Top 9 of Iowa: Rep. Steve King on Animal Cruelty, UNI's Ben Allen to Retire, and Gold, Gabby, Gold!

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

Each week, Patch compiles the top stories from around the state. Kick back, and enjoy.

9. Police in Marion helped this week for a man who walked away from a work release assignment. The man is still at large.

8. Love'em or hate'em, a week is never complete in Iowa unless U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, is taking shots for one thing or another. This week, Ames Patch reports that King is being accused of and trying to block Congressional efforts to “crack down on animal abuse.”

7. A early Friday morning when he dropped passengers off at an Urbandale apartment complex.

6. Johnston Boy this week. More than 200 scouts, leaders, church and community members attended a special, 90-minute performance Tuesday at .

5. Chad Proehl, a golf pro at the in Waukee, tied for in Ames on Tuesday.

4. In Ankeny, Mona Bond wrote a blog questioning whether the . The topic, to which many communities around the state can relate, is generating a lively discussion that is still going.  

3. There was a happy ending in the story of with Iowa City ties, who had been missing since July 16. Donald Marshall, 16, was discovered unharmed in Cedar Rapids this week.

2. Following a tumultuous year in Cedar Falls, University of Northern Iowa President . Allen has faced intense criticism following the closing of UNI's Malcolm Price Laboratory School, which was a teaching lab for future teachers and a K-12 school for about 350 kids in the Cedar Valley.

1. Who else? This year's darling of the London 2012 Olympics - gold medal winner, Gabby Douglas. Douglas, who has lived and trained in West Des Moines for the past two years, in gymnastics.

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