Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Virginia Rohan, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) – Have you gone to “The Bark Side” yet? The first in Volkswagen’s ‘The Bark Side’ series of ads was released Jan. 18, as a teaser
By Jeannine Stein, Los Angeles Times – Here’s some good news for a change from the diabetes front: Lower-limb amputations due to diabetes complications dropped 65 percent from 1996 to 2008. In a
By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, veterans of Fox’s sketch comedy “MADtv,” have a new series of their own, the self-titled “Key & Peele.”
By Lisa M. Krieger, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have created the world’s first atomic X-ray laser. The researchers aimed SLAC’s Linac Coherent
By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — Eager to lock up natural resources in Africa, despite the geopolitical risks, China pledged to provide nearly $100 million in aid to the continent
By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Segregation of African-Americans in the United States has declined to its lowest point in more than a century, but social and income disparities
By Andy Grimm, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Newt Gingrich may be the underdog in Tuesday night’s Florida primary, but he shouldn’t be able to use Rocky Balboa’s theme at campaign events, lawyers
By Christi Parsons, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama offered a vigorous defense of the use of unmanned aircraft to kill al-Qaida operatives and other militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas
by Matt Marquardt – MASON CITY – The Mason City City Council will meet again Tuesday evening to discuss final changes to the 2013 budget. The budget will be voted on (CORRECTION)
By Andrea Chang, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Major tech companies including Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have teamed up to fight email phishing scams. Members say the partnership
By Scott Powers, The Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — The two main Republican candidates wound up their Florida primary campaigns Monday night in Central Florida, with Mitt Romney in The Villages retirement
By Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press – Should the IRS be picking up the phone and demanding more money? Or at least making a call to discuss options if you’re delinquent? It’s an
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch – NEW YORK — U.S. stocks closed with minor losses Monday as telecommunications and technology stocks advanced, offsetting concern that came with Portugal’s soaring borrowing costs. After a 131-point
By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Consumers had more money in their pockets in December, but fewer people decided to spend it, choosing instead to tuck the extra funds
Brady Gervais, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. – The abuse of heroin and other opiates reached the highest levels yet in the Twin Cities during the first half of 2011, according to a
WASHINGTON – Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley is leading a group of senators to continue pressing the administration on its controversial policy to sue states for passing immigration laws to
James Q. Lynch, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – DES MOINES — The legislative footprint of the 2012 General Assembly is beginning to take shape this week as a number of high-profile —
John Bohnenkamp, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Iowa scored 89 points in Assembly Hall. The Hawkeyes shot 79 percent from the field in the second half, 63 percent for
Matt Levins, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – IOWA CITY – The last two years have been full of more downs than ups for University of Iowa redshirt freshman wrestler Nick Moore. Moore,
The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – The Iowa State University wrestling team won three matches, but came up short in a 28-12 loss to fourth-ranked Cornell in a dual Sunday afternoon at
Marc Morehouse, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Nate Meier did everything you can possibly do in a single season of eight-man football in Iowa. The Fremont-Mills High School senior rushed for 2,494
Rod Boshart, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Gov. Terry Branstad said Monday state’s fiscal house is in “solid” enough shape that he will sign a $1.3 million supplemental appropriation to provide needed
By Art Stapleton INDIANAPOLIS — One glance out the window quickly reminded Tom Brady this trip to an all-too-familiar city for the Patriots will be different than all the others. As the
LIMA, Peru — More than 100 people were injured Monday after a strong earthquake in southern Peru, Peruvian civil defense authorities said. Most of the injured however had only slight wounds. “There
By Laura King and Aimal Yaqubi, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghainstan — Another horrific case of violence against women in Afghanistan came to light Monday when authorities reported that a husband in
By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The Federal Aviation Administration has pushed back the date when it will propose new rules for the use of small drones in national
By David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers – LADY LAKE, Fla. — People over age 65 are expected to cast about one-third of the votes in Tuesday’s Florida presidential primary, and polls say they’re breaking
By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court and the Obama administration, already headed for a face-off in March over the constitutionality of the health care law, may
By Steven Thomma, McClatchy Newspapers – ORLANDO, Fla. — They worship at the political altar of Ronald Reagan, but Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney ignore one part of his creed: his so-called 11th
WASHINGTON – Bradley Branscum, 23, and Tony Branscum, 26, who are first cousins, of Salado, Ark., and Curtis Coffee, 19, of Batesville, Ark., were sentenced for charges relating to their roles in
WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice announced today that Jason Barnwell, 37, of Evening Shade, Ark., was sentenced in Little Rock, Ark., for his involvement in firebombing the residence of an interracial
WASHINGTON – The Justice Department announced today that a federal grand jury in Greenbelt, Md., has indicted Anthony McIntosh, 48, a former corrections officer at the Prince George’s County Detention Center, in
A U.S. military recruiter pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to obtain approximately $190,000 in fraudulent recruiting bonuses from various U.S. military components and their contractor, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer
Effective at 4:00 p.m. today, January 30, 2012, the Alternate Side Parking ordinance and Emergency Snow Route are suspended until further notice. Citizens should stay tuned to local media outlets to receive
By Jody Spear MASON CITY – Going by Ray Rorick Park, Sunday, we decided to do an update on Joe Buttweiler’s story from last Sunday, January 22. Joe mentioned in that story
By Josh Richman, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — For months, nobody figured California Republicans would have a say in picking their party’s 2012 presidential contender — the state’s June
William Smith, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – FORT MADISON – The solitary beat of a snare drum set a slow but steady pace for more than 125 people marching through downtown Saturday
By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times – PORT SAINT LUCIE, Fla. — Dubbed the “proxies with moxie,” Mitt Romney’s congressional backers have been crashing Newt Gingrich’s events to offer a counterpoint to the
CLEAR LAKE – The Big Bopper Junior is looking forward to an extended weekend of music and his hosting duties at the North Iowa landmark he refers to as the “temple of
By Ellen Warren, Chicago Tribune – Who doesn’t know that junk food is bad for you? It’s empty calories, puts on the pounds and is awfully, terribly, almost impossibly hard to resist. It