Free Pizza for Breastfeeding Mom; Excuse Me, Armed Burglars; Disaster Leads to Romance: Top 9

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. Urbandale Police say they’re connecting dots to see how many home burglaries they can clear with the arrest of two Des Moines men last week. Police tracked down the suspects after a homeowner returned home in the middle of an armed burglary and then gave a description to police.
8. West Des Moines Patch reports about a disaster relief volunteer from Florida recollecting about coming to Iowa 20 years ago to help recovery from the 1993 flood. The disaster turned to romance when he crossed paths with a woman watching her Valley Junction home get destroyed. 
7. Marion Police Chief Harry Daugherty said the construction on a new $12 million police station is 70 percent complete. The new station will be six times bigger than the current headquarters, which he says is undersized for this growing police station in one of Iowa's fastest growing communities. 

6. While many nursing mothers are often hesitant to breastfeed their babies in public spaces, Ankenymother Jackie Johnson-Smith received a unique thank you this week for breastfeeding when dining at Fong's Pizza in Des Moines Sunday night.

5. Ames Patch reports that Glenn A. Smith, 50, who was in Story County Jail, died while awaiting sentencing on a second-degree murder conviction.

4. Cedar Falls Patch reports that hundreds of motorcycles and cars drove a 125-mile route on a "Memorial Ride and Drive for the Girls" to remember Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8, the Evansdale girls who were abducted last July and found dead in December. 

3. Authorities pulled the body of Perry John Graham, 54, a homeless man in Iowa City, out of the Iowa River. Authorities said Graham slipped under the water while possibly cooling off and never came back up. 

2. Baseball players from Johnston High School and around Iowa showed off their skills at the Never Say Can't Baseball Showcase. The event was organized in memory of Spenser Nelson, a Johnston High baseball player who died in 2011.

1. A controversial rezoning request was postponed in Waukee. The rezoning was debated at an earlier meeting with some residents saying that renters make bad neighbors, while others said Waukee needs more affordable housing.