What Is News Banner? Wells County's Local News Website Explained

Updated

News Banner (news-banner.com) is a local news website serving Wells County, Indiana, describing itself as "Wells County's Hometown Connection." It publishes community journalism across news, sports, schools, courts and police, business, opinions, lifestyle, and obituaries, with coverage organized around specific Wells County communities. If you live in or follow that part of Indiana, it functions as a hometown paper in digital form, including an e-edition and classifieds.

Who it serves

The site's coverage is organized by place, and the communities named in its navigation and section structure include:

  • Bluffton
  • Ossian
  • Markle
  • Zanesville

News sections are split into local community news and broader state/national news, so readers can stay at the county level or zoom out.

What content it covers

Section What you'll find
News Local community news plus state and national news
Courts & Police Court outcomes and police-related reporting
School News Coverage of Bluffton, Norwell, and Southern Wells schools
Sports Bluffton, Norwell, and Southern Wells teams, plus area/state/national sports
Business Local business and state/national business
Opinions Local letters to the editor and state/national opinion
Lifestyle Seniors, churches, 4-H, library news, people, home & family, community events, recipes, health & fitness
Obituaries Local death notices and obituaries
Classifieds Jobs, garage sales, services, vehicles, rentals, real estate, for sale, and auctions

Beyond the news feed

Two features distinguish it from a plain blog:

  • E-Edition — a digital edition of the print paper, listed alongside the main news navigation.
  • Classifieds and Marketplace — a dedicated area for jobs, real estate, vehicles, rentals, auctions, and other listings, plus a "Latest Print Ads" section.

There is also a Log In option and a search function in the site header.

What the reporting looks like

Recent front-page items illustrate the local focus — for example, a Wells County jury conviction on 27 felonies related to an armed burglary, a Wells County Area Plan Commission approval of a roughly 4,992-square-foot building in Craigville, and a Bluffton ACAC football title, its first in 37 years. Byline activity shown on the site includes staff reporting credited to Carrie Penrod.

How to use it

  • For local news and sports: start with the News or Sports sections and filter by community (Bluffton, Ossian, Markle) or by school (Bluffton, Norwell, Southern Wells).
  • For records-style items: check Courts & Police and Obituaries.
  • For the print experience: open the E-Edition.
  • To buy, sell, or job-hunt: go to Classifieds or Marketplace.

Note that the site shows a Log In option, which indicates some features may require an account; the available material does not specify what is gated or whether any content is paid, so treat access terms as something to confirm on the site itself.