Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Navy has begun issuing emergency relief checks to residents forced from their homes after a Navy fighter jet crashed into an
Rosemary R. Sobol, Chicago Tribune – A woman suffered a head injury when her hair was pulled into a corn bottling machine while working at a plant in southwest suburban Bedford Park
By John Byrne, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO—Expensive solar-powered garbage receptacles are being removed from around downtown Chicago before next month’s NATO summit in favor of wire trash cans that police can more easily
By Sergei Loiko, Los Angeles Times – MOSCOW—Russian authorities relented Sunday and let demonstrators wearing white ribbons take to the cobblestones of Moscow’s Red Square, strolling unhindered past the Kremlin walls and the
By Susan Schrock, McClatchy Newspapers – ARLINGTON, Texas — As an EF-2 tornado tore its way along Arlington’s western edge Tuesday afternoon, warning sirens wailed for 23 minutes straight, warning residents in the
By David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers – BEIRUT—Contradicting reports from the United Nations last week that Syria’s government had agreed to a cease-fire that would have gone into effect on Thursday, the Syrian government
By Hugh Lessig, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) – VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Investigators expressed relief — and utter amazement — on Saturday at the light casualties reported after an F-18 fighter
By Sue Ter Maat and Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — The morning Lake Forest High School freshman Will Laskero-Teskoski died, his mother had tried desperately to get him to talk
By David Colker, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — It sounds like the stuff of urban legends, but the official Chinese Xinhua News Agency is reporting that five people have been
By Arelis R. Hernandez, The Orlando Sentinel – DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — More than 40 days after a South Florida teenager was shot to death in Sanford, Fla., college students are trekking
By Nan Austin and Rosalio Ahumada, McClatchy Newspapers – MODESTO, Calif. — It’s over, says Jordan Powers, the 18-year-old California high school student who quit school to move in with her former
Los Angeles Times – REYHANLI, Turkey — Somewhere in Syria near the border with Turkey, thousands of refugees are hunkered down in a makeshift camp, afraid to go forward or go back.
By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers – MEXICO CITY — Two years after the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history, Mexico’s state oil company is about to test its hand at drilling
By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times – VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Robert Leggett is accustomed to the deep roar of Navy jet fighter planes flying over his rooftop in this military town.
By Sajjad Malik ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — An avalanche buried as many as 130 Pakistani soldiers in the country’s Himalayan region, an army officer said Saturday. The incident occurred early Saturday in the
By Alisa Priddle, Detroit Free Press – DETROIT — Ford announced it will spend $600 million to expand in Chongqing, China, just weeks before the Beijing auto show, where Chrysler will announce the
By Anand Gopal, McClatchy Newspapers HATAY, Turkey — Wounded Syrians being treated in hospitals here are providing detailed accounts of a bloody battle for the town of Taftanaz in northern Syria earlier this
By Mike Holtzclaw, Newport News (Va.) Daily Press – VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Fire crews are searching an apartment complex near Naval Air Station Oceana that was struck Friday by a Navy jet,
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times – SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — As far as the eye could see up and down the main street were rows of red plastic chairs lined up for a
By Wolfgang Jung – MOSCOW — Russian space agency Roskosmos and the European Space Agency signed a statement of intent Friday to launch a mission to explore Mars. From 2016, the ExoMars
By Seema Mehta, Los Angeles Times – Rick Santorum’s youngest daughter, Bella, who suffers from a severe genetic disorder, has been hospitalized, the presidential candidate’s campaign announced Friday. “Rick and his wife
By Jon Lender, The Hartford Courant – HARTFORD, Conn. — Charla Nash says she still can’t remember the brutal attack by a chimpanzee that tore off her face and hands and blinded
By David Ovalle, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — With the worldwide scrutiny of “Stand Your Ground” law after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, criminal-defense lawyers statewide fear that the widespread publicity will
By Daniela Altimari and Jon Lender, The Hartford Courant – HARTFORD. Conn. — Connecticut is poised to become the 17th state to abolish the death penalty after the Senate passed a bill Thursday
By Jeff Gelles, The Philadelphia Inquirer – PHILADELPHIA — Here’s what’s happening on the plugged-in side of the digital divide: an extraordinarily swift change in how people are reading books and other media,
By David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers – BEIRUT — The Syrian military stepped up its campaign against anti-government rebels Thursday as a deadline for the government to implement a U.N.-sponsored peace plan approached, while
By Kimi Yoshino, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Despite dire financial straits, octuplets mother Nadya Suleman said she is still capable of being a good mother and supporting her brood of
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON—A war of words between Turkish and Iranian leaders intensified Thursday, threatening to delay or even scuttle a new round of talks between Iran and world
By Joel Greenberg, McClatchy Newspapers – HEBRON, West Bank — Israeli police evicted Jewish settlers Wednesday from a house in this volatile West Bank city, heading off what they feared was an attempt
By David Heinzmann, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — After weeks of disagreement, the city of Chicago and anti-war demonstrators have settled on an alternate route for a protest march on the first day
ISLAMABAD — At least six people were killed Wednesday when a roadside bomb struck a pickup in Pakistan’s restive northwest, an official said. The incident occurred in Jamrud town in the Khyber
By Lutfi Sheriff Mohammed and Robyn Dixon, Los Angeles Times – MOGADISHU, Somalia — It was supposed to be a symbol of hope: The newly reopened National Theater was the most potent sign
By Andrew Blankstein, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Investigators found a white, crystalline substance and spoon with residue in the Beverly Hills hotel room where Whitney Houston died in February, according
By Aimal Yaqubi and Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber attacked a group of NATO service members and Afghan security officials in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing
MCT FORUM – By Blaine Harden, Los Angeles Times – Joining my 9-year-old daughter and a sizable slice of the American population, I queued up last week to watch “The Hunger Games.” My daughter
By Ali Safi, McClatchy Newspapers – KABUL, Afghanistan — Three American soldiers were among at least nine people who were killed Wednesday when a suicide bomber wearing civilian clothes blew himself up in
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske, Los Angeles Times – HOUSTON — By the time the ominous black and gray clouds cleared, meteorologists had classified the tornado on their five-point scale as an EF 3, a
By Ryan Haggerty, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Ninety-three people have been sickened by a nationwide salmonella outbreak, but a source of the cases has not been confirmed yet, health officials said Wednesday.
By Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — The Pentagon on Wednesday cleared the way for a death penalty trial against five Guantanamo Bay captives charged with engineering the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
By Becky Yerak, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Boots, an 11-year-old cat from Berwyn, Ill., has narrowly avoided using up the last of her nine lives, thanks to trust officers at Fifth Third