While our newspaper has had many names and leaders over the years, our goal to keep Central Iowa informed has not wavered. A building fire in the 1900s and a tornado hitting our building a few months ago did not stop us from getting the news out. The strength of a newspaper goes hand in hand ...

Iowa tragically lost two young women — Mollie Tibbetts and Celia Barquin Arozamena — recently. The stories have not only shaken our state, but they have made their way around the world. While their lives should be fondly remembered and not politicized, our communities must look at the ...

In light of the past two months in Marshalltown, annual community celebrations mean more than ever. Oktemberfest and Marshalltown High School’s homecoming have always been about pride for our city, but this year it means a little bit more. The celebrations come just more than two months ...

Since human beings first learned to cultivate the soil, harvest time has had extraordinary significance. In earlier centuries, good crops meant prosperity and security. They signaled that the winter months just ahead could be faced without fear of starvation. In 21st-century Iowa, harvest ...

No doubt many eyes are on Moscow after the revelation recently that an attempt to hack into the Democrat National Committee’s computers was thwarted. Coming two years after Russian hackers stole information from the DNC database, the new attempted electronic B&E does raise questions ...

Pope Francis took precisely the correct attitude in his letter responding to a grand jury investigation of sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania. “The missive admitted that too many in the Roman Catholic church “showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them.” Since it was ...