HARLAN – A standing ovation greeted a group of Harlan Community High School athletes Friday night, as family, friends and the community recognized the district’s Special Olympics athletes.    

    The Shelby County Cattlemen board and their spouses along with more than 700 guests helped raise more than $60,000 on Sat., Feb. 6 at St. Mary’s Parish Hall.    Funds raised will go toward the Shelby County Fair trophy awards, college scholarships, heifer scholarship program, beef promotion and the banquet.

    HARLAN – A committee of community members, school staff and school board members is working to develop a recommendation for next year’s Harlan Community School District calendar.    An initial meeting was held in January, and additional meetings are planned.    The committee’s challenge is to develop a calendar to be reviewed by school administration, and eventually be brought to the board of education for final adoption.  HCS Superintende

    HARLAN – The Harlan Community School District is planning for future expected losses in enrollment and the financial decreases that will come with fewer students in the classroom.    At a meeting of the board of education January 25, HCS Superintendent of Schools Justin Wagner said it’s important to note that even though this year the district shows an 18.85 increase in students, future projections show drastically different numbers.    An

    COUNTY – Elected officials in Shelby County will see a 2.5 percent raise next year following approval by the Shelby County Board of Supervisors.    Supervisors Steve Kenkel, Roger Schmitz and Charlie Parkhurst approved the raise after discussion of the county compensation board’s recommendation last month.    The compensation board had recommended a 3.5 percent increase and an additional 0.5 percent catch-up increase for all elected offici

PANAMA - St.

    COUNTY – Shelby County’s tax asking will increase roughly $129,000 under a budget proposed to be adopted by the Shelby County Board of Supervisors today, Tuesday, Feb. 9.    A hearing on the 2016-17 county budget will be held at 9 a.m.

    AVOCA – An Avoca family will be in the national spotlight next week as contestants on the hit game show Family Feud.    The Greg and Teri Becker family will appear on the television game show Monday, Feb.

OUNTY – Shelby County caucus-goers backed Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz as their Democratic and Republican candidates of choice for president, in a Monday night meeting that saw record numbers of voters both locally and statewide head to their caucus sites.    At Veteran’s Auditorium in Harlan, an estimated 1,000 people packed into the building to hear from candidate representatives, cast their ballots for presidential nominations, and elect del

    HARLAN -- Harlan Community School’s Large Group Speech team, under the direction of Ms. Lisa Hagemeier, participated in the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Contest on Saturday, Jan.

    COUNTY -- The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office this week announced the hiring of two deputy sheriffs.    Michael Jurgensen was a patrolman with the Harlan Police Department prior to joining the sheriff’s office 18 months ago.  Jurgensen is assigned road patrol and investigations.    Braden Quist was a patrolman with the Red Oak Police Department prior to joining the sheriff’s office.  He started duties on January 11, and currently is riding

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Municipal Utilities Board of Trustees has approved a proposal to pay $25,000 for a rate study of their three main utilities.    A proposal from Dave Berg Consulting of Minneapolis, MN would perform electric, natural gas and water cost-of-service and rate design studies for HMU.  It would be a retail rate analysis and design study beginning July 1, 2016 and thus falling in next year’s fiscal budget.    The firm would us

    HARLAN -- Riding a nationwide trend of declining patient visits and procedures, as well as tighter insurance payment procedures, Myrtue Medical Center’s revenues were up slightly in December to help it erase nearly $143,000 in losses - but they are still in the red with a fiscal year-to-date loss of $125,634.    To shore up those losses, both Barry Jacobsen, CEO, and Myrtue CFO Kristy Hansen told the board of trustees at their monthly meet

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An estimated 950 Shelby County Republicans packed into the Harlan Veterans Memorial Auditorium, while the Therkildsen Center held another 300 Democrats for the annual Iowa Caucus...on the Republican side Ted Cruz topped Donald Trump in a heated battle while Bernie Sanders upped Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.

Maybe it was the non-stop barrage of warnings that started on Thurs., Jan. 28 that warned us of impending Winter Storm Kayla...it didn’t hit with a whimper...it’s pretty much what we expected....heavy wet snow with estimates in the eight inch range but worse as you go north of Shelby Co....