The
good
Mister Car Wash launched its 2012 Paws-a-thon
fundraising campaign this month to help local
Humane Society and Rescue League organizations
raise money through in-store donations and online
marketplace. Customers donate by buying a paper
paw for $1, $5 or $10 at any location or at
www.mistercarwash.com/paws. The paws with the
customer’s name written on it are then displayed
on the Mister Car Wash walls during the month
of July. Customers also receive an exclusive
offer of savings on their next car wash. It’s
an odd marriage — a car wash business and an
animal rescue program — but every little bit
helps.
Home sales remain strong this summer in the
Des Moines area and are outpacing 2011. In June,
960 contracts closed, which is up 11 percent
from last month according to recently-published
statistics by the Des Moines Area Association
of Realtors. The median sale price of a home
was $161,700, up nearly $3,000 from May. The
association’s report shows that 951 contracts
were written in June, which is a 3 percent decrease
from last month. Homes were on the market for
an average of 105 days, a decrease of four days
compared to May. There were 4,652 active listings,
a decrease of 37 listings. Additional statistics
and information about the Des Moines housing
market are available at the DMAAR website, www.BuyNowDSM.com.
The bad
The Environmental Protection Agency recently
conducted an investigation of the Iowa Department
of Natural Resources (IDNR) in response to a
2007 petition by the Iowa Citizens for Community
Improvement, Sierra Club and the Environmental
Integrity Project calling for IDNR’s withdrawal
of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) program. The program had several
deficiencies that will need to be corrected,
according to the EPA’s findings. Among others,
the EPA found that IDNR does not have an adequate
program to assess whether unpermitted Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) need NPDES
permits and that the IDNR must clarify its authority
to issue NPDES permits to confinement CAFOs
that discharge. The EPA also found that the
IDNR failed to take timely and adequate enforcement
actions and assess adequate penalties under
the Clean Water Act. The EPA’s report is available
at www.epa.gov/region7/water/. The good news
is, this report is the first step in making
things right.
Put down the controller and get outside. A
teenager in Taiwan was found dead last week
after he reportedly played a video game for
40 hours straight. According to police, the
18-year-old, called “Chuang” in the report,
is believed to have collapsed from exhaustion
during a “Diablo 3” marathon session. A witness
found Chuang resting at a table and after waking
him up, Chuang stood up, took a few steps, and
then fell to the floor. He was pronounced dead
at the hospital shortly after. This is the second
video-game related death in Taiwan this year.
The ugly
Why is this guy still on the streets? New Jersey
police arrested registered sex offender Gian
Verdelli, 61, last week after he allegedly groped
a 28-year-old woman on a train. But this wasn’t
his first arrest. Verdelli has been arrested
169 times in all, most of which were reportedly
for sexual offenses. According to police, the
woman on the train showed police a photo of
him that she’d taken on her phone, which led
to his arrest… again. Police have dubbed Verdelli
the “serial groper,” notorious for finding victims
on busy, rush hour trains. This time Verdelli
picked up drug charges as well as two counts
of criminal sexual misconduct... again.
A 15-year-old boy in Edmond, Okla., was arrested
last week after he raped his own grandmother
during a visit to her house. According to police,
the grandmother stated she takes medications
at night that “put her to sleep.” She said when
she woke up the next morning, her panties were
off and she found them tucked under her bed.
The next night she woke up to find her grandson
thrusting himself against her. She shouted at
the boy, and he ran to the bathroom. The victim
called her son to pick up the boy. When the
boy’s father arrived and she told him what happened,
the boy admitted, “I cut off her panties while
she was in bed and had sex with Grandma,” according
to reports. A rape kit confirmed the story,
and he was charged with first-degree rape. Sick.
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