REGIONAL – The Iowa Department of Education released its Iowa School Report Card Wednesday, Dec.

    AVOCA -- Edward “Bud” Telkamp, 86, Avoca, died January 11 at Veteran’s Medical Center.    Private family services will be held.    Telkamp is survived by daughters Cynthia Fetters of El Dorado Springs, MO, Penny Pattee of Avoca, and Kimberly Telkamp of Avoca; son Scott Telkamp of El Dorado Springs; sister Ruth Lenz of Decorah; 12 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.    Pauley Jones Funeral Home in Avoca is in charge of arrangements.

    EARLING -- Gerald “Chris” Willian Christensen, 75, Earling, died January 10 at the Little Flower Haven Nursing Home in Earling.    Services were held Thursday, Jan. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

    ELK HORN -- Gary Wayne Sievers, Sr., 68, Elk Horn, died January 10 at Select Specialty Hospital in Omaha, NE.    Graveside services were held Thursday, Jan. 14 at 10:30 a.m.

    HARLAN -- Myrtue Medical Center Trustees in an October meeting heard their CPA tout that MMC had another very good year of operations which ended on June 30, and that over the past 15 years they have had an amazing consistency in operations.        But five months later, finances have changed and MMC is looking at a variety of options to handle a revenue dip that as of Nov. 30 showed a net income loss of $597,389.

 ATLANTIC -- The merit of a strong start cannot be overstated when evaluating the Harlan Community boys basketball team’s last two games. In its only loss of the season just before Christmas break, HCHS spent nearly the entire night battling from behind in an eventual seven-point home loss to unbeaten Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln. Flash forward two weeks and the Cyclones basically led the whole way Tuesday night in an impressive seven-point

 HARLAN -- Scoring the game’s first 16 points wasn’t necessarily a sign of things to come Tuesday night, but it was a key difference-maker in the Harlan Community girls’ 57-44 win over Atlantic. The 3rd-ranked (Class 4-A) Cyclones were never seriously threatened by the Trojans, but never quite pulled away as they shook off the rust from a two-week holiday break and improved to 7-1 overall and 4-0 in the Hawkeye Ten Conference - all alone in fi

 ELK HORN -- Kealey Nelson paced three Spartan girls in double figures Tuesday night as Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat Adair-Casey 49-36 in a battle of ‘Top 10’ unbeatens in Class 1-A. The 2nd-ranked Spartans led just 26-24 after three quarters before outscoring the 9th-ranked Bombers 23-12 the rest of the way. 

 AVOCA -- IKM-Manning took control of the game with a 23-8 first-quarter start and stayed undefeated Tuesday night with a 66-53 win over AHSTW. One night after taking down fellow unbeaten Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto on the road, the Wolves showed up ready to play in Avoca, getting 27 points and six rebounds from senior Kyle Wagner in improving to 9-0 overall and 7-0 in the Western Iowa Conference. The Vikings (3-4, 3-4) actually outscored IKM-M af