Today's News

Three days after what many are describing as the worst storm they’ve ever witnessed in Vandalia, city officials are continuing to gather information that they hope will be sufficient to warrant financial aid from the state.

Vandalia’s public works employees are continuing to pick up debris from the Sunday evening storm, which brought high winds and more than 6 inches of rain in less than two hours, and Public Works Director John Moyer estimated on Monday that the cleanup could take up to a week.

In early spring 1839 George Washington Hickerson had a vision – and in 1866, when he wrote his life story, his vision was preserved for posterity.

One of the three children of William Loving and Malinda Luster Hickerson, George, along with brother, Andrew Jackson Hickerson, served in the Black Hawk War from Fayette County. George wrote in his memoirs that he was elected major of the militia in Fayette County.

In its final meeting of the fiscal year, the Vandalia Board of Education on Tuesday approved a revised budget for the nearly completed year and heard from the superintendent that the district remains in good financial shape.

 “The hay’s not in the barn yet,” said Superintendent Rich Well, noting that the fiscal year didn’t end until midnight Wednesday, “but we’re looking very good. We’re where we are right now because we’ve been good stewards of our money.”

Like many other Vandalia residents, Christopher Smith was watching the onset of Sunday evening’s thunderstorm. He knew that it was going to be a big storm when he saw lightning strike just a short distance from his home.

Instead of running for cover, however, Smith ran to help a neighbor.

Smith said that he and a friend were at his house in the 1400 block of North Seventh Street, listening to a scanner to get information about the weather.