What News and Local Information Can I Find on News Banner?

News Banner (news-banner.com) is the local news site for Wells County, Indiana, branded as "Wells County's Hometown Connection." You can use it to follow town-by-town news for Bluffton, Ossian, Markle, and Zanesville, school and sports coverage for Bluffton, Norwell, and Southern Wells, plus community sections like courts and police, business, opinions, lifestyle, churches, 4-H, library news, obituaries, and classifieds. It also carries state and national news, community events, recipes, and health and fitness content.

Local news by town

The site's news section is organized around the county's communities, so you can go straight to the area you care about:

• Bluffton — the county seat and the site's most active local feed
• Ossian
• Markle
• Zanesville

A general "All" view sits alongside these, so you can scan everything at once or filter down to one town. Recent headlines in this section have included items like a Wells County Area Plan Commission approval for a near 5,000-square-foot building in Craigville and a jury conviction on 27 felonies related to an armed burglary.

Courts, police, and public records

The Courts & Police section carries crime and court coverage for the county. This is where you'll find trial outcomes, sentencings, and case updates — for example, reporting on co-defendants awaiting sentencing after a violent armed robbery case. If you follow local public safety, this is the section to check rather than the general news feed.

School news and sports

School coverage is split by district, matching the three local high schools:

• Bluffton
• Norwell
• Southern Wells

The Sports section uses the same three-way split, plus an Area / State and National view for broader coverage. You'll also find a Calendar and an Athlete of the Week feature. Sports reporting covers more than scores — recent items have included a first conference football title in 37 years, a win built on special teams and defense, and a rout by the Patriots.

Community and lifestyle sections

Beyond hard news, News Banner carries a wide set of community features:

The Bluffton Street Fair gets its own top-level link, reflecting its role as a major local event.

Classifieds and marketplace

The classifieds area is broken into practical categories:

• Jobs
• Garage sales
• Services
• Vehicles
• Rentals
• Real estate for sale
• Auctions

There's also a Shop Marketplace and a Latest Print Ads section, which ties the website back to the printed paper.

State, national, and e-edition access

For news beyond the county, the site carries State & National News and State / National Business, so you don't need a second outlet for broader headlines. A Log In link and an E-Edition link appear in the main navigation — the e-edition is the digital replica of the print paper, and logging in is how you reach account-based features. The site does not state pricing or access terms on the page, so check the E-Edition or Log In links directly if you need to know what's free versus subscriber-only.

How to use the site

1. Start at the homepage and pick a top-level section from the navigation bar (News, Sports, Business, Opinions, Lifestyle, Obituaries, Classifieds).
2. Within News and Sports, choose your town or school — Bluffton, Ossian, Markle, Zanesville, Norwell, or Southern Wells — or stay on "All."
3. Use the Search box if you're looking for a specific story, person, or event.
4. Check Community Events and the Calendar for things happening around the county.
5. Use E-Edition or Log In for the print replica and account features.

One practical note: the site's dated content shows a mix of article dates and a page date, so when you're following a developing story like a sentencing, confirm the specific article date rather than relying on the homepage timestamp.