Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Toluse Olorunnipa, McClatchy Newspapers – TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., brought an avalanche of criticism directed at Florida’s Stand Your Ground law. Yet the controversial
By Rene Lynch, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A majority of Republicans say the media have gone overboard with their coverage of the Trayvon Martin slaying, and 43 percent of whites
By Dalina Castellanos, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Flight conditions were ideal as the Cessna twin-engine plane flew through the clouds above Sturgeon Bay, Wis. There was a very mild breeze,
By Jim Warren, McClatchy Newspapers – LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky man’s foot was amputated after he was wounded in a shooting incident early Tuesday, Lexington police said. The victim’s name was not
By Sean Cockerham, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — A Bush-era federal law that protects gun dealers from being liable for murders committed with guns from their shops is under fire in an Alaska
By Rosemary Sobol, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — A copper cross that has stood at a Chicago Catholic parish since 1895 was vandalized late Monday or early Tuesday, according to police and the
Dave DeWitte, CR Gazette – The City of Coralville and Von Maur may have to decide whether to go forward with a deal to bring the department store chain to Coralville while
By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The U.S. government has set a $10-million bounty on Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, the founder of a Pakistani militant group with suspected links to
By Kathleen B. Hennessey and Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hosted the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Monday in a White House summit aimed at boosting
By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers – DOMZIN, Iraq — In addition to shooting unarmed civilians, Syrian military personnel routinely have raped women and girls, tortured children and encouraged troops to loot the houses
By Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers – DOMZIN, Iraq — Former Syrian soldiers who have escaped to northern Iraq are telling grisly stories of how their units executed unarmed civilians for demonstrating against the
By Stefan Korshak MOSCOW — A Russian airplane crash that killed 31 people Monday was likely caused by a combination of pilot error and fuselage icing, local media reported Tuesday. The 28-year-old
By Ian Duncan, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa took issue Monday with a study that said there is no evidence a multimillion-dollar anti-gang program has reduced crime,
By Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday pushed for a revival of a ban on assault weapons in the U.S., arguing that the ban’s expiration
DES MOINES, Iowa – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Kansas City Field Division and the Des Moines Police Department announced today ATF is offering a reward of $2,500 for information
AMARILLO, TX—A federal criminal complaint was filed in the Northern District of Texas today that charges JetBlue pilot Clayton Frederick Osbon, 49, with interference with a flight crew, announced U.S. Attorney for
By Brian Bennett, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — U.S. intelligence agencies don’t see signs that Syrian President Bashar Assad is losing his grip on power, said the chairman of the House intelligence
By Ken Dilanian and David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A surveillance aircraft operated by the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command flew over southeast Yemen on the evening of March
By David Ovalle and Diana Moskovitz, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — As more than 1,000 people flocked to Miami’s Bayfront Park Sunday under a blazing sun, Trayvon Martin’s hometown rolled out the most
By Salvador Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A self-driving car being developed by Google Inc. took a blind man for a ride this week, driving him to a Taco Bell
By Ed Fletcher, McClatchy Newspapers – SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Heroin, a drug most often associated with the gritty back alleys of big cities, is making a surprising surge in suburban, affluent places. In
By Manya A. Brachear, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — It’s been three decades since HIV and AIDS invaded Chicago’s South Side and surrounded Bray Temple Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Englewood. But it’s
By Denisa R. Superville, The Record (Hackensack N.J.) – HACKENSACK, N.J. — Sean O’Reilly was 16 when his mother gave him the talk that most black parents give their teenage sons. “Don’t put
By Dahleen Glanton and Dawn Rhodes, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Nineteen-year-old Jonathan Knowles has an array of hoodies hanging in his dorm room closet, scattered among his suits, dress shirts and ties.
By David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers – NEAR RAMTHA, Jordan — Outside a Bedouin shepherd’s tent, in view of the Syrian border, Abu Khalid sits in the grass, a laptop perched on his knees.
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Obama administration cleared the way for tightening sanctions on Iran with a determination that a reduction in the global purchases of Iranian oil
By Paul Richter, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The Obama administration says it has dropped plans to provide 240,000 metric tons of food aid for North Korea over Pyongyang’s plans to launch what
By Neela Banerjee, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON—Days after the Obama administration approved Royal Dutch Shell’s oil spill response plan for drilling in the Arctic Ocean off the Alaskan coast, an independent federal
By Batsheva Sobelman, Los Angeles Times – JERUSALEM — Clashes erupted Friday between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as Israeli security troops remained on high alert throughout
By John Byrne, Kathy Bergen and Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune – CHICAGO — Unveiling a plan for “Building a New Chicago,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday promoted a package of infrastructure initiatives that
By Alan Bavley, McClatchy Newspapers – KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Lauren Shouse wonders why her third child, Luke, is autistic. Was it his difficult birth? Was it something inherited that made her
By Susan Jacobson, The Orlando Sentinel – SANFORD, Fla. — The city of Sanford Thursday night decided that reporters won’t be arrested for pursuing the Trayvon Martin story after normal business hours. A
PARIS — Police in southern France arrested around 20 suspected Islamic extremists early Friday, a news report said. The raids were “not directly linked” to a series of killings this month by
By Donald Bradley, McClatchy Newspapers – KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Nothing stirs up a small town quite like the American Civil Liberties Union. When attorneys for that group demanded that the high school
By Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Federal health authorities have significantly raised their estimate of the prevalence of autism in children, concluding in a new study of 8-year-olds that
By Rick Montgomery, McClatchy Newspapers – KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Say you own a 20-year-old car and intend to drive it beyond the year 2050. It will need some fixing. A challenge similar
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — U.S. and NATO soldiers have been ordered to take extraordinary precautions against being shot by Afghan troops, including designating “guardian angels” to keep
By Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers – BAGHDAD — With its own initiatives having failed, the Arab League is expected Thursday to back a U.N.-led peace plan during a meeting in Iraq, where the
By Mimi Whitefield, Kevin G. Hall and Franco Ordonez, McClatchy Newspapers – HAVANA — Pope Benedict XVI’s whirlwind trip to Cuba neared its Wednesday climax — a papal Mass in Havana’s massive Revolution
By Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — The first to fall in the Korean War are also among the first casualties of the current diplomatic impasse between the United States and North