Top 9: Pipe Bomb Shakes Community, Mudslide and Floodwater Wreak Havoc, Iowa Marathon Forges Ahead With Caution

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. A pipe bomb discovered in a residential area storm drain alarmed the Cedar Falls community. Parents swooped in to pick up their children from a nearby daycare center, saying it hit a little too close to home. The device was found a day after the Boston Marathon bombing. Authorities detonated the device after closing down the area for much of the day, but it remains unclear how and when it got there.

8. In Ames, where the VEISHEA celebration is took place this weekend, authorities planned to be hyper-vigilant in the wake of the Boston Marathon. VEISHEA has had a history of unfortunate incidents, including a man who fell from his balcony and died last year.

7.  Last year, Urbandale elected officials got an earful from Urbandale residents after heavy load of construction disruptions tabbing in at $12 million. It appears city leaders have learned their lesson. This year, the city has budgeted only $3.3 million in projects.

6. Cyndi Craigmile was named the 2012 Waukee Citizen of the Year for her service to the community in various areas including the Waukee Public Schools, her church, and community-wide initiatives including Diapers for Haiti.

5. More headaches on the way from Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann's failed presidential campaign. A former staffer from Johnston claimed Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson, who served as Bachmann's Iowa chairman, stole a list of home-schoolers' contact information from her personal computer. Now, another former Bachmann aide plans to break his silence to corroborate before the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee about $7,500 in illegal payments made by the campaign to Sorenson.  

4.

Heather McDermott and Meredith Johnson were cheering on their husbands Matt McDermott and Jacob Johnson, both of West Des Moines, when they heard frenzied shouts, “It was a bomb! It was a bomb!”

“At first, we didn’t know what it was,” Matt McDermott said later. “It sounded like the cannons at an Iowa State game – boom, boom. Everyone was sort of looking at each other wondering.”

3. Marion is hosted the first ever Marion Rotary Marathon for Shoes. The shoes part refers to a charity that helps get shoes to children in need. The marathon came days after the Boston bombing. Organizers planned a moment of silence for the Boston Marathon victims, and also reviewed its security plan.

2. In Iowa City, , road closures and even a substantial mudslide near a densely populated University of Iowa dorm.

1. For recreational runners like the Ankeny 42-year-old mother of two, . She finished the race moments before the blast. By that point, she was six blocks away but could feel the panic. Her first thought was to never do it again, but then she would be letting whoever set the bombs win, she said.

“You can't be afraid to do the things you love. We have to live our lives,” Carleton said.

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