Two new staff members have joined The Warren County Record in recent weeks.

The award-winning newspaper has welcomed John Rohlf as sports editor and Cara Mehalek as its office assistant.

Both bring journalism backgrounds to their positions as The Record prepares to launch new print and digital initiatives in 2022.

“We’re excited to have both John and Cara join our staff and welcome the new ideas they can bring to our team,” said Publisher Tim Schmidt. “Both of these hires show a continued investment in publishing one of the best small newspapers in the state.”

Rohlf will fill a position that had been left vacant following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He will be in charge of the newspaper’s sports coverage and will also serve as the primary education reporter for The Record.

Rohlf has relocated to the area following a seven-year stint as a news reporter at the Clinton Herald, a daily newspaper in Iowa. Prior to that, he served as sports editor/reporter at the Mount Pleasant News (Iowa).

He graduated with a journalism degree from St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, where he also was a member of the men’s tennis team. For the past seven years, he has served as the program’s head coach.

Rohlf can be reached at john@warrencountyrecord.com.

Mehalek will help run the front office at The Record and handle a variety of functions, including circulation, legal notices, payments and obituaries for the newspaper.

She has lived in Warrenton for the past two years after relocating from Pennsylvania. She has a journalism and public relations degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Indiana, Pa.

Mehalek can be reached at recordclass@warrencountyrecord.com.