Guest Columns

By Michael Tidemann “The Death Boat” is a gripping account of a tragic boating accident the night of July 28, 1929, that claimed nine lives of West Lake Okoboji in northwest Iowa. Author Lloyd B. Cunningham lives in Lakeland, Fla., and summers at West Lake Okoboji. Cunningham, a photographer for nearly 40 years for the…

By Michael Tidemann Martha Forsyth Haut, formerly of Estherville, Iowa, and now living in Joplin, Mo., has penned a remarkable trilogy of historical novels that chronicles the human side of war-ravaged southwestern Missouri during the Civil War. In the first novel of The Weller/Martin Trilogy, “Left”, the author tells the raw and bitter tale of…

‘Black ‘47’ was the worst of the disaster By Tom Emery, historian Though the people of Ireland are known for their engaging manner, the history of the nation is rife with sadness. The infamous potato famine, however, stands alone. The worst year of the famine, 1847, was so stark that it was dubbed “Black ’47”…

By Matt Geiger, Executive Editor – News Publishing Co. Black Earth, Wis. “Everything in this newspaper is important to someone.” It’s become something of a mantra for me, in recent years. Weekly community newspapers are eclectic, to say the least. We publish photos of ribbons being cut at bakeries, and donations being dropped off at local food pantries.…

Welcome to Sunshine Week, a national effort to promote openness in government. Sunshine Week is brought to you by the American Society of News Editors and Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. When we are experiencing ?Äúfake news,?Äù ?Äúalternative facts,?Äù frequent falsehoods and efforts to label journalists as ?Äúenemies of the people,?Äù there is…