Nobles Cooperative Electric would like to report that all members should have electricity. All major lines have been restored. If you are a Nobles Cooperative Electric member without power, please call the cooperative immediately at 1-800-397-4592.

With the area forecast to get up to five to eight inches of snow, with winds increasing to 20 to 35 MPH through Friday, Nobles Cooperative Electric encourages members to keep the cooperative’s number handy in case outages occur: 1-800-397-4592.

MILFORD, Iowa - The Dickinson County Sheriff's Office is investigating a double fatality motor vehicle crash that took place at approximately 7 p.m. Wednesday in the 1800 block of 310th Ave near Milford. Two vehicles were involved, one being a northbound semi tractor/trailer and the other a southbound passenger vehicle. The two occupants of the passenger vehicle were killed in the accident. The driver of the semi was unharmed. The names of the deceased have not yet been released pending notification of family.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Secret Service says it has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that contained a "suspicious substance."

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan says the letter was intercepted at a facility away from the White House Tuesday. This comes a day after lawmakers said a letter was mailed to Sen. Roger Wicker that tested positive for poisonous ricin. Another senator said police have a suspect in mind.

WORTHINGTON – A tentative trial date for September 9 was set in Nobles County District Court for the re-trial of Josue Fraga, whose 2009 conviction for the murder of his two-year-old niece Samantha was vacated in August after new evidence was brought forth.

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Federated Rural Electric in Jackson is on the home stretch with outages remaining to about 75 members. At the peak of Federated’s ice storm last week it was as high as 2,200 in Jackson County.

“We are down from 290 co-op members without power from Sunday morning to about 75 as of this morning,” said Joe Marthaler, Federated’s operations manager. “We plan to have the power restored to all members today.”

Crews will be working today in the following areas:

The Nobles County Emergency Operations Center will be open on Monday, April 15th from 8 am until 4:30 pm. Groups or individuals interested in volunteering to help with clean up or citizens who are in need of assistance with clean up should call 507-295-5359. Thank you to all who have already been working on clean up. To all of the residents who are still waiting for electricity - the power companies are working as quickly as they can replacing poles and lines to get power completely restored. We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding.

Ellsworth Mayor Tasha Domeyer has confirmed the water in Ellsworth has been tested and is deemed safe for consumption. Domeyer said when the city lost power, the water treatment facility was also affected due to a lack of a generator. Nitrates built, causing the water to be declared unfit to drink.

Power was restored Friday, but it took time to process the water and eliminate nitrates. Recent testing showed the water is now safe to drink.

Ice Storm Information

This article was compiled for the purpose of informing area residents of the current situation of the April 10-11 winter ice and snow storm that devastated rural Midwest towns. Please note that due to inclement weather and tree damage, the Worthington City-Wide Track Pick-Up that was scheduled to begin Monday, April 22nd has been rescheduled for a later date with dates announced at a later time. Please do NOT put anything at the curb at this time. In addition, there are currently four crews working on tree removal.

WORTHINGTON – According to Tracey Haberman of Nobles County Electric, snow and wind have slowed down our restoration process and added stress to our system. On Thursday morning more than 3,400 members were without power. Nobles Cooperative Electric would like to caution members in Nobles County that they may be without power for an extended period of time. Transmission issues continue to be the largest outage factor. Bloom, Worthington, and Adrian Substations continue to have no power.