HARLAN -- At the Myrtue Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday, June 29, Laboratory Director Jason Eckerman said COVID-19 testing has slowed down to the point that the hospital is now processing all of the tests in house.    “Out of that 8,357 tests that we’ve done, 1,034 were positive, which is about 13.5 percent,” he said.    The department has seen an increase in revenue due in large part to COVID-19 testing, which was heighte

    STATE -- The Iowa legislature passed a number of new laws that went into effect July 1 with a wide range of changes impacting Iowa and Shelby County citizens.    Rep. Steven Holt (R-Denison) highlighted a tax cut bill, a “constitutional carry” bill and a bill banning teaching of divisive concepts in schools as the most influential bills passed in the legislative session.    Sen.

    EARLING -- The Rev. Dan Gehler, 61, Earling, died June 30 at his home.    Services will be held Thursday, July 15 at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Earling with burial in the Elmwood St. Joseph Cemetery in Mason City.  A vigil service will be held Wednesday, July 14 at 7 p.m. at the church.  Visitation is Wednesday from 4-8 p.m.

    BENNINGTON, NE -- Nancy Blum, 61, Bennington, NE, died June 27 at her home.    Services will be held Friday, July 2 at 3 p.m. at the Walnut Community Center in Walnut.  Family greeted friends Thursday, July 1 from 5-8 p.m.

 HARLAN -- The Cyclone Pride 10U softball team was a special guest at H. Jack Field onThursday night (June 17) prior to the Harlan Community varsity squad’s game against Kuemper Catholic. Cyclone Pride team members were recognized during pregame activities and joined the high school squad for the introduction of the starting lineups as well as the national anthem.

 HARLAN (June 17) -- Cal Wanninger’s three-run homer in the top of the seventh gave Kuemper Catholic the insurance it would need to hold off Harlan Community 9-6 Thursday night in Hawkeye Ten baseball action at Jim Goeser Field. The Cyclones trailed 5-0 before scoring three runs in the third and were down 9-3 when they put up another three-spot in the bottom of the seventh. It wasn’t enough, though, to prevent the Knights from sweeping the sea

 MANILLA (June 18) -- The Logan-Magnolia baseball team blasted four home runs early, scored in every inning and pulled away late to beat IKM-Manning 18-5 in a Western Iowa Conference game Friday night. The Wolves trailed just 9-5 after five before Lo-Ma scored the final nine runs, including six in the top of the seventh. The Panthers utilized the long ball to score their first five runs as Joe Hedger and Tre Melby hit back-to-back jacks in the

 OAKLAND (June 17) -- IKM-Manning completed a season sweep of Riverside in WIC baseball action Thursday, building an early 5-0 lead and holding off the Bulldogs 8-5 to notch its third conference victory. The Wolves’ 13-hit attack included two hits each by Brody Blom, Max Nielsen, Conner Richards, Cooper Perdew and Kaiden Barry.

 UNDERWOOD (June 17) -- Freshman Jack Vanfossan went 3-for-4 with six RBI and three runs scored Thursday night to lead the Underwood baseball team past AHSTW 15-3 in five. The Eagles improved to 14-1 overall, hitting 10 singles and a double and taking advantage of seven Viking errors.