News

Grant applications can now be submitted to the Benton County Community Foundation for its 2015 grant cycle. The deadline to submit applications is midnight (CST) March 15, 2015. Grants are awarded to projects in the following areas: art and culture, community betterment, education, environment, health, historic preservation and human service.

A nature lover reported the illegal dumping of trash at the Dudgeon Lake State Wildlife Management Area. Local DNR officer Pat Jorgensen is investigating the case. 

Here's a photo we have been hoping to take for a very, very long time! Gas prices at Vinton stations dropped to less than $2 per gallon for the first time in several years this week. Most local stations offered their "regular" product for $1.9999 this morning. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that crude oil prices have fallen to their lowest level since May of 2010.

     A man who failed to register as a sex offender was sentenced today to five years in federal prison.           David Kimble, age 48, of Norway, Iowa, received the sentence after a September 25, 2014, guilty plea to one count of failing to register as a sex offender.  At the guilty plea hearing, Kimble admitted that he moved from North Carolina to Iowa and did not register as a sex offender in Iowa.

A letter from an eastern Iowa school principal tells the story of a single mom who came home from work one afternoon to find her children gathered around the dining room table, which they had set with a variety of food items they had brought home from their school. “We notice that at times you do not eat, but today you will,” they told her.

Eleven-year-old Kay Fett of Vinton is selling some of her paintings as she continues to raise money for her People to People Ambassadors Wonders of the Canadian West journey. Along with 40 other Iowa fifth- and sixth-graders, Kay will visit Vancouver Island, the Canadian Rockies and Calgary. The students will stay in teepees, attend tribal meetings, and see many other culturally unique attractions.

Almost every day in December, someone called Vinton Today or sent us a message on Facebook to ask about the Kersten/Koopman light display northwest of Vinton.  Although Heidi Koopman has turned off those lights for the final time of 2014, there is another display of Christmas lights in the area that is bringing traffic from all over Iowa and beyond.

Please accept our sincere gratitude and appreciation to everyone for the great gifts we received for the Virginia Gay Hospital Home Health Angel Tree. We were astounded at the response from the community and employees of VGH in making sure our Home Health Agency clients had a wonderful Christmas this year. With the time taken to coordinate, shop, and arrange for delivery of the Angel Tree gift, we want to assure you that your gifts, hard work and efforts are very much appreciated! You have truly helped make Christmas a special time for our clients.

On December 16th, 2014 the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA members and Ag students had a busy day unloading box after box off of a delivery truck then sorting through all of it. This was because of the annual FFA fruit sales.             This year, the chapter made a total of $29,251.25 in sales. Thirteen students sold over $500, the goal the chapter set for everyone to sell, and 9 of those students sold over $1,000.

Children all over the world woke up early today, eager to find out what Santa had brought. This Christmas display on Highway 150 west of Urbana offers some insight into Santa's choice of transportation, in lieu of that legendary sleigh.