Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Melissa M. Scallan, Anita Lee and Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers – GULFPORT, Miss. — Hurricane Isaac came ashore Tuesday night west of the Mississippi River, arriving as a lumbering and
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa – Aug. 28, 2012 – All lanes of Interstate 380/U.S. 20 in Evansdale will be open by the morning of Thursday, Aug. 30 as the reconstruction of the southbound
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A Pentagon investigation into the burning of Korans at a U.S.-run prison in Afghanistan in February found that American soldiers ignored warnings
By Rong-Gong Lin II, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Ever since hundreds of earthquakes began rippling through southeastern California over the weekend, many asked the question: Could this be a
By Mitch Smith, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Two people have died after contracting Legionnaires’ disease in an outbreak linked to a downtown hotel this summer, Chicago Department of Public Health officials said
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Beleaguered Turkish officials called Monday for international assistance to aid escalating numbers of Syrian refugees arriving at Turkey’s borders and French President
By Mary Perez, The Sun Herald – BILOXI, Miss. — Hollywood Casino Bay St. Louis and Silver Slipper closed Monday as Tropical Storm Isaac approached. Chett Harrison, general manager of Hollywood Casino,
By Laura King, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — They’ve been cut down while working out in makeshift gyms, as they bedded down for the night in remote combat outposts, after shrugging
By Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times – Isaac is now barreling toward New Orleans, slated to make landfall late Tuesday or Wednesday on the Gulf Coast. But the name on many people’s minds
By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — A federal judge has dismissed Wheaton College’s lawsuit against the Obama administration for requiring the evangelical Christian college to offer health insurance that covers
Adnkronos International, Rome – ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Hundreds of Christian families on Monday fled the village near Islamabad where an 11-year-old Christian girl with Down Syndrome had been arrested for blasphemy, according
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Bloodied bodies lay strewn in the streets, in basements and even in the cemetery in the besieged Damascus suburb of Dariya, site
By Curtis Morgan, Cammy Clark and Susan Cocking, The Miami Herald – KEY WEST, Fla. — Big but not bad. Tropical Storm Isaac huffed and puffed but blew little down other than
By Kate Mather, David Zahniser and Abby Sewell, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — An “earthquake storm” continued to rattle Imperial County, Calif., late Sunday, with the region experiencing hundreds of
By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times – The American Academy of Pediatrics has shifted its official position on the contentious issue of infant circumcision, stating Monday that the medical benefits of the
By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times – GIRDWOOD, Alaska — As Shell Alaska’s effort to begin exploratory offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean runs up against a weather-related deadline in the Chukchi
By Jacqueline Charles, Juan Tamayo and Jim Wyss, The Miami Herald – PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti —The death toll in Haiti and the Dominican Republic continued to rise Sunday, as authorities struggled to recover form
By David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers – ANTAKYA, Turkey — A weeklong government siege of a rebel-occupied Damascus suburb has killed at least 371 people, including 122 whose bodies were reportedly found in a
By Colleen Mastony, Chicago Tribune – RUSHVILLE, Ill. — Stepping into the office of Dr. Russell Dohner feels like a trip back in time. At his one-man practice, the phones are rotary, the
By Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times – NEW YORK — The man who shot to death a former colleague in midtown Manhattan and then took aim at police never fired at the
By Laura King, Los Angeles Times – KABUL — A NATO airstrike in eastern Afghanistan has killed a senior Pakistani Taliban leader, his deputy and about 10 other insurgents, the Western military
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Saturday that they had questioned a dozen federal police agents to try to find out why Mexican police ambushed
By Casey Grove, Anchorage Daily News – ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A grizzly attacked and killed a lone backpacker in Denali National Park and Preserve on Friday after the man encountered the bear
By Anna Tomforde – LONDON — Prince Harry kept well out of sight Friday as nude photographs showing him frolicking with girls in a Las Vegas hotel were for the first time
By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Eight hours of negotiations between U.N. officials and Iran’s nuclear policy envoy ended Friday without an agreement for inspectors to visit
By Mel Frykberg, McClatchy Newspapers – TRIPOLI, Libya — Libya’s prosecutor general has announced that the central government and the militia that’s holding Moammar Gadhafi’s son Saif al-Islam have agreed to try
By Alex Rodriguez and Zulfiqar Ali, Los Angeles Times – ISLAMABAD—A barrage of missiles fired by U.S. drones killed at least 18 people in northwest Pakistan on Friday, the latest in a
By Denise Hollinshed, St. Louis Post-Dispatch – WASHINGTON PARK, Mo. — A Missouri woman who said she escaped this week after being held captive for three years led police Thursday evening to
By Andrew Tangel, Los Angeles Times – NEW YORK — They’ve called from pay phones. They’ve had furtive meetings at hotels and even a church. On internal government documents, they go by
By David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers – ANTAKYA, Turkey — The bombing last month that killed four top Syrian government figures and was followed by rebel offensives in Damascus and Aleppo that many
By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers – MEXICO CITY — Mexican federal police opened fire Friday on an armored vehicle carrying U.S. government employees, wounding two, in a confusing incident in which it
By Tina Susman, Steven Zeitchik and Andrew Tangel, Los Angeles Times – NEW YORK — Each morning, Jeffrey Johnson would put on a suit, leave his Manhattan apartment, and walk to a
Erin Jordan, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – Update: A fired University of Iowa professor says he will appeal to the state Board of Regents and file a court injunction halting the
Erin Jordan, CR Gazette – UPDATE: The University of Iowa has fired a tenured radiology professor based on a judicial panel’s finding Dr. Malik Juweid violated patient confidentiality and acted inappropriately toward
By Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — One year after a rare 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the Washington, D.C., region, the Washington Monument remains closed for repairs and other reminders are
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Syrian forces on Thursday renewed attacks against rebel strongholds in the nation’s two largest cities, highlighting the determination of President Bashar Assad’s
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency is expected to report next week that Iran has significantly expanded its uranium enrichment capability at its
By Chris Rosenblum, Centre Daily Times (State College, Pa.) – STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Penn State Faculty Senate will discuss next week whether to ask the NCAA and the Big Ten
By Sam Quinones and Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES—Irma Zamora’s husband urged her not to get out of the car as they approached the scene of a spectacular traffic
By Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times – JOHANNESBURG — Men armed with machetes, bows and arrows, spears and guns attacked a rival village in southeast Kenya in a dispute over land on