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Schools are starting - drive safely

Editorial

Even though the calendar shows another month of summer to be enjoyed, for students and teachers, vacation days are ending. All across our area, they are heading back to school. Classes at St. Edmond Catholic School and the Manson Northwest Webster and Southeast Valley school districts began Friday. The fall semester at Iowa Central Community College begins Monday. And Wednesday is the first day of classes in the Fort Dodge Community School District. The first day of classes means a new school year full of learning, activities and opportunities is beginning. It also means that ...

The path to a better life begins at Iowa Central

Local Columns

Our purpose is very simple at Iowa Central Community College. We want students to come to Iowa Central and finish their degree or certification in the shortest amount of time possible, with the least amount of student loan debt, so they can go on and have a better life. It is a purpose we are very passionate about because of the nine-county region we serve. We know that 77 percent of students who graduate from Iowa Central will stay in our service region. By providing an exceptional education at an affordable cost, we are providing our students with the best opportunity to enter the ...

The 10 Commandments

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: The decision to have an abortion or not is up to the woman and her doctor with God’s guidance. The government should have no laws concerning this issue. God gave us the 10 Commandments through Moses in Exodus 20 to live by. The Sixth Commandment states “Thou shalt not kill.” It is not up to the government to make this decision or be our judge. God Almighty will judge each one of us when we stand before his judgment throne to answer for the choices we have made while on this Earth. We should have the 10 Commandments posted in our homes to remind us daily how we ...

Insurrection 2.0

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Just as in 2016 and 2020, Donald Trump is telling his supporters that the only way he can lose the election is if it is rigged. In 2016, Trump lost the election by more than 3 million votes, but won the presidency through the archaic Electoral College. In 2020, Trump lost the election by over 7 million votes and also lost in the Electoral College. As we know to this day, Trump has denied he lost the election even though there has never been a shred of evidence to the contrary. His actions on Jan. 6, 2021, lead to one of the darkest days in our country's history. I ...

A new Backpack Buddies program is needed in Fort Dodge

Editorial

For 14 years, thousands of local kids relied on a unique program to keep their tummies full with good food on the weekends throughout the school year. Each Friday they picked up a backpack, or in more recent years, a bag, filled with nutritious food. That food was courtesy of a program called Backpack Buddies and it was vital for them because of their families’ economic situations. They relied on school breakfasts and lunches during the week for nutritious meals. But the weekends were another story. On Saturdays and Sundays, they may not have gotten much to eat at all and what they ...

Empowering Iowa small businesses to support America

Local Columns

Innovation should not just come from Washington when it is thriving right here in the heartland. In Iowa, small businesses make up 99% of businesses and employ more than 50% of the workers in our state. While these businesses have been put through the wringer by inflation and the unrelenting tsunami of regulations, Washington has punished them in a much less obvious way over the last 15 years — by squeezing them out of selling to the biggest consumer in the country: the federal government. Since Fiscal Year 2008, the number of small businesses competing for federal government ...