Top 9: Superintendent's $225K Golden Parachute, Ban for Facebook Backpack 'Joke', Charges Dropped in Death of 2 Children

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. An Ames woman accused of assaulting three Ames police officers last month is in more hot water after allegedly leading a Woodbury County Sheriff deputy on a high speed chase down Interstate 29.

8. Iowa City Patch reports that voters rejected a $43.5 million bond for a new Johnson County Jail. It was the third time voters defeated a pitch for a new jail since 2000.

7. The West Des Moines school board approved in a brief special school board meeting, citing “differences of opinion.” Ansingh, who has served as superintendent for the past two years, will leave June 30. 

6. Marion Democrat Swati Dandekar is forming a committee to exploring running for the first district congressional seat being vacated by fellow Democrat, Bruce Braley who is running for Tom Harkin's U.S. Senate seat. Some Democrats though are uneasy about Dandekar, who resigned her state senate seat to accept a lucrative political post from Republican Gov. Terry Branstad. The move could have cost Democrats the majority in the Iowa Senate.

5. With top contenders passing on the GOP nomination for Harkin's U.S. Senate seat, a few politicians are now saying they are interested. Former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker, an Urbandale Republican in the mold of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and Ames lawyer Paul Lunde say they are in. Others, including West Des Moines Mayor Steve Gaer, say they are considering it.

4. A Waukee man who joked on Facebook about leaving a backpack near the starting line of the Drake Relays last April, was visited by police. He wasn't arrested but he was banned from the event. 

3. A Johnston man is facing charges in connection with an incident in which an 8-year-old was found in possession of a gun at a local elementary school.

2. Polk County authorities formally dropped vehicular homicide charges against Kevin Dalasta, who is accused of causing a 2010 car crash that injured an Ankeny mother Heather DeJoode and killed two of her children.

1. Russell Wasendorf Jr. says his dad, the . He said he has started a new life far from Cedar Falls and has no interest in visiting his father, Russell Wasendorf Sr., in prison. Wasendorf Sr., 65, is serving 55 years in prison for embezzling over $200 million while he was CEO of Peregrine Financial Group.

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