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Thousands still without power after SD snowstorm
• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- Black Hills Power says it has restored electricity to more than 15,000 customers in the wake of a record-setting weekend snowstorm in South Dakota, but about 14,000 customers remain in the dark.
• The utility says in a statement that more than a dozen line crews from South Dakota, Montana, Colorado and Wyoming are on the job, and additional crews and equipment from other utilities are being brought in.
• The storm dumped up to 4 feet of snow in parts of western South Dakota, downing electrical lines and power poles. Grand Electric Cooperative tells the Rapid City Journal that more than 1,500 poles are down in the Bison area alone.
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Shutdown spawns vacuum in farm market information
ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press
• WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The shutdown of the federal government is delaying crucial information farmers use to plant and market crops and postponing the payouts of subsidies to the nation's growers.
• That is adding to the uncertainty among producers who depend on both the marketplace and government money.
• Among the casualties of the shutdown are the reports put out by the National Agricultural Statistics Service. Farmers use to help them price crops and livestock and decide what crops to grow and when to sell them.
• Not only has the agency stopped putting out new reports, but all websites with past information have been taken down.
• The Agriculture Department also closed its farm services offices. Now growers can't apply for loans or sign up acreages for programs. Farm subsidy checks are also not going out.
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3 suspects sought in Sioux Falls armed robbery
• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Police in Sioux Falls are searching for three people who robbed a casino at gunpoint.
• Authorities say two males walked into a Deuces Casino just before 2 a.m. Monday and took an undetermined amount of money from a clerk. One of the males had (Continued on page 15)
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