HARLAN -- Harlan Community High School’s Foreign Language Club is taking a group of 21 to tour Peru for a little more than a week to see sights such as Machu Picchu.    The group is comprised of 13 students, six adults and two teachers. The trip will last a total of nine days.    In Peru, the group will be able to see famous tourist attractions such as Machu Picchu, an Incan citadel settled almost 8,000 feet high in the Andes Mountains.

REGIONAL -- When’s the last time you took into consideration whether a car would have cup holders? A door? How about a rear windshield?    Penumbra – lovingly nicknamed “Penny” by the team – is the first of the solar cars made by the PrISUm Solar Car Team that has many of these features.    The team stopped by Shelby County Monday afternoon after running ahead of schedule on their Sun Run 99-county tour across Iowa.

IRWIN -- Most people don’t sign up to live in close quarters.    David Tietsort of Irwin is not most people. Tietsort has decided to build a tiny house based on a trailer. The home can be hitched onto the back of the man’s truck and taken anywhere.    The “tiny house movement” as it has come to be called is both an architectural and social movement.

HARLAN -- The Harlan Municipal Utilities Board of Trustees has extended CEO Ken Weber’s employment contract for another three years, ending Sept. 30, 2020.    The contract calls for a 3 percent per year increase in salary beginning with $123,600 on Oct.

HARLAN -- Harlan’s Aviation 8-ball Club is hosting its 72nd annual Father’s Day Breakfast on Sunday, June 18 at the airport.    The breakfast will be from 7:30-11 a.m. on Sunday. It will have pancakes, eggs, bacon and drinks such as coffee, juice and milk available.

COUNTY – The Shelby County Board of Supervisors are reviewing a change to the county’s local burning ban ordinance due to the passage of fireworks legislation by the Iowa Legislature this past spring.    Shelby County Emergency Management Director Bob Seivert said the passage of the fireworks bill allows for some local control and rules which will be in the best interest of the safety of the public.    Emergency management is requesting the co

COUNTY -- An 18-year-old Le Mars man has been charged with felony sexual exploitation of a minor - cause to engage in act, following an investigation by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office.    Joshua Scott Draayer, 1875 4th Ave.

    REGIONAL -- Following the 2017 Iowa Legislative Session, Iowans can expect to see changes surrounding some of the country’s most controversial issues.    The session was considered unprecedented by both Republicans and Democrats alike.    The Iowa House and Senate are currently both dominated by Republican representatives.

    REGIONAL -- A shed and garage on 7th and Broadway Streets caught flame at roughly 9:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, June 6.    The shed and garage both belonged to Paula Koester. Koester, her nine-month-old baby and her brother were home at the time. No one was injured.    The garage and shed were both engulfed and reduced to rubble. The fire melted siding on the house, closest to the room where Koester and her baby sleep.

HARLAN -- The farmer’s market will sprout up in the northwest corner of the Shopko parking lot on June 10 from 8:30 a.m.

HARLAN -- Patrolman Jacob “Jake” Hoss (left) is handed his badge by City of Harlan Chief of Police Frank Clark (right). In a ceremony held recently, Hoss was sworn in as a new Harlan Police officer. He is taking over for Brent Soll, who was promoted to sergeant following the retirement of sergeant Dave Stout. Stout was with the Harlan Police Department for 11 years.  (Photo by Jacey Goetzman)

HARLAN -- A 29-year-old Harlan man is in custody charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, domestic abuse/assault and violation of no-contact order.    Theodore James Behrens, 1104 Durant St., faces up to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the first-degree kidnapping charge, a class A felony.  Third-degree sexual assault is a class C felony carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail with an additional $10,000 fine. 

HARLAN -- Harlan will be holding its first Honey-Bacon Fest this Saturday, June 10.    The festival will be located at the Shelby County Fairgrounds. Activities begin at 9 a.m. and last until 5 p.m.    The genesis of the idea was the manufacturers within Shelby County. The honey manufacturer, Smitty Bee Honey in Defiance and Monogram Foods in the county.

  REGIONAL --  Estimates for Relay for Life’s event fundraising are still unknown.    Even before the event, the 2017 Relay for Life has raised $91,000.    The event Relay for Life is a signature fund-raiser staffed and coordinated by the American Cancer Society (ACS). It is to remember those lost to cancer, to honor survivors and to raise money to “make a global impact” on cancer.    Shelby County is number two per capita in the nation.