Founded in 2010
News & Entertainment for Mason City, Clear Lake & the Entire North Iowa Region
By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s prime minister fired the country’s defense secretary Wednesday for “gross misconduct and illegal action,” the latest salvo in a growing conflict between the
By Alex Rodriguez and Zulfiqar Ali, Los Angeles Times – ISLAMABAD and PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A U.S. drone missile strike killed four suspected militants in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday, ending a six-week hiatus
By Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Sandels, Los Angeles Times – TEHRAN and BEIRUT — An Iranian nuclear scientist was killed Wednesday morning when a bomb ripped through his car in a northern Tehran
By David G. Savage, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — The hushed and hallowed halls of the U.S. Supreme Court are not a place one usually goes to hear discussions of nudity, sex
By Frances Robles, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — Half the money world governments pledged to Haiti never showed up. Half the money American private donors raised for Haiti hasn’t been spent. And many
WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2011-The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) must be built to meet the evolving needs of a 21st century agricultural economy, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Monday in presenting USDA’s
By Zulfiqar Ali and Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times – PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A bomb blast killed at least 29 people Tuesday at a bus terminal along the Afghan border and may have
By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times – BEIJING — Even the police are driving Porsches. Chinese officials love their cars — big, fancy, expensive cars. A chocolate-colored Bentley worth $560,000 is cruising the
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — First, he struggled to name a single book he’d read, except for “parts” of the Bible. Then he couldn’t quote the minimum wage
By Laura King, Los Angeles Times – KABUL, Afghanistan — In the gray light of each cold dawn, the parents of 10-month-old Shoaib hold their own breath as they listen for the rasp
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times – MEXICO CITY — Authorities on Monday discovered 13 bodies dumped at a gas station near the city of Zitacuaro, about 90 miles west of Mexico City in
By Alan Boswell, McClatchy Newspapers – NAIROBI, Kenya — Threats of genocide and ethnically charged rhetoric are roiling South Sudan’s Jonglei state one week after a days-long rampage by a tribal militia forced
By Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times – TEHRAN, Iran — A court in Tehran has sentenced to death a former U.S. Marine of Iranian descent who was convicted of spying
By John M. Glionna, Los Angeles Times – SEOUL, South Korea — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner faces a stiff challenge this week as he tries to persuade China, Japan and South
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Parsippany, January 8, 2012 – Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. (NCH) announced today that it is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle packaging configurations of Excedrin® and NoDoz® products with expiry dates
By Antonio Maria Delgado, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — The United States has ordered the expulsion of Venezuela’s consul general in Miami after allegations surfaced that she discussed possible cyber-attacks on U.S. soil
By Ashley Powers, Los Angeles Times – TUCSON, Ariz. — Gabrielle Giffords waved her left hand. Thousands of people cheered. The Democratic congresswoman’s appearance Sunday, exactly a year after she was shot in
Melody Gutierrez, The Sacramento Bee, Calif. – High school teacher Jennifer Kennedy has a prepared response for students who send her “friend” requests on Facebook. No. Or, at least not until they graduate.
Randal Yakey, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla. – PANAMA CITY As the big orange ball begins to sink over St. Andrew Bay, the homeless begin to make their way back to
Ted Jackovics, Tampa Tribune, Fla. – TAMPA — Nearly 50 years have passed since the Cuban Missile Crisis, but you wouldn’t know it from rhetoric circulating in advance of the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
By Ludmilla Lelis, The Orlando Sentinel – ORLANDO, Fla. — Talk about a lucky penny. It was actually worth $1 million. That was the final bid by an unknown buyer for the one-cent
By Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — When Lt. Marie Hannah retired from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in 2010, she left with the well-wishes of her colleagues, a
By Alexandra Zavis and Rima Marrouch, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — A bomb rocked the Syrian capital Friday, killing as many as 26 people, injuring dozens more and leaving pools of blood,
By Juan O. Tamayo, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — Putting to rest rumors that he had died, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has published his first column in nearly two months — a
By David Barber – WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Eleven people died when a hot air balloon caught fire after hitting a power line as it was landing 55 miles north of New
The Yomiuri Shimbun – TOKYO — Using particles from space to look into the heart of nuclear reactors — this is the goal of researchers at Nagoya University. The Yomiuri Shimbun has
By Ramadan Al-Fatash – CAIRO — Egypt’s Islamists have stretched their lead in the final round of the country’s landmark parliamentary election, official results showed on Saturday. The party lists of the
By Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times – TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Saturday welcomed the U.S. Navy’s rescue of 13 Iranian fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates in
By Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times – BEIRUT — Thousands of government supporters turned out Saturday for the funeral service for victims of a bombing in Damascus, the Syrian capital, waving flags and
By Chris Kraul, Los Angeles Times – BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian authorities announced the arrests Saturday of 13 suspected members of a powerful drug gang, the latest salvo in the government’s all-out war
By Jeff Abramowitz JERUSALEM, Israel — Hackers who attack Israel need to know they will be attacked back, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Saturday, following a cyberattack on Israeli credit
By Hideo Kamata, The Yomiuri Shimbun – TOKYO — The government and ruling parties of Japan have described the planned increase in the consumption tax rate as a “first step” because they have
By Greg Robb, MarketWatch – CHICAGO — The outlook for the Chinese economy is cloudier than it has been in years, experts said. The road ahead for China is the “great unanswerable question,”
By Pamela M. Prah, Stateline.org – WASHINGTON — The Internet gambling business has always been a lucrative one, but federal law has kept states on the sidelines, barred from tapping into an estimated
By David S. Cloud, Tribune Washington Bureau – WASHINGTON — A Navy destroyer rescued 13 Iranian fishermen held hostage by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea, only days after Tehran warned the U.S.
By Doug Miller, McClatchy Newspapers – CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The security company formerly known as Blackwater has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by six victims or their families in the Sept. 16,
By Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) – MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota wildlife officials are planning a wolf hunting season that puts the long-term survival of the wolf above the of zeal of hunters, an
By Ruben Vives, Los Angeles Times – LOS ANGELES — Amid the photographs of beauty contestants competing in Miss California USA this weekend are those of two young women who are making history.
By Jim Wyss, McClatchy Newspapers – MIAMI — Under pressure at home and facing a fresh wave of economic sanctions, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking the company of friends — in Latin
By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Newspapers – WASHINGTON — An Idaho couple’s dream home will be the center of a legal storm Monday at the Supreme Court. For homebuilders, farmers and major corporations, the