decision. Juon said, “I just don’t have the energy that Waterloo citizens deserve to maintain a front row seat.” Juon said she announced her decision this early to allow Waterloo residents interested in the at-large seat time to organize their plans for the November election. Juon has been on the council since 2017 when she defeated incumbent Tom Lind.
Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand has announced an investigation into an eastern Iowa county auditor’s payments to election workers. Sand’s office said in a news release yesterday it will examine potential overpayments to election workers that were approved by former Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz. Sand said the payments could amount to a misuse of Help America Vote Act funds made available through the Iowa Secretary of State Office, which is also helping with the investigation. Moritz, who resigned last month, had previously told a media outlet that she made a mistake and thought she had the authority to increase poll workers’ pay from $10 to $12 an hour to $15 an hour.
An Osage woman is facing a charge of serious injury by vehicle after a head-on collision. Charges were filed Wednesday against 66-year-old Dorothy Werner, alleging she was on her cell phone when a collision occurred on March 24 on U.S. Highway 218. The two-vehicle accident resulted in injuries to both drivers.
Prosecutors have dropped a misconduct charge against a Des Moines police officer accused of interfering with an investigation involving his girlfriend. Polk County Attorney John Sarcone says new evidence shows Rodney Briggs did not commit a crime. A criminal complaint alleged Briggs used his police identification to try to obtain video from a school district of an incident involving his girlfriend that police in Altoona were investigating. But new testimony showed he was simply making an open records request as a private citizen. County Attorney John Sarcone said Briggs’ girlfriend is also a Des Moines officer and ultimately was not charged.
