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Elanco, Iowa Central launch innovative apprenticeship program

Editorial

Every industrial facility needs people to keep all of the different systems running so that the site can fulfill its mission of making products that are wanted and needed. But in this region it can be hard to find the people with the skills to perform those maintenance mechanic jobs. The obvious answer is to train people so that they have the needed skills, but that can be a big task to take on. That is what makes a new partnership between Iowa Central Community College and Elanco, a Fort Dodge manufacturer of vaccines and medicines that veterinarians depend on, so exciting. In the ...

Supporting veterans in their greatest time of need

Local Columns

Throughout my tenure in Congress, I have been committed to ensuring Iowa’s veterans have the resources they need. The brave men and women who have selflessly worn our nation’s uniform have made extraordinary sacrifices for our freedom. While we can never fully repay them for their service, ...

Safety is driving construction of roundabouts

Editorial

One of the various construction projects impacting local drivers this summer is north of Fort Dodge, where Nelson Avenue and 170th Street intersect. That road juncture just south of Fort Dodge Regional Airport is being converted from a traditional one in which the roads meet at right angles to each other to a circular one called a roundabout. If it seems like you are seeing more and more roundabouts as you drive around, it is because there are more of them. There are 150 roundabouts in the state, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The local inventory already ...

Shellabration Inc. is asset to Fort Dodge

Editorial

Jim Reed and all the other volunteers who make up Shellabration Inc. have done it again. On Saturday night, about 4,400 people crammed into the intersection of Central Avenue and Ninth Street for this year's Fort Dodge Country Jam concert. They were treated to rousing performances by Travis Tritt, Blake Jack & 35 South and Fort Dodge’s own Stadium Dr. Local volunteers worked behind the scenes for months to make the show possible, then shifted into really high gear a couple days before the concert to get everything set up. Because of major road construction projects, the concert ...

Says Iran war won’t make America great

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: I learned something about war this week. All people who serve our country in the armed forces deserve recognition no matter what job they do. They go to protect us and our country. So our government changing a count from 18 to 14 deaths is wrong. The Vietnam War in one month lost 43 of our youth. These soldiers are being remembered by another soldier for their serving us. As told to me, you never knew if you would come back from a mission to go again. Do you approve of the war we’re in now? How many more are we going to lose before this ends? I’m praying ...

Nothing compares to the Iowa State Fair

Editorial

The time for eating all kinds of food on a stick while gazing at a cow sculpted in butter has arrived. Yes, we are talking about the Iowa State Fair, which begins Thursday and continues through Aug. 23. It may well be the grandest of our nation’s state agricultural festivals. Iowans gathered in Fairfield for the first state fair in 1854 — just eight years after achieving statehood. That fair boasted an attendance of about 8,000. In the early years, the fair’s venue changed frequently. It wasn’t until 1879 that Des Moines became its home. It took up residence at the present ...