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Editorial

Certified site will add to momentum in Fort Dodge and Webster County

To the vast majority of Americans who are not in the business of finding locations where businesses can build huge new facilities, the concept of a certified site likely seems irrelevant to their lives. But having a certified site nearby means their community can attract businesses faster than many others. That means their town will grow, bringing more jobs, more business, more places to eat and more tax revenue to pay for everything from police officer salaries to swing sets in the parks. Webster County now has the second largest certified site in the state, totaling 720 acres in ...

To benefit their community, bicyclists hit the trails

A large convoy of bicyclists cruised through Fort Dodge and parts of Webster County last weekend. Everyone in the group looked like they were having fun. And while doing so, they made a contribution to the future of their community. The bicycle jaunt was the Prairie Rivers Trail Ride, an annual event in which cyclist pedal in honor of someone and raise money for a cause dear to that person. This year, the ride was in honor of the late Joan Meyer, an avid cyclist and leader of a RAGBRAI team. All the money generated by the ride was despised ina fund managed by the Fort Dodge ...

Elanco, Iowa Central launch innovative apprenticeship program

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 ...

Safety is driving construction of roundabouts

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

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 ...

Nothing compares to the Iowa State Fair

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 ...