John Cullen began publishing The Storm Lake Times as a weekly newspaper, on June 29, 1990. It was delivered on Fridays. In 1993, the Times moved to daily publication, then to twice weekly the following year.[4][5] The Times became a direct competitor to The Storm Lake Pilot Tribune, which had been publishing in the town since 1870.[6]
Times Editor Art Cullen received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Writing for a series of editorials on dark money in corporate agriculture in Iowa. Cullen's coverage of corporate funds being used by the local public utility to fight a federal lawsuit related to the release of nitrates into drinking water earned him national acclaim.[7][8] The newspaper's coverage of ethnicity-related issues in Storm Lake, where 21 percent of residents are Latino, also earned praise from The Los Angeles Times.[9]
On October 20, 2007, The Times was mentioned by The New York Times and ABC's George Stephanopoulos for being the first newspaper to endorse a presidential candidate, Joe Biden, months ahead of the Iowa caucuses.[10]
On May 7, 2008, The Times again received national attention for a story written by reporter Jake Kurtz about Dale Davis, a blind World War II veteran who bowled a perfect 300 game at Century Lanes in Alta, Iowa.[11]
The Times is printed in broadsheet format. A complete online version is available by subscription. There is also a website. Each issue has three sections: Front/News, Sports, and Family & Friends.
An average issue of The Times includes 50 or more news and sports photographs, about one-third of them in color.[citation needed] The sports department covers eight high schools (Storm Lake, Storm Lake St. Mary's, Alta, Newell-Fonda, Schaller-Crestland, Sioux Central, Aurelia, Laurens-Marathon) and one college (Buena Vista University).[citation needed] Nearly 600 area cooks have been featured in the "My Favorite Recipes" weekly feature.[citation needed]
