On Tuesday, Fort Dodge will vote on whether to create a municipal telecom utility and possibly move into a future where it can create local Internet choice. The alternative is to settle for some of the lowest-rated Internet providers in the nation and hope that some other company will create ...
To give the public more information about the Nov. 5 referendum on a potential municipal broadband utility in Fort Dodge, Ryan Maehl, the assistant director of parks, recreation and forestry, has submitted this outline of key points. Municipal Financing 101 • A broadband network is a ...
Living with mental illness is tough. It’s even harder when it’s written across your face. For most of my life, I’ve struggled with my mental health. I have anxiety, clinical depression, trichotillomania and its cousin, dermatillomania. Trichotillomania is a disorder where you have an ...
I’ve been reading a lot of comments about the crime in Fort Dodge lately. Some people are scared. Some people believe that Fort Dodge is a dangerous place to live. And given the violent nature of some recent crimes in the city, I am sympathetic to those fears. But if I asked you how ...
During my recently completed 39 county town hall tour of the 4th Congressional District, one of the issues that I discussed at nearly every stop was the importance of protecting the Renewable Fuel Standard’s volume obligations. As a member of the Congressional Biofuels Caucus, I welcomed ...
Growing up in a two-story brick house on 16th Street, a block away from Duncombe School, Nancy McCarthy Snyder has always believed there was “something in the water” that seemed to promote education in the Fort Dodge neighborhood where she and her four sisters grew up in the 1950s and ...
Oversight is often a vehicle for change in the federal government. In order to solve a problem, you need to know what it is, how bad it is and why it’s happening. Oversight is an important tool to find answers to those questions as well as ensure the appropriate steps are taken to solve the ...
If you had the opportunity to avoid the third-leading cause of cancer death in the United States, you would, wouldn’t you? Then, why is that that nearly one-third of American adults choose to forgo recommended screenings, putting them at even greater risk for developing late-stage colorectal ...
Recently, the Fort Dodge City Council decided to put a referendum proposal to allow the Council to establish a new government-controlled broadband utility on the Nov. 5 ballot, doing so under the guise of a purported need for faster, cheaper, more reliable internet service in the City of Fort ...
Inappropriate adult behaviors at high school athletic events across the country have reached epidemic proportion. When more than 2,000 high school athletic directors were asked in a recent national survey what they like least about their job, 62.3 % said,”dealing with aggressive parents and ...
Decker Truck Line Inc. is Fort Dodge’s ambassador to travelers on the nation’s highways. Along the millions of miles of U.S. interstates and roadways, the bright red-and-gold semi-trailer trucks operated by its drivers make no secret that they’re from Fort Dodge. The city’s name is ...
Fort Dodge Community: I love the first day of school! As a superintendent, this is by far my favorite day. Everyone is happy. Parents are happy, teachers and staff are happy, and even students (though they will not admit it) are happy. There is something undeniably special about the start of ...
What’s “normal” as you age? Even though urinary incontinence increases with age, it should not be considered “normal” or “part of getting old.” Urinary incontinence is a very common problem among both men and women and can vary in severity and frequency. If the accidental loss ...
Growing up in Fonda, I was always aware of the extraordinary natural resources around us. Ethanol and biodiesel were just coming into their own and our ability to harness wind energy on a big scale was just on the horizon. Today, both of those clean, renewable energy sources are at the ...
Former Vice President Joe Biden said it well, “we choose science over fiction.” The presidential candidate was wrapping up his remarks on July 31, during the second night of Democratic debates in Detroit. His words-in that single sentence, at least-are exactly right. Too often, public ...
Diabetes is a disease whose incidence is rising, like the rivers of Iowa this spring. Contributing to this flood of cases of diabetes are improved screening for the disease, decreased physical demands in our automated world, and easy access and low cost of unhealthy food. Over 30 million people ...
When I showed up to the office Sunday, the top news stories in the country included two mass shootings which had taken place within 24 hours of each other, resulting in 29 lives lost. The top news in our own community included a shooting on Aug. 3, where 20 shots were fired in a residential ...
On many a winter night, Connie and Helen Goodman would climb into their Chevrolet Caprice and start driving west out of Fort Dodge on U.S. 20 to begin their search for a radio signal. Their objective: to tune into their car radio the frequency of the Sioux City station broadcasting the North ...
A few years ago, my doctor recommended a routine heart exam. I would be paying for it out-of-pocket, since I had a high-deductible plan. So naturally I asked what it would cost. After a great deal of effort, I was told the list price was $5,500, and my insurer’s rate was $3,500. But when I ...
A love of poetry and literature is a generational thing for Maureen Micus Crisick — a love inherited from her grandmother and mother, shared with her brother Ed and extended to her own two daughters. “Writing for me is hearing the sounds and the rhythm of the words,” she said. “I just ...