The good
This past week, 32 students were announced as 20111 Rhodes Scholars, one of which is a University of Iowa senior. Renugan Raidoo, a chemistry and anthropology major, is one of the select number of individuals to be chosen. Raidoo is active around campus as a leader in the university’s global health initiative, along with being a Presidential Scholar at Iowa and a Goldwater Scholar. As a Rhodes Scholar, Raidoo will enter Oxford University in England for up to three years of all-expense-paid study. Raidoo is seeking a master of philosophy degree in social anthropology.
Thanks to U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Iowa’s railways are the recipients of $500,000 from the federal government. Harkin says the money will improve safety and help maintain the state’s freight and passenger rail transportation system. All are not on board yet, but this funding will help get on the right track.
The bad
Most people who rob a convenience store don’t get away with it, but a South Carolina man never had a chance after cutting the scene on a riding lawnmower. Ricky New, 45, was charged with assault and battery, as well as armed robbery, after he entered a convenience store with a stick and demanded cash. New hit the female clerk with his weapon and fled the scene with an unknown amount of money. Then, instead of using a getaway car, New jumped on his Craftsman lawnmower and slowly creeped away. Officers caught up to New a short distance from the store and took him into custody, teaching him once and for all that nothing runs like a Deere.
Drunk as a skunk, yes. But a dog? Jared Colony, an Iowa City resident, was sentenced to 90 days in jail and more than $2,500 in fines after encouraging a 4-month-old puppy to drink vodka. Colony was watching the dog and poured a bowl full of vodka, which the dog ingested. A half-hour later, the owner returned to find the dog barely breathing and unresponsive. The owner took the dog to the vet and discovered it had alcohol poisoning. The puppy survived, and the jail-bound Colony will soon learn what doggy style really means.
The ugly
Vikki Myers, 44, was arrested last week for unlawful use of a weapon, but she didn’t shoot anybody. According to police, an officer was on an unrelated call at a Red Roof Inn when he noticed a topless woman acting suspiciously inside a minivan. When the officer approached, he saw Myers, naked and masturbating. Myers told the officer she was changing clothes, but after searching the vehicle, the officer found a loaded 9mm Sig Sauer handgun. Myers told the officer she went to the car to masturbate as her three kids were inside the hotel room. Officer’s found a number of “adult items that were used for self-pleasuring” to validate Myers’ story. She was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and released after posting bail. Luckily, Myers didn’t unload before the officer arrived, or it could have been a sticky situation.
Two cold-hearted murders in northwest Iowa shocked the state and left families with many questions. Seventeen-year-old Michael Richard Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., has been charged with both deaths. Last week the troubled teenager robbed two convenience stores and then shot the female clerks at point-blank range after they complied with his demands. Vicky Bowman-Hall, 47, and Sheila Myers, 61, were killed. Swanson is being held in the Kossuth County Jail on two $1 million cash-only bonds. He will be tried as an adult and could face life in prison if convicted on the murder charges. All for money and cigarettes. Disgusting. CV
