Community Corner

Top 9: Firing Range Mishap, 'American Pickers' Star to Iowa, University's Rainbow Graduation Celebrates Gays

A star of History Channel's "American Pickers," Mike Wolfe, visited a couple of Iowa grocery stores in connection with American Vintage Hard Tea, including Ankeny Fareway.

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

9. The DNR reports that an Ames man accidentally shot himself while trying to unload a handgun at the Brushy Creek shooting range in Webster County.

8. Waterloo Police shot a Cedar Falls man who'd reportedly made suicidal comments the same night. Police said Richard Anderson, 39, had been threatening officers with a knife and said "he wasn't going to be taken alive” when he was shot.

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7. A star of , visited a couple of Iowa grocery stores in connection with American Vintage Hard Tea, including Ankeny Fareway.

6. Johnston Mayor Paula Dierenfield signed a proclamation "recognizing the fine work Johnston police officers perform on a daily basis regardless of peril or hazard to themselves."

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5. While the housing market is starting to come out of the doldrums, a Waukee High School advertising class is working to boost local sales. Students in Chris Guess' advertising class have coordinated a weekend tour of homes. The prices range from an affordable $135,000 to about $549,00

4. West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gaer said he will seek re-election to the city's top leadership spot, eschewing a rare opportunity to campaign for the Republican nomination for a U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Tom Harkin. 

3. Peace officers from around Iowa came together in somber reflection in Urbandale to pay tribute to 138 of their comrades who lost their lives in the line of duty last year. The observance was one of dozens held across the country during Police Memorial Week, a week set aside by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 in recognition of peace officers’ contribution to civilization by enforcing laws that gives citizens “internal freedom from fear of the violence and civil disorder that is presently affecting other nations.”

2. In Iowa, the third state in the nation to legalize gay marriage - ahead of New York and California - the state's largest university includes a unique celebration as part of its annual spring graduation season. University of Iowa has a ceremony in Iowa City called the Rainbow Graduation to recognize the achievements gays on campus. 

1. Thousands of people flocked to Eastern Iowa for the 21st annual Marion Arts Festival. The event drew 50 exhibitors from as far away as California, Washington, New York, and Georgia. 

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