Each year the Iowa Pork Producers Association holds a remarkable event – the Iowa Pork Congress. For more than four decades it has been a much-anticipated opportunity for pork producers and assorted experts to come together to share views and information about one of the Hawkeye State’s ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Day, being observed today, 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, ...

As the holiday season draws to a close each year, The Messenger’s writing staff embarks on a challenging adventure — producing a comprehensive look at how a wide array of developments in our region are shaping tomorrow. While every issue of this newspaper is filled with articles, features ...

To paraphrase a popular song often heard during the holidays, the weather outside is in deed frightful. We Iowans, however, are a hardy bunch. We’re used to some heavy duty winter storms. And many of us know that the best way to deal with terrible winter weather is to not deal with it at ...

Producing a trade relationship between the United States and China that is fair to both countries and puts an end to Chinese practices that have harmed the American economy has been a major goal of President Donald Trump. During the last two years, the ongoing negotiations regarding an improved ...

Students in the Manson Northwest Webster Community School District have a new source of support for those days when homework, tests and just about everything else seems overwhelming. Lady is ready to help on those days. Lady doesn’t come to the job with a wall full of degrees and ...

Gov. Kim Reynolds delivered her Condition of the State Address on Tuesday. She asked lawmakers to join with her in making our state fully ready to seize the opportunities open to it in the years ahead. The governor emphasized that the Hawkeye State is well-positioned to approach the future ...

Sadly, sexual assault and harassment are serious problems in contemporary society. It has become apparent in recent years that even institutions admired for their commitment to honor and integrity are not free of unacceptable behavior. The service academies that train the most elite officers in ...

It may be true that no good deed goes unpunished, but only the ever-active Donald Trump could take it upon himself to punish his own good deed. The good deed was ordering the elimination of Iran’s Qasem Soleimani, who as head of Iran’s Quds Force spent his years deploying one strategy: ...

For many decades, Iowans have understood that preserving the state’s soil and water resources is vital if agriculture is to remain a viable pursuit. That’s why farmers and state agencies and private sector groups have long championed conservation practices that will preserve the quality of ...

Iran’s leaders accomplished what they needed to do this week, with a major rocket attack on two areas in Iraq where U.S. troops were housed. They were able to tell their own people they would not allow the “great Satan” — the United States — to push them around. Scores of U.S. ...

Our fellow Americans in Puerto Rico just can’t seem to catch a break. Still attempting to recover from Hurricane Maria in 2017, many on the islands have been affected by a strong earthquake this week. In comparison to the hurricane, which killed nearly 3,000 people and caused nearly $100 ...

Every year around the holidays, the generosity of people who live in and around Fort Dodge blossoms. The familiar red kettles of The Salvation Army get filled with change by people going in and out of stores. Donations flow for initiatives like Share What You Wear, Bikes for Tykes and Coats ...

For 52 years, Gary Miller stood ready to respond to any crisis in and around Vincent. He joined the city’s volunteer fire department in 1965. He started as a firefighter and expanded his skills to also become an emergency medical technician. Miller became the city’s fire chief in 1987 ...

There is no doubt that smoking is bad for people. Puffing away on cigarettes, cigars and pipes is a pathway to an early grave courtesy of heart disease, cancer or emphysema. Nicotine, a health problem in its own right, is in all the tobacco that is smoked. A quick review of medical and ...

Regarding the movement of equity prices, we associate with the words of Alan “Ace” Greenberg, the head of Bear Stearns during the 1987 market crash: “Stocks fluctuate, next question.” The good news in 2019 is that mostly they fluctuated up, which offers a lesson or two. Stock prices ...

Passing new laws is part of the work Congress undertakes. Much of the time lawmakers spend in Washington, however, is devoted to detailed scrutiny of the vast array of federal agencies and programs. Assuring that taxpayer dollars are used as Congress intended and that the programs authorized ...

As we Americans celebrate the beginning of a new decade, we continue to allow a serious challenge to escalate to crisis proportions. It is the national debt — $23.2 trillion as 2020 began. Thoughtful Americans understand the perils of a big national debt. It can increase inflation. It ...

Going to see Lights at Kennedy has been a holiday tradition for many Fort Dodge area families for several years. Each Christmas season, businesses and civic groups have assembled colorful displays full of lights and other decorations in a section of John F. Kennedy Memorial Park north of Fort ...

Today, the members of the Fort Dodge City Council elected in November will be sworn in. The one newly elected member of the council is a familiar face. Andy Fritz, who served as an at-large member of council from 2010 to 2017, was chosen by the voters of Ward 2 on the city’s south side to ...