The Iowa State Fair: Why we go

VINTON TODAY
August 17, 2011 12:24 pm

       When it's time to confess your most serious flaws, you need to find someone who's been in your shoes, someone who can relate to how you feel, and why you have done what you did.

'Gender' balancing act

VALERIE CLOSE, EDITOR
August 11, 2011 12:14 pm

Today I feel like we entered a new era. Thanks to the folks that create our laws,the city of Vinton now has to follow what I think is the most insulting law.

Beware the danger of allergy-related grumpinesss

VINTON TODAY
August 9, 2011 1:04 pm

       I can tell you exactly when I became a critic of television news.      I can't tell you exactly what year, (sometime around 1975) but I can tell you what month, and what week of that month that it happened.

On my day off...

VALERIE CLOSE, EDITOR
August 8, 2011 11:37 am

...I went to my Great Aunt Ruth's funeral.  She lived in the metropolis of Marathon. A 3 hour drive away.  I'm a wimp. After an hour my brother-in-law with started hearing, "Are we there yet?" "I'm thirsty!" "Can we stop, I need a bathroom.

Pastor's Blog - DEATH -- NO!

PASTOR LANETTE S. VAN
August 8, 2011 11:33 am

  DEATH -- NO!   Romans 8:31-39 Some of my church folks and I were standing around talking at a wedding reception.

The 'first', 'best' and 'only' in the age of Internet-first news

VINTON TODAY
August 8, 2011 9:33 am

     "How did they write that story?"      "Where did they get that information?"      "To whom did they speak?"      "What sources did they use?"     Long before I became a journalist, I was asking those questions, especially when reading a long or complex story.

Understanding that far away look

JOANNE DIETER
August 8, 2011 8:51 am

  I often used to find my mother sitting outside on her swing. It was a sturdy white swing that hung from the tree just outside the back door of the house.

IRS: 2 + 1 = 4

VINTON TODAY
August 4, 2011 9:36 am

       I am, I guess, perhaps the only American who goes to the mailbox every day, hoping for a letter from the IRS.      I hope that this time, the IRS employee who writes me knows that 2 + 2 = 4.

Tweets from Walden Pond

VINTON TODAY
August 2, 2011 12:30 pm

       Anyone who lives in this world where the number of  phones in America (cell phones and land lines outnumbers actual Americans by a 5:3 ratio can understand Nate's statement.

It's time to make 'truth in advertising' laws apply to politicians, too

VINTON TODAY
August 1, 2011 11:29 am

         If the Federal Trade Commission really wanted to protect Americans from the harmful effects of false advertisements, it would start with Congress and the White House.