See Reader’s Watchdog: Iowa City workers’ comp case will be prosecuted, Lee Rood, April 22, 2012

Reporter Rood’s column is described as; Lee Rood’s Reader’s Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Contact her atlrood@dmreg.com or by calling (515) 284-8549. To read past columns, go to DesMoines Register.com/readerswatchdog.

What’s a Pulitzer Prize?

Is there a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service?

Pulitzer-winning journalists share their tips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ads-cYOv9Q

If that young driver's parents are claiming he didn't have permission to drive, they are likely saying this to avoid paying, thinking this will do an end run on the insurance claim. Well, they are likely making a big mistake. Here's why.

Here is the part I don’t get; it's reported that his lawyer filed a motion to quash the Complaint and in it reportedly says disclosure of Lawyer’s identity would likely result in a bar complaint and effectively ruin Lawyer’s career. Why would anyone believe that argument would support a motion to quash? When has the seriousness of a charge ever had anything to do with the decision to not bring it or to dismiss the complaint? It would be sort of like a person having committed a murder pleading the charges should be dismissed because going to prison would ruin their life.

I have to ask whether it's the reporting or is this accurate about what is plead? Something about either the reporting or the defense is out in left field picking dandelions. I do wish writers would, when it's possible, link to the actual document. In this case being able to read the actual Complaint would help. But, then again, I wish everyone would write using their legal names and not write using a made-up name. It seems using phony names allows one to think they are bullet-proof leading them to say things they wouldn't or shouldn't have said. Is the defamation claim dead or in recession? This case will be interesting exercise in it's revival.

For as many times as I've been single or married for that matter, I’ve only turned the dishwasher on 3 times. And that’s only because friends told me if I didn’t run it at least once in a while, the seals would dry out and eventually leak. So, I turned it on just to see if it was leaking. On each of those occasions it was empty with not a single dish. As I stood there watching to see if it leaked I’d already washed the dishes by hand.

This morning I got to washing dishes (by hand) and as I've been known to do, I daydreamed and pondered the inponderable. A window is a valuable accessory when washing dishes by hand. The automatic dishwasher can be in a closet, but not a sink to hand wash dishes; it's got to be under a window. Windows and washing dishes go hand in hand. Having a window in front of the sink is as important an accessory, as important as is the right dish soap. I like to use purple soap, the kind that smells like lavender. The lavender smell is important to put you at ease and in the right frame of mind to think about life in general. 

A dishwasher is a mechanical device for cleaning dishes and eating utensils. Dishwashers can be found in restaurants and private homes. Source: Wikipedia

While waiting for the coffee to brew, washing the dishes can be a good way to spend a few idle minutes.  The entire process of washing dishes by hand is therapeutic. I’m of the opinion that like hand written letter writing, not enough people partake.

IT'S DOLLY TIME AGAIN

My mother (Dolly) raised her five children to hand wash, dry and put away the dinner dishes directly after the meal concluded. It was a time for us to talk, tease and learn to work as a team. I most always did the washing, my sister dried, as did my brother Charlie while Kevin and Bill used stools to reach up in the cupboards to put the clean and dried dishes away. There is a lot you can learn from washing dishes. Like if you’re living with a terrorist. I suspect that my sister is, but I've never been able to come up with the proof to convince my mother. I've also suspected that I'm adopted, but that subject will have to wait for another day. 

From my childhood I learned to detest the automatic dishwasher. Please bare with me while we talk dishwasher history and then I'll get back to my theory involving terrorism and the automatic dishwashwer. There is a dispute in history about who invented the auto version.

Shelbyville, Illinois claims its own Josephine Cochran invented it sometime before patent no. 355,139 was approved on December 28, 1886. Josephine received an award for her invention at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, Illinois. Meanwhile some claim that in 1850 Joel Houghton received a patent of a hand-powered device made of wood, which was hand cranked to spray water into the dishes. You can tell he didn’t do much dishwashing; after all he was an Australian rules footballer with the Fremantle Football Club. All arguments aside it wasn’t until the early 1920’s that dishwashers began having permanent plumbing. The first dishwasher for home use was invented by William Howard Livens that included a front door in the design. As word has it, amongst those who care, electrical heating elements weren’t added until the 1940’s. Which matters little because all the time they were inventing the automatic dishwasher people were still washing dishes by hand and talking to one another and learning how to work towards cooperation and resolving who would get to use the shower before all the hot water was gone.

Unlike manual dishwashing, which relies largely on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot water, typically between 55 to 75 °C (130 to 170 °F) at the dishes, with lower temperatures used for delicate items. A mix of water and detergent is used for cleaning purposes, followed by clean water to remove the detergent residue. Some dishwashers have multiple wash and rinse periods within the complete cycle. In some dishwashers, a rinsing aid (also called rinse aid) can be added to the rinse cycle to improve drying and avoid water spots remaining on dry items. Source: Wikipedia

Did you know the automatic dishwasher uses either 15 gallons per load or 9 gallons per load in water saver mode which doesn’t even clean the dishes.

Hand washing uses about 3 gallons of water per load, unless you leave the rinse water running; then it uses as much water as fracting an oil well in North Dakota. I suggest you stack the dishes as you wash them, then rinse a bunch at one time.

Okay but let's get back to terrorism and the dishwasher. In about 1937 the League of Nations added convention language speaking of terrorist acts as we know them today.

1937. League of Nations convention language: "All criminal acts directed against a State and intended or calculated to create a state of terror in the minds of particular persons or a group of persons or the general public."^[7]

And this ladies and gentlemen is circumstantial evidence of my point about washing dishes, using the automatic dishwasher and the birth and science of terrorism. When we were washing the dishes by hand we never ever considered killing anyone beyond our own siblings. Our concerns were centered on whether the dish had to be rewashed or wasn’t dry enough. Explosives and C2 weren’t ever mentioned. A punch in the arm now and then; maybe a bubble fight, but never a terrorist act occurred. Not ever on Gary Circle in Westboro (Massachusetts) or on Woodland Avenue in Rhode Island did anyone in the Lombardi family ever think of committing a terrorist acts. 

I'm thoroughly convinced that if more people washed dishes by hand there would be fewer terrorists and less violence. Okay, maybe not but it would be nice to think it was that simple. Even if it’s not, you ought to teach your children to wash dishes by hand so they have time to talk and to learn to work; work as a team.

Onward we march… or should I say to wash the dishes.

Iowa Supreme Court hear’s Mark Becker’s appeal [With video]

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The jury’s decision is simply irrational. According to the verdict Mark is guilty of murder because he was not insane when he shot Coach Thomas. But listen to his confession on YouTube as he describes Coach Thomas turning people around him into fish and animals. He refers to the coach as a devil. This the jury listens to and concludes he’s not insane. Then we sentence Becker to life in prison and predictably, no sooner was he tossed into the Fort, the warden had him evaluated and now all of a sudden he’s insane. Really? He turned insane during the trial? He was insane all along. He never was sane. To find by way of jury verdict that he was sane when he killed Ed Thomas is simply irrational.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdwaqB-s4n8

People who want Becker locked up no matter his level of sanity will say he did get a fair trial and perhaps to the uneducated he did; but that doesn’t make the jury’s decision any less irrational and ultimately wrong.

Assistant Appellate Defender Martha Lucey argued the trial was unfair because that’s all she has from a technical standpoint – and she’s right. She has to argue this technical point and hope the Iowa Supreme Court digs deep and finds that Mr. Becker, as insane as he was and is, deserves a new trial. This is not an easy decision to have to make. Public opinion will question a reversal. But reversal in my opinion would be the right course. Give him a new trial and that pressures the prosecutors to make a deal that locks Mark up for a long time, but at an institution geared towards treating his mental illness.

Attorney Lucey is correct in arguing the jury was acting out of fear that Mark Becker might be let out of prison. Locking him up forever wasn’t their decision to make; that was the judge's job to do at some later date. The decisions about guilt and punishment are divided into two separate proceedings for a reason. Separation allows contemplation rather than emotion to guide the hand of punishment. 

“But she also told the justices the original judge’s failure to tell the jury Becker would not be released even if found not guilty violated his constitutional right to a fair trial.”

Martha, you’re as right as right can be. 

If Mark Becker was Sane Why Are We Worrying about His Sanity?

May 25, 2010 – I have to wonder whether some of the jurors are kept awake at night feeling regret for the decision that was made. If it were me I could never ...

A Jury, Civil or Criminal, That Does Not Follow the Law is Insane

Mar 2, 2010 – My hunch is the jury is deadlocked not over whether Becker is insane, because only an insane person would argue he's not insane. Instead the ...

From the Iowa No-Snooze-News Desk

Mar 3, 2010 – Late yesterday afternoon Mark Becker the young man on trial for the ...Here is the Butler County Sheriff's surveillance video of Mr. Becker just ...

Criminal Law Commentary - Todd Miler Blog

If Mark Becker was Sane Why Are We Worrying about His Sanity? MySpace ... Labels: classification criminal law insanity Mark Becker murder prison. 3/28/2010 ...

"Motor vehicles that ran red lights injured a total of 113,000 people in 2009. Of those injuries 676 were fatal.

Of these fatal accidents, 46 percent were occupants of the other vehicle, 12 percent were passengers in the vehicle running the red light, 6 percent were pedestrians or cyclists and 36 percent were the drivers of the vehicle running the red light. In addition, 11 percent of people killed in red light running accidents were motorcyclists, 10 percent of those drivers were teenagers. 22 percent of drivers in fatal red light crashes were unlicensed and 25 percent had blood alcohol content over the legal limit of .08 percent.”

Red Light Cameras: Lifesaver or Flawed Solution?
Patch.com
American Traffic Solutions Motor vehicles that ran red lights injured a total of ... In addition, 11 percent of people killed in red light running accidents ...

A much clearer message can be articulated – just not without an intelligent and articulate leader who speaks for the truth.

“To sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of men.”

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Here is the message the OWS crowd is failing to clearly articulate to the public.

1. Why is no one being prosecuted for packaging and selling fraudulent financial products to the worlds' pension funds?
2. Why are the taxpayers paying for the fraudulent phony financial products that Wall Street re-packaged and sold as investable financial instruments?
3. Who are the elected officials that supported this fraud or turned a blind eye to it?
4. Who were the elected officials who supported a bail out for this fraud?
5. Why are no elected officials coming up with solutions for the trade deficit in this country?
6. Why is no public official drafting an energy policy for America?
7. Why are we still buying mid-East oil and supplying terrorists with funds?
8. Why are corporations allowed to donate unlimited sums to election campaigns?
9. Why did the taxpayers foot the bill for what the bondholders bought and profited including CEO's who were rewarded with millions in bonuses?
10. Why didn’t our Congress just allow the bonds to go into default?
11. Who is responsible for us being ripped off?
12. Who the F___ is actually running the asylum? 

Plain and simple, Wall Street is a gate-way drug and we need to do as Nancy Reagan told us, "Just say no." Where are the people who are actually sick of this? Does anyone think this system can collapse? I do. As soon as our foreign creditors stop buying US T-Bills we are all in big trouble. Do you care?

Tomorrow who speaks for the American dream?

OWS needs to use the tools it has available to it.

Abbie Hoffman – Short interview on the street in the 70’s. 

Abbie Hoffman – 1968 Democratic Convention

Abbie Hoffman – 1968 – What’s your price?

Then ...

and Now.

OWS has the tools, just not the clearly articulated message. Tomorrow we will discuss the message.

Occupy Des Moines protester prevails - Polk County jury finds Fallon not guilty of trespassing during Occupy Des Moines protest

I’ve been asking myself what is the difference between today’s protesters and those from the 60’s and 70’s. Why isn’t this movement picking up more traction? After all didn’t we just see the collapse of the financial sector? And wasn't it followed by the massive raiding of the federal treasury by corporate America? Is it capitalism on the way up but when it goes against Wall Street, it's socialism on the way down? Is it just going to be business as usual or will the voters starting getting really angry with the powers-that-be?

This week let’s look at the two different points of view; but first listen to the screaming talking heads who contribute to confusion which serves those in power and who want no solutions unless their pockets are getting lined. We need to stop marginalizing what the investment bankers did and the effect it’s had on our economy. I heard a radio talking head hang up on someone who wanted to argue politics rather than debate the issues. I was pleasantly surprised. She explained it this way: This radio show wants to bring light to the issues rather than heat. Perfect, someone is getting it.

Tomorrow I’ll ask more questions and address the problems as I see them, with the OWS movement. Until then, onward we march… towards the light and away from the distractions. 

Caught On Camera: Police Chase Ends In Massive Crash, KCCI-Channel 8

Here is an earlier Boone County Deputy crash from April 5, 2011. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-q-SJXJKNg&feature=relmfu

[The student] “was charged with failure to affix a drug tax stamp and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and underage possession of alcohol.”

All this over one pot plant?

Read more: http://www.kcci.com/news/30571915/detail.html#ixzz1o5SdehxL

“Kempema acknowledged selling more than 3,700 pills to 95 customers and agreed to forfeit $23,000, which is expected to go to drugmakers Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. and three customers.”

The legal concept is counterfeit medications. There are numerous articles discussing the problem. I'm not sure how a person can claim a lack of knowledge when selling drugs in this country since prescription drugs are dispensed exclusively by doctors with a medical license.

See Counterfeit Medications, Suspect charged with selling fake drugs and Men Accused of selling fake drugs in 2 Missoula cases.

• See also the FDA’s The Possible Dangers of Buying Medicines over the Internet and Counterfeit Medicine.
• The FBI Newark Division, Closter, New Jersey Couple Pleads Guilty to Selling Counterfeit Prescription Drugs Manufactured in India
• FBI stories about Counterfeit Prescription Drugs - Link
• Intellectual Property Spotlight, United States FBI’s Victoria A. Espinel
• DEA Special Agents Crack Down on the sale of Counterfeit Drugs, US DEA
• Public confidence in our pharmaceutical industry depends on what the FDA finds and approves. Do otherwise and you undermine public confidence. See Businessman Sentenced for Selling Fake Viagra.

Then there is a recent assault case at the Ankeny Wal-Mart. Police report two woman assaulted a female security guard at the Ankeny Walmart store at 1002 SE National Avenue about 4:00 pm, they don’t report on what day. What’s interesting is the surveillance store footage has a very clear picture of the two woman. See KCCI’s story, Do You Recognize These Women? Of course a photographs of customers is a long way from proving these are the same people who assaulted the guard, but it demonstrates that whenever there is the accusation of criminal activity the first line of offense and defense may be the surveillance cameras. 

Whether it’s a criminal case, a car accident or a slip-n-fall case, attorney’s need to visit the scene and look around for what may be the best witness money can find. The same can be said of those accused of a crime. Go to the scene and look around to see if there are surveillance cameras present. If so tell your lawyer and allow them to obtain the evidence. 

The challenge with video surveillance footage in a digital age will be quality of the images shown, the chain of custody and spoliation of evidence. Frost & Sullivan have an interesting white paper on the subject. See Frost & Sullivan, Using Video Surveillance As Evidence, Capturing And Storing The Best Video For Evidence. What I find interesting about this white paper is the expectation of protection argument being suggested and how that might impact retailers whose cameras provide poor quality making the evidence unreliable and therefore not admissible. Why have the camera and create an expectation of protection when what the camera produces is useless? Another reason why this subject is timely is the growing use of traffic ticket surveillance cameras in Cities across the United States. (The Problem With Legacy Surveillance Systems)

These cameras will provide evidence for many kinds of cases and I'm guessing there will be a push to make the video public with its posting on the Internet. 

Resources:

• Video Surveillance Evidence: Are Digital Copies Admissible, Pursuit Magazine
• Court Allows Defendant to Rely on Surveillance Evidence
• Use of Video Surveillance Evidence to Support Employee Discipline, Maiello Brungo & Maiello, Attorneys discussing collective bargaining agreements and how those agreements treat surveillance of employees. See Brewers & Maltsters, Local Union #6 et. al. vs Anheuser-Busch, Inc.,  2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 13292 (D.C. Cir., 2005)
• BC Injury Law And ICBC Claims Blog,
• The Documentalist, Admissability (sic) of Digital Data in the Court Room Outside of the US
• Prosecutor: Surveillance footage no help in solving case of heroin missing from evidence locker, Chicago Tribune, placement of the camera is important because in this case someone parked a food delivery truck so it blocked the lone surveillance camera’s view of the evidence locker allowing 3 kilos of heroin to be removed. 

Question:

See also:

Why would someone want to steal my airbag?

Police Trace Airbag Theft With DNA

Airbags Becoming A Hot Commodity Among Thieves In NYC

Question:

You know some problems have no good legal solution and this appears to be one of them. The best answer to your question may lie in a personal solution to which the law is incapable of providing an answer. 

Social networking spat ends in arson charges for woman, Des Moines Register

It’s all going to come down to whether Wheeler, the former film chief, approved the expenditures and if he did, should those benefiting have believing the approval to be reasonable and legal under the law. What’s gone on with Iowa’s film credit tax program has been an eye opener for the state as well as a black eye. What should have been a good thing for the state has turned into a mess.

Barbara and I just returned from Beaufort, South Carolina where The Big Chill was filmed. (See Internet Movie Database)Having a blockbuster or classic film shot in a community can add to the culture and mystic. But doing it the way we did has to send a message to stay away.

California man charged with theft in film scandal, Des Moines Register, Lee Rood reporting, October 26, 2011. 

Charge: Count I: homicide by vehicle-OWI, a class “B” felony in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(1) (2009); Count II: homicide by vehicle-reckless, a class “C” felony in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(2); and Count III: involuntary manslaughter, a class “D” felony in violation of Iowa Code section 707.5(1). The information accused each brother of committing these crimes “individually by joint criminal conduct, or by aiding and abetting another.” Both accomplice theories were mentioned by the prosecution again during the October 13, 2009 preliminary hearing.

Attorneys: Mark C. Smith, State Appellate Defender, and Dennis D. Hendrickson, Assistant State Appellate Defender, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Linda J. Hines, Assistant Attorney General, John P. Sarcone, County Attorney, and Steve Foritano and David Porter, Assistant County Attorneys, for appellee.

…

A. Recklessness. Rodriguez pled guilty to homicide by vehicle-reckless in violation of Iowa Code section 707.6A(2), which states:

2. A person commits a class “C” felony when the person unintentionally causes the death of another by any of the following means:

a. Driving a motor vehicle in a reckless manner with willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property, in violation of section 321.277.

Iowa Code Section 321.277 defines recklessness for driving purposes:

Any person who drives any vehicle in such manner as to indicate either a willful or a wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property is guilty of reckless driving.

Every person convicted of reckless driving shall be guilty of a simple misdemeanor. See also Iowa Code § 702.16 (2009) (“A person is ‘reckless’ or acts recklessly when the person willfully or wantonly disregards the safety of persons or property.”).

In finding recklessness “we do not condition guilt on an intent to cause harm. We simply look to whether the actor embarked on an activity which is known, or should be known, to pose a substantial risk to others.” State v. Conroy, 604 N.W.2d 636, 638 (Iowa 2000). “[R]eckless driving is not an intentional wrong in the sense that resulting harm is intended.” State v. Baker, 203 N.W.2d 795, 796 (Iowa 1973). A driver is reckless when he knows or should know that his driving puts others at an unreasonable risk of harm. State v. Conyers, 506 N.W.2d 442, 444 (Iowa 1993).

Criminal culpability requires more than merely negligent behavior. State v. Sutton, 636 N.W.2d 107, 111 (Iowa 2001).

To prove recklessness sufficient to support a conviction for vehicular homicide under section 707.6A(2)(a), the State must prove that the defendant engaged in conduct “fraught with a high degree of danger,” conduct so obviously dangerous that the defendant knew or should have forseen that harm would flow from it.

Id. at 112 (quoting State v. Torres, 495 N.W.2d 678, 681 (Iowa 1993)).

No. 10–1223 STATE OF IOWA v. RODRIGUEZ
Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Joel D. Novak, Judge.

Orlando David Rodriguez appeals his conviction on a guilty plea for reckless vehicular homicide and the part of his sentence requiring payment of a law enforcement initiative surcharge. COURT OF APPEALS DECISION AFFIRMED; DISTRICT COURT JUDGMENT AFFIRMED IN PART AND VACATED IN PART.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

According to the minutes of testimony, the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing, and the transcript of what became the guilty plea hearing, on September 23, 2009, at approximately 5 p.m., defendant Orlando Rodriguez (Rodriguez) and his brother Santos committed a drive-away theft of gasoline from the Casey’s General Store located in the 4300 block of Park Avenue in Des Moines. A Casey’s security camera captured the theft in detail as well as the subsequent fatal collision that occurred during their attempt to flee the gas station. The video shows Rodriguez pumping gas while Santos remained ready at the wheel, with the vehicle’s brake lights flashing on and off. When Rodriguez finished pumping, instead of paying, he quickly jumped back into the car which immediately sped onto Park Avenue without slowing down to check for or yield to traffic. Rodriguez admitted to an investigating officer that it had been the brothers’ intention to steal gas.

The security video shows that the vehicle’s brake lights never illuminated after it left the pumping area, the vehicle was driven at a faster speed than the other cars that departed the gas station before it, and the vehicle appeared to be accelerating as it turned out of the gas station onto a busy street at a busy time of day. Eyewitnesses confirmed that the brothers’ Ford Explorer was traveling at a high rate of speed.

According to witnesses, as the brothers’ Explorer raced out onto Park Avenue, it pulled directly into the path of a motorcyclist, Bruce Mundy. A witness reported that Mundy was driving his motorcycle along Park Avenue at a safe and appropriate speed; if anything, Mundy was causing traffic to slow behind him. Although Mundy tried to swerve to avoid a crash, he was unsuccessful, and the fast-moving Explorer struck and killed him.

Rodriguez immediately jumped out of the Explorer and briefly checked on Mundy. He helped his brother Santos, who has only one leg, out of the Explorer and handed him his walker. Rodriguez then fled the scene of the accident on foot. Rodriguez was arrested soon afterward while hiding in the nearby neighborhood. After Rodriguez was apprehended, personal identification papers that he had apparently thrown away while fleeing were also retrieved.

An arresting officer observed signs of marijuana intoxication on both Rodriguez and his brother: bloodshot, watery eyes; white coatings on their tongues; and poor performance on a horizontal gaze nystagmus test. The officer therefore requested urine samples from each brother. Both of them tested positive for marijuana at the time of the crash. When apprehended, Rodriguez told police that he, not his brother, had been the driver at the time of the collision with the motorcycle. The Casey’s video later confirmed otherwise.

…

We think this case fits into a joint criminal conduct paradigm without much difficulty. Rodriguez admitted he and his brother went to the gas station with the intent of stealing gasoline, and the security video 15

recording confirmed they followed through on their plan. This satisfies the first two elements under section 703.2, demonstrating that Rodriguez acted “in concert with another” and “knowingly . . . participat[ed] in a public offense.” Smith, 739 N.W.2d at 294 (interpreting Iowa Code § 703.2).

4 Santos then committed the “different crime” of vehicular homicide. His collision with Mundy was “in furtherance of the defendant’s offense” of theft, in the sense that it occurred while Santos was “furthering” the offense by speeding away from Casey’s. See Satern, 516 N.W.2d at 844. Furthermore, section 703.2 specifically provides that an act done in “escape” from the original offense is sufficient by itself to link the anchor crime to the secondary crime, making a participant in the former equally guilty of the latter.

Also, high-speed, reckless driving away from the scene of a gas theft that occurs during the day can be “reasonably foreseen,” Smith, 739 N.W.2d at 294, and so the unintentional homicide that resulted from that flight was also reasonably foreseeable. Indeed, rapid flight by vehicle is arguably inherent in drive-away thefts of gasoline. Such thefts occur in open areas frequented by the public that are typically under surveillance. The stolen merchandise (i.e., the gasoline) goes directly into the vehicle and is inseparable from it. Hence, it can be expected that the perpetrators will drive away in their vehicle at a high rate of speed.

4See Iowa Code §§ 701.2 (defining “public offense” as “that which is prohibited by statute and is punishable by fine or imprisonment”), 701.8 (providing that misdemeanors are “public offenses”), 714.2(5) (providing that a theft of property not exceeding two hundred dollars in value is a simple misdemeanor); see also State v. Klawonn, 609 N.W.2d 515, 518 (Iowa 2000) (noting that a public offense that serves as the predicate for involuntary manslaughter may be a simple misdemeanor traffic offense).

Follow this link to the Modern Family website.

When Good Kids Go Bad

See also this link. 

While some school districts are hot on the trail of the wrong suspect others are ignoring, allegedly due to federal regulations, drunk bus drivers. 

See Another school bus drunk driver case on Tuesday's post. It's what you call "bus"sted.