COUNTY – The Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s State Climatology Office and the National Weather Service are recruiting a volunteer precipitation observer for Shelby County as well as other communities across Iowa.    The observer would participate in the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, known as CoCoRaHS.    Weather observers are needed everywhere, but with the most critical needs in some southwest

    HARLAN -- The Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and Industry will host a legislative coffee on Saturday, March 18 at 10 a.m. at Town and Country Credit Union in Harlan.    On hand will be Iowa Sen. Jason Schultz (R-Schleswig) and Iowa Rep. Steve Holt (R-Denison), who will answer questions from the audience and give updates on the current legislative session.    The public is invited and encouraged to attend.

    STORM LAKE – Three students from Harlan Community High School brought home two gold medal victories after competing at the Buena Vista University Spanish Language Fair in Storm Lake on Monday, Feb. 27.    HCS Spanish Instructor Kayla Weis took the students – Laura Kaufmann, Abby Pearson, and Annabel Schechinger, to the event, and said she was very proud of their efforts. 

    HARLAN -- Harlan FFA members competed at Southwest Iowa Northwest Sub-district FFA Contests on February 22 and Southwest Iowa District FFA Convention on Saturday, March 4. Forty-two Harlan FFA members now look to participate in various State FFA Leadership Events in Ames, April 9-11.Iowa FFA Degree Candidates    The Harlan FFA Chapter is excited that 11 members have cleared the first hurdle in an effort to earn their Iowa FFA Degree.

    HARLAN – Recent legislative changes to Iowa Code regarding collective bargaining are on center stage as the Harlan Community Schools Board of Education and Harlan Education Association begin contract negotiations this week.    Both provided their initial proposals Wednesday, March 8, highlighted by a package proposal by the school board that strips and deletes provisions of many excluded subjects of bargaining from the employee collective

    COUNTY -- Shelby County released 2016 wage totals for employees including the following top 10 payroll totals.    The list does not include elected officials whose wages are published yearly following compensation board hearings.    The top 10: Daniel Ahart, $118,102; David Gau, $73,281; Ylonda Maguire, $72,187; Michael Kienast, $71,640;    Brandon Burmeister, $70,971; Jason Wickizer, $67,362; Robert Seivert, $63,367;    Neil Gross, $57,75

    OMAHA, NE – On-site learning for high school students can be just as rewarding as classroom bookwork, and some Harlan Community High School students had the chance recently to take a field trip to Omaha and learn about the development of the Buffett Cancer Center.    HOSA (Health Occupation Students of America) traveled to Nebraska Medicine and the University of Nebraska Medical Center Research labs, and toured the Buffett Cancer Center.  

    HARLAN – Harlan property owners will see a steady tax levy this year as part of a proposed budget approved by the Harlan City Council Tuesday, March 7.    A public hearing on the proposed $8.84 million budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year was held Tuesday with no comments from the public.  The Harlan City Council approved the measure 6-0.    Harlan’s tax levy will remain at $17.13047 per $1,000 taxable valuation, nearly identical to the curr

    HARLAN – Shelby County’s tax asking will decrease an estimated $62,395 under a budget proposed to be adopted by the Shelby County Board of Supervisors Tuesday, March 14.    A hearing on the 2017-18 county budget will be held at 9 a.m.

    HARLAN -- For the sixth year in a row, Myrtue Medical Center has been named one of the 100 highest-ranked Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs) in the United States by iVantage Health Analytics and The Chartis Center for Rural Health.    The honor was announced this week.      There are only eight out of the 1,300 Critical Access Hospitals in the country who have received the award for six-plus years.

Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour before going to bed Saturday night!

    HARLAN -- Harlan Community Schools elementary students had fun this week participating in Read Across America Week, celebrated in honor of Dr. Seuss’s birthday March 2.      Students had fun dressing up in character and reading during the week. 

    HARLAN – Twenty-one Harlan Community High School Business Professionals of America (BPA) students have qualified for the national conference to be held in Orlando, FL May 10-14.    The 2017 national leadership conference, Spread Your Wings, will welcome more than 5,000 conference delegates from across the nation to participate in national level business skills competitions, workshops, general sessions, and the national officer candidate ca

    HARLAN -- Following no verbal or written comments or objections at the public hearing Tuesday, the Myrtue Medical Center Board of Trustees approved the tax levy rate of $1.22 per thousand taxable evaluation for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

    AVOCA --     The AHSTW Community School District is hoping to grow its endowment fund, recently reaching out to district patrons seeking tax deductible contributions to the fund, established back in 2009.    School district officials said this week the goal is to increase the fund so students have a forever resource of funds outside the traditional general tax funding source used to fund school districts.    Any donation amount is welcome,