05/19/21
A trio of bad decisions was made by area residents over the weekend in downtown Iowa City, as they allegedly threatened and interfered with police on separate occasions.
The first incident occurred at around 150 am Saturday in the 100 block of East College Street. An officer was on scene when 30-year-old Devyn Denny of Holiday Lodge Road in North Liberty allegedly approached him and, without provocation, began to threaten the officer and his family with physical harm. He reportedly had signs of intoxication that included bloodshot watery eyes, slurred speech, and a strong odor of ingested alcohol. In his report, the officer wrote that Denny “showed impaired decision making skills by threatening a fully uniformed police officer without provocation.” Denny’s post-arrest PBT showed a blood-alcohol level of .144 percent. He was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct, both simple misdemeanors.
IOWA CITY The city of Iowa City helped 27 small businesses a majority of them owned by women or people of color stay afloat during the pandemic.
The city awarded the businesses $360,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant dollars allocated through the CARES Act, money made available by Congress to alleviate the pandemic’s effects, according to a news release.
The businesses 22 of them owned by women or persons of color were required to be in business as of Jan. 1, 2020, have $1 million or less in annual gross revenue and 25 or fewer employees.
In allocating the funds, the city prioritized the financial impact of COVID-19; how much federal, state or local funding had been awarded to date; and if the business qualified as a Minority of Women Business Enterprise.