Heidi Kersten received the bad news while at work Wednesday that her dog had been killed by a car. She hurried home to find that a sequence of events had led to the dog's death.

The Linn County Sheriff's Office has identified the man who died in a Wednesday morning crash on Highway 30 west of Cedar Rapids as John Gibbs, 62, of Vinton.

By Rob Levis, Coach Tuesday night the Vinton-Shellsburg Center Point Urbana swim team hosted Williamsburg in the battle for the WaMaC at the Iowa Braille School.

Approximately 9,575 Iowa State University students have been recognized for outstanding academic achievement by being named to the fall semester 2017 Dean's List.

Along with the Cedar Valley Humane Society, an Independence animal sanctuary is helping to care for hundreds of animals that were taken from a Vinton home yesterday.

The students listed below graduated from Mount Mercy University in December 2017.A commencement ceremony will be held May 20, 2018, at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Police and the Humane Society are removing animals from the residence at 607 6th Street in Vinton. The VPD plans to issue a press release soon. Members of the Vinton Police Department and the Cedar Valley Humane Society spent all afternoon Tuesday at 607 West 6th Street in Vinton, removing as many as 1,000 or more animals from the residence in what a Humane Society spokesperson calls the worst case of animal hoarding he has ever seen.

"Big Hair; Big Ides:' The H2O Fros present their research on a device to test water for lead. The Aquatic Alliance of Pufferfish teams guides their robot through the course during the Lego League State event.

(This article is part of Virginia Gay Hospital's bi-annual publication, "Thrive" Fall/Winter 2017 issue and has been updated. An online version of the entire publication can be found athttps://myvgh.