Iowans have selected 10 restaurants across the state that are in the running for the title of “Iowa’s Best Burger.”

The Coon Bowl Burger, 2012 winner of the “Iowa’s Best Burger” contest.

The annual contest is sponsored by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association and the Iowa Beef Industry Council. Cattlemen’s Association spokesperson Dal Grooms says the 10 finalists gathered the most nominations between February 15 and March 18. The top 10 restaurants are 61 Chop House Grille of Mediapolis, Ankeny Diner of Ankeny, B&B Grocery Meat and Deli of Des Moines, Elm’s Club of Creston, First Street Grille of Keosauqua, JB’s Bar and Grill of Marcus, Rosco’s of Norwalk, Sam’s Sodas and Sandwiches of Carroll, The Ritz of Arnold’s Park, and Zombie Burger of Des Moines.

This is the fourth year for the best burger contest and Grooms says it’s grown bigger each year. “This year, we got over 6,300 nominations that named 349 different Iowa restaurants,” Grooms said. “That’s an increase by about one-third over last year in terms of the nominations. The 10 restaurants will now be visited by a secret panel of judges who will evaluate the hamburgers. They’ll be scored on taste, presentation, and proper serving temperature. “We’ll get that information, put that all together, and we’ll be naming our best burger winner on May 2nd,” Grooms said.

Previous restaurants that have won the contest were The Coon Bowl in Coon Rapids (2012), The Rusty Duck in Dexter (2011), and the Sac County Cattle Company in Sac City (2010).

(Radio Iowa)

A former Fire Chief in Denison was sentenced Monday to prison following his conviction  in January on a charge of 1st degree theft. The Omaha World-Herald reports that despite offering an apology to the court and pledging to repay what was stolen, District Court Judge Jeffrey Poulson sentenced 42-year old Michael McKinnon to 10-years in prison. McKinnon served as the chief from January 1999 until January 2010. He had plead guilty to the theft charge in exchange for a charge of felonious misconduct in office being dropped.

McKinnin left the department under a cloud of questions about his spending. A state audit showed $96,000 worth of fire department funds were used for his personal use. The funds were spent between 2005 and 2010, and included about $40,000 paid to businesses McKinnon owned. The spending included invoices for post office boxes that did not exist. Other spending included a riding lawn mower and a motor for his boat.

McKinnon’s attorney, F. Montomery Brown, had requested a deferred judgment and probation for his client, especially in light of a pre-sentence investigation by the Iowa Department of Corrections, which recommend he serve no prison time and instead, probation. Brown also noted that McKinnon is the sole supporter of his family and has a special needs teenage son. He  said he plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

Rob Sand, assistant attorney general for the state of Iowa, told the World-Herald McKinnon will probably end-up being paroled long before he completes his full sentence.  McKinnon has already made restitution in the amount of $14,000. Under the sentence he received Monday, McKinnon will have to pay more restitution to the city, which, according to Sand would come to about $10,000.

The paper notes McKinnon was not the only public official in western Iowa this year to be sent to prison.  Despite a similar in-court apology in January, Tammy Gammon, a former employee of the Mills County Treasurer’s Office, was sentenced to 25 years after pleading guilty to a charge of ongoing criminal conduct, for stealing more than $36,000.