Gomers -- What's going wrong

STUDENT-LANDLORD DISPUTES RISE: Of the 1,268 students who requested help last year from University of Iowa Student Legal Services, 305 - or 24 percent - had issues with their off-campus landlords. After such cases totaled 184 in 2008, they have topped 300 every year.

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ARENA STATUS: Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union officials expected the U.S. Cellular Center to be ready to host the state volleyball tournament again in November. Last year, the smaller Cedar Rapids Ice Arena was a substitute venue while the USCC was being renovated. But now the project manager says the work may not be done in time for the 2012 tourney. The event has generated $18 million in spending over the past decade.

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BIG MISUNDERSTANDING: A Minnesota contractor, S.J. Louis Construction Inc., replacing sanitary-sewer line along Indian and Dry creeks, blamed a “misunderstanding” with city officials after damaging 28 mature oak and sycamore trees along the nearby Sac and Fox Trail. The trees, most of which are expected to die, had been marked with a large pink “S.”

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