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Alcoa eaglet gets a name

More than six million votes were cast to help select a name for the 2014 eaglet on the nest at Alcoa’s Davenport Works.

More than six million votes were cast to help select a name for the 2014 eaglet on the nest at Alcoa’s Davenport Works.

Related: How you can watch live streams of the eagle nests

There were initially two eggs on that nest, but one was discovered broken March 16, 2014. After a pip showed on April Fool’s Day, the remaining eaglet hatched Wednesday, April 2.

Alcoa began accepting suggestions for names for the eaglet April 7. From those suggestions, they compiled a list and took votes on the listed names until midnight Sunday, April 27.

“Rudy” and “Patriot” were the most popular choices on the list.

Rudy won, with more than half of the total votes cast for the name.

Rudy was also the nickname fellow officers called Davenport Police Sgt. Kevin Marxen. Marxen died of injuries he suffered when he collapsed from an apparent heart attack while he was crossing the Centennial Bridge during a run.

“We debated what, if anything, to do about the robo-voting that seemed to take place at different times for several of the names,” said a post on the Alcoa website. “In the end, we did not have a rule against automated voting (we had said people could vote as often as they like) and for our integrity we will accept the outcome of the total voting.”

Alcoa plans to review the voting process, and they might make some changes before holding a vote to name any eaglets on their nest next year.

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