NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, April 3, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 16 hours ago
CDC advises ‘face masks are for the sick’
PINEDALE – Many across the country are questioning local, state and federal health officials about wearing face masks – of any kind – while in public places or around people where COVID-19 might be carried or transmitted.
Updated: 16 hours ago
Pandemic hurting ranchers in southwest Wyoming
EVANSTON — Sheep ranchers are the earliest agricultural victims in Uinta County to feel the economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated: 16 hours ago
COVID-19 comes to Centennial: (and goes … ?)
A cluster of bars, businesses and homes sits at the base of the Snowy Range mountains. More dwellings dot the wooded drainages and windswept prairie nearby. Welcome to Centennial, population 270.
Updated: 16 hours ago
Casper doc innovates with new respiratory clinic
In March, as the COVID-19 outbreak began to ramp up in the United States, Dr. Andy Dunn found himself in conversation with his wife — also a physician — discussing how the disease could overwhelm the healthcare system in their home city of Casper.
Updated: 17 hours ago
Restaurant curbside sale of alcohol popular with businesses
GILLETTE — For at least the next two weeks, Gillette restaurants can offer residents up to 48 ounces of beer or a bottle of wine with their next curbside food purchase, which is good news to some restaurant employees.
Updated: 17 hours ago
State jobless claims surge
CASPER — Thousands of Wyoming workers filed for unemployment insurance benefits last week as the economic fallout fueled by the spread of the coronavirus worldwide continues to shut down businesses, according to new data released by the Department of Workforce Services.
Updated: 17 hours ago
Wide and still open spaces: though campgrounds and facilities close, outdoors ‘a great place to be’ in pandemic
POWELL — Rock and Christine Hull and their five kids couldn’t take another day inside. Even during normal weekends, the best thing to wear off the boredom and anxiety for the Powell family is a long hike.
Updated: 1 day ago
Casper high schoolers take music festival online
CASPER — The song begins this way: “Days are good/And that’s the way it should be.”
Updated: 1 day ago
Mineral industries: Classify workers as essential
CASPER — Wyoming’s mineral industries have asked Gov. Mark Gordon to consider mining and drilling operations “essential” activities in anticipation of further potential business restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated: 1 day ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, April 2, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 day ago
Weapon missing in Big Horn triple homicide
Beartusk declined to speak to law enforcement that evening when he was taken into custody. The SCSO filed three counts of first degree murder against the suspect and a warrant was granted for his arrest March 30.
Updated: 1 day ago
During COVID-19 crisis, advocacy groups seek to insure public comment on environmental issues
BUFFALO — Advocacy groups are working to protect public input on critical environmental and land management decisions in a socially distanced world focused on slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Updated: 1 day ago
After going well over budget on Newcastle warden’s home, Game and Fish leaders put pause on new housing projects
POWELL — Still stinging over criticism of a construction project in the Newcastle area that ran well over budget, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission has tabled two proposed employee housing projects.
Updated: 1 day ago
Wyoming Supreme Court sides with public defender
CHEYENNE – Wyoming State Public Defender Diane Lozano's actions limiting which cases her office takes do not place her in contempt of court.
Updated: 1 day ago
Domestic violence resources still available amid pandemic
CHEYENNE – Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, people are being asked to social distance themselves and stay home. For domestic violence survivors, this advice can turn deadly.
Updated: 2 days ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, April 1, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 days ago
Teton County COVID-19 patients speak out
JACKSON — Lorraine Adams didn’t suspect she had COVID-19 until she read that a symptom of the disease is losing your sense of taste and smell.
Updated: 2 days ago
New model predicts Wyo COVID-19 deaths, ICU shortages
Wyoming is 26 days away from a peak daily COVID-19 death rate of four people per day and could see a total of 143 deaths through Aug. 4, 2020, a statistical model used by a University of Washington researcher predicts.
Updated: 2 days ago
Wyo Democratic Party Chair: Candidates ready for challenge
SHERIDAN — Among the events requiring drastic adaptations since COVID-19 swept across the U.S., Wyoming’s Democratic presidential preference caucus switched to a 100% mail-in voting process. Senatorial candidates say the voting process will likely remain sound but not unchallenged in the coming months.
Updated: 2 days ago
Policing a pandemic: Wyo law enforcement amid COVID-19
Law enforcement agencies across the state report that calls and crime have slowed down, so far, as many businesses remain closed, jobs remain in jeopardy and citizens self-isolate to stem the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated: 2 days ago
Schools stay connected with students during COVID-19 closures
School closures prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic are putting teachers, administrators, parents and students to the test statewide.
Updated: 2 days ago
Managing mental health in isolation
CASPER — Local, state and national leaders have all urged residents to avoid public areas and avoid in-person interactions as the novel coronavirus continues to spread. Compound that social isolation with the uncertainty brought about by a pandemic, and it could have a severe impact on a person’s mental health.
Updated: 2 days ago
Coalition channels tech community to find creative solutions for COVID-19
CHEYENNE – Across the state of Wyoming, there are web developers who specialize in coding mobile applications, makers who use 3D printers to bring ideas to life and mapping professionals who use GIS to show data visually.
Updated: 2 days ago
ACLU: Stop immigration raids
CASPER — The ACLU last week asked Wyoming officials to call on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to temporarily cease raids used to deport undocumented immigrants. The request, made in an open letter addressed to Gov. Mark Gordon and prison officials, comes as part of what the Wyoming chapter of the civil liberties organization calls a necessary response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spread rapidly in jails and prisons elsewhere but has not yet been linked to a jail or prison facility in Wyoming.
Updated: 3 days ago
Wyoming economists say social distancing is "worth it"
CHEYENNE – Shuttered schools, closed businesses and work-from-home mandates are the new normal in Cheyenne as people try to limit social interaction to prevent the spread of COVID-19, which has already killed more than 2,000 Americans.
Updated: 3 days ago
Wyoming Supreme Court to decide on birth certificate gender changes
CHEYENNE – A court case that would determine whether or not transgender people in Wyoming can change the their gender on their birth certificate is being decided by the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Updated: 4 days ago
Week two: The pandemic in Wyoming from March 20-27
By the end of the second full week since the Wyoming Department of Health announced the state’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, the virus was still tightening its grip on the Equality State. The DOH’s official number of confirmed positive cases went from 29 Monday to 70 by Friday morning.
Updated: 4 days ago
COVID-19 another hit on already-reeling coal industry
GILLETTE — Already trying to bail out a ship taking on water, Powder River Basin coal producers are now trying to keep that up during a torrential downpour.
Updated: 4 days ago
Wyoming doc works around COVID-19 testing bottleneck
A shortage of viral transport medium has slowed COVID-19 testing in Wyoming and nationwide. Now, at least one Wyoming doctor is working around the bottleneck by using a simpler, more common, CDC-backed, substitute: medical saline solution.
Updated: 4 days ago
Riverton couple charged with murder in Friday shooting
RIVERTON — A husband and wife were charged Friday morning in the death of 38-year-old Trevor Bartlett, who died of a gunshot wound early Thursday.
Updated: 4 days ago
Gordon OKs oil and gas tax break
CASPER — In the midst of unprecedented volatility in the global oil market, shale producers in Wyoming received a small boost Friday in the form of tax relief. Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law a bill providing reductions in state mineral taxes amidst certain price environments.
Updated: 4 days ago
FROM WYOFILE: ‘Go home:’
Amid the clamor, panic and ever-changing news of closures and COVID-19 cases, one message has emerged with increasing force: Social distancing is the key to slowing the pandemic.
Updated: 1 week ago
National data company gives Wyoming worst grade in social distancing
EVANSTON — Wyoming gets an F in social distancing practices.
Updated: 1 week ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Mar. 27, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 week ago
Coronavirus case count jumps to 56, no hospitalization for most
A large majority of Wyoming’s coronavirus cases have not resulted in hospitalization, according to Wyoming Health Department figures.
Updated: 1 week ago
It’s open season on teddy bears in Gillette
GILLETTE — With schools closed because of the coronavirus, parents are working overtime to keep their children from ransacking the house. Luckily, the outdoors aren’t off limits. Biking and walking through neighborhoods is safe and a nice way to change the scenery.
Updated: 1 week ago
The stimulus bill: Package includes one-time paycheck and jobless benefits
CASPER — On Wednesday, the United States Senate passed a massive $2.2 trillion stimulus package to save the U.S. economy from the worst impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering up tens of billions of dollars in new spending to help American workers and industry. But what does that mean for you?
Updated: 1 week ago
State unemployment spikes due to COVID-19
CHEYENNE - As unemployment claims across the U.S. have skyrocketed to unprecedented rates, the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services has seen a similar pattern in the Cowboy State.
Updated: 1 week ago
Governor signs bill mandating monthly production tax payments
GILLETTE — It’s official. In 2023, mineral producers must start paying their ad valorem production taxes monthly.
Updated: 1 week ago
COVID-19 task forces begin work to address immediate, long-term uncertainties
CHEYENNE - Two weeks removed from the confirmation of Wyoming's first coronavirus case, every sector of society has rapidly changed.
Updated: 1 week ago
Archaeologist: Snow King could lose its historical eligibility
JACKSON — For all of its history, Snow King Mountain has been a small and mostly sleepy ski area, with slow lifts, relatively few people and familiar ski runs cutting through the forest rising over town.
Updated: 1 week ago
Wyoming coronavirus case count jumps to 53; Gordon urges people to stay home
Wyoming’s coronavirus case count grew to 53 on Thursday, but reports from two county health agencies indicated some of those patients have already recovered.
Updated: 1 week ago
Wyoming could see $1.25B in aid
CASPER — Wyoming could receive $1.25 billion in federal aid under a massive, multi-trillion dollar stimulus package signed by the U.S. Senate on Wednesday to address the financial impacts incurred by state and local governments from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated: 1 week ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Mar. 26, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 week ago
Businesses finding new ways to operate amid pandemic uncertainty
LARAMIE — On Monday afternoon, a handful of shoppers browsed through racks of clothing at NU2U, 320 S. Fifth St. In the large space, it was easy for them to keep their distance from each other, one of the new rules of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated: 1 week ago
As COVID-19 effects ripple, hourly wage-earners hang on
JACKSON — At High Country Linen, giant washing machines slosh, huge dryers tumble their contents and semi-automated ironing contraptions take in clean bedsheets, turning out immaculate linen.
Updated: 1 week ago
Wyoming working to produce coronavirus testing supplies
CASPER — As shortages of testing materials continue across the state and country, Wyoming’s health officials are working to make some of the supplies themselves.
Updated: 1 week ago
Truckers ‘proudly’ drive on amidst COVID-19 pandemic
INTERSTATE 80 — On his weekly runs across the country, commercial truck driver Medi Agha is doing his best to stay in social isolation, he said.
Updated: 1 week ago
In Sublette County, no COVID-19 yet — no hospital, either
As larger Wyoming communities marshal limited resources to confront COVID-19, sparsely populated rural counties are particularly reliant on a critical strategy to keep residents safe — slowing the spread.
Updated: 1 week ago
A new approach to campaigning: Cynthia Lummis stays in and reaches out
ROCK SPRINGS — Campaigns typically require mass gatherings and a great deal of close social interaction. Not anymore.
Updated: 1 week ago
Supreme Court reverses, remands decision on Laramie County Fair Board
CHEYENNE – The Laramie County Board of Commissioners didn’t have the authority to dissolve the Laramie County Fair Board, according to a Wyoming Supreme Court opinion issued Tuesday.
Updated: 1 week ago
Acts of kindness seen across state in face of coronavirus troubles
As Wyoming residents dealt with the problems created by the coronavirus epidemic, the state was replete with stories of people reaching out to help their neighbors cope.
Updated: 1 week ago
Wyoming’s coronavirus case count up to 29
Wyoming’s coronavirus case count climbed to 29 on Monday as Gov. Mark Gordon warned state residents that the impact of the disease may be felt in the state for some time.
Updated: 1 week ago
Gordon joins GOP governors in seeking more money for states in federal stimulus bill
CASPER — Gov. Mark Gordon joined in signing a letter to congressional leadership seeking additional funding for states in Congress’ nearly $2 trillion stimulus bill that’s intended to help address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Updated: 1 week ago
Gordon: More COVID-19 cases likely in Wyoming
CHEYENNE – Gov. Mark Gordon said Monday the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Wyoming is likely not reflective of the true number of virus cases in the community due to limited testing supplies.
Updated: 1 week ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Mar. 24, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 week ago
Outbreak affects mental health: COVID-19 leads to high stress for many
CODY — With the onslaught of media coverage the COVID-19 pandemic has been garnering the last few weeks, it’s easy to become mentally distraught if not at least fatigued. Mental health experts say finding an escape from the informational barrage is critical to maintaining a healthy state.
Updated: 1 week ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Mar. 23, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 week ago
The New Normal: One week into COVID-19
CHEYENNE – Uncharted. Unprecedented. Uncertain. These are the words people across Wyoming – and the country – have used to describe the feeling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Updated: 1 week ago
Official implores: Don’t flush ‘flushable’ wipes
JACKSON — As sanitizing wipes fly off the shelves during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson’s wastewater treatment director reminds people that they should not end up in the town’s sewage.
Updated: 1 week ago
As business halts, workers brace for unemployment
CASPER — The phones at the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services office have been ringing off the hook.
Updated: 1 week ago
Barrasso seeks prince’s help
CASPER — Sen. John Barrasso joined several U.S. officials in drafting a letter to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, urging him to stabilize increasingly volatile global oil markets.
Updated: 1 week ago
Health officer prohibits gatherings of 10 or more, 23rd case detected
Gatherings of 10 or more people have been prohibited in the state under an order issued by the state health officer.
Updated: 1 week ago
Coronavirus cases in Wyoming by county
As reported by the Wyoming Department of Health, 9:30 a.m. Thursday, March 19.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Businesses large and small reel from virus’s ‘kick in the teeth’
Bitter Creek Brewing in Rock Springs laid off employees and switched to curbside delivery and pick-up orders only for the brewpub’s food this week. With a dining and bar area too small for social distancing, owner Jane Caller preferred to take precautions for her customers and employees, she said.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, March 20, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Dispatch from the hotspot — Lander in the days of COVID-19
LANDER — Nestled against the Wind River Mountain range in central Wyoming some 120 miles from the nearest interstate, Lander is not easy to get to.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Two who couldn’t get COVID-19 test: a study in rationing
Two Wyoming residents who exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 infection said they fear their experiences of denied testing and delayed treatment demonstrate how scarce supplies and a slow response may have exacerbated the pandemic’s spread.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Businesses worry after governor orders closures of bars, restaurants
CASPER — Crystal Borson and her employees unloaded a truckload of food on Monday, meant to stock the Philly’s Steak N’ Company restaurant located inside the Beacon Club in Mills.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Riverton circuit court judge releases jail inmates over virus
RIVERTON — Roughly 30 non-violent inmates at the Fremont County Detention Center in Lander have been released to minimize health risks in the jail during the coronavirus pandemic.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Health officer orders closure of Wyoming businesses
Latest updates on COVID-19 from across Wyoming
Updated: 2 weeks ago
#BrysonStrong:
EVANSTON — Thirteen-year-old Bryson Quinney is one tough young man with a remarkable story.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
#BrysonStrong:
EVANSTON — Thirteen-year-old Bryson Quinney is one tough young man with a remarkable story.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Great axe-pectations: ax throwing hits Gillette
GILLETTE — Larry and Shawn Reznicek and John and Sage Bear walked into Axe House Wyoming already having spent some time earlier shooting pistols at the gun range on a recent Friday. The couples thought they’d get some practice throws in before competing against each other.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Mar. 19, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Interior pushes parks as COVID-19 getaway; park officials disagree
JACKSON — With a good many normal activities and tourist destinations derailed by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Department of the Interior is telling Americans to go play in the outdoors on their federal lands.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
SBA provides loans for small businesses
SHERIDAN — Gov. Mark Gordon applied on behalf of the state of Wyoming for access to Small Business Administration federal disaster loans in response to COVID-19 on an economic front. While the state awaits approval, small businesses throughout Wyoming can prepare to apply for a loan by setting up accounts online.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Wyoming delegation votes in favor of multibillion-dollar relief packages
CASPER — Wyoming’s congressional delegation voted in favor of billions of dollars in stimulus funding Wednesday afternoon, supporting a bipartisan effort to stabilize the U.S. economy as the coronavirus outbreak threatens to bring the U.S. into a recession.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Coal corporate giving tumbles just as communities need it most
GILLETTE — When Cloud Peak Energy Inc. went public in 2009, the Powder River Basin coal producer gifted its first 500 shares to Youth Emergency Services in Gillette, an organization that provides an array of services for at-risk youth and their families.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Coal, land, workers and education: 2020 budget session wrapped
The 65th Wyoming Legislature adjourned for the year late Thursday night following a 24-day frenzy of lawmaking that stands to have significant impact on energy production, workers protections, the utility system, education funding and the potential purchase of millions of acres of land and mineral rights.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Oil price drop rocks industry
CASPER — Volatile markets roiled Wyoming’s energy sector again this week, with oil prices tumbling and investors shedding energy shares as the coronavirus, or COVID-19, continued to spread worldwide.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Remembering Sissy Goodwin, skirts and all
Douglas native Larry “Sissy” Goodwin gained national renown for his stubborn individuality. The Vietnam veteran, former rodeo cowboy, former aircraft mechanic and Casper College professor liked to wear women’s clothing. His style tended toward pastel blouses, frilly petticoats and feminine purses.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Mar. 18, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Coronavirus case count grows to 15
The number of coronavirus COVID-19 cases in Wyoming jumped by five Tuesday, with two cases surfacing in Laramie County, one diagnosed in Park County and two more turning up in Sheridan County.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
First two COVID-19 cases confirmed in Laramie County
CHEYENNE – Laramie County has its first two confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Mar. 17, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Wyoming Food Freedom celebrated as national model
PINEDALE – Far from our state lines, people celebrate the fact that Wyoming was the first in the nation to pass its Food Freedom Act – five years ago this month.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Current bad market makes for strategic money moves
SHERIDAN—The economic effects of national events are reverberating through Sheridan County. Falling financial benchmarks have left individuals to sort out what it will mean for their pocketbooks, and it turns out that those who have some extra cash to play with right now are in a good position.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
UW to conduct remainder of spring semester online
LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming announced Monday that all undergraduate and graduate courses will be delivered remotely when the semester resumes after spring break on March 30 amid concerns about the spreading novel coronavirus, commonly known as COVID-19.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
Energy companies in Wyoming intensify response to coronavirus outbreak
CASPER — Energy companies operating in Wyoming ramped up their response to the spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, on Monday, with some firms imposing self-quarantine protocols and travel restrictions.
Updated: 2 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, March 13, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Gordon using private-sector advisors to help evaluate Oxy land deal
Gov. Mark Gordon has a team of seven informal private-sector advisors — at least three of them high-level veterans of the oil and gas industries — helping him evaluate the possible purchase of 1 million surface and 4 million mineral acres from Occidental Petroleum, according to the governor’s office.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Supreme Court upholds blood draw ruling, appeal considered
JACKSON — Wyoming Supreme Court justices say they agree with the lower Teton County courts about a 2018 interference conviction stemming from a man refusing a judge’s warrant for his blood after a suspected DUI traffic stop.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
First coronavirus patient doing well, health officials say
CASPER — The Sheridan woman who tested positive for the novel coronavirus is isolated at her home and is doing well, health officials said Thursday. Meanwhile two people in a nearby community college district are under quarantine for at least two weeks.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Gordon lets UW abortion rule become law
LARAMIE -- Gov. Mark Gordon declined to veto a controversial part of this biennium’s budget that prevents the University of Wyoming’s student insurance from covering abortions.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Ancient eagle rehabilitated in Jackson returns to the skies
JACKSON — Meghan Warren’s “once-in-a-lifetime bird” has gone home.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Powell High School art class turns wildlife taxidermy into sculpture
POWELL — A grizzly bear, standing over a rib cage from a recent kill, looks out from his perch as students move in and out of Jim Gilman’s vocational art class at Powell High School. The students move fast, working with feathers and fur.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Sheridan man begins new life after addiction
SHERIDAN — When Chase Gysel died, he didn’t care at the time. During surgery necessitated by neck edema caused by an untreated nasal infection, his lungs collapsed. Later, medical staff told him they revived him on the table. He gave into the feeling of dying and felt relief.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, March 12, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Legislature approves bill for monthly mineral tax payment
GILLETTE — Mineral producers in Wyoming will have to pay their ad valorem taxes owed to counties on the same schedule as their state severance taxes if Gov. Mark Gordon signs a bill that cleared its final hurdle in the Legislature on Wednesday.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Bill to care for aborted infants born alive approved
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming House of Representatives put its stamp on a piece of legislation imposing felony-level penalties for parents and doctors who decline to provide lifesaving care to aborted infants born alive, a win for anti-abortion advocates but a blow to critics who feel the legislation strips the rights of parents and their doctors to spare suffering for children born with profound birth defects.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Wyoming
CHEYENNE — The first case of coronavirus, COVID-19, in Wyoming was confirmed Wednesday evening in a woman from Sheridan County.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
UW gets ‘standard budget’
LARAMIE — Barring any dramatic line-item vetoes from Gov. Mark Gordon, the University of Wyoming’s base support from the Legislature for the upcoming fiscal biennium will be essentially unchanged from its current status.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, March 10, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 3 weeks ago
UW cancels trips to China, South Korea because of coronavirus
CASPER — The University of Wyoming has canceled summer study abroad trips to China and South Korea in light of coronavirus outbreaks in those two countries as part of a wave of preparations undertaken by the university.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Wolf numbers increase in Yellowstone
POWELL — The number of wolves in Yellowstone National Park has risen in the past year, according to Doug Smith, the park’s senior wildlife biologist.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
BLM preferred plan would remove 1,500 horses from range
PINEDALE — The High Desert District’s wild horse draft environmental impact statement and proposed Bureau of Land Management revisions for its management are open for public comment through April 30.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Oil price plunge raises questions about state economy
CHEYENNE — Oil prices worldwide suffered a major hit over the weekend, reaching a four-year low in the United States, and the rapid changes in the global economy could have major implications for Wyoming.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
House, Senate reach initial deal on biennial budget
CHEYENNE — After a few months of crafting the nearly $3 billion state budget for the 2021-22 biennium, lawmakers from the House and Senate reached an initial agreement Friday night.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Jackson lab moves one step closer to ALS treatment
JACKSON — Medical research is a Sisyphean endeavor: Each study pushes the rock slightly farther uphill, until it finally reaches the top and a new discovery is made. Recently Brain Chemistry Labs, the nonprofit research lab in Jackson, moved the rock closer to the top of the hill.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Prison contractor squares off with counseling lobby in Capitol
The Illinois-based company that runs Wyoming’s in-prison treatment programs is battling mental health and substance abuse treatment lobbyists in an effort to lower licensing standards for its counselors.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Autistic 9-year-old student handcuffed
CASPER — A 9-year-old Casper student with high-functioning autism was restrained and handcuffed last year, resulting in an investigation by the federal Department of Education into how the student was treated in the months leading up to the incident.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Blackjewel successor makes monthly tax payments
GILLETTE — While the state Legislature debates whether to require companies to pay mineral production taxes on a monthly basis, the monthly payment plan agreement between Campbell County and Eagle Specialty Materials has shown that it can work.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, March 9, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 3 weeks ago
As session wanes, legislators negotiate in private
There are 90 members of the Legislature, but the fourth week of its 2020 session ended with fewer than 20 negotiating, often behind closed doors, the outcome of key budget session issues.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Motorists at shelter describe massive March 1 wreck
RAWLINS — By the time Fernando and Carlos saw the livestock trailer, it was too late. The two non-English-speaking motorists from Mexico quickly became another pileup statistic.
Updated: 3 weeks ago
Gillette resident changes his life with ‘street project,’ hopes to change others as well
GILLETTE — Standing amid a green landscape on the Pine Ridge Reservation is a weary Ogallala Lakota Sioux coming to grips with her need to move away from her home, her life as she has always known it.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
Cheyenne students raise money for a new playground – in Mexico
CHEYENNE – The slide is Sienna Freeman’s favorite piece of equipment on the playground at Cole Elementary.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
School nurse, staff save life of 10-year-old Sheridan girl
SHERIDAN — On Monday, Shawn Kelley received the call parents dread. His 10-year-old daughter had collapsed walking into Woodland Park Elementary.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, March 5, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 4 weeks ago
Powell company to become state’s first hemp processor
POWELL — A Powell business is set to become the first hemp production and processing operation in the state of Wyoming, though the company’s plans were nearly blocked by the Powell City Council Monday night.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
Rocky Mountain Power seeks rate increase
CASPER — Wyoming’s leading utility filed an application with the state’s Public Service Commission on Monday to adjust its energy prices starting next year.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
Bill giving cities option for extra sales tax approved in Senate
CHEYENNE - A bill allowing cities to propose an additional 1% sales tax to local voters won final approval from the Wyoming Senate on Wednesday, marking a huge step in years worth of discussion to find revenue-generating options that cities, smaller towns and counties can all agree on.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
University of Illinois official named UW president
LARAMIE — Edward Seidel, vice president for economic development and innovation for the University of Illinois System, has been named as the University of Wyoming’s next president. He is set to begin the job in July.
Updated: 4 weeks ago
Gaming commission bill wins final House approval after long debate
CHEYENNE - After nearly two hours of debate over how expansive gaming should be in Wyoming, a bill establishing a statewide gaming commission to oversee the industry won final approval Thursday night from the House of Representatives.
Updated: 1 month ago
Eaton seeks high court review, claims mental competency was not properly determined
CASPER — A Wyoming man who more than 30 years ago kidnapped, raped and murdered a teenage woman asked this week for the U.S. Supreme Court to review his case, arguing that his mental competency to stand trial was not properly determined in lower courts.
Updated: 1 month ago
Environmental coalition: BLM not protecting wildlife in Sublette County
PINEDALE — An environmental coalition’s amended petition challenges Jonah Energy’s Normally Pressured Lance natural-gas project in Sublette County.
Updated: 1 month ago
Virus outbreak in China delays Greybull couple’s adoption plans
GREYBULL — Two-year-old Joshua Madill’s room is neatly prepared with a crib in one corner, sheets crisp and clean. Playful decorations are on the wall and two sets of brand-new pajamas are hanging on the dresser. Diapers and wipes are stacked along the wall and daylight spills in through the curtains.
Updated: 1 month ago
Rumors, exuberance, jousting mark advance of land deal bills
Bills authorizing Gov. Mark Gordon’s administration to pursue the purchase of 1 million acres of land and 4 million acres of mineral rights from Occidental Petroleum passed initial votes in both chambers this week.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Feb. 28, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Carving his own funny path: After being laid off, Honaker pursues comedy career
DOUGLAS — The doors of Headstrong Brewery were still more than an hour from opening to the public, but he was there, fidgeting nervously.
Updated: 1 month ago
Volunteers on the ice: group trains for rescues in cold and wet conditions
POWELL — After eight hours in a classroom going over thick safety procedure manuals, members of the Park County Search and Rescue swift water rescue team were happy to get into the Buffalo Bill Reservoir on Sunday.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Fair master plan calls for $51 million in upgrades
DOUGLAS — A newly released master plan for the Wyoming State Fair could expect to generate up to an additional $350,000 in revenue annually from horse shows and clinics if some of its recommendations were ever funded. The price tag for that and all of the other suggestions, though, would be just over $51 million during the next decade.
Updated: 1 month ago
FTC moves to block Peabody-Arch venture
GILLETTE — The Federal Trade Commission is challenging a proposed joint venture between Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Coal Inc. that would reorganize the companies’ Powder River Basin coal operations under a single umbrella.
Updated: 1 month ago
House advances bill calling for waiting period on abortions
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming House of Representatives voted to advance legislation mandating a 48-hour waiting period for abortions in a late night hearing Tuesday night, signaling momentum for anti-abortion advocates in what has been an active year for pro-life legislation in Wyoming.
Updated: 1 month ago
Senate committee advances bill aiming to reduce recidivism rates
CHEYENNE — A bill aiming to reduce Wyoming's recidivism rates won unanimous approval Wednesday morning from the Senate Labor, Health and Social Services Committee, and the state's prison chief said it includes enough funding to get the program off the ground.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Grand Teton says goat gunning operation was ‘effective’ before pause
Grand Teton National Park killed 36 goats in its one-day aerial shoot Friday, an official said in a statement issued Tuesday afternoon.
Updated: 1 month ago
Senate budget contains $500,000 for laid off workers
As a week of budget amending wrapped up Friday, the House and Senate took opposite positions on a $500,000 appropriation to help the next round of laid-off coal miners or other workers.
Updated: 1 month ago
Legislators eye Teton County trust land for income
JACKSON — Teton County’s local regulations are again at issue in Cheyenne, as state lawmakers seek to squeeze the most revenue possible out of state trust lands in Jackson Hole.
Updated: 1 month ago
New coal firm signs deal with feds
CASPER — A Navajo Nation-based coal operator reached a long-awaited agreement with the U.S. government Tuesday, giving federal regulators the authority to enforce mining laws at three Powder River Basin coal mines.
Updated: 1 month ago
Lawmakers, former CEO reach settlement on BeefChain
CHEYENNE — The previous CEO of American Certified Brands, an agriculture company using blockchain technology, has relinquished his rights to the company and its subsidiaries, according to a settlement of a federal lawsuit.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Budget blocks student insurance from covering abortion
LARAMIE — The Wyoming House and Senate both passed versions of the state’s budget bill on Friday. The chambers will have differences in funding for the University of Wyoming that will need to be sorted out in a legislative “conference committee” before the bill heads to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk.
Updated: 1 month ago
Woman plans to open nation’s first digital bank in Cheyenne
CHEYENNE – After 22 years of success on Wall Street, Laramie native Caitlin Long returned to the state last year, bringing along big dreams of blockchain’s capabilities in Wyoming.
Updated: 1 month ago
House votes to keep Wyoming out of national youth survey
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming House killed an amendment last week that would’ve brought the Equality State back into a national survey that asks middle and high schoolers questions about their health and behavior.
Updated: 1 month ago
Interior secretary halts goat cull
JACKSON — The U.S. Secretary of the Interior directly intervened in an aerial goat cull underway in the Tetons last Friday, ordering Grand Teton National Park Acting Superintendent Gopaul Noojibail to “stand down.”
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Feb. 24, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Goat culling operation begins despite state objections
JACKSON — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon and the chief of his wildlife department reached out to Grand Teton National Park at the last minute to try to stop contracted gunners from killing the Tetons’ nonnative mountain goats.
Updated: 1 month ago
House, Senate approve separate budgets, some criticize decisions
CHEYENNE — Two weeks into Wyoming's five-week legislative session, members of the House and Senate advanced separate versions of the state's roughly $3 billion budget for the 2021-22 biennium Friday night.
Updated: 1 month ago
BLM plan allows for 4,250 wells on oil and gas project
CASPER — The Bureau of Land Management released a final environmental review Friday of a closely-watched oil and gas project proposed for the heart of Wyoming.
Updated: 1 month ago
Legislators want to study UW governance
LARAMIE — With numerous legislators expressing concerns on Friday about the University of Wyoming’s leadership, both the House and Senate voted to have the Legislative Service Office to hire a “third party consultant” to examine UW’s governance structure and compare it to the “best practices of other land grant universities’ governance structures that could be adopted to maximize efficient operations.”
Updated: 1 month ago
Gordon promises caution, pitches land deal as an investment
If the Legislature gives its initial approval, a proposed deal to buy 1 million acres and 4 million acres of mineral rights will test a numbers-minded governor as he negotiates with both a multinational energy corporation and political factions at home.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Feb. 21, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Former teacher pleads not guilty to sexual abuse
CASPER — The former middle school teacher accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl he met while teaching pleaded not guilty Thursday morning to the three felonies he faces.
Updated: 1 month ago
Assaults at state hospital down, but still a problem
EVANSTON — Although assaults at the Wyoming State Hospital (WSH) hit a six-year low in 2019, violence there has continued to traumatize staff and at least one patient, who reached out to the Uinta County Herald after he was assaulted multiple times by another patient, ending up at Evanston Regional Hospital on one occasion.
Updated: 1 month ago
UW announces finalists for presidency
LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming board of trustees have selected three finalists to be the university’s next president: Gregory W. Bowman, dean of the West Virginia University College of Law; Edward Seidel, vice president for economic development and innovation for the University of Illinois System; and Daniel M. White, chancellor of the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.
Updated: 1 month ago
Committee approves bill dividing Frontier Days, Cheyenne
CHEYENNE - After discussing it at length earlier in the week, lawmakers advanced a bill Thursday morning that has divided officials from the city of Cheyenne and Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Updated: 1 month ago
Grand Teton launches goat cull
JACKSON — A second shot at eliminating nonnative mountain goats from the Teton Range was to begin Friday.
Updated: 1 month ago
NWC Shooters Aim for National Championship
POWELL — Before coming to Northwest College, Sasa Starkjohann had never even held a gun, let alone taken a shot. Then she joined the school’s trap and skeet club — and is now preparing to head to the national Collegiate Clay Target Championships.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Conditional sales tax advances with eye on fiscal ‘armageddon’
CHEYENNE – With significant tax increases defeated once again this session, prominent House lawmakers are pushing a conditional sales tax increase to confront a looming fiscal cliff.
Updated: 1 month ago
Sage grouse, pronghorn concerns spark lawsuit over gas field
JACKSON — Environmental attorneys have their sights set on a 3,500-well gas field that overlaps with the state of Wyoming’s only recognized sage grouse winter concentration area and a migration path that’s used by pronghorn that dwell in Jackson Hole.
Updated: 1 month ago
Johnson County settles tax dispute
BUFFALO — On Tuesday, Johnson County settled a multi-million dollar property tax dispute with energy companies Carbon Creek and Powder River Midstream that has dragged on for more than three years.
Updated: 1 month ago
NTEC says ‘a lot of push and pull’ in coal tax deal
GILLETTE — Campbell County Commissioners hope that they’ve found a good partner in the Navajo Transitional Energy Co.
Updated: 1 month ago
Legislators try to regulate Internet
CHEYENNE — Wyoming may be a frontier state, but it sure loves its fences.
Updated: 1 month ago
Lawmakers take first steps to amend biennial budget
CHEYENNE — Lawmakers got their first chance to propose changes to the state's roughly $3.2 billion budget for the 2021-22 biennium Wednesday, but there is a long road ahead before any final decisions are made on such amendments.
Updated: 1 month ago
DEQ says Aethon violated pollution limits at Moneta Divide
FREMONT COUNTY – Aethon Energy violated environmental regulations as it dumped Moneta Divide oilfield wastewater into Fremont County creeks above Boysen Reservoir, the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality asserts in a letter.
Updated: 1 month ago
Senator contests new DEQ restrictions of oilfield pollution
CHEYENNE – A powerful state senator chided environmental regulators Thursday after they proposed tightening the amount of pollutants a company can release from the Moneta Divide gas- and oilfield.
Updated: 1 month ago
Campbell County, NTEC have deal for back coal taxes
GILLETTE — After extensive negotiations and legal wrangling, Campbell County finally seems to be on track to begin receiving tens of millions of dollars in unpaid coal production taxes.
Updated: 1 month ago
Wyoming crime stats are wrong; here’s why
JACKSON — If you look up how many domestic violence calls to law enforcement there were in Teton County in 2018, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s website will tell you nine.
Updated: 1 month ago
House eyes new way to fund education
CHEYENNE — As Wyoming begins dipping into its savings to cover the cost of its K-12 education system, state lawmakers have begun to reckon with the question of what happens when the state’s “rainy day fund” — the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, referred to as the LSRA — runs out.
Updated: 1 month ago
House committee advances bill instituting 48-hour waiting period for abortions
CHEYENNE – A bill that would require a 48-hour waiting period before a woman could receive an abortion in Wyoming was advanced Thursday afternoon by the House Judiciary Committee.
Updated: 1 month ago
Gordon, top lawmakers eye massive land purchase in southern Wyoming
CHEYENNE — In what could be a historic step for Wyoming, Gov. Mark Gordon and several top lawmakers announced Monday the state will explore the possibility of buying a million acres of land owned by Occidental Petroleum Corporation in southern Wyoming.
Updated: 1 month ago
Bills to protect coal workers move forward
CHEYENNE — Half a dozen bankruptcies have rocked Wyoming coal country since 2015, the latest of which ground two of the nation’s largest coal mines to a temporary halt last summer. State lawmakers on Monday advanced a pair of bills drafted in direct response to the bankruptcy of coal operator Blackjewel and others in the Powder River Basin.
Updated: 1 month ago
DEQ Moneta Divide plans protested
RIVERTON — People attending a public meeting last week in Riverton spoke against a revised permit that inflicts tighter restrictions on the proposed Moneta Divide natural gas field east of town.
Updated: 1 month ago
Yellowstone expected to feel impacts of coronavirus
POWELL — Whether or not novel coronavirus itself makes its way to Wyoming, experts say businesses across the greater Yellowstone ecosystem will feel the effects of a lack of Chinese visitors.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Feb. 17, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Bill could put $1 billion in carbon capture onto electric bills
Newly introduced legislation backed by Gov. Mark Gordon would force utilities to implement carbon capture, and then allow them to pass up to $1 billion in investments on those technologies onto consumers’ electrical bills.
Updated: 1 month ago
Gov: Wildlife migration order makes competing bills moot
Gov. Mark Gordon said Thursday his executive order protecting wildlife migration routes makes competing legislation unnecessary.
Updated: 1 month ago
Guinness rejects Gillette sparkler claim on technicality
GILLETTE — Gillette’s attempt in August to set a Guinness World Record for the most lit sparkler event ever was not recognized due to a technicality.
Updated: 1 month ago
FAA clears helicopter tours of Jackson Hole
JACKSON — Wind River Air LLC — the company aiming to offer scenic helicopter tours from Jackson Hole Airport — has been cleared for takeoff by federal aviation officials.
Updated: 1 month ago
UW spent $42,000 in lawsuit over Nichols records
The University of Wyoming paid private attorneys more than $42,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to block the release of records outlining the board of trustees’ investigation and decision to part ways with former president Laurie Nichols, records released last week show.
Updated: 1 month ago
Coal plant legislation clears committee
CHEYENNE — The latest coal production rates confirm what many tied to Wyoming’s mineral-rich Powder River Basin already know: Demand for coal is waning nationwide.
Updated: 1 month ago
Albany County residents ask for moratorium on wind projects
LARAMIE — Residents of Albany County and Laramie business owners gathered at the county Planning and Zoning Commission Board meeting last week to encourage the board to vote for a moratorium on wind energy applications in Albany County.
Updated: 1 month ago
Bill limiting Guard deployments fails, despite Rand Paul visit
CHEYENNE — Despite a rally for the legislation earlier that day led by U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a bill that would have required a congressional declaration of war for Wyoming National Guard troops to be deployed failed to be introduced Friday afternoon.
Updated: 1 month ago
After Nichols records release, criticism greets UW’s handling
In the wake of revelations about the University of Wyoming board of trustees’ investigations into former president Laurie Nichols, ex-trustees, lawmakers and others questioned why the board did not give Nichols a chance to respond to allegations against her.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Lawmakers advance bill to create gaming commission
CHEYENNE - Though the final version may look different, lawmakers advanced a bill Thursday morning that would establish a gaming commission to provide regulations that some say are sorely needed for the growing industry.
Updated: 1 month ago
Trustees give themselves ability to revoke honorary degrees
LARAMIE — At its January meeting, the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees amended its regulations to add a process for revoking honorary degrees.
Updated: 1 month ago
As tribes eye med marijuana, prosecutor vows ‘discretion ’ in enforcement
RIVERTON — Responding to a new push for medicinal marijuana legalization on the Wind River Indian Reservation, United States Attorney Mark Klaassen was non-confrontational. “The United States Attorney's Office recognizes and respects the sovereignty of Native American Indian Tribes in their self-governance,” read a statement from the U.S. Attorney's office in Cheyenne. “(We) will continue to work with them to uphold the rule of law on tribal lands."
Updated: 1 month ago
After Iowa chaos, Wyoming Democrats reaffirm confidence in upcoming caucus vote
CASPER — As chaos reigns in the Iowa caucuses this week, the Wyoming Democratic Party wants to be perfectly clear: A similar debacle will not be happening on its turf.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 1 month ago
Governor’s office previewed controversial PSC letter
The chairwoman of the Wyoming Public Service Commission sought the approval of Gov. Mark Gordon’s policy staff before sending a letter to federal utility regulators that subsequently drew criticism, documents reveal.
Updated: 1 month ago
Panel abandons griz depredation comp model, awards ranch $339K
An arbitration panel ruled Jan. 27 that Wyoming Game and Fish Department should pay a Hot Springs County rancher $339,927 for stock killed by grizzly bears and mountain lions, almost four times the offer that Wyoming Game and Fish Commission regulations allowed.
Updated: 1 month ago
Energy school had ‘informal’ budget-pitch meeting with JAC
While drafting the state’s budget, a majority of the Joint Appropriations Committee traveled to the University of Wyoming for an unscheduled and apparently unannounced Saturday meeting with leaders of the school’s energy programs.
Updated: 1 month ago
Economic, existential angst mark start of utility investigation
KEMMERER—One by one last Tuesday evening, active and retired coal workers, small business owners and local politicians voiced deep economic anxiety and called on the Wyoming Public Service Commission to stave off an energy transition some here see as an existential threat.
Updated: 1 month ago
Groups seek faster end to feeding at elk refuge
JACKSON — The National Elk Refuge was less than a week into its first-ever modified supplemental feeding season when environmental groups sued, asking a judge to stiffen the plans to speed up a phase out.
Updated: 1 month ago
Prosecutors will not try Casper businessman again
CASPER — Prosecutors on Tuesday announced they will not again try Tony Cercy, a prominent Casper businessman, on an allegation of sexual assault.
Updated: 1 month ago
Powder River Basin coal production at historic low in 2019
GILLETTE — With two of the nation’s largest coal mines shut down for nearly four months last year, it wasn’t a revelation that overall production at Wyoming’s 12 Powder River Basin mines was down 8.3% in 2019.
Updated: 1 month ago
Nichols probe came after reports of ‘abusive’ behavior
LARAMIE — Investigatory records released Tuesday morning indicate that, before former University of Wyoming President Laurie Nichols was demoted, numerous university employees reported that Nichols had subjected them to “abusive conversations” in late 2018 and early 2019.
Updated: 1 month ago
Firearms seized from man convicted of game violation
SHERIDAN — The case against Gregg Lambdin, who was convicted of 11 counts of wanton destruction of a big game animal in October, concluded in 4th Judicial Court Jan. 30 when Lambdin’s firearms were forfeited to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Updated: 1 month ago
Schools will require $222 million transfer
RIVERTON — A structural deficit in Wyoming’s K-12 school system will require a $222 million transfer from savings in the coming biennium, forecasters have informed the Joint Appropriations Committee.
Updated: 1 month ago
Legislator proposes hunting, firearm safety classes
CHEYENNE — A Republican state lawmaker has introduced a resolution that would encourage the Wyoming Department of Education to offer voluntary gun and hunting safety classes in the state's high schools.
Updated: 1 month ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Feb. 3, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Bill aims to protect workers from coal bankruptcies
CASPER — A wave of coal company bankruptcies has dragged Wyoming through years of economic turbulence. Half a dozen coal bankruptcies have shaken the state since 2015, the latest of which ground two mammoth coal mines temporarily to a halt last summer. As coal operators reorganize their finances, they often can erase outstanding tax, labor and reclamation liabilities during court proceedings, leaving counties and taxpayers to pick up the pieces.
Updated: 2 months ago
Bill would change schedule for mineral tax payments
CHEYENNE — With energy companies in some counties owing millions of dollars in unpaid ad valorem taxes, Wyoming lawmakers advanced a bill Friday aiming to reduce the lag time between when mineral extraction occurs and when companies must pay.
Updated: 2 months ago
UW confirms Nichols investigation, won’t appeal court order
LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming announced Friday that its board of trustees will not appeal a court decision that requires the university to publicly release numerous documents regarding former UW President Laurie Nichols’s departure from the university.
Updated: 2 months ago
State offers matching grant program for rural Internet enhancement
CHEYENNE — Imagine you’re a cattle rancher in rural Niobrara County, where only 4.3% of the population has access to broadband internet speeds of 25 megabits per second (Mbps) or faster.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Jan. 31, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Delegation pursues ‘coal-to-products’ bill
GILLETTE — Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, is carrying a bipartisan coal-to-products bill in the U.S. House that, if approved, will require the U.S. Department of Energy to ramp up its efforts for finding ways to diversify coal into a feed stock for manufacturing.
Updated: 2 months ago
Medicaid expansion discussed in forum
CHEYENNE — With a little more than a week until the Legislature convenes, lawmakers and health care experts got a chance to talk about the nuances of Medicaid expansion Thursday during a panel discussion organized by the Wyoming Liberty Group.
Updated: 2 months ago
Utah man implicated in 2001 Evanston murder
EVANSTON — A nearly 20-year-old unsolved murder may finally be nearing resolution.
Updated: 2 months ago
‘Bolts Beanery’ fosters acceptance at Gillette school
GILLETTE — As special education students wheeled a cart filled with cookies, coffee and lemonade around Thunder Basin High School, their customers stood in line and exchanged a few polite words with the young sales staff.
Updated: 2 months ago
Three-string ‘Loog’ lets small hands strum
JACKSON — Children’s tiny hands have long kept them from playing the guitar until they reach the upper years of elementary school, but a Jackson music studio is trying to change that using a new type of instrument.
Updated: 2 months ago
Competitors face decline in chariot racing
DOUGLAS — A flurry of commotion surrounds her at every angle. Stepping out of the door of her horse trailer, Lara Skelley is immediately met by her children with boundless energy giddily zig-zagging around the barren, sagebrush-filled landscape. In the distance, an auctioneer rambles as fast as his tongue will allow in an effort to garner the highest bids for the day’s races.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
BLM lease of public lands sparks excitement, protests
POWELL — Tens of thousands of acres of local public lands — running through Badger Basin to the Montana border and west to the Chief Joseph Highway — were leased last month for potential energy exploration.
Updated: 2 months ago
Plan to allow armed teachers in Campbell Co. wins initial approval
GILLETTE — School trustees have unanimously approved a policy and regulations that would allow educators to conceal carry handguns in six rural schools in Campbell County.
Updated: 2 months ago
Court won’t let Laramie, Albany County join Lake Hattie lawsuit
LARAMIE — Without out offering an explanation, three judges for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected at attempt from Albany County and the city of Laramie to join a lawsuit regarding the amount of water that the Pioneer Canal-Lake Hattie Irrigation District can put into Lake Hattie.
Updated: 2 months ago
Police say more victims in case of Casper teacher
CASPER — A part-time middle school teacher accused of sexual abuse of a child had multiple victims, a Casper police spokeswoman said Wednesday morning.
Updated: 2 months ago
Bill would let children have unserved school food
CHEYENNE — One out of every six children in Wyoming struggles with hunger. But a bill filed last week for consideration in the upcoming legislative session aims to improve those statistics.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Game and Fish documents first agency trap-related grizzly death
Wyoming Game and Fish department staff discovered a dead grizzly bear in one of the agency’s baited traps early Sept. 30 — a first-of-its-kind capture-related fatality that nevertheless sparked dismay among conservations and other bear advocates.
Updated: 2 months ago
Grizzly conflicts, deaths down in 2019
Far fewer Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly bears were captured, killed or confirmed dead by wildlife managers in 2019 than the previous year, according to recently released state and federal reports.
Updated: 2 months ago
ACLU: State elected officials’ disregard of ICE jail is unlawful
By refusing to regulate a private immigration jail planned outside Evanston, Wyoming’s five statewide elected officials leave the state vulnerable to litigation and immigrants to poor treatment, the American Civil Liberty Union of Wyoming says.
Updated: 2 months ago
Solar farms sprout in southwest Wyoming
JACKSON — A new type of industrial activity is rising from the sagebrush and pastureland in western Wyoming: utility- scale solar farms.
Updated: 2 months ago
Attempted murder trial delayed for mental evaluation
GILLETTE — The attempted second-degree murder case against Joseph Cruzen has been suspended while he undergoes a court-ordered mental evaluation.
Updated: 2 months ago
Pharmacy to pay $1 million to settle drug law violation allegations
CASPER — A Casper pharmacy will pay $1 million to settle allegations of violations of federal drug law, the federal government said Tuesday afternoon.
Updated: 2 months ago
Former travel agent seeks new location for theft trial
CHEYENNE — The former travel agent accused of stealing thousands from customers hopes to have his case heard somewhere outside of Laramie County.
Updated: 2 months ago
Laramie lawmaker reintroduces anti-child marriage bill
CHEYENNE — After a bill banning child marriages narrowly failed in the Legislature last year, a Laramie representative has introduced a similar bill that would effectively prevent any child in Wyoming under the age of 18 from getting married.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Jan. 27, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Shoshoni mushroom plant sold to church
RIVERTON — It might seem to be a paradox — growing mushrooms, which require a humid, mild climate — on the wind-swept plains of Eastern Fremont County, but it’s about to be tried for the third time.
Updated: 2 months ago
Gordon: Coal still has role to play
CASPER — Like a near-consensus of the world’s scientific community, Gov. Mark Gordon believes in climate change. Like many across the planet, Gordon believes the problem is a man-made one, and that something needs to be done about it.
Updated: 2 months ago
Plea agreement reached in case of student planning school attack
GILLETTE — A former Sage Valley Junior High School student who took two handguns to school and expressed an intent to shoot other students and a teacher won’t spend the rest of his life in an adult prison.
Updated: 2 months ago
Trustees allow UW to appeal records decision
LARAMIE — During Friday’s meeting of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees, the trustees authorized UW General Counsel Tara Evans to “proceed with the necessary legal proceedings, including filing of any notice of appeal” regarding the Jan. 3 ruling from Albany County district court Judge Tori Kricken, who ordered the university to publicly release numerous records related to the departure of former UW President Laurie Nichols.
Updated: 2 months ago
Lawmakers look to revive federal background check bill
CHEYENNE — After a bill failed in committee that would have required Wyoming to share disqualifying mental health information of potential gun owners with the FBI, lawmakers are looking to revive a similar version during the upcoming legislative session.
Updated: 2 months ago
New Blackjewel owner misses first tax payment
CASPER — One of the newest companies to take over coal mines in the Powder River Basin has defaulted on its tax payments.
Updated: 2 months ago
Wyoming ranks 21st in chances for student success
GILLETTE — Wyoming improved from 28th in the nation a year ago to 21st now in a new national ranking of chance for student success in state education systems.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Jan. 24, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
‘Leftover’ school enjoys success
GILLETTE — Bertine Bahige keeps a framed copy of Rawhide Elementary School’s red-shaded failing state report card from 2015-16 on the wall of his principal’s office.
Updated: 2 months ago
Cheyenne woman sews kangaroo pouches
CHEYENNE — As bushfires rage across Australia, Eloisa Michelle is hunkered down in her Cheyenne-based hobbit hole, repeating the phrase “time is of the essence” to the tune of her sewing machine’s hum.
Updated: 2 months ago
Equity and Access Cafe stimulates conversation at high school
JACKSON — Of the many changes Jackson Hole High School halls have undergone in the past couple of years, one of the most noticeable was unveiled last week.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Sleeping Giant to close next season
CODY — As it stands today, Sleeping Giant Ski Area will bring its chairlifts to a halt next season, suspending its winter operations.
Updated: 2 months ago
Man convicted of wife’s murder to appeal
POWELL — A jury convicted a Wapiti man of first-degree murder for killing his wife and a judge ordered the 77-year-old to spend the rest of his life in prison. But Dennis K. Klingbeil is hoping that the Wyoming Supreme Court will see his case differently: Klingbeil’s attorneys filed notice last month that he is appealing his sentence.
Updated: 2 months ago
Wyoming close to finalizing hemp rules
CASPER — The Wyoming attorney general said her office is close to gaining approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a statewide hemp-growing plan amid mounting pressure from growers around the state, who have expressed concern they would miss out on the 2020 growing season following the USDA’s previous rejection of an earlier plan.
Updated: 2 months ago
Two groups plan to sue over Upper Green grazing plan
JACKSON — Two coalitions of environmental advocacy groups say they intend to take the federal government to court over a Bridger-Teton National Forest grazing plan expected to cause up to five-dozen grizzly bear deaths over the next decade.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Report: Shakiest coal companies have most mine cleanup left
Wyoming’s shakiest coal operators have the biggest outstanding reclamation obligations, according to a new report — just one indication, the authors say, that declining coal markets could overwhelm the system designed to ensure mining companies clean up their mess.
Updated: 2 months ago
DEQ backs off plan to dump more oilfield pollutants into Boysen
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality has backed off a plan to allow Moneta Divide oilfield operators to increase pollutants they dump into creeks above Boysen Reservoir, and proposed new monitoring of existing salty effluent.
Updated: 2 months ago
Laramie begins effort to reduce or ban plastic bag use
LARAMIE — The Laramie City Council largely supported the first step in a likely multi-year long process to reduce and potentially ban retail-use plastic bags.
Updated: 2 months ago
Mine operations threatened by shovel dispute
GILLETTE (WNE) — Three months after being called back to work at a pair of shuttered Powder River Basin coal mines, the jobs of hundreds of workers at the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines hang in the balance as Eagle Specialty Materials spars with Komatsu Mining Corp. over a pair of industrial shovels.
Updated: 2 months ago
Tutor accused of abusing former student
CASPER — The Natrona County School District says it can’t comment on anything related to the arrest of a Dean Morgan tutor accused of sexually abusing a former student. Police, meanwhile, say there could be more victims, and parents were split on the district’s handling of the incident.
Updated: 2 months ago
Wyoming challenges Washington coal port blockage
CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon announced Tuesday morning that Wyoming has joined Montana in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge to Washington state’s denial of a proposed coal export terminal permit.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Marchers walk, sing in remembrance of Dr. King
CHEYENNE — Rows of shiny patent leather black shoes stood perfectly aligned as the local ROTC high school students marched rhythmically out of the Cheyenne Depot Plaza and onto Capitol Avenue.
Updated: 2 months ago
Man rescued from Yellowstone canyon was treasure seeker
POWELL — An Indiana man who illegally rappelled into the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone this month before being pulled out by rescuers says he was searching for hidden treasure.
Updated: 2 months ago
Findings of UW scientists could improve mine cleanup
CASPER — New scientific findings could transform the way Wyoming reclaims, or cleans up, its roughly 90,000 acres of land disturbed by surface mining.
Updated: 2 months ago
Legislators’ UW budget close to Gordon’s after mark-up
LARAMIE — After spending a week marking-up the state’s budget last week, the Joint Appropriations Committee’s budget for the University of Wyoming looks pretty similar to the one Gov. Mark Gordon recommended in December.
Updated: 2 months ago
Teton goat gunning a go despite G&F condemnation
To protect imperiled bighorn sheep, Grand Teton National Park will try to gun down invading mountain goats from the air — despite a Wyoming Game and Fish Commission resolution condemning the plan.
Updated: 2 months ago
Impact assistance growth ‘extraordinary,’ officials say
RIVERTON — State revenue forecasters say the growth of Wyoming’s impact assistance program has been “pretty extraordinary” this year.
Updated: 2 months ago
Regulators revise Moneta Divide permit
CASPER — After months of public outcry, state regulators revised a permit for a major oil and gas firm operating at Moneta Divide in central Wyoming. Subject to public comment, the permit will maintain existing limits on discharged water at the facility and impose routine water sampling requirements to prevent pollutants from fl owing into the nearby Boysen Reservoir Basin.
Updated: 2 months ago
Critics say MLK holiday should be updated
JACKSON — Three decades after the state of Wyoming finally adopted the holiday that commemorates Martin Luther King Jr., some question why the date can’t be dedicated solely to the slain civil rights leader.
Updated: 2 months ago
UW professor announces run as Democrat for U.S. Senate seat
CHEYENNE – Merav Ben-David, a University of Wyoming ecology professor for the past 20 years, announced her candidacy Saturday for the U.S. Senate seat that will be up for grabs in the 2020 election.
Updated: 2 months ago
Police chief: UW gun ban not enforced in ‘open spaces’
LARAMIE — A regulation banning firearms on the University of Wyoming’s campus, which has become the subject of a high-profile lawsuit, isn’t as restrictive as it might appear at first blush, UW Chief of Police Mike Samp said in court this week.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, Jan. 17, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Cheney won’t run for U.S. Senate
CASPER — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney announced Thursday she will not be making a bid for the U.S. Senate, initiating a reelection campaign some predict could one day lead to her becoming Speaker of the House.
Updated: 2 months ago
Game and Fish Commission condemns aerial shooting of goats
JACKSON — State wildlife officials are blasting Grand Teton National Park’s decision to lead off its mountain goat eradication efforts with aerial gunning.
Updated: 2 months ago
Wind farm proposed south of Laramie
LARAMIE — The views enjoyed while driving along U.S. Highway 287 south of Laramie could include an array of wind turbines if the Rail Tie Wind Project is completed as planned.
Updated: 2 months ago
Supreme Court hears arguments in fair board lawsuit
CHEYENNE – For the first time in more than 80 years, Wyoming Supreme Court justices sat in the Historic Supreme Court Chamber in the state Capitol, hearing oral arguments from two high-profile attorneys representing the Laramie County Board of Commissioners and the Laramie County Fair Board.
Updated: 2 months ago
Jackson illustrator’s art spotted in space
JACKSON — Diane Kaup Benefiel’s art career has been launched into space.
Updated: 2 months ago
Powell man celebrates birthday in middle of trans-Atlantic row
POWELL — In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last week, Carl Christensen couldn’t believe his crew members were singing happy birthday to him after presenting him with a cake they’d hid in the bottom of their boat for more than a month.
Updated: 2 months ago
Riverton resident remembers blizzard of 1949
RIVERTON — There’s no shortage of information about the famous blizzard of 1949, probably the most famous weather event in Wyoming history -- but Don Strube's story stands out.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Ramaco receives millions for ‘coal to product’ development
CHEYENNE — Wyoming’s current economic story is centered around the fact that the coal industry is in an inevitable downward spiral. But one Sheridan company is working to change that narrative by converting one of the state’s most abundant resources into other products with exponential market value.
Updated: 2 months ago
Powell farm cleared to raise sage grouse
POWELL — A Powell game bird farm has been given a green light to move to the next step in raising greater sage grouse by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, with plans to collect grouse eggs this spring.
Updated: 2 months ago
Campbell County trustees to vote on arming teachers
GILLETTE — Campbell County school trustees will consider a proposal on first reading Jan. 28 that would allow armed educators, carrying concealed weapons, in public schools to supplement safety measures already in place.
Updated: 2 months ago
Feds reject plan to reduce air ambulance costs
CASPER — Wyoming’s effort to curb air ambulance costs was dealt a blow earlier this month when the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rejected the plan outright.
Updated: 2 months ago
UW gun case sent back to district court
LARAMIE — Albany County circuit court Judge Robert Castor sent the legal case regarding the legality of the University of Wyoming’s gun ban back to his downstairs neighbor in the courthouse, district court Judge Tori Kricken, after a Wednesday hearing.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020
Statewide news from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
Dominon will work ‘expeditiously’ to protect ducks
After it fired an employee who saved ducks from oilfield ponds near Rock Springs, Dominion Energy said it will strive to “better protect” animals that run perilously afoul of its facilities.
Updated: 2 months ago
Renowned GOP enviro figure had outsize impact on Wyoming
William Ruckelshaus was a widely admired, nationally prominent Republican with a reputation for incorruptibility and a penchant for environmental work. He was the first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a hero of the Watergate scandal and a staunch advocate for using collaboration to solve the kind of thorny issues so often stymied by partisan fighting.
Updated: 2 months ago
‘Cops investigating cops’: Tension builds over officer-involved shootings
Tensions have run high in recent years over officer-involved shootings around Wyoming.
Updated: 2 months ago
Two prized Jackson Hole streams identified as polluted
JACKSON — Two cherished streams draining the most central, developed parts of Jackson Hole are now listed as “impaired” by environmental regulators due to fecal bacteria pollution.
Updated: 2 months ago
Gordon expresses support for programs in budget
CASPER — As the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee begins the process of taking a scalpel the state’s biennial budget this week, Gov. Mark Gordon has thrown his support behind a number of programs he considers to be priorities under his first budget as the state’s chief executive.
Updated: 2 months ago
Laramie joins federal water storage case
LARAMIE — City of Laramie Attorney Bob Southard joined Albany County Attorney Peggy Trent in filing an amicus curiae brief that asks for the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider a December decision that jeopardizes the authority of the Pioneer Canal-Lake Hattie Irrigation District, which has 47 water-users, to fill Lake Hattie.
Updated: 2 months ago
Cheyenne school to pilot anti-bullying effort
CHEYENNE — McCormick Junior High’s new principal, Justin Conroy, doesn’t want to end up like his predecessor.
Updated: 2 months ago
NEWS BRIEFS for Monday, Jan. 14, 2020
News in Brief from across the Cowboy State
Updated: 2 months ago
State, local partnership leads to SkyWest service
SHERIDAN — A United Express flight that arrived at Sheridan County Airport Sunday afternoon marked the beginning of SkyWest Airlines’ tenure as the airport’s commercial air service provider, inaugurating a partnership local and state officials believe will accelerate the development of local air service.
Updated: 2 months ago
Cheyenne schools eyed for Medicaid test
CHEYENNE – Wyoming could soon join the rest of the country and use Medicaid to cover K-12 special education services, and the new funding model could get a test run in Laramie County School District 1.
Updated: 2 months ago
Legislator proposes way to boost funding for small towns
RIVERTON — Small communities in Wyoming could get a larger portion of the state's local government distribution through an amendment State Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, proposed recently during a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting Cheyenne.
Updated: 2 months ago
Oil prices spike with Iranian action, effect likely temporary
CASPER — Crude prices spiked over the weekend after the U.S. assassinated a top Iranian military official Friday in Baghdad, bringing additional volatility to the oil-rich region.
Updated: 2 months ago
Settlement reached in crash that hurt trooper
POWELL — A regional food distributor has agreed to a settlement with a former state trooper, who was seriously injured in a 2015 collision with one of the company’s trucks in the Wapiti area.
Updated: 2 months ago
Trial begins in sex abuse case involving 12- 13-year-old
LARAMIE — A felony trial against Laramie man Steven Oliver Nelder began this week in Albany County’s district court. The 22-year-old has been charged with one count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor and three counts of second-degree sexual abuse of a minor for “inflict(ing) sexual intrusion” on two children, aged 12 and 13.
Updated: 2 months ago
Sheridan students repair school devices as part of class
SHERIDAN — Two computer science classes offer Sheridan High School students the chance to receive practical skills and aid the school district they attend.
Updated: 11 months ago