While you were away…
Apartments Downtown leases ruled illegal
Apartments Downtown, Iowa City’s largest landlord, was found guilty of violating Iowa’s landlord-tenant laws this summer.
Sixth District Court Judge Chad Kepros ruled in July that the lease used by Apartments Downtown between 2010 and 2014 illegally charged thousands of renters for mandatory carpet cleaning and other set damages.
Apartments Downtown is owned by the Clark family, who also own Apartments Near Campus and Apartments at Iowa, making the company the largest landlord in Iowa City.
In the ruling, Kepros declared numerous provisions of the lease were “illegal and should not have been included in the standard lease.”
Anyone who rented from Apartments Downtown from 2010 to 2014 is automatically included in class-action lawsuit and will receive compensation depending on the damages found.
Any renter who leased with Apartments Near Campus or Apartments at Iowa is not part of the class-action lawsuit.
Suspect in Shao homicide in custody
Xiangnan Li, the suspected killer and boyfriend of Iowa State student Tong Shao, turned himself over to Chinese authorities in late May.
Shao was from the coastal city of Dalian, China, a major seaport in the southern Liaoning Province.
Shao, 20, sent her last form of contact on Sept. 8, 2014 — a text message to friends that said she was traveling to Minnesota and that Li would fly back to China for an emergency. Shao was reported missing by her roommates on Sept. 17.
On Sept. 26, authorities discovered Shao’s body in the trunk of a Toyota Camry located in the parking lot of Dolphin Lake Point Enclave apartments in Iowa City, where Li lived alone.
Iowa City police named her boyfriend, Li, a former student in the Tippie College of Business, as a person of interest.
The Iowa City police, with the nine other agencies ranging from the University of Iowa police to the U.S. Department of Justice, sent information regarding the case to Chinese authorities.
Several Chinese officials, including local, regional, and national police, as well as a government prosecutor, came to Iowa during the first week of June.
The Chinese police met with Iowa City police, the Johnson County Attorney’s Office, Ames police, the medical examiner on the case, and several witnesses.
They also visited several sites related to the case, including the Shao’s home in Ames, as well as where the her body was discovered in Iowa City.
After this trip, the Chinese officials returned and formally charged Li with intentional homicide, which is comparable with first-degree meditated homicide.
Fatal shooting at Coral Ridge Mall
Andrea Farrington, an employee of the Iowa Children’s Museum was fatally shot while working at the museum’s information kiosk in the food court of Coral Ridge Mall on June 12.
Alexander Kozak, 22, who had left his job as a mall security officer earlier in the day, allegedly approached Farrington and shot her three times in the back with a handgun before fleeing the mall.
Kozak was apprehended by the Iowa State Patrol on Interstate 80 and subsequently charged with first-degree murder. While in police custody, he allegedly admitted the shooting was premeditated.
During a press conference Johnson County prosecutor Janet Lyness said Kozak and Farrington knew each other through their jobs, but officials have not yet released a motive for the shooting.
Lawyers for Kozak have requested his trial be moved out of Johnson County because of the high amount of publicity surrounding the case.
Farrington was 20 years old.
UI police report sexual assault
The UI police issued an alert Aug. 19 regarding a reported sexual assault.
According to the alert, an out-of-state law enforcement agency informed UI police that it received a report of sexual assault on the UI campus. The survivor reported that walking near the Iowa River late Monday when a man pulled the person into a construction site and committed assault.
The suspect is a black male, 30 to 35 years of age and 5-5 to 5-11 in height with short dreadlocks, black shoes, and skinny to normal build.
This is the first reported sexual misconduct of the 2015-16 academic year.
There were 11 such reports during the 2014-15 year, including the 2015 summer session.
Presidential search nears end
The search is almost at an end.
The four finalists to replace Sally Mason as the UI president will make their way to campus over the next two weeks to participate in public forums.
The candidates’ identities will be announced 24 hours prior to their campus appearances. All forums are schedules for 4:45-6:15 p.m.
The first will be Thursday in the IMU Second-Floor Ballroom. The second will be Friday in the IMU Main Lounge.
The third and fourth will be hosted Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, both in the Second-Floor Ballroom.
The state Board of Regents is due to hold a special meeting Sept. 3, also in the Main Lounge, to interview the four candidates and select a new president.
Audio streaming of the forums is available on the UI website.