Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Franco Ordonez, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The day after Janey Ensminger would have celebrated her 36th birthday, the House of Representatives passed a historic bill in her honor that would
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Obama administration and Congress each moved Tuesday to further pressure Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Scrambling on an issue that has
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT—As explosions and gunfire sounded in the distance, the parishioners of St. Joseph’s Church in Aleppo, Syria, prayed for peace Tuesday evening. “People are
By Paul Rogers, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — A Southern California developer has lost a five-year-legal battle to build a new road into Yosemite National Park after a
By Joshua Melvin, San Jose Mercury News – REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — Pacific Gas & Electric knew its gas-line records were inaccurate and knew those errors could mean death or injury to
By Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News – SAN JOSE, Calif. — Proposition 8 backers on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a challenge to California’s voter-approved ban on
By Hal Bernton, The Seattle Times – SEATTLE—The Army will no longer use forensic psychiatrists to evaluate soldiers diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder who are under consideration for medical retirement, a change
By Laura Nelson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Shell has reduced the number of exploratory offshore Arctic wells it plans to drill this year as construction delays continue on a
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa – July 30, 2012 – The next phase of road construction on the Interstate 380/U.S. 20 project in Evansdale will include changes in traffic patterns and on/off ramp access
NEW HAMPTON, Iowa – July 31, 2012 – Bridge repair work has resulted in the closure of the eastbound Iowa 57 off-ramp to northbound U.S. 218, according to the Iowa Department of
By Jeff Wilkinson and Andrew Shain, McClatchy Newspapers – COLUMBIA, S.C. — In what could be a first nationwide, the husband of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is heading on a yearlong
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times – NEW DELHI — India’s electricity grids suffered another massive failure Tuesday, the second in two days, frustrating commuters, stranding coal miners and leaving more than
By Monte Morin, Los Angeles Times – It’s a question often asked: Is chivalry dead? According to a recent study by two Swedish economists, that brand of gallantry is not only dead,
By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — When the boss of the Chicago FBI placed the infamous early morning phone call to inform then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich that agents were outside
By Jason Garcia, The Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — SeaWorld has begun conditioning its killer whales to accept trainers in their pools, the first step toward resuming “water work” with the
By Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — For genealogists, President Barack Obama’s family tree is the gift that keeps on giving. There was Dick Cheney, Warren Buffett and Sarah Palin. On
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times – NEW DELHI — A massive breakdown of India’s electricity grid cut power to 370 million people in seven northern states Monday, halting trains, cutting water supplies
By Kate Mather, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — After a series of financial mishaps that ended with her Orange County, Calif., home being put on the auction block, it appears
By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Dr. Conrad Murray asked an appellate court Monday to order lab testing on a piece of evidence that his defense said might
By Alexandra Zavis, Ashley Powers and Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times – AURORA, Colo. — As a shattered community mourns its dead and struggles to move on, a thorny question faces the
Mark Newman, Ottumwa Courier, Iowa – FAIRFIELD — Military police sergeants, civilian police officers and SWAT team members are all supposed to be tough. Luke Jensen was all three, so when the
By Rob Hotakainen, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Since he dropped out of Seattle Central Community College, Alex Fitzgerald said, he’s found the good life: winning more than $2.5 million as a
By Ramadan Al-Fatash – RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi authorities have released a prominent blogger after he spent more than a year in detention without charges, relatives said on Saturday. Nazir al-Majid,
By Emily Alpert, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — As gays and lesbians facing repression at home have come knocking on European doors, pleading for asylum, they have often been assured
By Patrick J. McDonnell and Rima Marrouch, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Syrian guns pounded rebel positions in Aleppo on Sunday, as panicked residents streamed from the besieged city and the opposition
The Yomiuri Shimbun – TOKYO — Akihiko Hoshide used a robotic arm to grab the Kounotori 3 cargo spacecraft late Friday, then docked it with the International Space Station, becoming the first
By Joseph N. DiStefano, The Philadelphia Inquirer – PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania State University tells students, taxpayers, and donors that their money won’t pay the $100 million or more the school faces in
By Dawn Rhodes, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago man is among the Eagle Scouts returning his medal to the Boy Scouts of America in protest of the organization’s recent
By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A Los Angeles judge ordered an investigation Friday into the care of Michael Jackson’s children, capping a tumultuous week of family feuding
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times – AURORA, Colo. — The critically injured mother of the 6-year-old girl killed in the movie theater shootings has had a miscarriage as a result of
MCT FORUM, By Lisa Biagiotti for the Los Angeles Times – More than 30 years into the AIDS epidemic, a combination of safe-sex education and a new generation of pharmaceuticals has left
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times – MANESAR, India — The windows are dark, dozens of vehicles smashed and the burned-out gate shrouded in canvas. A notice in English and Hindi informs
By Farah Mohamed, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — As the International AIDS Conference took place this week in Washington, many advocates said that governments and the medical community still had far to
By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Eight senior Justice Department administrative employees should be disciplined for seeking jobs there for their children and other relatives, and officials need
By Juan O. Tamayo, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — A statement by the head of the Russian navy that his country is considering establishing a naval facility in Cuba underlined the warming
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times – MOSCOW — Russian officials, who have strenuously resisted U.S.-led efforts to push Syrian President Bashar Assad from power, are beginning to question whether the beleaguered
By Mike Bresnahan, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — A handful of journalists watched the U.S. win its Olympic opener in women’s basketball against Croatia. It was an obvious contrast to the
By Hashmat Baktash and Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — Two NATO service members were killed by insurgents in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, the Western military alliance said, the
By Alexandra Sandels and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT, Lebanon — Renewed clashes and shelling were reported Saturday in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, where armed rebels and
By Henry Wasswa – KAMPALA, Uganda — An outbreak of Ebola in western Uganda has killed a family of 12 and two others since the beginning of the month, the Health Ministry