HARLAN -- Harlan Community High School’s Show Choir program has kicked off the contest season and continues to grow each year.     In its sixth year, the high school group Breaking Cylence has performed at two contests thus far, including the Elkhorn, NE Crystal Cup competition and the Pella Dutchmasters Invitational.    “We performed well at our first competition, but did not make it into the finals,” said director Chase Shoemaker, who is

    HARLAN – Harlan Community High School Vocal Director Chase Shoemaker recently was announced as a winner in the 2019 Composition Competition by the Iowa Choral Directors Association and the Iowa Composers Forum.    Shoemaker was commissioned at the beginning of the school year by Tanner Stutzman to write a winter, four-part treble choir piece for his Roland-Story High School treble chorus.  The unaccompanied piece is set to the poem Love Ca

    HARLAN -- Myrtue Medical Center was once again named one of the 100 highest-ranked Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in the United States by The Chartis Center for Rural Health.    Myrtue is the only Iowa hospital to receive this award eight years in a row.    Regarded as one of the industry’s most significant designations of performance excellence, the annual Top 100 Critical Access Hospitals award is based upon the results of the Hospital

    A memorial service for Anthony Lee Haney will be held Thursday, Feb. 28 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Harlan.    Visitation will be at 4 p.m. and the service will be at 5 p.m. with dinner to follow.    Haney is a former Harlan resident.
 
See a PDF below of their obituary, if one was provided by the family or funeral home.

    COUNTY -- Shelby County was blanketed with at least 10 inches of snow, preceded by rain, freezing rain and sleet Friday night through Sunday.  Shelby Countians were out throughout the weekend attempting to dig out from a storm the likes of hasn’t been seen in the area in years.  February 2019 is shaping up to be one of the coldest and snowiest on record.

    ELK HORN -- The Danish Mill Corporation has announced that it has received notice that the AP Møller and Chastine McKinney Møller Foundation for General Purposes of Copenhagen, Denmark is donating DKK 500.000 (approximately $75,000 USD) toward rebuilding the 1848 smock mill’s cap frame.    Danish Windmill Manager Lisa Steen Riggs said, “For our Windmill to be included in the Foundation’s efforts to preserve wind and water mills as part of

    HARLAN – Dr. Tom Osborne, former University of Nebraska Lincoln football coach and athletic director, will be the keynote speaker at Harlan Community Schools’ TeamMates Mentoring Celebration Friday, March 1.    The event will be held from 4-6 p.m.

    HARLAN -- The Petersen Family Wellness Center in Harlan had 785 guest visits on January 21 of this year which was the most guest visits the center has seen in one day since the first year it opened in 2010. Todd Alberti, director of Petersen Family Wellness Center, shared wellness center membership numbers and information during the January Myrtue Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting. 

SHELBY – Kaylee Rivera, a Shelby County 4-H’er and senior at Tri-Center High School, Neola, will be receiving the Contributing Youth Award at the Iowa 4-H Celebration Gala tonight, Friday, Feb.

    HARLAN -- Myrtue Medical Center’s Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Shelby County Wellness Alliance, Harlan Community Schools, and the Shelby County Prevent Child Abuse Council, is sponsoring a Teen Health and Resiliency Fair on Saturday, Feb 23, 2019, from 9 a.m.-noon at Harlan Community High School.    This free event is designed to help promote healthy lifestyle choices for teens and their families.

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Community Schools hosted its annual Red Out event during the basketball game Friday, Feb. 15 vs. Creston-OM, to raise funds and awareness for heart health.   

    HARLAN -- The Harlan Jazz Experience has qualified for the Iowa Jazz Championships April 2 by taking first place at the Dick Bauman District Jazz Festival held Monday, Feb.

    HARLAN - Midstates Bank, Harlan, and Kingsley State Bank, Kingsley, announced the merger of Kingsley State Bank into Midstates Bank pending regulatory approval.

Here's the snow storm follow-up....high winds brutal along with 6 - 8 - 10" of snow made for a difficult Sunday....the snow with 1-2" of frozen slush at the bottom of the drifts made it nearly impossible to use a scoop to shovel the snow...heavy duty snow blowers, skid loaders and tractors were vital.
Sunday video:
https://youtu.be/reswmhLICQU
Saturday video:

    HARLAN – Many local residents likely knew Dan Riley from his days working at Pizza Ranch, and his infectious laugh, sense of humor, kindness and generosity.    He was a healthy 25-year-old who began showing some abnormal behaviors back in early 2018, becoming combative and forgetful, who would frequently tell his family that he just wasn’t feeling well.    One day Dan fell at home, was found unconscious, and was taken to Myrtue Medical Cen