Community Corner

RAGBRAI Riders Were in Fine Shape, But Do They Boast Cantaloupe Calves?: Top 9 Iowa Patch Stories

ALSO: Iowa City Schools and Dallas County contemplate big spending projects, Johnston Dragons are ascendant in softball and baseball, and an Urbandale dentist feels the financial pain of shoddy infection control.

Why nine? Because the Patch community includes nine sites in Iowa: AmesAnkenyCedar FallsIowa CityJohnstonMarionUrbandaleWaukee and West Des Moines.

Now, in no particular order, are nine of the top news stories from across the glorious kingdom of Iowa Patch over the past week.

9. Ames So Rep. Steve King said something about immigrants that quite a few people found offensive. Big news, right? Well, this time, by saying that the population of illegal immigrants with "cantaloupe-sized calves" due to drug smuggling vastly outnumbers undocumented immigrant valedictorians, he has even fellow high-ranking Republicans waiting in line to shake their fingers at him

His fundraising also went up the same week. Not, I am guessing, from cantaloupe lovers.

8. Ankeny This retired cop didn't let cancer stop him, and he's trying to raise funds to help other cancer patients with an upcoming BBQ event for his nonprofit organization Cops Against Cancer.

7. Cedar Falls Welcome to the UEN club Cedar Falls! The Cedar Falls School District is growing in enrollment, so much so that they were able to join the big leaguers in the Urban Education Network, a consortium that organizes and lobbies on behalf of the largest school districts in Iowa.

6. Iowa City Staying with the schools theme, the Iowa City School Board approved a wide ranging, multi-million dollar facilities plan that over the next decade could usher in the building of four new school buildings, plus renovations and add-ons to multiple others. The board did make an unpopular decision with the residents of one school, however, deciding to shut down Hoover Elementary School.

5. Marion The Linn-Mar Lions advanced to the state tournament in baseball by upsetting a top five ranked Iowa City West team that had beaten them twice during the regular season. The Lions will go on to play the Johnston Dragons at the state tournament on July 31st.

4. Johnston Speaking of Johnston, they've had quite a year in both baseball and softball already. Can they capture a state championship in both? 

3. Waukee An ambitious project has the stamp of approval of some local mayors, as the Mayor of Waukee was one of thirteen local mayors to come out in support of a $16.85 million bond referendum that is needed to build a new county courthouse and jail.

2. Urbandale You know four words you don't want to hear uttered consecutively in reference to a dentist? Sloppy infection control practices. The presence of that cringe worthy phrase was worth a fine of $5,000 for one Urbandale dentist.

1. West Des Moines
West Des Moines had a record breaking RAGBRAI host day. Relive the madness, the fun, the candied bacon, in our RAGBRAI photo gallery.


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