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Concerns raised over animal control response

Questions about a 45-day lapse in animal control response drew scrutiny Tuesday at the Webster County Board of Supervisors meeting. Supervisor Niki Conrad pressed the county’s contracted provider for answers about missed calls and response time reports she said she had repeatedly requested after receiving multiple complaints from citizens. Conrad said the supervisors never received those reports. Blaine Hepp, owner of Total Animal Control, told supervisors that dispatch messages had gone to his spam folder, leaving him without calls or messages for animal control response from ...

Fields sailed the Atlantic, Pacific in the Navy

Editor’s note: This story first appeared in November 2025. GOWRIE — Kenneth Fields enlisted in the Navy seeking some good technical training and some adventure. The Gowrie man got both of those things in a 10-year Navy career in which he sailed in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and the ...

Crunch time

Today is the final day to vote in the 2026 general election. All polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday. A list of polling places and a map showing their locations is on page A2 of today’s edition of The Messenger. Voters in and around Webster County will be picking a U.S. ...

Sand will be Iowa’s next governor

DES MOINES — Iowa voters chose Democrat Rob Sand to be their next governor, flipping the seat Republicans have held for more than two decades and likely ushering in a new era of divided state government. Sand defeated Zach Lahn, a first-time candidate who surprised even members of his own ...

Supervisors to vote on Marker 126 rezoning request

A proposal to open nearly 64 acres near Marker 126 to industrial development will return to the Webster County Board of Supervisors today for a final public hearing and a decision on whether the rezoning should proceed. The meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Webster County Courthouse. It will include the third and final public hearing on Kevin Stumpf’s request to rezone two vacant parcels totaling approximately 63.9 acres from Agricultural Preservation District to Industrial District. The land lies north of U.S. Highway 20 on both sides of Poplar Avenue, near the Marker 126 travel ...

Turek defeats Hinson in Iowa U.S. Senate race

DES MOINES — Josh Turek won Iowa's rare open U.S. Senate race in Tuesday's midterm elections, flipping a Republican-held seat and becoming the first Democrat since Barack Obama to win a federal race in the state. Turek defeated Republican Ashley Hinson to succeed retiring two-term ...