Israel prepared for ground war in Gaza
By Sheera Frenkel, McClatchy Newspapers – TEL AVIV, Israel — Restaurants and bars across Tel Aviv were half-empty this weekend, as many residents of Israel’s commercial center stayed indoors for fear of rocket
Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Sheera Frenkel, McClatchy Newspapers – TEL AVIV, Israel — Restaurants and bars across Tel Aviv were half-empty this weekend, as many residents of Israel’s commercial center stayed indoors for fear of rocket
TEL AVIV — Israel bombed the offices of Gaza Hamas leader Ismail Haniya early Saturday morning the cross-border fighting entered its fourth day without showing any signs of letting up. There was
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that federal disaster aid has been made available to the State of Delaware to supplement state and local
By Julie Makinen and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — The 18th congress of the Communist Party in China wrapped up this week with President Hu Jintao stepping down as
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — A minivan crammed with Afghan civilians on their way to a wedding party in western Afghanistan struck a roadside bomb Friday, killing
By Juan Tamayo, The Miami Herald – One week after President Barack Obama won re-election, Havana offered a “draft agenda” for U.S.-Cuba negotiations that largely repeats its years-old positions but almost directly
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — People blind from birth can be taught to “see” images that are conveyed as sounds, says a new study that calls into question a
By Shashank Bengali, Tribune Washington Bureau – DOVER, Fla. — He’s been dubbed “The Shirtless FBI Agent” — a rogue investigator so smitten with a pretty socialite that he sent her a
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times – GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Anyone hoping that Friday morning’s visit to Gaza City by Egyptian Prime Minister Hesham Kandil might ease the growing conflict
By Lisa Brown, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – Hostess Brands’ abrupt decision to cease operations Friday came as a shock to many, prompting customers to stock up on Twinkies and other snack cakes
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The CIA said Thursday that it had opened an “exploratory” investigation into the conduct of former director David Petraeus, who resigned after admitting
By Michael Muskal and Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times – An oil platform exploded off of the coast of Louisiana, injuring at least four people, the Coast Guard said Friday. Officials were
By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — As officials in Republican-led states come to grips with the fact that the Affordable Care Act is here to stay, the Obama administration continues
By Bettina Boxall and Ronald D. White, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Laying the blame for the deaths of 11 rig workers in the Deepwater Horizon explosion and Gulf of
Gregg Hennigan, CR Gazette – IOWA CITY – Five finalists will vie for the chance to build what would be a high-profile project on the edge of Iowa City’s downtown. The winner
by Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times – NEW YORK — Twinkies may last forever, but the same can’t be said for the company that makes the cream-filled sponge cake. Hostess Brands Inc.,
By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – ISLAMABAD — Human rights groups have denounced Pakistan’s decision this week to carry out its first execution in four years, calling it a worrying step
By Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — A magnitude 6.2 earthquake rattled west-central Mexico early Thursday morning, but government officials have reported finding little damage so far. The quake
By Juan O. Tamayo, The Miami Herald – MIAMI — A journalist with Cuba’s Granma newspaper was sentenced to 14 years in prison for spying, a charge filed soon after he reported
By Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times – If retired Army Gen. David H. Petraeus had gotten an occasional dose of supplemental oxytocin, a brain chemical known to promote trust and bonding, he
By Julie Makinen, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — China’s leaders are often thought of as men with near-identical suits and hairdos. But among the 2,268 delegates to the 18th Communist Party
The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) – COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said Tuesday that he “regrets” threatening to punch a Gazette reporter for asking him last
By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Soccer players who repeatedly strike the ball with their heads may be causing measurable damage to their brains, even if they never
James Q. Lynch, CR Gazette – CEDAR RAPIDS – A federal defender in the U.S. Attorney’s Office who was the victim of a mugging on a Cedar Rapids running trail eight years
By Jonathan Pitts, The Baltimore Sun – BALTIMORE—Meeting for the first time since voters in Maryland and two other states legalized same-sex marriage, members of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said
DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs today announced it has awarded more than $1.2 million in Iowa Great Places funding for 10 projects in seven Iowa communities. DCA awarded
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans signaled stiffening resistance Tuesday to the Obama administration’s possible nomination of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as
By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers – BENGHAZI, Libya — Two months after the American ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in assaults on U.S. facilities here there have
By Abbott Koloff and Jeff Green, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) – HACKENSACK, N.J.—As the days without power turned into a week — then nearly two weeks — the residents of a dead-end
By David Willman, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s top expert on anti-terrorism technology has privately advised her to spike a long-planned, multibillion-dollar upgrade of BioWatch, the
By John Diedrich, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – MILWAUKEE — A man with Wisconsin roots who worked overseas for the military as an Arabic linguist has been charged under the Espionage Act with
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times – SAN DIEGO — When Pfc. Geoffrey Quevedo was airlifted late last year to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after being severely wounded in Afghanistan, his
By Leon Stafford, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution – ATLANTA — Unlike Las Vegas, what happens in New York City doesn’t always stay in New York City. It spreads. Just months after the Big
By Mary Ellen Podmolik, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Another home-buying opportunity has surfaced in President Barack Obama’s neighborhood, this time right next door. The owners of the famously vacant land next to
AMES, Iowa – Nov. 13, 2012 – Today, the Iowa Transportation Commission approved a Revitalize Iowa’s Sound Economy (RISE) Local Development grant application submitted by the city of Story City. Up to
By John Johnson, Los Angeles Times – LAS VEGAS — It was at a modest house on the outskirts of this gambling mecca last weekend that I finally became confident President Barack Obama
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times – JERUSALEM — Facing a lack of progress in their statehood bid, Palestinian leaders announced Monday they will ask the U.N. General Assembly by month’s end to
Richard Meryhew, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – An Eden Prairie foundation has pledged $500,000 to northeastern Minnesota residents struggling to recover from the torrential rain and flash flooding that overwhelmed Duluth and surrounding communities
By Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers – BENGHAZI, Libya — Witnesses in Benghazi, Libya, provide a chronology for the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate here that differs in significant ways from
By Jonathan S. Landay, Franco Ordonez And Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — FBI Director Robert Mueller’s top aide was told former CIA chief David Petraeus was having an extramarital affair that