Q: I was at the Calvary Cemetery the other day, and couldn’t find the five Sullivan brothers. Why did you print that they were there?
A: There is indeed a family marker in Calvary Cemetery, as evidenced by the photo we printed Sunday, May 30. Each brother also has a memorial cenotaph in Arlington National Cemetery. Their final resting place is in the south Pacific. Crews in 2018 found the wreckage of the USS Juneau more than two miles beneath the surface, near the Solomon Islands.
Q: How will Social Security be affected with all these people being unemployed? They aren’t paying in so won’t it affect everyone’s payouts?
A: If you’re worried about your particular situation, you should contact the local Social Security office. Generally, any Social Security benefit you receive is based on all your earnings for your highest 35 years of “earned income” on which you and your employer paid Social Security taxes. Unemployment compensation is not considered earned income. After you reach 35 years, each additional year of earned income will replace a year with zero earnings or low earnings.
People are also reading…
Q: Why aren’t the stock numbers in the paper anymore?
A: With stock quotes available instantly online, we felt printing the market page was no longer relevant for our readers.
Q: What is the average weight for a male who is 5-feet, 6-inches tall?
A: We didn’t find information online for the average weight of a male who’s that height. Some sources laid out the average weight of men by age, but not height. However, there are plenty of sources that talk about the “ideal weight” for someone that height or a healthy weight versus being overweight or obese. According to information from the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute, 118-148 pounds is a healthy weight for a man of that height.
Q: Why is Waterloo Schools receiving $51 million in federal relief, but only reducing Waterloo taxes by $1 million?
A: The federal money is not given to school districts for the purpose of reducing property taxes, and we’re not aware of other districts in the area choosing to reduce them with the help of funds received. Schools have additional costs related to measures taken to protect students and staff from COVID-19 for which there weren’t dedicated funds. The federal dollars can be used for those purposes. A portion of the federal money also must be dedicated to dealing with student learning loss, which has been a heightened concern with schools largely closed last spring and at least some students not thriving if they learned remotely during the past year.
Q: Can the obituaries be done by a funeral home other than individuals? The ones printed by individual submissions are awful.
A: Most obituaries are prepared by funeral homes, although families do write or help write many of them.
