COUNTY – With warmer weather and the first signs of spring arriving this month, soon there will be increased traffic on the roadways, including the rural roads in Shelby County.    The Shelby County Engineer’s Office and Iowa County Engineer’s Association are reminding motorists this week to be specifically aware when traveling in rural parts of the county, specifically where there may be uncontrolled intersections.    A number of serious

    AVOCA – Three culinary students from AHSTW High School earned top honors last week at Iowa Western Community College’s Culinary and Baking Competition March 7.    Held for area family and consumer sciences high school students, the AHSTW group of Holly Hatch, Cassie Renfeld, and Anna Bauer earned first place in the baking competition.    Nine schools and 40 students participated in this year’s event.

    HARLAN – The Harlan Community School District has learned this month it has been selected to receive $435,563.24 in state Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) monies, to be utilized next year to fund educational processes including putting teachers in coaching roles, providing mentoring and opportunities for observing instructional practice.    The TLC system was created through bipartisan legislation with a goal of all school distric

    HARLAN – The number of sections of elementary classrooms in the Harlan Community Schools next year will be reduced as part of overall cost-saving measures, as well as anticipated lower enrollment numbers in PreK-5th grades.    Total cost savings to the district will be approximately $581,013.05 next year through elimination of 6.5 positions district-wide that are being absorbed through retirements, reassignments (see accompanying TLC story

 DES MOINES -- IKM-Manning faced a small margin for error in the opening game of the Boys State Basketball Tournament Monday morning. Allow West Hancock an open three-pointer and it was likely going to make it.

 DES MOINES -- Former Harlanite Greg Lansing will join his father, Dave, in the Iowa High School Athletic Association Basketball Hall of Fame Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Greg will be inducted into the players’ wing of the Hall while Dave was honored as a coach in 1999.

DES MOINES -- The Iowa Newspaper Association announced its 2016 All-State Girls Basketball teams on Tuesday, naming Harlan Community seniors Taylor Frederick and Jordyn Moser to the Class 4-A first team and citing Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton sophomore Sophia Peppers on the Class 1-A second team. A panel of sports writers from across the state selected first, second and third teams for all five classes and also named Makenzie Meyer of Mason City

February 18-20  •  Wells Fargo Arena  •  Des Moines

 DES MOINES -- Former Exira and Iowa State University standout Hallie Christofferson was one of three women inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Due to the demands of playing professional basketball in Greece, Christofferson was unable to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony at halftime of the Class 4-A state title game.