NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers
Posted 2/18/20

News in Brief from across the Cowboy State

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NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020

Posted

UW provost a finalist for Texas job

LARAMIE (WNE) — The University of Texas at El Paso announced this month that the University of Wyoming’s provost, Kate Miller, is a finalist for its Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs position. Miller declined to comment on her candidacy Monday.

Miller is one of five finalists and is scheduled to visit UTEP March 5-6 and engage in a forum with faculty and staff.

A graduate of Princeton and Stanford universities, Miller previously worked at UTEP from 1991 to 2008. She began her work at UTEP as a research specialist before she eventually became the university’s associate dean of the College of Science.

In 2009, she began working as the dean for Texas A&M’s College of Geosciences.

Miller was hired as UW’s provost in 2016 at a salary of $300,000. In May 2019, the board of trustees increased her pay to $325,000.

In addition to the title of provost, Miller also holds the title of Vice President for Academic Affairs.

If she were to imminently leave UW, it would task the university with a second vice presidential search.

In September, UW suddenly announced it had parted ways with then Vice President of Student Affairs Sean Blackburn. Kimberly Chestnut is now serving in that position in an interim capacity.

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Counterfeit money shows up at Campbell jail

GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County Sheriff’s Office is out real money after inadvertently taking $120 in counterfeit bills from a man coming into the jail after his arrest for fraud — and who was in jail a month earlier for allegedly passing counterfeit bills.

Edwardo Vlahos, 43, was arrested Oct. 19 on suspicion of felony shoplifting and as part of his booking process, he turned over money he had with him to credit his commissary account. When he was released Oct. 21 on a $1,500 cash or surety bond, the department returned $261.69 to him on a debit card.

In the meantime, a Sheriff’s Office worker tasked with overseeing the inmate commissary money reported that the counting machine wouldn’t accept a $20 bill and two $50 bills that Vlahos allegedly had turned over at the time he was booked, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case. The $20 showed up as counterfeit with a detecting pen. The $50 bills had the same serial number.

Because of that, prosecutors added an additional charge of forgery to a September case after Vlahos allegedly passed counterfeit bills at Old Chicago, where he worked as a dishwasher. 

When contacted by police, Vlahos denied knowing that the bills were counterfeit.

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Cheyenne man faces charges in five robberies

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A local man faces federal criminal charges for allegedly robbing five businesses and threatening store employees with a gun.

Taylor Ross Wardell has been charged with four counts of interfering with commerce by robbery in U.S. District Court. Wardell already had his initial appearance in the federal courthouse in Casper and has waived his preliminary hearing.

His bond is set at $10,000 cash. It is unclear from the court documents whether Wardell has posted bond.

Wardell is facing a total maximum penalty of 80 years in prison, a $1 million fine, three years of supervised release and a $400 special assessment fee for all four counts.

According to court documents:

Starting Aug. 14, and continuing over the next couple of months, Wardell is accused of robbing several businesses, including Silver Mine Subs on Vandehei Avenue in Cheyenne, Loaf ‘N Jug on East Lincolnway in Cheyenne, Loaf ‘N Jug on Third Street in Laramie, Vino’s Wine and Spirits on Vandehei Avenue in Cheyenne and a Subway on West Carlson Street in Cheyenne.

Court documents say Wardell robbed these businesses with help from someone identified only as “MH.”

Wardell was arrested by Cheyenne Police on Oct. 1, when he and “MH” were found sleeping in a white Subaru at 4000 W. College Drive with license plates that didn’t match the car’s registration. Drugs were also seen in plain view, and during the vehicle search, officers found a note that read “give me the money or I’ll shoot.”

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Yellowstone proposes major bridge replacement

JACKSON (WNE) — The National Park Service is taking steps to relocate a major bridge spanning the Yellowstone River at Tower about 500 feet south of its current location.

“This project will maintain safe visitor access from the park’s Northeast Entrance since the bridge is part of the only road corridor in the park that is open year-round and plowed in the winter,” Yellowstone officials announced in a statement. “Built in the early 1960s, the concrete deck, sidewalks, and parapets have deteriorated.”

By aligning the bridge farther south, Yellowstone National Park would trim 1,500 feet of road surface from the Northeast Entrance Road. A 1,175-foot-long, 176-foot-high bridge that would be built in 2022 would skirt wetlands, enabling the park to restore wet meadows that are adjacent to the current 60-year-old bridge and road corridor.

Those plans are outlined in an environmental assessment that Yellowstone publicized last week. Two other options are contemplated: the customary “no-action” alternative, and a different plan for the Yellowstone River bridge that would move the structure north instead into an area where the topography would enable a much shorter bridge.

The construction schedule is contingent on funding, but plans are to have the project wrapped up by 2024. Traffic delays aren’t yet clear, and could range from no delays to 30-minute delays with occasional two- to four-hour delays.