Category: Watercooler

By Scott Collins, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — As if there were not already enough tumult on talent shows: Sharon Osbourne is openly threatening to leave “America’s Got Talent”over what now she

By Rick Bentley, McClatchy Newspapers – Creatures from Dr. Seuss and the Brothers Grimm are featured in this week’s new DVD releases. —“The Lorax,” Grade A-minus: In an almost doomsday scenario, the film

By Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – ST. LOUIS — Everclear singer Art Alexakis is putting ‘90s radio rock music on a pedestal with his new tour, Summerland. The tour also features

By Todd Martens, Los Angeles Times – “Sound Shapes,” released Tuesday for Sony’s PS3 and handheld system Vita, isn’t the typical video game score. The game uses previously unheard tracks from the likes

By John Horn, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Matt Damon didn’t want to make another Jason Bourne movie, and neither did director Paul Greengrass. When your leading man and star filmmaker

CLEAR LAKE – Clear Lake City Hall has confirmed that despite a message that went out to some Clear Lake residents, there was no water main break. “It was a false alarm,”

Now it’s the statues, next it’ll be something else and all who visit here will be rightfully pissed.  You will rant and rave about injustice, about how things aren’t fair.  But you

Incumbent Republican Steve King and Democratic challenger Christie Vilsack are battling it out in cyberspace for the newly-created fourth district congressional seat, which will serve western Iowa and the Mason City area.

From The Computer Guy, Pat Palmer, of Hampton – A lot of communities are kicking the tires on streaming council meetings, including Hampton and Mason City, but someone is trying to get

By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — On a chaparral-covered hillside 40 miles north of Los Angeles in June 2010, researchers from the Department of Homeland Security hid a device the

By Kevin C. Johnson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – ST.LOUIS — California punk rockers the Offspring, with well over 20 years in the game, don’t harbor any concerns over how to keep music

DES MOINES – Tomorrow, middle class Iowans will protest outside the gates of Mitt Romney’s private fundraiser at Glen Oaks Country Club. Progress Iowa, the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans, AFSCME Iowa

As a mark of respect for the victims of the senseless acts of violence perpetrated on August 5, 2012, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, by the authority vested in me as President of

Art in the Park.  This will happen if the Chamber wants it to and there isn’t a thing you can do to stop it….and why would you want to. It hurts no

MASON CITY – David Powell II, 24, who claims to be from Chicago but lives in Mason City, was arrested on Sunday by the Clear Lake Police Department and Cerro Gordo County

By Thomas H. Maugh II, Los Angeles Times – Sales of cigarettes in the United States are continuing to decline, but that decline is being partially offset by increases in the sales of

By Steven Zeitchik, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — When Universal moved “The Bourne Legacy” off this past weekend, blinking in its box-office staring contest with Sony’s “Total Recall,” it seemed

(DES MOINES) – Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds at their weekly news conference today announced that they will host the Governor’s Bullying Prevention Summit this fall, and encouraged all

MASON CITY – Phase 2 of the sanitary sewer improvement project is progressing as scheduled. Paving of South 8th and 10th Streets at South Federal Avenue is completed. South Federal Avenue will

By Amy Kaufman, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Many moviegoers forgot about “Total Recall” at the box office this weekend, as the reboot of the 1990 amnesia classic failed to prove

By Dale Roe, Austin American-Statesman – This week’s TV picks: —Monday: “2012 Summer Olympics” 7 p.m., NBC: I like to watch the diving events, but they’d be even more exciting if the competitors

By Rich Heldenfels, Akron Beacon Journal – Looking toward the fall, I am already heartened by the NBC series “Go On.” I laughed even more when I watched the premiere a second time

Wayne E. Wolfe, 68, of Mason City, died Thursday morning August 2, 2012 at Hospice of North Iowa. Memorial services will be held 1:00 pm, Thursday, August 16, 2012 at Fourteenth Street

Connie Stewart, Los Angeles Times – President Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney extended their condolences to the victims of the Milwaukee Sikh shooting on Sunday. At least seven people were killed and more wounded when

Editor’s note: An interesting piece about Burlington, Iowa which discusses the pro’s and con’s of the local option sales tax there.  Burlington, about the size of Mason City, will be voting on

By Nicole Sperling, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Do they make men like Tommy Lee Jones anymore? Men who can rope a calf, direct a movie, and, you want to believe,

By Gregory Karp, Chicago Tribune – Getting something “free” causes an unusual spark in a consumer’s brain, consumer behaviorists have shown. That might explain why consumers fill out forms, giving up personal information,

By Rich Heldenfels, Akron Beacon Journal – Marilyn Monroe died 50 years ago today. For half a century or more, she has been analyzed, but understanding has been elusive. The TV series “Smash”

By Rene Rodriguez, McClatchy Newspapers – Opening Wednesday: HOPE SPRINGS (PG-13): David Frankel (“The Devil Wears Prada,” “Marley and Me”) directs this restrained comedy about a middle-aged couple (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee

MCT FORUM, By Ellen Bravo – Nearly two decades ago, on Aug. 5, 1993, the United States took a stride forward by implementing the Family and Medical Leave Act. But we’ve got

By Patrick Kevin Day, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Bob Dylan and counterterrorism? Say what? It may sound like an odd pairing, but that’s exactly what Cinemax is giving us

From Rep. Linda Upmeyer – At a time when our nation needs to be focused on job creation and a more effective and efficient government, I am thankful there is a place

WASHINGTON—Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, released a new report  examining the retirement crisis in America and laying out a bold proposal to

By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Wearing a cowboy hat and leather jacket, a Las Vegas sheriff steps out of a diner and strolls down the street in front

MASON CITY – Beginning Monday August 6, 2012 at 7:00 a.m., the Mason City Utility Division will begin street repairs at the intersection of 18th Street SW and South Pierce Avenue. South

By Lorraine Murray, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – A young man was shot in a movie theater and died on his 27th birthday. In the newspaper, the sorrowful face of his father, seeking his