Holidays provide time to reflect on this year's news

The year that is winding down provided Eastern Iowans with a lot of highs and lows that you can expect to hear about as we glide into the heart of the holiday season.

Athletics produced prominent news this year. The highs came from watching the University of Iowa football team bolt to an unprecedented and, sometimes, unbelievable  9-0 start en route to a pending Orange Bowl appearance. But the lows were more profound. They came from the June fatal shooting of Ed Thomas, a community leader and successful Aplington-Parkersburg high school football. Mark Becker awaits trial for first-degree murder, although a date for that charge has not been scheduled.

Elsewhere, residents reacted to senseless crime in their neighborhoods in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City by stepping up on their own to keep a quality of life that led them to the neighborhoods in the first place. After one violent instance, a community rallied around a police officer who, by getting beaten badly while at work, reminded us of the risks we ask public servants who wear badges to take on our behalf.

Cedar Rapids elected a new mayor, Iowa City got rid of a city manager and Coralville continued to show folks with its inaugural FRY Fest what can happen when leaders from a city and private work together on a good idea.

And there was the flood. The 2008 flood. The never-ending flood, some readers who don't live in Cedar Rapids say when they call me and ask if we could move on and give them other news. The never-ending flood, residents still without permanent housing say 18 months after the flood and weary of how long their lives have been this way.

As you settle in on Friday with your Christmas Day paper check out some stories planned for that day that are related to the flood. You will learn about people finding ways to move back into their homes but also about the decision one person ended up making about leaving the city. These kinds of stories help illustrate why that flood still impacts Cedar Rapids in a major way.

Plenty more made news in 2009. A Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage in Iowa brought great joy for many and fanned the fears of others. The down economy sent people into the jobless column and forced the state to cut public services. Manufacturing plants closed. We're in a for-real flu scare and we know something is goofy with the weather when temperatures come within a hair of 30 below zero, like they did at the beginning of the year, and a mammoth blizzard smacks us at the year's end.

Check out Saturday's Gazette. We'll give you our best assessment of what the top 10 news stories in Eastern Iowa were in 2009. See how it fits with your assessment and then look ahead to 2010.

We look forward to continuing to bring you a strong news report in your Gazette in the coming year and appreciate that you take the time to read. Have a Merry Christmas and happy holiday.