Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch – NEW YORK — U.S. stocks finished mostly higher Tuesday after European officials agreed to another round of aid for Greece, pushing the Dow industrials briefly above 13,000 for
By Sahar Issa, McClatchy Newspapers – BAGHDAD — The departure of al-Qaida-affiliated fighters from Iraq to join the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad in Syria has had one benefit, Iraqi officials say:
By Sandi Doughton, The Seattle Times – VANCOUVER, B.C. — Scientists are still unraveling last year’s giant Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and some of what they’re finding doesn’t bode well for
By W.J. Hennigan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The F-35, the military’s next-generation fighter jet, has begun its first flight tests carrying external missiles at Edwards Air Force Base in the
By Pratibha Tuladhar – KATMANDU, Nepal — Police in Nepal arrested 80 people on Monday for using cannabis at the country’s biggest Hindu temple, in the capital Katmandu, where celebrations for the
By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Three skiers died Sunday in a Washington avalanche. Another was saved by a new safety device called a flotation air bag — equipment
By Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers – CAIRO — The Arab League’s sharp internal divisions over how hard to push for regime change in Syria are hampering its ability to lead negotiations toward resolving
By Ali Safi, McClatchy Newspapers – KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomber killed an Afghan police officer and a young girl Monday in the restive southern city of Kandahar, local officials said.
By Tim Johnson, McClatchy Newspapers – MEXICO CITY — Prison guards apparently let inmates who belonged to the brutal Los Zetas gang bludgeon to death scores of rivals from the Gulf Cartel during
Brady Gervais, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. – A Forest Lake police officer exercised poor judgment and should be suspended for at least a week for shooting and killing two deer last month,
Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King and Senators Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin released the following statements today after the U.S. Department of Defense announced that the Navy named five new ships, including
By Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times – JERUSALEM—Instability in Syria poses stark security risks for Israel, but it also offers a chance to deliver a stinging blow to Iran’s regional ambitions and even
By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times – WASHINGTON — It was an offer that turned out to be pretty easy to refuse. A cache of 6,000 U.S. Treasury bonds — each with a
By Tiffany Hsu and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Millions of Chinese have come to love Big Macs and Whoppers. So when a California-inspired chain put up signs in
By Kim Christensen, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — The mother of a Santa Barbara County teenager says he was wronged twice — once by the 450-pound Boy Scout leader who sexually
By Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Iran said Sunday that it was cutting off oil exports to France and Britain in a pre-emptive strike against European economic sanctions, while
By Mark J. Price, Akron Beacon Journal – AKRON, Ohio — If it hadn’t been for Akron ingenuity, astronaut John Glenn might have had to circle the planet in his skivvies. The B.F.
By Brian M. Rosenthal, The Seattle Times – SEATTLE — Avalanches just minutes apart killed four people at two resorts Sunday — one burying three skiers at Stevens Pass ski resort in the
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — “I will be the first woman president of Mexico.” Thus declared Josefina Vazquez Mota on the night this month when she was crowned
By Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — During his visit to the United States this week, China’s heir apparent, Xi Jinping, appeared personable to American audiences and resolute to audiences back
By Sheera Frenkel, McClatchy Newspapers – EILAT, Israel — Sparks flew across the desert sand as Mohammad Omar welded barbed wire to the top of a 16-foot fence that winds its way across
By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times – SEATTLE — One of the last significant hurdles to offshore oil drilling in the Arctic was cleared Friday with approval of a plan to deal with
By John Reitmeyer and Juliet Fletcher, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.) – TRENTON, N.J. — About 24 hours after New Jersey lawmakers sent a same-sex marriage bill to his desk, Gov. Chris Christie sent
By Sheera Frenkel, McClatchy Newspapers – EILAT, Israel — Sparks flew across the desert sand as Mohammad Omar welded barbed wire to the top of a 16-foot fence that winds its way across
By Richard A. Serrano, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — An immigrant from Morocco armed with a jammed automatic weapon and wearing a suicide vest packed with what he thought were explosives was
By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times – LONDON — In a major embarrassment for Chancellor Angela Merkel, German President Christian Wulff resigned Friday after weeks of a brewing scandal over favors he allegedly
By Dan Weikel and Ari Bloomekatz, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — A small private plane carrying a load of marijuana strayed into President Barack Obama’s no-fly zone over Los Angeles Thursday
By Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping swept into Los Angeles on Thursday for a brief but action-packed visit that will include a stop at
By Rebecca Trounson, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — California and the Western United States are leading a nationwide surge in interracial marriage, according to a new study that paints a picture
By Ian Duncan, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation wants to employ technology against technology in its campaign against distracted driving. Cars should be designed to refuse to
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A Israeli bombing attack might set back Iran’s nuclear development program by one to two years, America’s top intelligence official told a Senate committee
By Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Al-Qaida’s Iraqi affiliate appears to have infiltrated Syrian opposition groups and was probably responsible for recent suicide bombings in Damascus and the industrial capital
By Ken Dilanian, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — Senior U.S. intelligence officials offered a bleak view of the war in Afghanistan in testimony to Congress on Thursday, an assessment they acknowledged was
By David Ashenfelter, Detroit Free Press – DETROIT — A federal judge imposed multiple life sentences Thursday on failed underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound jetliner on
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers – ISLAMABAD — An angry Afghan President Hamid Karzai confronted the Pakistani leadership Thursday, demanding that it produce Taliban officials for peace talks and underscoring the distrust between
Gregg Hennigan, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa – DES MOINES —Chinese buyers made commitments Wednesday to buy $4.3 billion worth of U.S. soybeans in the upcoming market year. The event in Des Moines
(DES MOINES) – The following message is a pool report from Xi Jinping’s visit to a farm just outside Des Moines, Iowa / written by Kyle Munson of The Des Moines Register
By Patrick J. McDonnell and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Iran on Wednesday heralded what it called a pair of significant advances in its controversial nuclear research efforts, but Western
(MUSCATINE) – The following message is a Pool report from Xi Jinping’s visit to Muscatine, Iowa written by Owen Fletcher of The Wall Street Journal. People in the room at Sarah Lande’s
By Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, that country’s likely next leader, urged the United States on Wednesday to reduce its “misunderstanding and suspicion” of China and