High school graduates face a variety of challenges as they transition to young adulthood - finding their first place to live on their own, or adjusting to life in a college dorm; getting their first job; balancing part-time work and school; signing up for financial aid and navigating the college application or military recruiting process.

It takes a community to make a big project happen, and in Belle Plaine, Kristine Pope is seeing a community come together to rally to preserve the historic Herring Hotel.

Instruments for the Tilford 2nd grade concert included a horn from an antique car which Mr. Ziemer received from an uncle. "Music is a tool," says Vinton-Shellsburg elementary music teacher Gib Ziemer.

First, they tossed bottles onto a county highway that leads from Highway 218 north of Vinton to Mount Auburn, causing two flat tires for a driver. Then, the a few days later,they went a step further, placing a railroad tie in that same area of highway, causing an accident.

The Virginia Gay Hospital Business Office is holding an Easter Basket fundraiser today, April 11 from 9 am till supplies last. They have done a tremendous job of creating a wide variety of Easter baskets filled with treats and gifts of all different sizes available for purchase with proceeds going towards the Virginia Gay Hospital Health Care Foundation's Annual Campaign: Tree of Lights.

The view of the west side of the Herring Hotel building; supporters have a month to make some repairs and provide information to the Belle Plaine city council on the structural integrity of the historic building.

By Laura Hopper, Director German Iowa and the Global Midwest May 10th-22nd Library Hours: Sunday: Closed Monday: 1pm-6pm Tuesday: 9am-12noon & 1-5pm Wednesday: 1pm-6pm Thursday: 9am-12noon & 1-5pm Friday: 1pm-5pm Saturday: 9am-12noon (319) 442-3329 Come check out the traveling exhibit which was first featured at the Old Capitol Museum in Iowa City! Learn about the German heritage of Iowa and celebrate our small town's German roots.

Front row: Lizzie Noe and Elias Colsch. Back Row: Mr. Mangold, Brynn Johnson, Keira Ott, Caroline Erickson and Tess Lillibridge. The Vinton-Shellsburg Middle School sent a team again to a Battle of the Booksevent in Cedar Falls, and the students finished in second place, just one point from the first-place team.

VFD Chief Gary McKenna demonstrates an oxygen mask with the help of his dog, Toby. After seeing in the news how a group of Vinton firefighters created a makeshift oxygen mask with a styrofoam cup to revive a small dog overcome with smoke after a recent house fire, Trent Donels, an owner of an Invisible Fence business in Cedar Rapids, chose to add the Vinton FD to the company's nationwide Project Breathe.

Later this year, Jenna Lane will accompany a group from her church on a mission to Haiti. One of the needs Jenna discovered about that country was the need for books, especially for the youngest of readers.