Top Stories of 2010: Heroes all around us in 2010

A young soldier's bravery in battle - actions that led to the awarding of the Medal of Honor - was Eastern Iowa's top news story of 2010, based on balloting journalists in The Gazette and KCRG-TV9 newsrooms.

President Obama awarded the medal to Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta in November at the White House. Giunta, who grew up in Hiawatha, exposed himself to enemy fire to pull a soldier back to cover when his platoon came under attack in 2007 in Afghanistan. He also shot two insurgents who were trying to carry off another U.S. soldier.

Giunta was the first living recipient of the medal since the Vietnam War and went on a whirlwind tour of talk shows after the White House ceremony. His humility, grace and humor brought praise from all quarters, and thousands of proud Iowans turned out to welcome him and his wife, Jennifer, home with a big parade in Hiawatha just before Thanksgiving.

Vote for your top stories of 2010

The story voted as second most significant - and it was a close vote - was the November election that returned Terry Branstad as Iowa governor and the ouster of three Iowa Supreme Court justices. The majority of voters rejected retaining the justices after the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Iowa's Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. The ruling cleared the way for same-sex marriages in Iowa last year. Governor-elect Terry Branstad will appoint three new justices to the seven-member court.

Filling out the top 10 in 2010 were these stories:

3. INTERSTATE 380 SPEED CAMERAS - Speed cameras along I-380 and red-light cameras at eight intersections in Cedar Rapids lead to more than 38,000 citations during the first year of operation. The cameras spark ferocious debate but succeed in reducing accidents and bring in almost $1 million in fines.

4. NATIONAL GUARD CALL-UP - About 2,800 members of the Iowa Army National Guard are called to active duty in Afghanistan as part of the Iowa Guard's largest deployment since World War II.

5. FLOODING/DELHI DAM - Floods hit Eastern Iowa in late July, including the spectacular breach of the Lake Delhi Dam in Delaware County. A state task force concludes a malfunctioning dam gate likely contributed to the dam's failure and the lake's demise. It's estimated it will take $10 million to rebuild the dam and its approaches, and no one's sure where that money will come from.

6. EGG RECALL - Some 550 million eggs are recalled in the summer after 1,600 reported cases of salmonella are linked to contaminated eggs from two Iowa farms - Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms. It is the largest salmonella outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking the illness in the late 1970s.

7. CEDAR RAPIDS FLOOD PROTECTION - The Army Corps of Engineers unveils a $99 million flood protection plan for Cedar Rapids that has levees protecting only the east side of the Cedar River. The city endorses the plan but will lobby Congress to fund protection for both sides of the river. The city will be asking lawmakers to set aside increases in the state sales tax in Linn County to come up with the $35 million the city needs as a “match” for flood protection work.

8. BECKER VERDICT - In February, a jury finds Mark Becker guilty of the June 2009 murder of Aplington-Parkersburg High School football coach Ed Thomas. Jurors, after deliberating 26 hours, reject the defense argument that Becker was insane at the time of the shooting. (The Thomas slaying was voted the top news story of 2009.)

9. IOWA CITY BAR ENTRY AGE - The Iowa City Council raises the bar entry age from 19 to 21. Petitions force that change onto the November ballot, where a majority of voters support keeping the entry age at 21. The change marks the end of a seven-year period when 19 year odds were allowed in Iowa City bars.

10. MEDICAL MALL - The Cedar Rapids City Council agrees to close two blocks of Second Avenue SE to allow construction of a $36 million Regional Medical Mall by Physicians' Clinic of Iowa. The controversial decision will require rerouting of traffic, but the council feared losing the large employer to Hiawatha. The city will provide $13.24 million up front for a parking ramp and street improvements, to be repaid with new property-tax revenue generated by the development over the next 25 years.

Close contenders

Other significant news stories that just missed the top 10 included the city of Cedar Rapids purchase of the Crowne Plaza Hotel and plans for a new downtown convention center; the demolition of more than 500 flood-damaged homes in Cedar Rapids; the new tailgating rules at University of Iowa football games; the University of Northern Iowa's huge upset of No. 1 Kansas in the NCAA basketball tournament; the sentencing of former Agriprocessors executive Sholom Rubashkin to 27 years in prison on mail and wire fraud charges; and the stampede of horses at a Fourth of July parade in Bellevue.