Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Jason Gonzalez, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — Any doubt surrounding Denard Span’s trade value leading up to today’s trade deadline was nixed Monday night. The Twins center fielder lifted the fans
By Scott Fowler, McClatchy Newspapers – LONDON — There was no cloud for Nick Thoman on Monday. Just a silver lining. Thoman won a silver medal in the men’s 100-meter backstroke Monday
By Charean Williams, McClatchy Newspapers – LONDON — In a 12-minute press conference Monday night, Missy Franklin managed to find every way conceivable to describe her first gold medal: Amazing. Thrilling. Unbelievable. Special.
By Brian Hamilton, Chicago Tribune – LONDON — It is neither natural nor sane, David Boudia very convincingly argued Monday, to stare at a tub of water from a three-story high ledge and
By Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — Two games into the women’s Olympic soccer tournament, one trend has already become clear: Opponents have decided assault and battery may be the most
By Jo-Ann Barnas, Detroit Free Press – LONDON — They mounted a small charge, but the mountain was two high, the gap too wide. This was not about winning team gold anymore. That
By Jo-Ann Barnas, Detroit Free Press – LONDON — Now it’s onto beating the Russians. That’s the mantra for Jordyn Wieber and the rest of the U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team going into
By Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — For genealogists, President Barack Obama’s family tree is the gift that keeps on giving. There was Dick Cheney, Warren Buffett and Sarah Palin. On
Iowa Senator Charles Grassley got into a nasty spat with PETA recently over the “Meatless Mondays” movement where the USDA temporarily backed the idea. After Grassley, Steve King and other conservative politicians
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times – NEW DELHI — A massive breakdown of India’s electricity grid cut power to 370 million people in seven northern states Monday, halting trains, cutting water supplies
Listen to audio courtesy of MediaMatters.org, from the July 30 edition of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show:
MASON CITY – Lynn Ann Koffot, 39, of Mason City, has been arrested and charged with willful injury (Iowa code 708.4) in connection with an assault at a local bar this weekend.
Matt Levins, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – Jon Olson had everything in his arsenal working to perfection in Sunday’s final round of the 110th Iowa Amateur Championship at Spirit Hollow Golf Course.
Jeff Linder, CR Gazette – With the 2011-12 school year officially over, I thought I would resend this as food for thought. There are a couple minor changes since the first draft,
By Diane Stafford and Joyce Smith, McClatchy Newspapers – KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Will a free back-to-school haircut lure shoppers into the stores to buy other things? Look no further than a J.C.
Vanessa Miller, CR Gazette – A 49-year-old Iowa City man who was arrested two years ago in connection with sexual abuse allegations stemming from a 2006 incident has been found not guilty.
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times – CENTENNIAL, Colo. — James E. Holmes was formally charged Monday with 142 criminal counts, including 24 of first-degree murder, in connection with the shooting rampage
By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — After a series of financial mishaps that ended with her Orange County, Calif., home being put on the auction block, it appears
By Valerie J. Nelson and Claudia Luther, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Tony Martin, the last of the big-name singer-actors from the golden age of Hollywood musicals, has died. He
By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Dr. Conrad Murray asked an appellate court Monday to order lab testing on a piece of evidence that his defense said might
MASON CITY – Mason City police confirmed today that phone scams are still out there, preying on the public. The scammers typically target the elderly, Mason City police said. “Typically the callers
The following offender has escaped from a residential work release facility. The offender was transferred to this facility after being granted a work release by the Iowa Board of Parole. Work Release
By Alexandra Zavis, Ashley Powers and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times – AURORA, Colo. — As a shattered community mourns its dead and struggles to move on, a thorny question faces the
Vanessa Miller, CR Gazette – Buzzing about 4,500 above ground on a 100-degree day in June, Iowa State Patrol Trooper-pilot Jon Degen banks his Cessna to the left and eyeballs a car
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Junior Steven Ihm and sophomore Ian Vandersee both finished inside the top-10 at the 110th Iowa Amateur Championship, hosted at Spirit Hollow Golf Course in Burlington last weekend.
MASON CITY – Phase 2 of the sanitary sewer improvement project is progressing as scheduled, according to city officials. Paving of the streets will be done today (Monday) on South Federal at
By David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers – WARSAW, Poland— Mitt Romney will wrap himself in the symbolism of the Cold War Monday, starting a visit to Poland studded with reminders of that era:
By Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Sarah Palin may not be running for anything, and she hasn’t been invited (yet) to speak at the Republican National Convention, but
By Phil Trexler, Akron Beacon Journal – KENT, Ohio — A Kent State University student has been arrested after campus police say he Tweeted a threat last week promising to blow up
By Mike Huguenin, Rivals.com – Every coach in every sport will tell you it’s more about the Jimmys and the Joes — i.e., the talent — than it is about the X’s
Mark Newman, Ottumwa Courier, Iowa – FAIRFIELD — Military police sergeants, civilian police officers and SWAT team members are all supposed to be tough. Luke Jensen was all three, so when the
By Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — What a difference four years, a new coaching staff, a new executive director and eight new boxers can make. In the 2008 Beijing Games,
By The CR Gazette Editorial Board – The future of Iowa’s Municipal Fire and Police Retirement System is being shaped by a debate over how best to balance tightening city budgets and
Tom Webb, Pioneer Press – When gay couples are ready to get married, Target is happy to help them celebrate. The Minneapolis-based discount chain is running an ad featuring two grooms as
By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Since he dropped out of Seattle Central Community College, Alex Fitzgerald said, he’s found the good life: winning more than $2.5 million as a
By Tyler Dunne, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – GREEN BAY, Wis. — About 20 hours of coursework stand between Randall Cobb and a college degree. He’s not going to shove the books aside now.
By Ramadan Al-Fatash – RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities have released a prominent blogger after he spent more than a year in detention without charges, relatives said on Saturday. Nazir al-Majid,
By Emily Alpert, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — As gays and lesbians facing repression at home have come knocking on European doors, pleading for asylum, they have often been assured
Diane Heldt, CR Gazette – Recent University of Iowa doctoral degree graduate Tim Paschkewitz steeled himself to be realistic and flexible during his job search. He’d heard it was a tougher market for graduate-degree
By Dahleen Glanton, Chicago Tribune – NEWPORT, Ark. — The road leading to the women’s prison in this rural town is lined with crops as far as the eye can see. And