Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Ian Duncan, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Congress swiftly passed a bill Friday extending the payroll tax cut through the end of the year, ending a months-long tug-of-war with an unusual
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — In a major embarrassment for Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Christian Wulff resigned Friday after weeks of a brewing scandal over favors he allegedly
CLEAR LAKE – The 11th annual “Color the Wind” Kite Festival will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2012. According to the website for the event, “As always, there will be an
NORTHWOOD – The Northwood-Kensett Board of Directors met on Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 7:00 P.M. at the Elementary School Media Center and conducted the following business: Hearing: Reviewed Bids and Discussion
By Herb Jackson, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) – WASHINGTON — Emergency workers would get their own $7 billion national wireless network under a bill that Congress is expected to approve Friday, closing a
Scott Dochterman, CR Gazette – STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Matt Gatens’ performance Thursday night was emblematic of Iowa’s effort in an unfortunate way. Gatens missed all five shot attempts in the first
The Mason City High School girls bowling team remains undefeated as they won the divisional sub-state tournament in Fort Dodge today. They are now 19 – 0. Below are the girls finishing
By Lisa Mascaro, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Along the way to deciding whether to extend President Barack Obama’s payroll tax cut, something damaging happened to the Republican Party’s once-dominant position on
U.S. Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Sioux Falls man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for sex trafficking of a child. Tajahn Kahlil Clinton, age 34, was indicted
MASON CITY – The Charles H. MacNider Art Museum’s 2012 Winter Film Series, Films in February, Movies in March, continues this Saturday, February 18 at 2:00 p.m. with The Rape of Europa.
WASHINGTON – Glenn E. Morgan Jr., 41, of Detroit, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland to three months in prison followed by two years supervised release after pleading guilty
WASHINGTON – A Barrio Azteca (BA) gang leader was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his participation in a racketeering conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the
JACKSON, MS—William Grady Sims, 61, former mayor of Walnut Grove, Mississippi, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to federal witness tampering, U.S. Attorney John Dowdy and FBI Special Agent in Charge
WASHINGTON—The Consumer Protection Working Group, formed under President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF), convened its first meeting in Washington, D.C., today to address consumer fraud, which can financially cripple
ALEXANDRIA, VA—Jesse Curtis Morton, aka Younus Abdullah Muhammed, 33, of New York City, pleaded guilty Feb. 9th to using his position as a leader of Revolution Muslim Organization’s Internet sites to conspire
WASHINGTON – Massoud Habibion, 49, aka “Matt Habibion” and “Matt Habi,” a U.S. citizen and co-owner of a Costa Mesa, Calif., company, Online Micro LLC, pleaded guilty today in the District of Columbia
SIOUX CITY – A man who illegally possessed a firearm was sentenced February 9, 2012, to more than 11 years in federal prison. Lonnie Wade Sigler, 37, from Humboldt, Iowa, received the
A man who possessed a firearm after having been convicted of five previous felonies, pled guilty on February 10, 2012, in federal court in Sioux City. Randy Scott Smith, age 49, from
CEDAR RAPIDS – A sex offender who failed to register when he moved to Iowa pled guilty on February 1, 2012, in federal court in Cedar Rapids. Tommy Kuehl, age 40, from
DES MOINES, IA—Fahad Nabeel Hussein Al-Daous, from Waterloo, Iowa, appeared in federal court in Des Moines Thursday for an initial appearance and arraignment on two counts of making false statements to the
Rod Boshart, CR GAZETTE – Iowa’s minimum wage workers probably don’t have a raise in their future – not from the Iowa Legislature this session, anyway. A three-member Senate subcommittee approved a
Over The Hill 2/14/12 (4 person team) High Scratch Game 1. Lynn Christensen 223 2. Nicholas Pappas 210 3. Eddie Kline 208 1. Michele Olson 201 2. Karen Cornick 184 3. Marlene
By Scott M. Reid, The Orange County Register – LOS ANGELES — Jim Mora was walking around the UCLA campus Thursday when he came across Venus and Serena Williams hitting with each other
By K.C. Johnson, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — With the NBA’s best record, the Bulls know they can beat anybody. (PHOTO: The Chicago Bulls’ Luol Deng (9) commits an offensive foul against the Boston
By Michael Russo, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — The Winnipeg Jets are to blame. In what feels like an excruciating eternity ago, they started the Minnesota Wild’s tumble down the standings on
By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — “Undefeated” presents itself as a look at a single season in the life of a striving high school football team in impoverished North
By Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Nicolas Cage plays with fire in “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” but it’s the competition at the box office that is likely to
By Dalina Castellanos, Richard Winton and Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A shooting and fire Thursday afternoon at a house in East Hollywood left two people dead, including the
By Nicole Santa Cruz, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A man accused of a “serial thrill-kill spree” of four homeless men and a woman and her son was indicted Thursday by
By Dan Weikel and Ari Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A small private plane carrying a load of marijuana strayed into President Barack Obama’s no-fly zone over Los Angeles Thursday
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping swept into Los Angeles on Thursday for a brief but action-packed visit that will include a stop at
By Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — California and the Western United States are leading a nationwide surge in interracial marriage, according to a new study that paints a picture
By Paul West and Seema Mehta, Tribune Washington Bureau – DETROIT — With a new poll showing a virtual dead heat in Michigan’s presidential primary, the leading Republican candidates veered Thursday from defensiveness
By Maria Recio, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday approved an amendment by Gulf Coast lawmakers to dedicate 80 percent of the fines collected from the BP oil spill to
By Ian Duncan, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to employ technology against technology in its campaign against distracted driving. Cars should be designed to refuse to
By Stephanie Snyder, Cronkite News Service – WASHINGTON — A House committee Thursday approved a bill to ban abortions based on the gender or race of the child, a practice that Rep. Trent
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A Israeli bombing attack might set back Iran’s nuclear development program by one to two years, America’s top intelligence official told a Senate committee
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Al-Qaida’s Iraqi affiliate appears to have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups and was probably responsible for recent suicide bombings in Damascus and the industrial capital
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. intelligence officials offered a bleak view of the war in Afghanistan in testimony to Congress on Thursday, an assessment they acknowledged was
By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants to place debt collectors and credit bureaus under federal supervision for the first time, after an explosion in complaints