Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers – ATHENS, Greece — French and Greek voters delivered a sharp rebuke to their governments in national elections Sunday, raising questions about the viability of the European
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times – JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Sunday that he is moving to dismantle what has been considered one of the more stable coalition governments
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times – MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians took to the streets of Moscow on Sunday in protest ahead of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration Monday to
By Erin Richards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – WAUKESHA, Wis. — Last year, Kim Crosby spent about 80 percent of her class time teaching math concepts at Waukesha STEM Academy. For the other 20
By Marjie Lundstrom and Sam Stanton, McClatchy Newspapers – SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Kristy Schwarm was introduced to collection agencies after she bounced an $83.41 check at a Mendocino County FoodMaxx. She soon started
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers – GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators put on a show of defiance during a marathon war court
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers – GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — Accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators put on a defiant show at their war court arraignment Saturday,
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — Another 23 bodies were discovered Friday in the embattled border city of Nuevo Laredo, including five men and four women hanging from a
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A top U.S. commander is seeking authority to expand clandestine operations against militants and insurgencies around the globe, a sign of shifting Pentagon
By David Pierson and Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — Tapping a visa track to America used by thousands of Chinese students, U.S. officials say they have struck a face-saving compromise
By Sajjad Malik – ISLAMABAD — At least nine people were killed Saturday in an airstrike from a suspected U.S. drone in Pakistan’s lawless tribal region along Afghan border, security officials said.
By Paula Schleis, Akron Beacon Journal – KENT, Ohio — At 12:24 p.m. Friday, the Victory Bell on the Kent State University Commons pealed 15 times. Once each for Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller,
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers – GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — When Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his four alleged 9/11 co-conspirators are brought before the war court Saturday to face arraignment, they’ll
By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — In a pointed response to images of Marines urinating on corpses and soldiers posing with body parts, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta appealed to
By Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — Former Mexican President Vicente Fox on Wednesday labeled the global war on drugs “useless” and an “absolute failure,” saying it’s time to consider
By Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times – MOSCOW — Russia may consider a pre-emptive strike on a missile defense system in Europe if the U.S.-led NATO project continues as planned, a top
By Anne Blythe, McClatchy Newspapers – GREENSBORO, N.C. — During his testimony at the John Edwards trial, Edwards’ former aide Andrew Young said he and his wife were put in the position of
By Nadeem Sarwar – ISLAMABAD — A suicide bomber attacked a military border guard post in northwestern Pakistan, killing four officers and eight civilians, officials said. The attack took place in Khar,
By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — In his final months padding around the dark third-floor room in his cinderblock Pakistan hide-out, the world’s most notorious terrorist mastermind spent a lot
By Jay Price, McClatchy Newspapers – CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Perhaps the best clue in more than 420 years to North Carolina’s most famous mystery has just been revealed. The remains of the
Doug Belden, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. – The original Vikings stadium bill will get a vote on the floor of the Minnesota House on Monday, Speaker Kurt Zellers said Thursday, May
By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden ordered terrorist teams in mid-2010 to blow up the planes of President Barack Obama and Gen. David H. Petraeus, then
By Kate Thomas – ABUJA, Nigeria — At least 34 people were reported to have died after gunmen armed with explosives set fire to a cattle market in northeastern Nigeria, according to
By Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Five people were found shot to death, including a toddler, at a house in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert on Wednesday afternoon. Police
By Eryn Brown, Los Angeles Times – In a long-awaited study that helped prompt a contentious debate over the wisdom of conducting research that has the potential to help as well as harm,
Diane Heldt, CR Gazette – IOWA CITY — University of Iowa officials on Tuesday received word of the official obligation of more than $6.7 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for
Doug Belden, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. – Harsh words are flying at the Capitol in advance of a 1 p.m. meeting between Gov. Mark Dayton and the Democratic and Republican legislative leaders
By Laura King and Aimal Yaqubi, Los Angeles Times – KABUL — Insurgent gunmen and bombers struck a guest-house complex frequented by foreigners in the Afghan capital early Wednesday, just hours after
By Jonathan S. Landay and Lesley Clark, McClatchy Newspapers – KABUL — President Barack Obama told Americans Tuesday that after a decade of post-September 11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, “we can
By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Counted together, independent evangelical congregations comprise one of the largest religious groups in the nation, after their evangelical compadres in the Southern Baptist Convention
The Seattle Times – SEATTLE — Wind and rain began driving a few May Day protesters away Tuesday evening, hours after a cluster of about 75 demonstrators dressed in black and carrying
By Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The Obama administration on Tuesday granted the Treasury Department authority to blacklist foreign nationals and companies that help Iran and Syria evade U.S. and
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Thousands of tons of military equipment intended for the Afghan army and police is stranded in Pakistan, which for months has refused to
By Brian Bennett and Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden was devising a strategy for overthrowing Afghan President Hamid Karzai and controlling Afghanistan once the U.S. left the
By Jonathan S. Landay and Ali Safi, McClatchy Newspapers – KABUL, Afghanistan — President Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan late Tuesday to sign a far-reaching pact governing U.S. support for the embattled nation
By Laura King and Aimal Yaqubi, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — Once again, NATO officials and Afghan villagers are telling dramatically different stories about a night raid: an attack in
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — Rupert Murdoch “exhibited willful blindness” toward the illegal phone hacking that was rife at the News of the World tabloid and is “not
By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden’s personal notes and letters, which were seized a year ago in the U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan, show
By Chuck Lindell, Austin American-Statesman – AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Austin ruled Monday that Texas officials cannot exclude Planned Parenthood from a health care and contraception program for low-income
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers – ISLAMABAD — A year after Osama bin Laden was found and killed, Pakistan still harbors, willingly or unwillingly, America’s greatest enemies: current al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri