Iowa News
OLDEST PERSON DIES Woman, 116, listed as ‘world’s oldest’ dies in Ga. MONROE, Ga. (AP) – The woman who was listed as the world’s oldest person has died in a Georgia nursing home at age 116. Besse Cooper died peacefully Tuesday afternoon in Monroe, according to her son Sidney Cooper. Cooper says his mother had been ill with a stomach virus, then felt better on Monday. On Tuesday he said she had her hair set and watched a Christmas video, but later had trouble breathing. He said she was put on oxygen in her room and died there about 2 p.m. She was declared the world’s oldest person in January 2011. In May, Guinness World Records learned that Maria Gomes Valentin of Brazil was 48 days older. Valentin died in June. A Guinness official says the title now belongs to 115-year-old Dina Manfredini, of Johnston, Iowa.
OBIT-TRICKEY Former basketball coach Ken Trickey dies at 79 TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Ken Trickey, a former basketball coach at Iowa State, Oral Roberts and other schools, died Tuesday. He was 79. ORU President Mark Rutland said in a statement announcing Trickey’s death that the coach’s exciting basketball program helped the university become known throughout the country. Trickey led Oral Roberts to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament in 1974 and was the school’s wins leader until Scott Sutton passed him last year. Trickey had a 214-116 record in two stints at ORU, from 1969 to ’74 and from 1987 to ’93. Trickey played at Middle Tennessee State and was coaching the Blue Raiders when they beat ORU 115-89. That convinced the Rev. Oral Roberts to pursue Trickey as his program’s coach the following year. Trickey also coached at Oklahoma City University.
BROADBAND ACCESS Group: More Iowans connected to fast broadband DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – New data shows more people in Iowa are connected to faster broadband speeds. Connect Iowa released figures Tuesday that show nearly 96 percent of state residents have access to faster broadband speeds. That means fixed broadband speeds of 3 megabits per second or higher. The nonprofit group says that’s a jump from about 93 percent they reported six months ago. Connect Iowa’s research was conducted as part of a state grant program aimed at increasing broadband Internet throughout rural Iowa.
WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS-COUNCIL BLUFFS Council Bluffs faces special tax if it loses case DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The city of Council Bluffs may be forced to levy a special tax to pay two black men if a jury blames the city and two retired officers for their wrongful conviction. Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee, of Omaha, Neb., claim the city and two police investigators targeted them for the shooting of a former police captain because of their race. The men were freed in 2003 after 25 years in prison when the Iowa Supreme Court found prosecutors committed misconduct. The men are suing the city and the policemen for $100 million. Three city insurers have won court cases that relieve them from paying any judgment although one case is on appeal. Without insurance coverage, Council Bluffs may have to tax property owners to raise enough money to pay.
POLLUTION LAWSUIT-ETHICS Ethics board dismisses case against ex-Culver aide IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa board has agreed with a judge that a lawyer for former Gov. Chet Culver didn’t violate state ethics law by filing a major environmental lawsuit against a Muscatine company. The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board last month dismissed a complaint filed against former Culver aide Jim Larew by Muscatine-based Grain Processing Corp. The board says it would be a waste to investigate the complaint after District Judge Mark Smith already ruled Larew did not violate a law barring state employees from working on the same cases after they join the private sector. Smith ruled the law did not apply in the case of Larew, a Culver aide when GPC faced state investigations. Larew represents Muscatine residents suing GPC for damages for pollution from its corn milling plant.
INVESTMENT ADVISERS CHARGED Iowa investment adviser gets 10-year term (Information in the following story is from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/ ) CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa investment adviser who admitted defrauding clients has been sent to prison and ordered to pay restitution. The Gazette says Noah Aulwes was sentenced on Monday to 10 years and ordered to repay $363,000. He’d pleaded guilty to securities fraud, theft and money laundering after reaching a deal with Linn County prosecutors. The 56-year-old Aulwes had owned Covenant Advisors in Cedar Rapids. Authorities say Aulwes misappropriated investors’ money for his personal benefit and to make payments to other investors.
CEDAR RAPIDS FIRES Iowa fire officials try policy on flood zone fires (Information in the following story is from: The Gazette, http://www.gazetteonline.com/ ) CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Fire officials in Cedar Rapids say they have a different policy for battling fires at buildings vacated by the city’s historic 2008 floods. The Gazette reports Cedar Rapids Fire Department spokesman Greg Buelow says firefighters are expected to keep fires from spreading to other structures. But they may opt not to enter the building. He says it’s to keep firefighters from getting killed when securing a house that is presumed to be unoccupied. The fire department says it does not have a directive from city officials for its policy, but it weighs the risk in each case. A fire that destroyed a former grocery store on Friday is believed to be the 39th blaze in areas affected of the 2008 floods. The building was eligible for historic recognition.
FAREWELL TO WALKIN’ WILLIE ‘Walkin’ Willie’ gets final farewells (Information in the following story is from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com ) NEBRASKA CITY, Neb. (AP) – William “Walkin’ Willie” Perkins was given a final farewell by friends in Nebraska City as his funeral procession left downtown and headed to Iowa for his burial. The Lincoln Journal Star says Perkins was 79 when he died Nov. 27 at a Lincoln hospital. He’d been struck hit by a car on Nov. 6 in Nebraska City. Friends say Perkins got the nickname because he used to walk 16 miles from Hamburg, Iowa, to Nebraska City to work or pick up his mail. Perkins became a downtown fixture, visiting friends in stores and offices, when he moved to Nebraska City 10 years ago. Gude Funeral Homes had encouraged people to turn out Friday to watch as the procession turned down Central Avenue. He was buried in Riverton, Iowa.