COUNTY – Shelby County has been transitioning its public alert system from Code Red to Alert Iowa since September of last year and are encouraging local residents to sign up for the emergency notification system, officials with Shelby County Emergency Management announced this week.    The Code Red system has been used in Shelby County since 2009, and has been a valuable tool in assisting with emergency notifications to the public, said Em

    COUNTY -- The Shelby County Plant Iowa Committee handed out trees to fifth-graders in Shelby County’s schools last week.  Here, Mary Illg and Bev Burmeister, Plant Iowa Committee members, present the trees to Shelby County Catholic School students Friday afternoon, April 29.    The committee said they are handing out hundreds of trees this year to the students.  The project has been ongoing for the past 33 years.

    HARLAN - An improving financial picture, combined with cost containment efforts, increased patient activity and strong patient satisfaction surveys have opened the door for Myrtue Medical Center to reduce its employee cost reduction plan.    In a memo to employees, Medical Center CEO Barry Jacobsen said effective May 1, Myrtue was reducing the mandatory PTO requirement for affected staff to half of the original plan.

    HARLAN – Harlan has officially begun the search for a new city administrator.    At the direction of the city’s Personnel and Finance Committee, Harlan Mayor Gene Gettys, Jr. is contacting human resource firms to bring to the committee for review.  It’s hoped one of the firms will guide the city through the process.    But there’s no hurry, officials said.

    HARLAN – Harlan city officials appear likely to pursue a special financial audit that would review the city’s past financial records for an undetermined period of past years.    The move comes following questions about expense reports submitted by former city administrator Terry Cox, who announced his resignation last week.  Cox has since been put on paid administrative leave for the remainder of his contract term, which expires June 30.  

 MONDAMIN -- Posting similar point totals while combining for three gold medals and two school records along the way, the Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton boys placed third and the girls took fourth at Monday’s Rolling Valley Conference Co-Ed Track Meet in Mondamin. Spartan junior Emily Copic was one of six competitors to win at least two individual events on the night as she cruised to victory in the 3,000 and later improved her own school record in

 NEOLA -- Sophomores Payton Sporrer of IKM-Manning and Gage Clay of AHSTW both won their two feature events at Tuesday’s Western Iowa Conference Co-Ed Track Meet, joining Logan-Magnolia’s Kylan Straight and Underwood’s Emma Bonnet as this year’s only WIC athletes to earn multiple individual golds on the Tri-Center track. Sporrer dominated the girls 3,000-meter run and later the 1,500, posting winning times of 11:42.49 and 5:16.54, respectively

 ATLANTIC -- Max Langenfeld’s sixth-place medalist round of 75 kept Harlan Community in the hunt, but the Cyclones ended up finishing in the middle of the team pack at Tuesday’s Atlantic Boys Invitational at Nishna Hills Golf Course. Atlantic won the 13-team tourney with a score of 304 and Kuemper Catholic was second with a 309.

 ATLANTIC -- Paige Powers and Amber Gross finished among the top 10 individual medalists Tuesday, leading a shorthanded Harlan Community girls golf team to fifth place out of 11 full squads at the Betty Heflin Invitational. Powers placed seventh with a score of 93 and Gross finished 10th with a 96 at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club, playing consistent golf over 18 holes.