AVOCA -- Charlie LeRoy Allen, 85, Avoca, died April 20 at his home.    A private family funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, April 24 at Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Avoca with burial in the Graceland Cemetery at Avoca.  Public visitation was held Thursday, April 23 from 1-6 p.m.

    SHELBY -- Betty Maxine Stuhr, 94, Shelby, died Tuesday, April 21 in Harlan.    Services will be held at a later date.    Stuhr is survived by daughters Linda (Dix) Scranton of Norfolk, NE, Merry Jo Stuhr of Gray, ME and Nancy (Don) Foringer of Overland Park, KS; son Richard (Kae) Stuhr of Shelby; sisters Dorothy Adkinson of Central City, NE and Joann Hauptman of Neligh, NE; a number of grandchildren, step-grandchildren and step-great-grand

 STORM LAKE -- Sophomore Nicole Lange played in all 25 games for the Buena Vista University women’s basketball team this past season, averaging 8.4 points and 3.3 rebounds for the 1-24 Beavers. Lange, a 5-foot-11 forward and 2018 Harlan Community High School graduate, also excelled in the classroom at BVU as a member of the American River Conference’s Winter All-Academic Team.

  LAMONI -- Sophomore Shauna Reitan played in 16 games for the Graceland University women’s basketball team this past winter before her season was cut short by injury. Reitan is a Manning native and graduated from IKM-Manning in 2018. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 3.0 points and 1.4 rebounds in a reserve role, logging 12.9 minutes per contest.

    HARLAN -- Students from Harlan Community High School qualified for the Business Professionals of America (BPA) 2020 National Leadership Conference, in North Harbor, MD May 6-10.    Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the conference has been canceled.    This year’s conference was set to bring together more than 6,000 conference delegates from across the nation to compete in national level business skills competitions and attend leadership develo

HARLAN – Two mock trial teams from Harlan Community High School qualified in early March for the State Mock Trial event that was to be held this month, but has been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.    The mock trial regional for southwest Iowa was held at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs on March 2.  There were a total of eight teams participating in the event with the top three placers qualifying for the State Mock Trial

    DES MOINES -- Nearly 150 students interested in health care careers participated in the HOSA State Leadership Conference March 15-17 in a virtual online competition.      Students virtually attended general sessions, educational symposiums, and competed in more than 40 different competitive events.

    HARLAN -- Congratulations to eight Harlan Community High School musicians who were recognized as accepted or alternates to the 2020 Class 3A Iowa All State-Jazz Band.    The group would have performed at the Iowa Bandmasters Association Convention in early May, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 

 STATE (April 17) -- Iowa’s high school spring sports season was officially cancelled on Friday morning by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and the Iowa High School Athletic Association. The decision to cancel girls and boys track, soccer, golf and tennis was based on Friday’s recommendations to keep Iowa schools closed for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the spread of COVID-19.