Cheyenne airport indefinitely suspends commercial flights starting in early April
CHEYENNE (WNE) — Due to concerns about the spread of the coronavirus and dropping global demand for travel, Cheyenne Regional Airport has indefinitely suspended daily commercial flights to Dallas starting April 7.
The American Eagle flights to Dallas, which are operated by SkyWest Airlines, have been offered since November 2018, and the last departing flight from Cheyenne for the foreseeable future will be April 6.
Making the announcement Wednesday night, airport director Tim Barth said the decision to delay the suspension until April was made to ensure anyone wishing to return to the Cheyenne area out of worries about the virus is able to do so.
"As we are looking out over the next two weeks, which is traditionally the spring break period for colleges and for families to take vacations - a number of people would be stranded if the flights stopped right now," Barth said.
Meanwhile, as of Wednesday night, Wyoming Air National Guard and non-commercial aviation activities had not been suspended at the facility. Looking ahead, the airport hopes to bring the flights back as soon as possible, though plans will be up in the air in coming months.
"Some experts say 90 days, and some are saying six months," Barth said. "Having gone through 9/11, it's really easy to turn off the aviation system and pull the plug on it ... it's a lot harder to turn it back on again."
The American Eagle flights to Dallas have been the airport's most successful service to date, drawing more than 40,000 passengers since the flights began. The numbers have given confidence to airport officials in the location's long-term viability.
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Wyoming library cards provide online access
SHERIDAN (WNE) — Wyoming residents don’t need to leave the house to use their library — it is there 24/7 online. A Wyoming library card opens up a world of resources through GoWYLD.net that can be accessed from a home computer or electronic device.
With a library card from any Wyoming public or community college library, card holders can read an ebook from cloudLibrary, enjoy a digital magazine or audiobook from RBDigital, brush up on a foreign language with Pronunciator, learn a new computer or career skill with Learning Express Library, or reinforce their children’s reading skills with Bookflix.
These are just some of the many electronic resources in GoWYLD.net available to library card holders from home just by logging in with a library card number and PIN. Card holders who don’t know their PIN or need assistance can call or email their local library, which may also have additional resources available that aren’t on this list.
Resources in GoWYLD.net are supported by the Wyoming State Library, University of Wyoming and local libraries. In addition, federal funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supports these services in part.
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Wyoming launches COVID-19 webpage
GLENROCK (WNE) — Governor Mark Gordon announced the launch of a state government webpage that will provide resources and information on the COVID-19 outbreak. The webpage may be viewed at covid19.wyo.gov
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Search this site. COVID-19 Information. Home
covid19.wyo.gov
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“We want to offer a single location to share information and resources from multiple state agencies as we respond to this pandemic,” Gov. Gordon said.
The page includes links to resources and information from the Wyoming Department of Health, the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security, the Wyoming Department of Education, the University of Wyoming and the state’s community colleges. It also offers information to assist impacted businesses and workers, as well as a link to updates from the CDC.
The page will be updated regularly with future resources and new information as it becomes available.
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Utah earthquake felt in Kemmerer, surrounding areas
KEMMERER (WNE) — Folks throughout southwest Wyoming and northern Utah started Wednesday morning off with some shaking as an earthquake struck near Magna, Utah, and was reportedly felt as far away as Afton and Big Piney.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey the 5.7-magnitude quake struck at 7:09 a.m. and has been followed by dozens of smaller aftershocks and at least one other separate quake at 8:02 a.m., registered as a 4.4.
By 11:15 a.m. Wednesday morning, USGS had already recorded 35 smaller aftershocks, ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 3.9.
Utahns were asked to shelter in place and be prepared for continued aftershocks. While there have been no reports of damage in Southwest Wyoming, tens of thousands were without power in the Salt Lake City area Wednesday morning, where the quake shut down some public transportation and phone lines, including the Utah Health Department COVID-19 hotline.
The Salt Lake City International Airport sustained significant damage and had to be closed and evacuated.
The quake also reportedly damaged the Salt Lake Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple, which has been undergoing major seismic renovations for several weeks, knocking the trumpet from the hands of the angel Moroni statue. Utah Emergency Management officials said that they expect Wednesday morning’s 5.7 to have been the largest in the series, although they stressed earthquakes cannot be predicted.
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Sundance duo charged with fraud
SUNDANCE (WNE) — Two Sundance men have been arrested on fraud charges after allegedly writing a total of ten bad checks to businesses and entities within the city of Sundance. Robert Glenn faces a felony count of fraud, while both men have been charged with multiple misdemeanors.
Sundance Police Department reports that it was alerted in December to three bad checks written to entities within city limits; one to the VFW for sewer work in the amount of $2000, one to the City of Sundance for $156.67; and one to a local business for $236.62. All three checks were allegedly made out by Robert Glenn.
A Sundance officer responded and reports he then learned of a couple more bad checks totaling $461.68 that were both written to a second local business. Five-day notices of dishonor and investigation letters were sent to Glenn.
The officer checked with all victim entities on December 20 and 26 and reports that none had heard from the suspect by the second date.
The officer was also given copies of five checks written by Travis Glenn and returned to the victim store, the first dated June 29, 2019. The checks were for $68.70, $44.99, $77.28, $48.49 and $40 and were all written to the same local business.
Robert Glenn has been charged with one felony count of fraud by check in an amount greater than $1000, carrying a maximum penalty of ten years’ incarceration, a $10,000 fine or both. He has also been charged with four misdemeanor charges of fraud by check.
Travis Glenn has been charged with five misdemeanor counts of fraud by check.
