Top 9: Chemical Spill Sends 13 to Hospital, Stray Bullet Misses Lucky Tenants, Former TV Anchor Won't Run, 'Nightmares' Follow Sex Assault Victim

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. Iowa Senate Democrats blocked two of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's picks for the Iowa Board of Regents, including the reappointment of former Farm Bureau chief Craig Lang, a Republican. Lang has held the influential post as board president. The Senate also refused to appoint construction company executive Robert Cramer, a Republican from Grimes who is a former Johnston School Board member.

8. John Kline will spend 2.5 years in federal prison and must pay $1.2 million in restitution because he and a business partner used development loans in an effort to salvage failing projects. “I’m ashamed, I’m humbled, I wish to hell we weren’t here right now,” the Urbandale developer told U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Gritzner, according to the Des Moines Business Record.

7. The city of Waukee is accepting applications to fill a vacant Waukee City Council seat. Former council member Dan Dutcher resigned last week.

6. A former University of Iowa student has been sentenced to 17 years in prison following a terrifying sexual assault on a woman showing off a rental property in Iowa City. of cornering a fellow Chinese national, threatening her with a knife, forcing her to perform sex acts and then blackmailing her with nude photos. The victim said she had nightmares about it.

5. Cedar Falls has laid off its city attorney in a move to address an expected budget shortfall. Cedar Falls City Attorney Tom Meyer, who was hired in 2011 from Mason City, made $150,000 in salary and benefits. The city can pay $2,500 a month, or $30,000 a year, to retain Ahlers law firm of Des Moines as consultants.

4. A man is lucky to be alive thanks to the quick thinking of employees at one Ankeny gym. in Ankeny early last week. Employees used a defibrillator on hand at the gym to resuscitate the man.

3. A bullet fired during a struggle between two men inside an Ames apartment passed through multiple walls, a hallway and struck a cabinet in another apartment, according to police. Residents of the home that had been fired into, were on the deck at the time of the shooting. Police are still investigating.

2. Marion Patch reports that former news anchor for KCRG and KWWL Liz Mathis has opted not to run for the first district congressional seat held by Bruce Braley. Braley is running for the departing U.S. Senator Tom Harkin's seat. After decades on TV, Mathis, who is currently a Democratic state senator in eastern Iowa, would no doubt have desirable qualities for a candidate, including name recognition, said the timing is not right.

1. A chemical spill at a West Des Moines clinic sent 13 people to the hospital. West Des Moines Fire Chief Mike Whitsell said about 8 ounces of the chemical phenol was spilled, which is considered a large spill for this type of chemical. Phenol and its vapors are corrosive to the eyes, skin and the respiratory tract.

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