Appeals Court rules on arsonist, college tuition

A convicted fire-starter will stay in jail. Daniel Swanson was found guilty of setting two unoccupied houses in Keokuk on fire. He appealed his two, second-degree arson convictions, arguing the two fires were unrelated and he should not have been tried at the same time for both fires. The Court of Appeals has noted that the fires were set on the same day, in the same town, in vacant houses, and ruled the convictions should stand.In another case, the Iowa Court of Appeals has dismissed a woman’s bid to get her ex-husband to pay thousands of dollars for their 20-year-old son’s college education. The court has ruled divorced parents shouldn’t have to pay up when their kids don’t keep up their college grades. Mark William Moore, an employee of the University of Iowa’s parking department, argued he should not have to pay the four-thousand-dollar-a-year college subsidy he was ordered to pay as part of his divorce from Janet Jordan Moore. She’s now known as Janet Krengel. Moore’s son, Jonathan, didn’t get good enough grades at Iowa State University to deserve the money, according to the court. The Court of Appeals said Jonathan’s first year grades at I-S-U showed he “does not have the ability — whether from lack of intelligence or lack of effort” — to do well in college..