WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — William Krause, the co-founder of Iowa-based convenience store chain Kum & Go, has died.
The company says Krause died Wednesday morning at his West Des Moines home after being treated for cancer. He was 78.
Krause is recognized as a pioneer in developing the convenience store format. He opened a family-owned store in 1959 and expanded on the idea that customers could buy milk, bread and eggs at the same place as their gasoline.
Krause retired from the company in 2003. He was a member of many philanthropic boards and community organizations. His strong support for the University of Iowa included a donation toward the renovation of Kinnick Stadium.
Kum & Go is the country’s fifth largest privately held convenience store chain. It is based in West Des Moines.
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MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Cerro Gordo County employee who claimed she was wrongly prosecuted on false allegations that she tampered with timecards to boost her pay.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Leonard Strand ruled Tuesday that probable cause existed to charge Debra Perzynski with second-degree theft in 2010, even if the case was later dismissed for lack of evidence. He says it’s easy and fair in hindsight to be critical of the decision to charge Perzynski, but that she failed to prove claims of malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.
Perzynski was charged after officials alleged she had repeatedly altered her timecards, resulting in $1,600 in overpayments. A judge dismissed the charge after ruling there was no proof she received compensation for time she did not work.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The World Food Prize Foundation on Wednesday took the bold step of awarding this year’s prize to three pioneers of plant biotechnology whose work brought the world genetically modified crops.
The private nonprofit foundation, which is in part funded by biotechnology companies, refused to shy away from the controversy surrounding genetically modified crops that organic food advocates say are harmful to people and the environment.
“If we were to be deterred by a controversy, that would diminish our prize,” said the foundation’s president, Kenneth Quinn, a retired U.S. diplomat.
This year’s award goes to Marc Van Montagu, founder and chairman of the Institute of Plant Biotechnology Outreach at Ghent University in Belgium; Mary-Dell Chilton, founder and researcher at Syngenta Biotechnology; and Robert Fraley, chief technology officer at Monsanto.
Van Montagu and Chilton independently developed the technology in the 1980s to stably transfer foreign genes into plants, a discovery that set up a race to develop tools to genetically engineer plants. It allowed other scientists to incorporate genetic traits in plants to better withstand drought, extreme heat and to fight off pests and disease. Fraley was the first to successfully transfer immunity to specific bacteria into a plant.
Fraley genetically engineered the first herbicide-resistant soybean in 1996.
The foundation lists Monsanto and Syngenta Foundation among its annual donors, along with other agribusiness corporations such as DuPont Pioneer, Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill.
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DESOTO, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa State Patrol says a man has died from injured he received in a crash on Interstate 80 in central Iowa caused by a wrong-way driver.
KCCI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/14j0ceihttp://bit.ly/14j0cei ) Wednesday that 20-year-old Jessie Leeper, of Adair, died early Wednesday.
Leeper was injured June 9 in a head-on collision near DeSoto with a vehicle driven by 24-year-old Megan Wakeham, of West Des Moines. After the crash, a vehicle driven by 49-year-old Lori Wallace, of Greenfield, rear-ended Leeper’s car.
Wakeham died in the collision.
The state patrol says the crash remains under investigation.
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Information from: KCCI-TV, http://www.kcci.comhttp://www.kcci.com
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Des Moines school district has approved the purchase of 182 additional security cameras.
The Des Moines Register reports (http://dmreg.co/11yqI1phttp://dmreg.co/11yqI1p ) the school board Tuesday night approved a plan to buy and install the new camera at a cost of nearly $370,000.
The expense will be covered by grants and money from a local option sales tax.
District chief operations officer Bill Good says Des Moines Public Schools already operates more than 500 cameras.
Good calls the cameras, “just one part of our security strategy.”
The district has about 32,000 students in more than 60 schools.
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