(Continued from page 18)

• LA PLANT, S.D. (AP) -- A husband and wife from Eagle Butte are dead in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 212 in Dewey County.
• The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 74-year-old Robert Ironwing and his 67-year-old wife, Francine, died at the scene about three miles west of La Plant late Wednesday afternoon.
• The patrol says Robert Ironwing was driving a pickup truck that didn't stop before entering the highway from a driveway. The truck collided with a semitrailer. The semi driver was not hurt.
•

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Cleanup of tree branches downed during last month's ice storm in Sioux Falls is nearing completion, though plenty of work will remain once the cleanup is done.
• About 80 percent of the branches have been cleaned up, and a final pass to pick up the rest will happen soon, Public Works Director Mark Cotter said Wednesday.
• "Nearly every part of the city had some level of damage," he said. "Cleaning the city up has been a community effort, and will be in our memories for many years to come."
• The three-day ice and snow storm that began April 9 damaged and downed thousands of trees and also electrical lines, at one point cutting power to nearly 100,000 people in the region. Sioux Falls Mayor Mike Huether said the pace of the cleanup dubbed "Operation Timber Strike" has exceeded his expectations.
• "I told the people of Sioux Falls that this was going to take months, and potentially even years," Huether said.
• "Help your neighbor, help your mom, help your grandma and get out there," the mayor said. "Let's end this."
• There is still work to be done after the cleanup. Grinding up the "tens of thousands of tons" of branch debris at drop-off sites could take six months, Cotter said.
•

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- After this week's fatal crash in southwestern South Dakota involving a van transporting military veterans, a Veterans Affairs Black Hills

(Continued on page 20)