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Today's News

  • Harvest winding down; corn 89 percent, beans 94 percent

    Harvest progress was aided by 5.7 days suitable for fieldwork last week.
    Corn harvested now stands at 89 percent, compared to the five-year average of 71 percent.
    Soybeans harvested are at 94 percent, compared to the five-year average of 80 percent.
    Many producers are also busy with fall tillage activities, along with fertilizer and lime applications, and seeding winter wheat.
    Temperatures averaged 50.4 degrees, 1.2 degrees below normal with a few reports of heavy frost in the northern part of the state.

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  • Weather aids harvest; yields mixed

    Thanks to nearly ideal fall weather, Fayette County farmers have harvested about 85 percent of their corn and soybeans. And some have finished.
    “This has been one of the good years for harvesting,” said Ron Marshel, Fayette County Farm Bureau manager. “Just excellent harvest weather.”
    Yields, however, have been all over the map.

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  • Fall Tillage

    Clayton Paradee on Monday turns his tractor to till another round in a soybean field after it had been harvested.

    He was working for Emerick Farms in a field about a mile north of Vandalia. Fayette County Farm Bureau Manager Ron Marshel estimates that about 85 percent of the county's crops has been harvested.  

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  • Banks of the Okaw Nov. 3

    In last week’s Mystery Banks Photo were: Michelle Philpot Barker, Melissa Philpot Elam, Cindy Carpenter Lutz and Jill Philpot Perry.
    Identifying them was: Cynthia Autenrieth.
    This week’s Scrambler: eht nam how slofwol teh drowc lilw sylulau teg on rufhert naht het drowc. eth amn owh slawk nelao si keilyl ot nidf femshil ni slapec on eno seel sha reev nebe.
    Can you unscramble it? If so, call The Leader-Union, 283-3374, by 5 p.m. next Monday.

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  • The Way We Were

    15 Years Ago

    1996 – Longtime Vandalia attorney Joe Dees was the keynote speaker at the Veterans Day program held by Crawford-Hale American Legion Post 95.
    A large crowd was present as Kelly McGinnis was led into the Bond County Courthouse to face charges of murdering Greenville attorney Tom Meyer.
    Massac County defeated the Vandalia Community High School football team, 26-2, to end the Vandals’ post-season playoffs. The Vandals ended the season with a 10-1 record.

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  • Senior Spotlight: Fearsome Four

    FARINA – They’ve shared one office space of 900 square feet for some 35 games this season, and yet, they still aren’t sick of each other.

    The Fearsome Four – the eldermost players on South Central’s high school volleyball team – often work in unison, combining their strengths to wreak havoc on opponents.

    These Lady Cougars probably aren’t the finest foursome in all of the state, but among area 1A schools, it’d be tough to argue that another team’s core is better.

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  • Lady Cougars earn regional title

    FARINA – On its own floor, the South Central High School volleyball team won its third straight regional championship last Thursday, defeating North Clay in two sets, 25-16, 25-15.

    Senior Kinzie Neilson paced the offense with 14 kills – giving her 22 during the two games of the regional tournament – and junior Natalie Chapman had 16 assists and three service aces to help earn the victory.

    Senior Emily Atwood added six kills, and senior Sarah Kramer had 12 assists and a kill.

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  • Book tells of first murders in Fayette County

    Over the years, I have written about many of the first murders committed in our county,  with the information coming from the “History of Fayette County, Illinois,” published in 1878.

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  • Vandals fall to Pana in close playoff game

    Six seniors played their final football game in front of a home crowd during the first round of the state playoffs last Friday night, taking a tough loss to Pana, 14-7.

    Those players – Levi Ulmer, Bryan Hosick, Blake Mills, Quenten Austin, Daniel Edwards and Anthony Fladeland – all played significant roles in allowing the Vandals to place third in the South Central Conference and earn the team’s first playoff berth since 2008.

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  • Halloween shows city's sidewalk shortcomings

    Vandalia has a sidewalk problem.
    Though it’s an issue that’s been noted by city officials before, driving around on Halloween night underscored the dangerous conditions to which our pedestrians are subjected.
    Young trick-or-treaters swarmed in the streets all along Locust Street and up Shelley Drive. And even though the trunk-or-treat event in the parking lot of Sunset Plaza was off the road, parking and pedestrian traffic on Sunset made it truly scary to drive through that area.

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