The Courier from Waterloo, Iowa • A1

azy sunny Mostly cloudy WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 4, 2013 WATERLOO www.wcfcourier.com CEDAR FALLS NEWSSTAND PRICE $1 LOW: 16 HIGH: 21 Ask Amy Bridge ed Comics Horoscopes Iowa Living Lotteries Markets Obituaries Opinion Puzzles Sports TV Weather JIM OFFNER jim.offner@wcfcourier.com WATERLOO Numerous recent acquisitions prompted Ocwen Financial Corp. to issue layoff notices Tuesday to more than 800 workers nationwide, including 238 at the former GMAC Mortgage operation in Waterloo. Before the move, and a decision to combine two offices in Texas, Waterloo was largest location. Now the second-largest location. Ocwen Financial Corp.

is an Atlanta-based mortgage servicer that bought GMAC Mortgage last year. The layoffs, staggered through the first quarter of 2014, will leave 629 employees still working at Waterloo operation at 3451 Hammond said Rick Gillespie, Mount Laurel, N.J.-based vice president of marketing. Charles Hoecker, senior vice president and the highest-ranking employee in Waterloo, deferred comment to Gillespie. Ocwen did not file advance notice of the layoff under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, according to Iowa Workforce Development spokeswoman Kerry Koonce. WARN is designed to workers, their families and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 calendar days in advance of plant closings and mass according to the U.S.

Department of website. Most of the other layoffs occurred at two other locations: Fort Washington, which will lose 244 workers, and Dallas, which will lose 237 workers. MACKENZIE ELMER mackenzie.elmer@wcfcourier.com CEDAR FALLS A University of Northern Iowa professor was shot in the face while driving with her family through Ohio during Thanksgiving break. Julie Husband, associate professor and interim head of department of languages and literatures, was struck in the jaw by a slug from a 12-gauge shotgun just outside of Toledo Sunday. The Ohio State Patrol is still investigating who might have fired the gun.

Husband is expected to make a full recovery. The slug, typically used for hunting large game, broke her jaw. Doctors at Toledo Hospital surgically removed the mass of metal, and her jaw will be wired shut for the next four to six weeks. thought I had been shot and at first I thought it might be Husband wrote in an email. She said the incident triggered the memory of a TV special on the JFK assassination she had watched earlier.

thought it might be someone trying some sort of copy-cat Her spouse, Jim was driving their 2012 Toyota Prius on the Ohio Turnpike about 20 miles outside of Toledo when the slug shattered the passenger window, striking Husband in her right jaw. Her three children, ages 7 to 15, were in the backseat at the time. a trip done a dozen said. The family was on its way to visit family in Rochester, N.Y. immediately came to a stop, and we know at the time what it was.

There was just broken glass and he added. Ohio State Trooper Duane Dotson responded to the incident. the first time seen something like this said Dotson, a 26-year veteran. Dotson said the shot came from the outside the car. The family was traveling on a rural route along a partially open field.

said the person who fired the gun probably did not know the fate of their shot since medical staff determined it was at the end of its trajectory. person could have been half a mile he said. The couple suspect a young person may be at fault since Sunday was the last day of youth deer gun season in Ohio. From Nov. 23 to 24, hunters 17 years old or younger are allowed to hunt.

They must have a youth hunting license, a youth deer permit and must be accompanied by a non-hunting adult you take a whole lot of guns, loosely regulate them and have this two-day season where children are firing a lot of weapons, this kind of incident is said. MIKE ANDERSON mike.anderson@wcfcourier.com CEDAR FALLS Bus riders came out to a public hearings Tuesday to oppose possible reduced hours or elimination of a bus route running exclusively in the city of Cedar Falls. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Black Hawk County, which provides bus services to both Waterloo and Cedar Falls, held the public hearings in advance of the Cedar Falls City Council meeting on Monday, when the future of the Cedar Falls route, Route 9, will be decided. Since its inception in 2004, the Route 9 service has been funded at $160,000 a year, half with federal money and half with city funds. According to MET Transit General Manager Mark Little, the route was created to provide bus services to growing areas in Cedar Falls.

Route 9 connects the University of Northern Iowa campus, downtown Cedar Falls, Thunder Ridge Apartments and the Viking Road commercial area. But last year Congress eliminated funding for Route 9 from the national transportation bill. Facing an $80,000 shortfall, the city has limited options: pick up the difference and maintain the service, or reduce the hours of operation on Route 9. That cut would result in the loss of service for hundreds of city residents and the elimination of at least one part-time transit driver, according to Little. The bus route saw 30,000 riders in 2013.

At meetings, emotions ran high for some of the speakers, many of whom depend on Route 9 for trips to work, to the grocery store, the hospital and downtown Cedar Falls. A recently retired MET driver of 20 years, Larry Meyer expressed frustration with the City Council, saying it was TIM JAMISON tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com WATERLOO State transportation crews like the flood- prone railroad underpass on U.S. Highway 63 any more than motorists. So replaced it with a new overpass in a design unveiled Tuesday during a public information meeting at St. United Methodist Church.

The proposal, part of a planned $5.2 million reconstruction of U.S. 63 between Franklin and Newell streets, received positive reviews from the handful of residents who stopped in to look. mostly impressed by what come up said resident Don Miller. going to be a really nice feature and a nice entrance to Waterloo. really appreciative that going to elevate the road over the train tracks compared to what we have he added.

Ocwen idles 238 in Waterloo Former GMAC workers among 800 nationwide who will lose their jobs. Apparently stray shot injures UNI professor Julie family was on an Ohio freeway on a Thanksgiving trip. Julie Husband Riders plead to save C.F. bus route Met Transit may reduce or eliminate Route 9 after federal funding cut. Photos by MATTHEW PUTNEY Courier Photo Editor Jane Remley speaks about the struggles she would have looking for a job without the MET Transit bus Route 9 at Cedar Falls City Hall on Tuesday.

Mark Little, general manager for MET Transit, speaks Tuesday. Highway 63 rail overpass proposed in east Waterloo Rail underpass now at site frequently floods. COURTESY PHOTO This rendering shows a proposed U.S. Highway 63 overpass of the existing Canadian National Railway tracks in Waterloo. See OCWEN, page A15 Fl GE a7 Celebrate the holidays with recipes featuring two well-loved flavors, peppermint and ginger GE b1 Hard Hawkeyes hold off the Fighting Irish for the win at Iowa City, 98-93 See ROUTE 9, page A15 See HIGHWAY, page A11.