From the KCRG-TV9 Newsroom:
A jury has ordered a trucking company and a semi driver to pay more than $26 million after a foggy weather crash in Anamosa severely injured a teenager in March of 2020. Police said a West Side Transport semi turned in front of Margaret McQuillen’s vehicle on Highway 151 causing the accident. She was 18 at the time. McQuillen suffered injuries to her skull and brain and underwent numerous surgeries. Her lawyer told The Gazette that this jury award may be one of the largest personal injury verdicts in Iowa.
The Mid-Prairie School District says it believes there is “no substantive basis” to a state board finding of probable cause that its superintendent and two former administrators violated conduct and ethics. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, which oversees state teaching licenses, issued its finding of probable cause against Superintendent Brian Stone in May. The next month, the board extended Stone’s contract and gave him a raise. But the board refused to say when it learned of the finding, calling it confidential.
Dubuque’s Airport says Avelo Airlines will not resume flights there. That means the airport once again has no commercial service. Avelo was scheduled to resume flights from Dubuque to Orlando in November but blamed a lack of planes and rising costs at Orlando’s airport in its decision to not return. Avelo got $1 million from Dubuque taxpayers in order to start offering flights from Dubuque last March. It had earlier cut back its flights to a seasonal service in April. Dubuque’s airport says it is in talks to try to get a carrier for flights starting next year.
The Iowa Business Council’s latest Economic Outlook Survey has some slippage from the past, but still finds its members have a positive sentiment about the economy. The group found sales expectations, capital spending, and employment expectations are down from the last quarter. Among the biggest concerns is attracting new workers to jobs and keeping more of its workers in its workforce.
