Updated 4:30 p.m. with dispute over deadline, Langston comment, lawsuit, in bold. Auditor Joel Miller wants Linn County supervisors to more clearly define what’s expected of him in the investigation into an employee allegation of financial misconduct. Miller asked supervisors at this morning’s work session to define the “work product” Finance Director Steve Tucker...
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When it hasn’t been ignored, Indian Creek has been an afterthought the past 150 years – something to be bridged, channeled, and drained into. It’s been getting more attention this year, and along its upper reaches some are starting to see the stream differently – as a sort of linear nature preserve through the...
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Linn County Auditor Joel Miller is ready to hand over the county-owned laptop that triggered his latest dispute with county supervisors. Miller, who’d refused to deliver the laptop to county Finance Director Steve Tucker earlier this week, backed up the computer’s hard drive during an appearance on Bob Bruce’s 4 p.m. talk show on...
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Linn County Auditor Joel Miller says he’ll turn over the laptop computer sought in an internal investigation, but only after he copies its hard drive on a local radio talk show Wednesday afternoon. “Then I’ll hand the laptop over,” Miller said. “I’ll have a mirror image of what is there.” Miller said he’s taking...
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Local child welfare agencies and non-profit groups want to reduce child neglect in Linn County by 15 percent over three years. “It truly is the one area the community can step in and really do something about,” said Dave Loy, director of the Partnership for Safe Families. The goal was adopted April 20 at...
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Updated 4:40 p.m. w/Miller comments, plan to post material, in bold. Updated 5:19 p.m. w/Langston comments, in bold. Linn County Auditor Joel Miller has refused to turn over a county-owned laptop computer for an internal investigation into possible fraud, claiming an allegation  regarding contractor working in his office was timed for political effect. Miller’s...
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Local efforts to improve and manage Iowa’s streams could end if the Legislature doesn’t fund the program in its closing week. “It really needs to get some funding this year, or the whole effort really kind of goes away,” said Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids. “It’s  kind of a farmer-led watershed improvement effort. It...
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Eric Ash is worried generational conflict may pose a threat to Social Security and Medicare. “We’re seeing the needs of the young for good jobs pitted against the benefits to the seniors,” said Ash, 64, of Cedar Rapids. “These poor-paying jobs do not support the young people to support us.” Ash was one of...
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Linn County departments are into the last months at their temporary home at Westdale Mall. Crews working on the Jean Oxley Linn County Public Service Center, perhaps the centerpiece of the county’s recovery from the June 2008 flood, are working to meet a May 11 deadline on the project. That will allow departments now...
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After years of debate and planning, the decades-long project to remake central Marion is about to take its first steps. “It’s probably time that we kind of cleaned up the downtown area a little,” said Lee Larson, owner of Irwins Clothing. The renovation of four blocks of Sixth Avenue near City Square Park, to...
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