Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
Rod Boshart, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – DES MOINES — Proponents seeking to rein in the unregulated “wild, wild West” environment of illegal online poker in Iowa are girding for another legislative
By Joe Flint, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — With an estimated $20 million opening weekend under his belt, Liam Neeson has secured his status as the thinking man’s action star. “The
By Mark K. Matthews, The Orlando Sentinel – WASHINGTON — There’s no firm date yet, but sometime in early 2014 NASA intends to take its first major step toward rebuilding its human spaceflight
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times – MOSCOW — Moscow’s Garden Ring street, a 10-mile circle around large portions of the city’s historic center including the Kremlin, turned white on a frosty
By Evonne Coutros, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) – HACKENSACK, N.J. — The nation’s oldest Medal of Honor recipient, a World War II Army veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, will
By Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times – NAPLES, Fla. — Seeking to deliver a knockout punch to Newt Gingrich in Tuesday’s Florida primary, Mitt Romney and his surrogates continued their heavy assault on
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — Sudanese rebels have kidnapped about 30 Chinese construction workers who were building a road in a remote stretch of the country, Chinese and Sudanese
By Patrick J. McDonnell and Rima Marrouch,Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Syrian tanks and troop reinforcements moved Sunday to reclaim government control of rebellious suburbs outside Damascus, opposition groups reported, bringing
By Ben Fritz and Alex Pham, Los Angeles Times – AUSTIN, Texas — It may be the largest entertainment production in history. More than 800 people on four continents have spent six years
MASON CITY – China Buffet is keeping local health inspectors busy. Since May of 2011, the Cerro Gordo County Health Department has responded to at least three complaints at the restaurant, located at
By Dave Hyde, Sun Sentinel – MIAMI — What a day. What a game. What a stage for the one real rivalry in the East — Heat vs. Bulls — that delivered such
The Yomiuri Shimbun – TOKYO — The number of flu-stricken patients in Japan reached about 1.11 million in the week ended Jan. 20, an increase of about 400,000 from the previous week,
By Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times – SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gilbert Robles retired as a state parole agent at age 53, able to collect a $101,195 annual pension — 94 percent of his
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers – LAHORE, Pakistan — A senior American official has for the first time admitted that a Pakistani doctor played a key role in tracking Osama bin Laden to
By Jerry Zgoda, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — Ricky Rubio hasn’t been around the NBA one full circle yet, but he has been around the proverbial block, from the Olympic gold medal
By Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A Santa Maria, Calif., police officer suspected of having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl was shot and killed by a
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Sydney Carter made a pair of free throws with 2.4 seconds left as No. 14 Texas A&M escaped with a 66-64 win over Iowa State Sunday in Reed
The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa – Second-guessing gadflies, prying media and an old-fashioned Midwestern desire to be efficient and civil can tempt government officials to undermine open meetings and open records laws.
By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Pioneering R&B singer Etta James was saluted at her funeral service Saturday by fellow musicians, including Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera, and eulogized
By Lee Romney, Los Angeles Times – OAKLAND, Calif. — Police faced off Saturday afternoon with hundreds of Occupy movement protesters, arresting more than a hundred of them during a much-anticipated demonstration focused
By Kim Geiger, Tribune Washington Bureau – Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain endorsed Newt Gingrich for president Saturday night in what was billed as a surprise appearance by the retired pizza chain
By Steven Thomma, Lesley Clark and David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers – ORLANDO, Fla. — Mitt Romney opened a commanding lead in Florida Sunday, driving his rivals to start shifting their sights to other
By Kacie Krominga – The fifth annual Parks & Rec. Kids’ Karnival was held Saturday afternoon at Southbridge Mall. Businesses and organizations gathered to give children and their families activities to do
by Matt Marquardt – MASON CITY – The Mason City Fire Department needs a new 105 foot fire engine. The cost would be roughly $1 million. The Mason City Council held a
IOWA FALLS, Iowa – It took two overtimes, but the NIACC men’s basketball team ended a three game slide with a 108-103 win over Ellsworth Community College on Saturday afternoon. NIACC (12-10 overall,
by Jody Spear – MASON CITY – Saturday afternoon was a sunny, temperature friendly day for the “Cardboard Classic” sledding competition at the East Park Sledding Hill in Mason City. The Relay
MANKATO, Minn. – NIACC track and field’s Lance Maxwell (So., Racine, WI) earned a berth to the NJCAA Indoor National Championships in the men’s shot put, while Anna Buenneke (So., Hazelton, IA)
EAST ST. LOUIS – Christopher H. McCoy, 48, of Granite City, Illinois, was sentenced in federal district court in East St. Louis on January 27, 2012, to a total of 327 months’
PHILADELPHIA — A Ukrainian hockey coach was charged Thursday with traveling for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and transporting a person to engage in criminal sexual activity. The case
Additional Defendants Sentenced in Broward and Palm Beach Counties in Operation Oxy Alley Jan 20 – Miami – Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division;
RURAL CERRO GORDO COUNTY – Shortly after 11:30 Friday night, January 27, 2012, a member of the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department attempted to make a traffic contact north of Rock Falls
by Matt Marquardt – An item in Mason City’s 2013 budget piqued my interest and I decided to ask City Hall for some information about it. I asked about a $60,000 remodeling plan
By Marco Mierke WASHINGTON — The United States is “very concerned” about the condition of a Pakistani doctor who provided information that helped them track down al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, U.S.
By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The long-sought marriage of Hollywood’s two actors unions cleared another hurdle Saturday when the board of American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
By Brent Snavely, Detroit Free Press – DETROIT — Workers at a General Motors assembly plant in Kansas have voted in favor of authorizing a strike. UAW Local 31 President George Ruiz said
By Peter Mayer ROME — The wasting of a “precious hour” by the captain of the Costa Concordia jeopardized the timely evacuation of all those aboard the stricken cruise liner, a top
By Ali Safi, McClatchy Newspapers – KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber killed four Afghan civilians and wounded dozens Thursday in the southern province of Helmand, local officials said. The attack, which
By Jeremy C. Owens, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Apple Inc.’s record 37 million iPhones sold in the last quarter of 2011 made it the world’s leading smartphone vendor
By Albert Otti DAVOS, Switzerland — Software billionaire Bill Gates announced Thursday that his foundation would give $750 million to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The pledge, made
By Diana Renee RIO DE JANEIRO — Rescue workers in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday recovered the bodies of three people from the rubble of three collapsed buildings, with at least 16