Top 9 of Iowa: Death Penalty Unlikely, Letter to Newtown, Urban Chickens Win, Changing of the Johns

Why nine? Because the Patch community includes nine sites in Iowa: Ames, Ankeny, Cedar Falls, Iowa City, Johnston, Marion, Urbandale, Waukee and West Des Moines.

9. In a controversial vote, the Ames School Board selected a construction manager to oversee a local elementary school project, and if all goes well the manager could get several other Ames school projects.

8. Parents of some of Iowa’s missing and murdered children said they won’t give up until Iowa reinstates the death penalty. Gov. Terry Branstad said he supports capital punishment in some circumstances and said he sympathizes with parents, but said Democrats who control the Iowa Senate would likely block it.

7. In Urbandale, they had a changing of the Johns. The council appointed John Forst to finish the term vacated by John Forbes, who was recently elected to represent House District 40.

6. Important tasks the Johnston Police Department need done -- from taking fingerprints for residents who need a background check for a job to processing evidence for criminal cases -- will soon be handled by a new position.

5. The Pattersons, a Cedar Rapids family, are facing its first Christmas without their father and husband, who died in August. A Marion yoga studio has embraced the family and is raising money to help.

4. An Ankeny couple accused of locking their adopted children in the basement for several weeks found out when they will stand trial.

3. The brewery trend has caught on across Iowa and the country in recent years; more than 300 ventures have launched nationally in the past 18 months. Read about tales from some of our newest micro- and nanobrewery around Iowa. 

2. Urban chickens have finally become legal in Iowa City - with permission from neighbors as a requirement - after years of lobbying from poultry partisans.

1. "I wish to express my deepest sympathy to you and the citizens of Newtown in light of the recent tragic event in your community. Please know that despite the geographical distance between our two cities, the people of Waukee hold the victims and their families close to our hearts and are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time," Waukee Mayor William F. Peard wrote to the first selectman in Newtown. 

Past Tops: 

Ames School Board Selects Construction Manager and Sets Hearing on Sale of Old Middle School