A significant, sad media anniversary

VINTON TODAY
March 21, 2014 11:41 am

The most important story in the news today — which will totally unreported — is that today is the anniversary of one of the major tragic milestones of modern journalism.

How baseball could cure Crimean Spring Fever

VINTON TODAY
March 20, 2014 11:58 am

Get out a map of Iowa. See Vinton? Draw a line that runs straight south, from Minnesota to Missouri through Vinton. Look at everything to the right.

The 3 Seasons of country living - Beauty, Snow and Mud

VALERIE CLOSE, EDITOR
March 14, 2014 12:29 pm

The most fascinating thing about living in the country, at least to me, is the way you are so closely linked to the seasons. In fall, as you drive through the country, if you are fortunate like we are, you are surrounded by trees and the leaves changing.

Cabin (painting) Fever: An Editor's guide to surviving a too-long winter

VINTON TODAY
March 12, 2014 11:37 am

Winter was getting the best of me. I had plunged into despair, watching Olympic ice dancing, writing grumpy columns about the unchanging climate and paying way too much attention to celebrity stalkers.

4 more years (and beyond)...

VINTON TODAY
March 11, 2014 11:36 am

For 18 years, from March of 1992 until March of 2010, I worked for newspapers. You probably remember newspapers: Those collections of pages of news, ads and pictures folded together and delivered to your door (or sitting on the shelf at the grocery store).

She'll be comin' around the mountain...

VALERIE CLOSE, EDITOR
March 10, 2014 12:30 pm

This last week we lost my very first music teacher, Mrs. Wright. The name on her obituary didn’t stir any memory until I heard my husband ask me if I knew “Mrs.

Finally, a friend (or three), for a global warming Neanderthal

VINTON TODAY
March 6, 2014 11:19 am

For years now – 22 of them to be exact – my liberal friends have been reading my columns mocking global warming and repeatedly reminding me of just how much of a mouth-breathing, knuckle dragging Neanderthal nut job I am, although they don’t usually say it that kindly.

To the Editor: Licensing of midwives would offer many benefits to women

BETHANY GATES
February 17, 2014 11:44 am

I am writing to inform citizens on the state of midwifery in Iowa. At present, Certified Professional Midwives, midwives who attend the majority of out-of-hospital births, are not licensed in Iowa.

A lesson in sportsmanship and patriotism, from a long-time rival

VINTON TODAY
February 17, 2014 11:07 am

Athletes and spectators competitive sports learn many things: Skills. Teamwork. Discipline. Sportsmanship – how to play, win and lose graciously.

When OCD and ADD get married...

OCD
February 15, 2014 12:28 pm

This year I decided that my New Years Resolution was to be a free spirit...and realize I will probably end up just slightly more free spirited than Sheldon of the Big Bang Theory, The last few days I took another baby step in this direction.