Federated offering scholarships

JACKSON — Federated Rural Electric in Jackson will award two $1,000 Basin and L&O scholarships to two local Federated members’ sons or daughters.

The scholarship comes from Basin Electric Power Cooperative based in Bismarck, N.D., which became a wholesale power supplier for Federated in 2008, and L&O Power Cooperative in Rock Rapids, Iowa.

The scholarships are available to high school seniors and college students who will be enrolled full time in an accredited two-year or four-year college, university or vocational/technical school working on an undergraduate or master’s degree. Previous Federated Basin scholarship winners are not eligible to apply again. Applicants must be 25 or younger and a U.S. citizen.

Applicants must complete a two-page application, including a grades transcript, ACT/SAT scores, write an essay and have an outside appraisal (reference checklist). The one-page essay should address: Describe how a cooperative can be an economic engine for its local communities.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 30. Applications are available from Federated’s website (www.federatedrea.coop, by calling Federated at (507) 847-3520, by emailing info@federatedrea.coop or from local high school counselors.

The scholarship must be used for college during fall 2020. Scholarships will be distributed in August. Checks will be made payable to the school.

Woman facing federal counts

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Guatemalan woman who was deported after she was convicted in a 2008 school bus crash that killed four children in southwestern Minnesota is now facing federal charges alleging she re-entered the United States illegally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Friday.

Olga Marina Franco del Cid, 35, was arrested last month by federal immigration officers after they received a tip that she returned to the U.S. and was back in Minnesota. She was indicted Thursday on counts of illegal re-entry after removal, identification document fraud and false representation of a Social Security number.

Franco del Cid was convicted of criminal vehicular homicide after crashing a minivan into a school bus near Cottonwood in 2008, killing four students. She served eight years of her sentence and was deported after being released from state prison.

Court records do not list an attorney to comment on Franco del Cid’s behalf. She is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.