OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Most of the people who lost power Thursday in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa have regained but several thousand still lack electricity. Crews from the Omaha Public Power District and MidAmerican Energy have been working to make repairs strong wind and large hail moved through the area Thursday evening. By 4:30 p.m. Friday, about 6,000 utility customers were still without power because of fallen trees and downed lines. But that’s down from a total of roughly 60,000 customers without power at the height of the outage. MidAmerican says more than 3,000 utility customers in the Council Bluffs, Iowa, area still lacked power Friday afternoon. OPPD says about 2,600 of its customers didn’t have electricity Friday afternoon mostly in northeast and southeast Omaha.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Authorities are investigating the theft of laptop computers from a Council Bluffs school building. 21 laptop computers valued at $20,000 were stolen from the Tucker College and Career Center between Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

School district spokeswoman Diane Ostrowski says the theft will affect the district’s short-term ability to use technology in the classroom and that the replacement of the computers is costly.

Thieves are becoming more brazen in their attempts to steal copper wiring. Authorities this week, reported copper wiring was cut and stolen from power poles owned by the Farmers Electric Cooperative. The thefts occurred in the Wiota and Anita substation areas.

Officials with the utility are asking for your help, when it comes to reporting suspicious activity near their power poles. If you see someone who you think may be trying to steal copper ground wiring or other such materials, call your local sheriff’s office.

Last week, Fansteel Dynamics in Creston reported someone entered the plant’s property and took about 275-pounds of copper wire, valued at around $1,100. The theft occurred sometime between the hours of 5-p.m. August 9^th, and 6-a.m., August 10^th.

Officials with the Farmer’s Coop say it will cost thousands of dollars in labor, material and truck time to make necessary repairs to their property. And, to deter against further theft, crews plan to replace the copper wire with steel wire, which is of little value to copper thieves.