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Salutes Messenger coverage

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: I want to commend Chris Johnson for his excellent coverage of musical events at the Fort Dodge schools. He is so thorough, detailed and professional and has an uncanny talent for capturing the enthusiasm of the participants. We really appreciate his intuitive coverage. We are saving all of his articles pertaining to our granddaughter’s participation so this information will be re-read and cherished for many years. Coverage of sports and community activities are also covered in an excellent and readable way by Messenger reporters. Thank you to The Messenger ...

Unhappy with situation in our country

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: It was explained to me that friends and relatives who are better off than some of us lower class people can’t always understand or see the lower class battles with less finances. Confronted by ICE, raise your arms and verbally pray as long as you can. We know what the alternative is. Control your anger and tell others to pray too. I hope your relatives aren’t dark-skinned. Get ready to vote in November. Our country and people are waiting for tariffs and other things to solve our problems. That isn’t going to happen. We need people in offices to work ...

We honor a dream of justice

Editorial

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to be observed Monday, is an appropriate time to recall an exceptional person. But more importantly, it’s a time to recommit the nation to the cause for which King died and the legacy he left for all of us. The famed civil rights leader, assassinated April 4, 1968, was a preacher with a message as important today as it was more than five decades ago. He saw God’s words as fundamentally connected to his call for equality, nonviolence and justice. King’s religious faith was the heart, center and soul of his work. Without God’s word, King believed, ...

Getting the 2026 legislative session started

Local Columns

We are back at the Capitol in Des Moines and the legislative session has officially started. The first week is always busy with speeches from legislative leaders, the governor, the chief justice and the adjutant general. Senate Republicans are proud of the progress our state continues to make. Throughout the last several months, we have seen several successes come from the policies we have moved through the legislature and to the governor’s desk. This last September, we saw 528 Iowa schools improve in one or more performance categories. We saw absenteeism rates decrease, 15,154 ...

Standing up for our farmers and rural communities

Local Columns

As a lifelong Iowan and proud representative of one of the most productive agricultural districts in the country, I will always stand up for Iowa farmers and our rural communities. Since my first day in office, I have been committed to delivering real results for the farmers who feed and fuel our country and the world. Whether that be keeping our farmland out of the hands of foreign adversaries, keeping farmers safe on the job, or ensuring Iowa has a strong voice at the federal level, I take my job serving our producers very seriously. Last week, the Trump administration unveiled great ...

People needed to join the ranks of blood donors

Editorial

The idea of getting poked with a big needle and having some of your blood siphoned out is not at all a pleasant one. However, people who are brave enough to get jabbed and allow some of their blood to be drawn out are a type of hero commonly called a blood donor. They save a lot of lives. Donating blood takes about an hour, according to leaders of LifeServe Blood Center, which has a facility in Fort Dodge. In that hour, a blood donor can save three local lives, they say. Blood and blood products are needed by trauma patients, premature infants, cancer patients, organ transplant ...