Breaking News

Our View

Postal Service should not be privatized

As we Americans celebrate the 250th birthday of our country this year, we ought to take a minute to appreciate an often maligned organization that has helped tie the nation together throughout its history. That organization is the United States Postal Service. Even in the age of email, the Postal Service has a key role in helping Americans communicate and do business. We ought to keep it that way. Privatizing the Postal Service would be a mistake that would result in less service and higher costs for citizens. Unfortunately, the concept of privatizing it has come up a couple of ...

Local news still matters

Yesterday, April 9, was the first national Local News Day, but here at the Times-Republican, every day is Local News Day. Our small but mighty team of journalists is present in Marshalltown and Marshall County every day doing what we do best — reporting on what’s happening in our communities, whether it’s our city and county governments, our schools or just a nice human interest feature on people who are making a difference. At the T-R, we still strive to be the most trusted source and the one our thousands of readers — and, at last count, over 22,000 Facebook followers — ...

Working through the weather

Here at the Times-Republican, we do our best to put out a newspaper full of local news, sports, briefs and opinions six days a week and cover as much as we possibly can within Marshall County and our greater coverage area. We’re also Iowans and Marshalltonians, and we know too well that trying to fight the weather often ends in a losing battle. With Tuesday night’s special election results pending, we did our best to get yesterday’s paper finished as early as we could in hopes of beating the impending blizzard and getting to the post office in time. But alas, it wasn’t to be, ...

Do your civic duty — vote

In an off year with no presidential, gubernatorial or congressional races on the ballot, it could be easy to forget about voting altogether. But the races and initiatives Marshalltown and Marshall County residents are being asked to consider are important, and they absolutely warrant our undivided attention. The Marshalltown school board, which regularly makes crucial decisions regarding curriculum, facilities and safety, has four candidates running to fill three at-large four year seats and two more candidates running to serve the final two years of a term. If you haven’t had the ...

Getting out the vote is vital

Leaders of both major political parties agree on one thing: The presidential election scheduled for Tuesday is among the most important in American history. Its outcome will shape our government, economy, even our society for many years to come. Your life and that of your children and grandchildren will be affected profoundly Don’t you want to have a say in the matter? To judge by voter turnouts in previous elections, many of your friends, family members, co-workers and neighbors simply don’t care about how we are governed. They do not bother to vote.  Despite the COVID-19 ...

Strength, resilience are Marshalltown hallmarks

Marshalltown Strong made its reappearance in full force after Monday’s derecho storm. The 99 mph winds and torrential rains brought back memories of the July 2018 tornado. The trauma of the tornado came back to residents as they heard the wind roar through neighborhoods and debris smash ...