The City of Harlan is expecting about 15- to 20-thousand bicycle enthusiasts to roll into the community, Sunday. With the help of numerous volunteers, the visitors and their support staff will be given a giant welcome with food, fun and entertainment. Harlan will serve as RAGBRAI’s first overnight stop during the trip across Iowa, Sunday. Biking enthusiasts who have registered for the event will enter the City on Highway 44, before turning north on to 19th Street all the way to Cyclone, before making their way on Cyclone to 5th, and eventually gathering at the Shelby County Fairgrounds, off Broadway Street.

The Harlan Pit Stop will feature music from several local bands including Bob Fields and Swing Time, the Harlan Community Jazz Band and Jessica Errett, a former Harlan resident. While most of the entertainment will be on the square in downtown Harlan,  Errett however, will perform in the Harlan Community High School Auditorium.

Food will be served all over the city with vendors downtown serving everything from Italian sandwiches and burritos, to the American tradition of pie and corn dogs. The Shelby County Fairgrounds will have other food provided by local organizations, as well. Shelby County Community Outreach will open its food booth Sunday, from 4-pm until they run out of food.

The riders will leave Harlan Monday morning from 7th Street and head east on Highway 44.

An intern at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn has won a scholarship to attend the 2013 Iowa Museum Association’s Annual Meeting and Conference, scheduled for October 6th through the 8th, in Sioux City. Madeline Mongar is a recent graduate of Northwest Missouri State University (BA History/Public History).  She has just begun a one year internship as an inventory assistant at the Danish Immigrant Museum, Elk Horn,  after which she hopes to attend graduate school.  Madeline expects to broaden her skills and knowledge by attending a variety of sessions at the IMA conference.

Cynthia Sweet, Executive Director of The Iowa Museum Association and IMA Board Vice President Al Harris Fernandez, Sioux City Art Center and IMA Scholarship Committee Chair say Mongar is one of three students selected for the scholarships. Applicants for the scholarship must be first-time attendees of an Iowa Museum Association Annual Meeting and Conference and work as an employee or volunteer at a non-profit art center, museum, botanical garden, arboretum, historic site, zoo or science center located within the state of Iowa. Students enrolled in a degree program involving any of the above fields of study were also encouraged to apply.  The scholarship covers the conference registration fee and conference meals. No lodging, extra meals, or extra workshops are included.

The IMA conference is open to anyone interested in the work of Iowa’s museums.  Conference information is available at www.iowamuseums.org or by contacting Executive Director Cynthia Sweet at imasweet@cfu.net, or 319-239-2236.

The Atlantic Police Department reports the arrest of four persons, Thursday: 27-year old David Anderson, of Atlantic, was taken into custody on a Warrant for Failure to Serve Jail Time; 36-year old Terrence Frazier, of Atlantic, was arrested for Public Intoxication 2nd Offense and Child Endangerment; 26-year old Jeffrey Knight, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Serious Assault charge, and, 52-year old Donald Welter, of Atlantic, was arrested on a Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Warrant for Cheating at a Gambling Game.

All four men were booked into the Cass County Jail.

The Atlantic Police Department says no injuries were reported following two separate accidents Thursday. The first occurred at around 10:40-a.m. at 3rd and Linn Streets. Officials say a vehicle driven by Carroll Bouchard, of Atlantic, was traveling east on 3rd Street, and a vehicle driven by Kathryn Jones, of Atlantic, was stopped at Linn, facing south. Police say Jones made a left turn onto 3rd Street, and hit the Bouchard vehicle, causing $1,500 damage altogether. Jones was cited for Failure to Yield upon entering a through highway or street.

The second accident happened at around 1:30-p.m. Thursday, in the 300 block of 2nd Street. The A-PD says a vehicle owned by George Evans, of Atlantic, was parked at the Nishna Valley Credit Union and had begun backing out onto 2nd Street. A 3rd, non-contact vehicle was blocking the view for both Evans, and Robert Nichols, of Brayton, who struck Evans’ vehicle, causing a total of $7,000 damage. No citations were issued.

The Iowa Department of Transportation is announcing that its popular “IA Driver Test” app, a practice test for the real written exam that applicants must take to get their driver’s license, is now available online for all web users. With the addition of the desktop/laptop version, the test is now available for most electronic communication including iPads, Android devices, Kindle Fire devices and personal computers.

The web practice test generates 25 questions, randomly chosen from a larger group of sample questions from the real knowledge test given at any Iowa driver’s license station or county treasurer’s office. Users can repeat the test as often as they like; each test generates a new set of 25 questions. The web version also tracks a user’s high scores and includes a pass/fail indicator.

The practice test, whether online or on a mobile device, is not just for teens. It’s great for experienced drivers as well. Take the quiz just for fun, as a family, with friends, or as a refresher to see if you are as smart as a 14 year old – the youngest age in which someone in Iowa can get an instruction permit to drive.

To find all versions of the Iowa DOT’s driver test, go to http://www.iowadot.gov/mvd/ods/iadrivertest.html, or search your device store for “IA DOT driver test.” Don’t be fooled by imitation apps that may be unreliable and possibly charge a fee. The official Iowa DOT test is free and will appear with the words “Iowa DOT” on the icon.

(Updated 9:44-a.m.)

Several law enforcement agencies converged on a location in southern Cass County late last night. According Sheriff Darby McLaren, the incident involving a man with a gun began at around 10:45-p.m, near 660^th and Yankton Road, northeast of Grant.

McLaren says a man making threats to his own life went to a bridge about 5-miles east of Highway 71 on Yankton Road, and began firing rounds from a weapon. Law enforcement was notified. Responding agencies included the Adair, Adams, Cass and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Offices, Iowa State Patrol, and Able 1 helicopter. The man eventually surrendered to authorities and was taken into custody without further incident. He was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic for evaluation.

The incident ended at around 12:04-a.m. at the man’s nearby residence. No injuries were reported. McLaren said alcohol may have played a role in the incident. He says also, that no charges will be filed.

w/ Ric Hanson

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IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in eastern Iowa have arrested a western Iowa woman they say intentionally set a fire that injured a firefighter more than two years ago. Iowa City police arrested 25-year-old Nicole Kramer, of Carter Lake, on Wednesday. She is charged with first-degree arson.

A structure fire in January 2011 burned the hands of a firefighter trying to contain the damage. Authorities later determined that the fire was intentionally set with gasoline. Officials did not release details about the investigation, or how they linked Kramer.

Kramer was taken to the Johnson County Jail.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s unemployment rate in June remained unchanged from the previous month at 4.6 percent. A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows the rate remained the same despite the state adding 6,500 jobs. It’s still an improvement from the same period last year, when Iowa’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.3 percent and the state had 24,800 less jobs.

The Des Moines Register reports the industries of construction, leisure and hospitality added 2,600 jobs in June. Professional and business services also added 1,900 jobs in the same period. Education, health services and government each lost 1,700 jobs in June.