News

Well...I have good news and bad news... The good news is that I got to spend about 30 minutes today video conferencing with Vinton-Shellsburg High School seniors Lillie Lamont and Carli Lang about their first week working with Covid-19 patients in a New Jersey care facility. The bad news is that I apparently messed up the actual recording of the meeting, so instead of you actually getting to see them this time, I'll have to tell you about it.

John Frazier stood in the rain, alongside a Princeton Golden Maple tree that was about to stand in honor of two mothers on Earth Day. The first, Mother Earth, because it was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the other was his wife Carolyn who passed away last year after a battle with cancer. He made a few remarks before planting a tree to honor his wife.

On Wednesday morning around 11:30 a.m. Wending Quarry opened the Vinton Quarry located on 24th Ave. Dr. just north of the airport. Residents said that their house shook and some ran outside thinking someone had run into their homes.Dave Clark who is in charge of the blasting said that they are done blasting and that crews will begin working in the area creating rock for the country roads.

 Congratulations to Lisa Murray for being named a Building Bridges Outstanding Educator Award through the Grant Wood Area Education Agency (GWAEA)! Lisa is one of four educators from across the GWAEA area recognized for demonstrating exceptional knowledge and use of assistive technology with students in the classroom. Lisa is a Special Education Teacher at Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District's Tilford Elementary School.

Thanks to EcoVision, Inc., the authorized U.S. Cellular dealer in Vinton, and the Vinton Shellsburg School District, 40 Vinton-Shellsburg families who didn’t have internet access from home will soon have service. Kelley Lokenvitz, the business development manager for EcoVision’s four Iowa locations, facilitated the assistance for VSCSD students.

COVID-19 and Vinton In an event that our generation has never seen before, a virus called COVID-19 was discovered to have reached our shores. As a result, nearly 30 days ago Governor Kim Reynold informed us of social distancing, the need to stay home, work at home if we can, and stay at least 6 feet apart. Daily updates have been given on the numbers who have contracted the virus, those who have become sick and those that have died in the state of Iowa.

CDC is warning the general public of a new type of phone and phishing scam by criminals posing as CDC representatives, often requesting donations.  According to CDC, most of these fraudulent activities are being conducted by phone, utilizing software to "spoof" phone calls to make them appear as if they are coming from phone numbers that may look familiar.

It's National Telecommunicators Week!I'm sure most of us have called 9-1-1 before. Usually, it's at the worst time of your life. Things are desperately wrong, or someone has been hurt or there's a fire. Maybe you just saw an accident.Whatever the case, there's always a calm voice at the other end of the line asking how they can be of assistance. There's someone asking for your name and address so that they can send help to you.

We live in a time where we need heroes more than we've needed them in a long, long time. Not the kind who wear helmets or sneakers, or the kind who carry hammers or shields; no, we need the kind who carry stethoscopes and wear scrubs.Meet two heroes.Lillie Lamont and Carli Lang are right now supposed to be in the middle of the last semester of their senior years in high school, getting ready for prom, graduation, and futures at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University, respectfully.

The Garrison Fire Auxiliary (Garrison Emergency Services) hosted a different sort of Easter Egg Hunt this year, during social distancing. The Auxillary cut, colored and decorated paper Easter Eggs and placed them throughout the town in windows of homes and buildings.The contest ran through noon on Easter Sunday, and participants were able to enter how many eggs they found throughout the community online, of course!The correct answer was 98 eggs and the 1st Place winner of Lost Island Water Park Tickets was Wanda Hinshaw, with 2nd & 3rd Place Winners of a Free Pizza from the Hitchin Post being Kali Decker & Christy DeGroot.