According to the South Dakota Department of Transportation, Interstate 90 from Exit 10 at Spearfish to the Wyoming border is now open, but the interstate remains closed to traffic between Spearfish and Murdo.

Jason Humphries, SDDOT spokesman, said earlier predictions of opening the interstate by Friday afternoon were ambitious and the state is finding conditions are worse than anticipated with large drifts and many stranded or abandoned vehicles in the way, slowing progress.

Humphries said the state DOT's new goal is to open late Friday night some areas of I-90 in the Rapid City area and the road between Murdo and Wall opened, but a full opening won't happen until sometime Saturday at the earliest if all goes well.

"But we can't make any guarantees on that," he said. "The going is kind of slow."

Efforts to reopen the highway are being hampered by motorists illegally entering the interstate. Anyone found entering a closed interstate will be ticketed.

Travelers are also being advised not to travel to Murdo unless that is their home or final destination. No lodging is available at Murdo, and travellers will be required to turn around and return to Pierre or Chamberlain to find a place to stay. All rooms are booked and the emergency shelter is full.

The interstate from Mitchell to Chamberlain opened at 10 a.m., and the stretch between Chamberlain and Murdo opened at noon.

Though part of I-90 was reopened this morning, much of it remains closed as Gov. Mike Rounds declared a statewide emergency following the blizzard which hit the region Wednesday night.

Personnel from the Departments of Public Safety and Transportation are working to remove unattended vehicles that are still stranded along the interstate.

As of noon Friday, several counties have roadways with no-travel advisories, including: Harding, Bennett, Haakon, Perkins, Todd, Tripp, Lawrence, Butte, Meade, Pennington, Jackson, Jones, Custer, Shannon, Ziebach and Mellette.

The no travel advisory means "do not travel" and is considered the same as a road closure. When issued, it indicates that conditions are unsafe and that you should not travel except for emergency situations. If you do get stranded on the road, stay with your vehicle.

About 240 MidContinent telephone customers in Rapid City and Box Elder were still without service Friday morning but technicians were out performing restoration work as power came back on line and officials expected all service in those communities to be up and running later in the day.

About 1,000 customers lost telephone service during the storm when a fiber optic line was cut somewhere between Sturgis and Spearfish. The outage affected about 500 customers in the Rapid City area and about 500 in the Sturgis, Boulder Canyon and Whitewood areas.

Tom Simmons, Senior Vice President of Public Policy for Midcontinent, said progress in the Northern Hills is not as good. While the company knows the general vicinity where the cut cable exists, crews can't access it until roads are cleared.

"It's a problem of getting to it and making repairs," he said. "We're handicapped until we can get there."

Black Hills Power of Rapid City says about 2,800 of its customers were still without electrical power as of 6 a.m. Friday from the blizzard yesterday, which knocked out power for about 7,000 customers. A spokesman for the utility, Mutch Usera, said much of the power, though not all, has been restored in the Black Hawk and Piedmont areas and work is being done today in the Pactola area for about 700 customers there.

Usera said the biggest challenge right now is getting to those areas still without power. Most roads are still snowpacked, he said, making restoration efforts difficult.

The storm knocked down an estimated 500 power poles and eight electric cooperatives in western South Dakota were requesting assistance, the South Dakota Rural Electric Association said in a statement Thursday night. On Friday, the Association was just beginning to assess the situation.

Brenda Kleinjan, a spokeswoman for the association, said crews from 14 east river cooperatives, consisting of about 43 workers, were on the move today to assist four of the western electric cooperatives, but road conditions were hindering progress. She anticipates by late Friday two or three additional cooperatives will be sending crews to the area.

But getting crews to the western part of the state will depend on having clear roads.

"Logistically, the trucks are going to have as many issues as any other motorist is having," she said. "

Kristi Turman, director of the South Dakota Office of Emergency Management, said snow-clearing efforts along I-90 were being slowed by 12-foot drifts and abandoned vehicles along the interstate from Murdo west. A No Travel Advisory remains in effect for western South Dakota. She said both state and county roads, not just the interstate, remain blocked.

"Roads are still impassable in the western part of the state," she said.

Turman said the heavy snow starts at Vivian on west and west of Murdo "there are big issues" with 12 foot drifts across the interstate.

"They're working on it. Part of the issue is there's so many vehicles stranded or abandoned along the road that it takes a long time to get them off and then plow through there," Turman said. "They're doing the best they can, but it's not looking optimistic to have I-90 open west of Vivian today."

Turman said there are likely still people stranded in some of the vehicles along the Interstate and the state is doing the best it can to reach them. She said there are two rescue operations underway out on the plains for two known stranded parties in the Belle Fourche and Newell areas.

"We know people are out there but those are the folks we have had contact with. There's probably going to be more," she said.

Other news, updates, and cancellations:

- The Knowledge Bowl at Douglas High School has been postponed.

- The district oral interpretation contest scheduled for Saturday at Belle Fourche has been cancelled.

- The Northern Hills U.S. Marine Corps birthday scheduled for Saturday has been rescheduled for Saturday, Nov. 15.

- The district volleyball games scheduled for St. Thomas More High School tonight have been rescheduled for Monday night.

- The following Regional Health Systems remained closed: Edgemont Regional Medical Clinic; Lead-Deadwood Regional Medical Clinic; Massa Berry Regional Medical Clinic; Newell Regional Medical Clinic; Queen City Regional Medical Clinic.

- The Department of Veterans Affairs Black Hills Health Care System Women Veterans Conference and appreciation luncheon scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 at the American Legion Post 22, 818 E. St. Patrick Street in Rapid City has been cancelled due to weather.

- Rapid City Regional Airport reopened its airfield at 11:15 a.m. and flights were inbound from Salt Lake City and Minneapolis.

- Due to school cancellations, tickets for "A Weekend of Steinbeck", available for both Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath, will go on sale for Central High staff and students, PLUS the general public on Wednesday, November 12 at 7 AM, at the Central High Theatre box office.

- The breakfast scheduled for this Sunday, Nov. 9, at the Hill City Senior Center has been cancelled due to the large amount of snow.

- The Wind Beneath Our Wings Awards Luncheon scheduled for 11:30 Friday at the Radisson has been postponed until further notice due to road conditions.

- The Dahl Arts Center will remain closed on Friday, Nov. 9, reopening Saturday Nov. 10 for their regular hours.

- Office hours have been suspended and classes have been cancelled at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology for Friday. Only essential employees are required to report. Additional updates and information are available by calling (605) 394-2210. A decision on whether to hold Meeting of the Mines (Visit Mines, Family Weekend, and CommUniversity) is under consideration and will be announced midday Friday.

- Black Hills State University reopened at 10 a.m. Friday for classes. Students are urged to use caution when traveling to the school.

- The Pennington County Commission meeting scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, Nov. 10.

- St. Martin Monastery's antique, collectables, memorabilia and book sale has been postponed until Saturday, Nov. 15, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

- United Blood Services is nearing a critical point in its blood shortage, as the O Negative supplies have dropped below safe levels. And the blizzard which shut down offices Thursday and Friday have not helped. Their center will be open on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for donors, with hot dogs being provided to those who give blood.

- The American Heart Association Benefit in memory of Ryan Gramberg that was set for Friday night has been postponed to a later date because of school closure due to weather. Organizers will announce the new date for the benefit next week.