Community Corner

Iowa's Real Life Superman, Harsher Penalties for Child Sex Pimps, Nurses Fired for Inappropriate Pictures: Top 9

A state investigation has been launched into Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, where police said two nurses have been fired because they took inappropriate photos of residents of the home and posted them on Instagram.

Why nine? Because the Patch community includes nine sites in Iowa: AmesAnkenyCedar FallsIowa CityJohnstonMarionUrbandaleWaukee and West Des Moines.

9. A state investigation has been launched into Bishop Drumm Retirement Center in Johnston, where police said two nurses have been fired because they took inappropriate photos of residents of the home and posted them on Instagram.

8. Waukee Patch reports that Van Harden, an Adel kid who climbed to top management ladders at WHO Radio but never lost his love for his hometown, said in an open letter to Dallas County residents that a plan to move county offices off the town square will kill business in the county-seat town.

7. West Des Moines Patch reports that Noreen Gosch, the Iowa woman whose dogged efforts to uncover the truth about the disappearance of her son 31 years ago created awareness that led to the establishment of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, is applauding the organization’s role in a nationwide FBI sting that led to the rescue of 105 children who had been kidnapped into an organized child sex trafficking ring. She said the sting must be followed by harsh sentences. 

6. Early starting school districts, such as Urbandale, which starts Aug. 19, may have a harder time getting waivers that allow early starts in response to tourism industry complaints that it cuts into the Iowa State Fair, seasonal employment and family vacations. Without the waiver, state law puts the first day of school no earlier than the calendar week that includes Sept. 1.

5. Iowa City ranks among the top college towns in the country, according to a new list from Livability.com. 

4. Marion Patch reports that a longtime mental healthcare provider in Linn County - Abbe Center for Community Care - is set to close its doors at the end of September due to insufficient funds.

3. Cedar Falls Patch reports that there is no way to know if issuing an AMBER Alert would have resulted in a different outcome in the abductions of Evansdale cousins Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, or, three decades ago, West Des Moines paperboy Johnny Gosch. Nonetheless, changes announced Wednesday that broaden the language in the criteria to issue an alert are welcome, people close to both cases said.

2. Inside the car was Marion, 84, and Jean Papich, 78, both of Slater. Witnesses were urging the couple to get out of the vehicle stuck on railroad tracks as the train got closer and closer, but they didn't budge. That's when Chris Ihle, 38, of Ames, jumped into action. 

1. Lizz Cassler was 17 on Dec. 3, 2008 when she allowed a friend to drive her home from South East Polk High School. On the way home the car she was in smacked into a pickup pushing a plow and she took the brunt of the blow. Lizz, now 21, and her mother Barb Cassler, of Altoona, were selected as the honorary co-chairs of On With Life's 7th Annual Golf Outing and Silent Auction at Otter Creek Golf Course. The fundraiser helps the Ankeny center purchase equipment used in physical therapy.


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