AVOCA -- The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) October 20 awarded Avoca Main Street, Inc. a $100,000 grant for the Raddberry’s Bakery & Café. Twelve other Main Street Iowa communities also received grants.    Amber Mohr, Director of Avoca Main Street, Inc., said “We are thrilled to be a recipient of a third Main Street Iowa Challenge Grant.

    HARLAN -- The FDA has amended the Emergency Use Authorizations to allow the booster dose of Moderna and Johnson and Johnson (Janssen) COVID-19 vaccines.      Myrtue Medical Center’s Department of Public Health is offering a COVID-19 vaccine boost dose clinic on Wednesday, October 27th from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

    HARLAN – Natural gas prices are on the rise, and Harlan residents are being warned ahead of time, much like customers across the nation, that their heating bills could be considerably higher this winter.    Market prices for natural gas continue to increase due to recent reductions in domestic natural gas production, along with increases in export of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will impact heating bills this winter.    While bill in

    HARLAN – The Harlan Community Schools has signed off on an agreement with Denovo Construction Solutions to provide master planning for future facilities improvements.    The HCS Board of Education unanimously approved a $26,540 expenditure with the company to provide an abbreviated assessment of existing district facilities, facilitate an online staff survey and in-person staff and student visioning session, a 10-year master plan, communit

    HARLAN – The Shelby County Sheriff Department’s two K-9 officers earned top honors at the annual Heart of America Police Dog Association’s (HAPDA) certification event held recently in Ankeny.    K-9 Odin, with handler Nathan Pigsley, earned the master tracker award while K-9 Corty, with handler Braden Quist, was awarded for patrol case of the year and first place detector dog.    Master tracker means Odin is the best tracking dog in the re

 SERGEANT BLUFF (Oct.

 AVOCA (Oct. 18) -- The AHSTW volleyball team opened Class 2A regional tournament play on Monday night with a four-set victory over Logan-Magnolia. The Lady Vikes dropped the first set 21-25 before winning the next three, 25-17, 25-8, 26-24. Halle Hall led AHSTW with 13 kills on the night and had an efficiency of .216. Natalie Hagadon totaled 11 kills (.128), Ally Meyers had seven (.583) and Megan Wise added six (.158).

Regional volleyball tournaments across Iowa opened competition on Monday, October 18. Below are early-round results and pairings for those regions involving area teams.

 REGIONAL (Oct. 20-21) -- Cross country runners from across Iowa will compete in state qualifying meets later this week to determine this year’s qualifiers for the state meet in Fort Dodge (Oct. 29-30). The Harlan Community girls and boys harriers will compete against a 13-team Class 3A field Wednesday (Oct. 20) at Lakeview Country Club north of Winterset. The meet will start at 4:00 p.m.