Breaking News

Editorial

Is your family eligible?

For those area families that have a long, proud history of farming the land, it is not too early to think about the 2026 Century Farm and Heritage Farm awards. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig is encouraging eligible farm owners to apply for the 2026 Century and Heritage Farm Program. The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and recognizes families that have owned their farm for 100 years in the case of Century Farms and 150 years for Heritage Farms. It has been about 193 years since land that is ...

Area residents must take advantage of Fort Dodge Regional’s air service

Skywest Airlines Inc., which does business as United Express, is nearing a milestone in its relationship with the Fort Dodge area. On March 1, it will mark five years of flying to and from Fort Dodge Regional Airport, providing a service that enables travelers to make easy connections to cities all over the world served by United Airlines. All of us have a big role to play to make sure that service stays at Fort Dodge Regional Airport. To do that, local people need to make an effort to use that airline and the airport for all their flight needs. United Express is flying 50-seat ...

Have a safe Super Bowl Sunday

There is one more professional football game to be played in the 2025-2026 season. There are few Americans who have not heard of this particular contest called the Super Bowl. The sporting event that will take place Sunday evening has essentially no equal. Sure, there are the Olympics, the World Series, the Stanley Cup finals and the NBA championships. The excitement of those events are all spread over a number of days. Sunday’s Super Bowl, however, will pack all the excitement into a few intense hours. The upcoming clash will pit the AFC champion New England Patriots against ...

Progress coming in the quest for child care options in Fort Dodge

For a long time, parents of young children in Fort Dodge and Webster County have faced a dilemma — how are their children going to be properly cared for while they are at work? It’s possible that some parents never find the answer to that question and end up staying out of the workforce. There are a number of very good local child care providers, but there just aren’t enough of them to meet the demand. All of the openings in their programs are filled as soon as they become available. That’s why it’s nice to see some scaffolding and stacks of building materials in front ...

Nestle Purina boosts veterinary technician program

For decades, Iowa Central Community College has worked to help address the health care needs of the area by training generations of nurses, paramedics and X-ray technicians. Now the college is moving to help meet the health care needs of all the animals in the region. Because northern Iowa is an agricultural area, there is a lot of livestock that needs some veterinary attention. Plus there are all the dogs, cats, hamsters, birds and other pets that are members of so many local families. The college’s relatively new veterinary technician program received a huge boost recently from a ...

Parochial schools serve area well

There has been a Catholic school system in Fort Dodge for almost as long as this town has been in existence. There are other towns in the area The Messenger serves that can make similar claims. The same can be said for St. Paul Lutheran School in Fort Dodge. Both schools will celebrate their heritage this week as both Catholic Schools Week and Lutheran Schools Week will be marked at the same time. Both commemorative weeks started Sunday and will end Saturday. Catholic education got underway in Fort Dodge more than 160 years ago. The first Catholic school came into being during the ...