Iowa is a great place to live. Its economy is strong and the quality of life it affords has few equals anywhere in the nation. Even so, some of our state’s rural communities aren’t fully sharing the generally upbeat prognosis for the Hawkeye State’s future. Gov. Kim Reynolds is ...

A fresh, new look may be coming to the main street of downtown Eagle Grove. Leaders of the Wright County community are considering upgrades to West Broadway Street that include better sidewalks and lighting. The construction of the new wastewater treatment facility to serve the recently ...

A fun and tasty event will return to downtown Fort Dodge today. Main Street Fort Dodge is orchestrating Lunch on the Square from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The goal is to get more people to come downtown to enjoy a festive lunch hour and also spend some time in the shops that are revitalizing the ...

Three local girls who hope to someday have more stores to visit in the Crossroads Mall recently made an effort to try to make that happen. In the process, they set an outstanding example of how to be constructive members of the community who try to solve problems. An article in a Scholastic ...

Among the panoply of giveaways promised by this election cycle’s field of Democrats is free college. At least 15 candidates are all in and chances are that number will increase. In April, Liz Warren tweeted, “I’m calling for universal free college and the cancellation of student loan ...

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 17 that if you are convicted in a state court of a criminal offense, the federal government can put you on trial again for essentially the same crime, and if you’re convicted, your new sentence can be added to your old one. In our view, that’s a ...

The partisan divide in Congress has resulted in a near stalemate on many important issues that require government action. There is fierce disagreement between the political parties on many policy matters. There was a time when members of the House and Senate made a strong effort to craft ...

In every town there are special people who contribute to the success of the community through the giving things they do. These folks — whose selfless contributions make life better for others in their hometowns – sometimes go unacknowledged. That’s unfortunate because many of the people ...

Iowa’s booming economy has produced one of the nation’s best environments for job seekers. The most recent government statistics put the unemployment rate here at 2.4 percent, which means the Hawkeye State is tied for third place among all American states. Our state has been a national ...

Attractive parks are a big part of what makes a community enticing. They’re a key element to creating the quality of life that causes people to want to live and work in a given place. Snell-Crawford Park, which is nestled in a valley between Williams Drive and North 15th Street, is one of ...

The new head of the Iowa Parole Board is someone very familiar to Fort Dodgers who is well-suited for the job. Former state Rep. Helen Miller, who served Fort Dodge and northern Webster County in the legislature for 16 years, was recently selected by Gov. Kim Reynolds to lead the ...

Keeping our nation’s economy booming is a key goal of President Donald Trump and his administration. Making sure that America’s workforce has the skills and mobility to enable continued economic growth is an important part of the strategy. With that in mind, the president invited eight ...

When will immigration reform get the attention it needs? That imposition of tariffs on Mexico was averted is, as we said in our June 9 editorial, good news, for a variety of reasons — largely economic. A U.S.-Mexico agreement, announced by President Trump on June 7, to prevent the tariffs ...

Foreign governments frequently have reasons to try to influence our nation’s governmental institutions. Sometimes these efforts are clandestine such as the Russian intrusions into our electoral processes in 2016. Often, however, they are relatively straightforward endeavors. Lobbying efforts ...

Father’s Day is upon us once again. That’s good news for the greeting card vendors. In recent years, they have sold upwards of 100 million cards to Americans intent on paying tribute to good old dad. About half of those cards are purchased by dutiful sons and daughters. Wives honoring a man ...

If indeed Iran is behind recent attacks on several tanker ships carrying petroleum products, action by the world community — not just the United States — may be necessary. But as of Thursday, only circumstantial evidence of Iranian complicity had been provided. It was on that day that two ...

Gov. Kim Reynolds stressed in her Condition of the State Address in January that there is a need to strengthen our state’s mental health systems. In the months that followed, she received strong support in the Legislature for additional funding and innovative initiatives. While there has been ...

For a few hours Saturday night, Fort Dodge was the heart of rock and roll for Iowa. Some 6.800 people gathered at Harlan and Hazel Rogers Sports Complex to hear Sammy Hagar and The Circle, Vince Neil and Wild Ambition. The crowd that happily listened to Hagar and Neil belt out their ...

Downtown Fort Dodge is on the rebound. During the last several years, storefronts up and down Central Avenue and on nearby streets that have too long been vacant are once again coming to life commercially. The city’s historic business district is becoming the home to an impressive array of ...

Late last month, President Trump threatened to impose a 5 percent tariff on all goods imported to the U.S. from its biggest trading partner, Mexico, beginning June 10 and increase those tariffs by 5 percent each month to a permanent level of 25 percent in October unless Mexico satisfied him it ...