From the Associated Press:
Officials at Dotdash Meredith say the company will lay off 200 workers and stop print publications of several magazines. Wednesday’s announcement comes two months after New York-based Dotdash merged with Meredith, a magazine company based in Iowa. A company spokesperson said most of the layoffs occurred in the company’s New York office but some people were laid off in Des Moines. CEO Neil Vogel said in an email to employees that the company will immediately stop printing EatingWell, Entertainment Weekly, Health, InStyle, Parents and People en Español. All are titles acquired from Meredith.
BETTENDORF, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has fined a Bettendorf insurance agent nearly $112,000 for selling unregistered securities tied to oil wells in Texas. The agency said Cody Christopher Biggs was not registered to sell securities when when he sold millions of dollars in unregistered oil and gas securities dating back to 2016. According to an SEC complaint, Biggs hawked the securities for a Nevada private equity firm and Texas firm, which vastly overpromised returns and production of the wells. Federal regulators say Biggs received about $77,000 in sales commissions in the scheme. As part of a deal with the SEC last month, Biggs must pay that amount, plus interest of more than $9,700 and a civil penalty of $25,000.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The chairman of the Iowa House Judiciary Committee says he wants to launch an investigation of a state court judge who last year was accused of trying to rig a judicial nomination to get a favored candidate appointed to the bench. If Republican Rep. Steven Holt’s investigation is approved, as expected, it apparently would be the first of its type in decades. Holt said Tuesday that he’ll ask the full House to pass a resolution granting his committee powers to investigate last year’s unusual judicial appointment process. Judge Kurt Stoebe, then chairman of a northern Iowa judicial nominating commission, was accused of making inappropriate and unprofessional comments about certain nominees and falsely stating that a nominee had withdrawn from consideration.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources plans to evict more than two dozen park rangers and other state parks workers from government-owned houses, citing the estimated $1 million expense of needed renovations and maintenance of the homes. The Gazette reports the agency has determined that of the 26 houses on state park grounds, it would cost $341,000 to get them up to code and another $556,000 for maintenance such as replacing windows, roofs and central air and heating systems. It would need another $100,000 per year for ongoing maintenance. But critics of the plan say moving rangers out the parks, where they live rent-free, would mean the public would have to wait longer for help in an emergency.
PRIMGHAR, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman accused of allowing her infant daughter to be abused by the baby’s father has been sentenced to probation. The Sioux City Journal reports that 22-year-old Brittanee Baker, of Sheldon, pleaded guilty last week to one count of felony child endangerment. She received a five-year suspended prison sentence and two years’ probation. Police say Baker told officials that her 5-month-old daughter had been hurt in 2020 by a lamp knocked over by cats in her home. But police determined that the baby’s father, 21-year-old Lawrence Ruotolo Jr., injured the baby when she wouldn’t stop crying, then suffocated the infant the next day. Ruotolo was sentenced in September to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of child endangerment.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former Wichita high school teacher has been sentenced to three years’ probation for sexual exploitation of a child. Television station KAKE reports that 49-year-old Shawn Wingfield was sentenced Friday after pleading guilty to in November to the charge. He was ordered to register as a sex offender and undergo sex offender treatment. Wingfield resigned in July from teaching gifted English and debate at Wichita Northwest High School after police launched an investigation into him. That investigation began after a woman Wingfield dated gave police text messages he had sent to her in which he said he was sexually attracted to 11- to 14-year-olds. Investigators said they later found images of child pornography on electronics seized from his home.
