Community Corner

Weird Iowa Rewind: Speedy NFL Combine, Underwear Thief, and Goldilocks Steals Food

Plus, Ankeny and Waukee join the Harlem Shake craze, Johnston and Urbandale police have their own, twisted version of "Storage Wars" and double-long Cyride buses arrive.

This week's installment of Weird Iowa, a collection of weird news stories from Iowa Patch sites, was compiled by Patch editor Deb Belt. Here's what you missed from March 9.

It's like a weird, criminal version of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears."

A West Des Moines woman came home to find that someone had been smoking in her apartment, took some of her food, swiped some Oxycodone, and drove her car until it was nearly out of gas. Police say the suspect used the victim's computer to fill out and sign a college application and had played some online games -- leaving an identity in the search history.

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Let's face it – you can never have too much Harlem Shake.

First up, the Harlem Shake dance craze has left Ankeny relatively untouched. Until now. This week's incarnation of the popular meme comes via the ladies of TGR Fitness.

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Not to be left out, Russ Goerend's sixth-grade advisory at Waukee Middle School also posted a YouTube video of their dance.

Creating his own kind of buzz was University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls football receiver . The Panther senior ran the 40-yard dash in 4.19 seconds, which would be the fastest 40 time at the NFL combine since 2006.

Is it weird that an essential part of life, such as sewer service, would stir comment in Marion? Residents will get a chance to speak up on a proposed rate change for sanitary sewer services. If approved, most users will pay about $6 more per month.

New CyRide buses in Ames are weird in a very useful sort of way. Double-long buses with accordion like midsections will soon be bending around Ames street corners. The 62-foot-long buses bend in the middle, hence the black, folding accordion-like sections, and can carry more than 100 passengers. 

And, we don't want to disappoint, so here's a few more weird items frome Iowa police blotters.

There's a weird reality TV show, "Storage Wars," that shows people vying for the contents of unclaimed storage units, but a sinister version of that show is going on in Johnston and Urbandale.

The neighboring cities' police departments are tracking thieves tied to vehicle thefts and thefts from storage units in both towns. So far, police have recovered more than $10,000 in property in a storage unit, including a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

Need to pick up a few necessities, like underwear, swing by Kohl's. That's not weird. Unless you take the kids along and leave them alone in a car.

A Des Moines father faces criminal charges for allegedly leaving two children in a parked car while he stole underwear from the Kohl's store at Merle Hay Mall. Urbandale police charged Ryan Baker, 33, left a 3-year-old and a 10-year-old in a parked, running car on Sunday while he stole $30 worth of underwear from the store.


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