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An outdoor-cooking contest designed to promote Iowa meat is being planned by Clarke County Farm Bureau. Contest chairman Duane Phillips said you don’t have to be an expert chef to participate; you just need to enjoy cooking outdoors with quality Iowa meat.

TRURO — Students at Interstate 35 Community School raised an astonishing $4,046.63 recently to help fund blood-cancer research and provide help and hope to thousands of patients and their families through The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Pennies for Patient’s program. The society would like to thank not only the school, but the community as well for all their support.

MURRAY — While the cause of a house fire in Murray Thursday has yet to be determined, Murray Fire Chief Aaron Brammer said it most likely started in the living room.

Volunteers and those interested in learning about the Osceola Historic Preservation Commission and Intensive Survey and Evaluation of Downtown Osceola met at the Osceola Public Library Tuesday, May 14.

Clarke Middle School is one of more than 200 schools throughout the Midwest that are receiving the innovative technology tools this year through Hy-Vee’s SMART Points promotion, which ran from Sept. 1 through Nov. 30.

Spotlighting the extraordinary relationship between hospitals and the communities they serve, Clarke County Hospital (CCH) celebrated their nurse professionals and had several activities scheduled last week, in honor of National Hospital Week.

Registration is now open for the forthcoming Iowa Senior Olympics, which will be held this summer at various venues around the Des Moines area.

Low Vision Therapy can help those who need it, to overcome daily obstacles.

Joyce Frost, county executive director of USDA’s Farm Service Agency for Clarke-Decatur counties, reminds producers some farm program deadlines are fast approaching. June 3 is the deadline for enrolling in the 2013 Average Crop Revenue Election (ACRE) Program, and the final date to apply for the 2011 Supplemental Revenue Assistance Program (SURE) is June 7. May 31 is the final loan availability date for corn, grain sorghum and soybeans. These are statutory deadlines for all participants in these programs.

Clarke FFA chapter to receive Govenor’s Volunteer Award June 27

Kaitlyn Boyer named Norman Borlaug Scholar, attends Iowa Youth Institute program

The Board of Directors of the Green Hills AEA will hold their regular monthly meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 21, at the Red Oak Regional Office, 212 E. Coolbaugh St. Detailed materials concerning the meeting may be examined in the office of the board secretary after May 15. The tentative agenda for the regular meeting will include:

Unusual, rarely seen, and historic barns in Madison, Clarke, and Decatur counties will be featured on the annual June “area tour” sponsored by the Iowa Barn Foundation from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 22, and Sunday, June 23.

Clarke County Farm Bureau is offering one more opportunity for Clarke County residents to get a personalized brick into the ‘walk of honor’ at Clarke County Fairgrounds. The cost of each brick is $75, and the deadline to get an order in is June 30 so the bricks can be completed and laid before the 2013 fair begins in July.

CEDAR RAPIDS – Coe College joined forces with Prairie Creek Intermediate and Truman Elementary schools in Cedar Rapids for the 2013 Art and Culture Days at Coe. This program is part of a national service-learning initiative called “Communicating Common Ground.”

Osceola Fourth of July Committee has released the schedule of events for the July 3-6 celebration.

Who wouldn’t want a purple toilet in their yard? If you don’t, you might want to think about buying some insurance.

WEST DES MOINES — Kacey Klemesrud, a student at Clarke High School, and Taylor Gilbert, a student at Murray High School, were recognized by Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds for outstanding academic achievement at the 11th annual Governor’s Scholar Recognition Ceremony April 28 at Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines.

An unexpected spring snow storm caused multiple outages throughout Clarke Electric’s eight county service territory.

The week of May 6-12 was National Nurses Week, which was created to highlight the contributions of the nation’s 3.1 million registered nurses improving lives in various healthcare settings and contributing to the largest health care profession.

Clarke County Hospital has significantly kept infection rates down by using a multi-prong approach. Strategies designed to reduce the spread of infections at the hospital include containment and isolation, hand hygiene, environmental cleanliness, and enforcement of employee health.

The South Central Iowa Community Foundation (SCICF) announces a scholarship is available from the Kimball Family Foundation. 

Agriland FS, Inc., a locally-owned cooperative, has announced Mason Curnes, son of Kelly and Jill Curnes of Osceola, has been awarded one of the $1,000 scholarships from the Agriland FS Foundation. Curnes plans to attend Southwestern Community College to study welding.

If you have ever wanted to learn more about Iowa’s native trees, grasses and wildflowers, you’ll have a chance to do so in a series of classes being offered in the area this spring and summer. Trees Forever will be offering its popular Stewards of the Beautiful Land program in Clarke County this year.

Clarke-Decatur County farmers are reminded that in order to receive payments from USDA, compliance with Highly Erodible Land Conservation (HELC) and Wetland Conservation (WC) provisions are required.

Diego Hurtado, a fifth-grade student at Clarke Elementary, has progressed to the state level with an essay about “What the Flag Means to Me.”

SAINT CHARLES – Bailey M. Dixon, a senior at Interstate 35 High School in Truro, has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship from the Grand Lodge of Iowa, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Monday, May 20: BBQ-rib sandwich, bun, creamy cucumbers, baked beans, applesauce, orange juice

SWCC’s ‘tech-prep’ house program finds success with 10 houses built, sold