News

Through the Safe Haven Law, a baby boy, born December 3 is now in the care and custody of the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and will be placed with a foster family until permanent placement is determined. This brings the overall total to 74 infants since the law went into effect more than two decades ago.  This brings the total to eight cases in 2024, including a baby girl born October 13 and a baby girl born on November 11.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a series of town hall-style meetings where local staff will provide updates on recently completed hunting and trapping seasons, discuss possible changes to hunting and trapping rules and regulations, and address other topics as requested.“We want people to come out to these meetings, listen to the seasons reviews, ask questions and hear directly from our staff,” said Todd Bishop, chief of the Iowa DNR’s Wildlife Bureau.

Our VFW and Auxiliary District 2 had several winners last weekend at our Midwinter conference in Des Moines, Iowa. We had a student from Independence, Iowa Post 2440 who wrote his Voice of Democracy essay. He finished as runner up at state competition. Matthew Loomis entered his essay on "IS AMERICA TODAY OUR FOREFATHERS' VISION?"  These students can enter this contest if they are in 9-12th grade.

By Robin OpsahlAdvocates of child victims said a proposed constitutional amendment allowing for remote testimony for children and people with certain disabilities could help young victims from being retraumatized in the courtroom, but others said the measure could abridge the rights of wrongfully accused defendants.House Study Bill 35 is the constitutional amendment proposed by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office, adding that the right of an accused party to confront their accuser “may be limited by law” when the witness is a person under age 18 or has a mental illness, intellectual disability or other developmental disability.

It is with great pride that we recognize Vinton-Shellsburg High School senior Megan Schlitter as the recipient of the January Difference Maker Award! Megan's unwavering dedication to service and leadership has made a profound impact on our school and community.Last summer, Megan returned from a life-changing trip to Washington, D.C., and was inspired to develop a Living to Serve project that would address food insecurity.

We are grateful for the willingness of the people in this county to support our local Salvation Army Service Extension Unit. We met our goal by raising over $20,000. We usually have some donations that don't get to us until the first week in January. So our grand total, as of today, is $20,869.46We had a new development this year. We added a site in Belle Plaine.

By Robin OpsahlIowa lawmakers are considering a proposal to add a new animal to its list of dangerous wild animals: sharks.A subcommittee in the Iowa House met Thursday to discuss House File 24, a bill that would add sharks that can grow to a length of 23 inches or more, or that have a  documented history of biting humans, to the state’s existing code prohibiting contact with dangerous wild animals.

1/16/25The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released 3,700 rainbow trout this afternoon at Lake Petocka in Bondurant, Triumph Park West and East in Waukee, and Terra Lake in Johnston.“We decided to stock trout earlier so anglers could take advantage of favorable ice conditions," said Ben Dodd, Iowa DNR fisheries biologist.The winter community trout stockings at these Central Iowa community lakes were previously scheduled for Feb.

As part of the Shellsburg Area Community Group’s (SACG) ongoing efforts to improve the city's park areas, the Parks Committee undertook the task of researching, funding, acquiring and installing a steel shaded canopy and picnic table on a concrete pad this fall. This is at the East end of Memorial Park, near the beginning of the disk golf course and close to the walking trail.

Each year at this time our youth from Elementary schools from District 2 VFW and Auxiliary write their essays.  Towns in our District 2 VFW and Auxiliary were: Vinton-Shellsburg 2440 (which Vinton Auxiliary transferred to Independence 2440 but still got to participate in Vinton). Cedar Rapids 788; Dubuque 508. The elementary schools started writing their essays when school started and finished in October for local competition.