SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – The City Council has scheduled a vote on whether to pay nearly $479,000 to a man who filed a lawsuit over a sledding accident in Sioux City.  The Sioux City Journal reports the council is set to vote Monday on its part of the nearly $2.75 million going to 38-year-old David Rosalez, his wife and their two children.
 
Rosalez sued after injuring his spinal cord in January 2008 while sledding at Sertoma Park. He slid backward into a parking sign.  The city’s insurance carrier will pay $1.97 million. A third party will pay $300,000.  The Rosalez family filed the lawsuit in January 2010.
 
The city has filed third-party petitions against Aqua Leisure Industries, the maker of the snow tube Rosalez was riding, and Wal-Mart, which sold the tube.

A judge in Hall County, NE has ordered a western Iowa woman to appear in Grand Island by no later than 5-p.m. next Wednesday, to serve 120 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation after having been convicted on felony charges of animal neglect. 49-year old Denise Withee, of Mapleton (IA), was convicted in July 2009 for her role in the dumping of 20 dead and three dying dogs in a cornfield near Grand Island during the summer of 2008.

During her trial, Withee claimed she was taking the dogs to someone in Nebraska, when she became sick. She said she pulled over and passed out. When she awoke, Withee says most of the dogs were dead from the heat.

After her conviction in 2009, Withee was sentenced to four-years of probation and ordered not to possess or reside with any animal for five-years. But last week, Sheriff’s deputies in Monona County (IA) who were checking-up on Withee, found 13 dogs at the home she shares with her mother. Both women were cited for suspicion of animal cruelty. The presence of those animals in her home violated the terms of Withee’s Nebraska probation.

Some residents in western and southwest Iowa and parts of Nebraska will be able to indulge in donuts and coffee offered by a popular national chain, in the coming years. According to a development corporation headed-up by three former Huskers football players, Dunkin’ Donuts will open restaurants in Council Bluffs, Red Oak, Sioux City and Shenandoah. The chain will also offer stores in Omaha, Columbus, Norfolk and South Sioux City, NE. The first restaurant will open in 2013, with the remaining stores set to open by 2020.

Dunkin’ Donuts serves coffee, frozen and iced beverages, an assortment of pastries, breakfast sandwiches, and an all-day menu. The company has more than 10,000 restaurants in 32 countries worldwide, and racked-up more than $6-billion in global sales in 2010.