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With new nationwide requirements on the horizon involving Real IDs, including needing a Real ID for flights in the future, the Wyoming Department of Transportation is reminding Wyoming residents that their driver's license and identification cards are Real ID compliant. "Real ID credentials have a star in the right-hand corner," WYDOT explained in a press release. "In 2019, a black star replaced the gold star on Wyoming credentials, but they still meet Real ID requirements." A Real ID compliant...
Social Security Administration (SSA) has confirmed to AARP that beginning April 14, they will allow all claim types to be completed over the telephone as they previously had been. This includes Retirement, Survivors, and Auxiliary (Spouse or Child) benefits that SSA previously announced would require in-person identity proofing, in addition to Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, and SSI. AARP had strongly opposed this decision from the start, arguing that it unduly burdens older...
Soda ash giant WE Soda has cut 48 jobs from its southwest Wyoming trona operations, including 32 salaried management positions and 16 contract positions, the company said Monday. The move follows the trona operator's purchase of competitor Genesis Alkali on Feb. 28. "Post-acquisition, consolidations were needed for some salaried management positions to achieve efficiency, reduce redundancy and to strengthen the existing hourly workforce," WE Soda Vice President of Human Relations JoAnna DeWald...
The five-week pause on abortions at Wellspring Health Access will continue for now. A judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether to temporarily halt enforcement of new state regulations that forced the Casper clinic to stop providing abortions in late February. But at the hearing's conclusion, state Judge Thomas Campbell said he would issue a forthcoming written decision rather than ruling from the bench. In the meantime, Wellspring will continue to refer patients seeking abortions to...
The judiciary holds too much power and Congress should curb its authority, Wyoming's federal delegation argued in response to Equality State lawyers and retired judges who called on them to defend "American Rule of Law" from attacks by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk. In an April 11 letter, Rep. Harriet Hageman and Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis said the federal judiciary has drawn scrutiny on itself. "Unelected judges imposing their policy biases on our nation...
The Bureau of Land Management's contentious plans to remove all free-roaming horses from vast reaches of southwest Wyoming's "checkerboard" region could begin as soon as this summer, although a legal appeal to stop roundups remains in limbo. On Monday, the federal agency released a 47-page environmental assessment outlining plans to gather and permanently remove several thousand wild horses from 2,105 square miles - an area nearly the size of Delaware - managed by BLM's Rock Springs and Rawlins...
Nearly five weeks ago, lawyers representing Wyoming’s abortion providers sought an emergency court hearing to temporarily halt new restrictions that have effectively shut down Wyoming’s only abortion clinic. That hearing has finally been set for next week. And when it happens, a new judge will oversee matters — the third jurist assigned to the case since it was first filed Feb. 28. Documents filed last week in Natrona County District Court show the case is now assigned to a judge who retired from the bench last year: Thomas T.C. Campb...
Two years ago, as one storm after another piled feet of snow across south-central Wyoming, pronghorn started walking to find something to eat. But quickly, they bunched up against a fence. Then another one. They kept moving, bumping into more fences. Mile after endless mile they trekked, running into impenetrable wires in every direction before thousands finally succumbed to exhaustion and died. One female walked a staggering 225 miles over 60 days, searching for food and bare ground, wandering...
Like plenty of other Wyoming stockgrowers, Luke Lancaster is an outdoorsman who appreciates seeing wildlife on his Star Valley ranch. There've been exceptions. A hefty herbivore that runs in big herds, elk, are notoriously hard to live with for cattle ranchers whose bottom line depends on the volume of grass growing on their rangeland and having enough hay stacked up to get through the winter. On top of that, the native ungulates can transmit the disease brucellosis to cattle, and vice versa....
Burdick Nelson Seminole Sr., 59, of Riverton, Wyoming, was sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder and causing death with a firearm during a crime of violence, each count to run concurrently; plus, an additional 10 years imprisonment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl imposed the sentence on Feb. 27 in Casper. The court also ordered Seminole to pay $4,521.09 in restitution and a $300 special assessment. Seminole was convicted of first-degree murder after a...
The University of Wyoming has cut ties with a project that landed it on a list of 45 universities under federal investigation for allegedly engaging in race-exclusionary practices in their graduate programs, the school announced Friday. The announcement came hours after the U.S. Department of Education said it had launched the investigations “amid allegations that these institutions have violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act …. by partnering with ‘The Ph.D. Project.’” The federal agency described the project as “an organization that purpor...
It was a good legislative session for fossil fuel producers in Wyoming, as well as those who want to produce carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery. Lawmakers passed House Bill 75, "Coal severance tax rate," which reduces the severance tax rate for surface-mined coal from 6.5% to 6% - an effort that proponents hope will help coal producers weather declining markets and potentially reinvest in Wyoming mining operations. Another measure, Senate File 17, "Carbon dioxide-enhanced oil recovery...
CHEYENNE–The Wyoming Legislature agreed to set aside $15 million to inspect and repair I-80 tunnels near Green River after a 26-vehicle crash earlier this month killed three people and left 18 others injured. The Feb. 14 wreck also caused extensive damage to the westbound tunnel, including charred concrete lining and destroyed lighting and other equipment. Since then, the westbound tunnel has remained closed, forcing the eastbound tunnel to accommodate two-way traffic on part of Wyoming's busies...
The animal rights group PETA claimed a free speech victory Thursday, saying it reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the Rock Springs airport, which had refused to let it advertise a message criticizing leather luggage. In the heart of Wyoming's cattle and rodeo country, where cowboys ride leather saddles, cowgirls wear leather boots and most everybody else has leather gloves, airport officials blocked People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals from buying advertising urging fliers not to...
Kevin Joseph Mendibles, 37, of Ethete, Wyoming, was sentenced to 480 months in federal prison with five years of supervised release to follow for second-degree murder. U.S. District Court Judge Kelly H. Rankin imposed the sentence on Feb. 19, in Casper. The court also ordered the defendant to pay $8,983.19 in restitution and a $100 special assessment. According to court documents, on Feb. 25, 2024, the BIA Wind River Police Department was dispatched to a residence in Ethete for a woman who had been beaten badly and was barely breathing. Upon ar...
POWELL - Brian Nesvik, former Wyoming Game and Fish Department director and brigadier general of the Wyoming National Guard, has been nominated to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. President Donald Trump made the nomination Tuesday afternoon, quietly adding Nesvik's name along with 187 other nominations to a Congressional website. The nomination will next go to the U.S. Senate for confirmation. Nesvik started his career with the department in 1995 as a game warden in the Laramie...
A seemingly unfathomable triple murder and suicide in the small Bighorn Basin town of Byron this week is a reminder that Wyoming government and communities need to “double down” on combatting mental health issues, Gov. Mark Gordon said. “My heart goes out to the families,” Gordon said, speaking to WyoFile reporters in his office Wednesday morning. He noted that legislators meeting one floor above had ties to the family involved, as tragedies ripple quickly through the social fabric of the nation’s least populous state. “This is a restatement...
The Sublette County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a Big Piney man and has charged two individuals in connection with the case. On Wednesday, February 5, at approximately 12:20 p.m., Sublette County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a report of a possible deceased person at a residence on South Mickelson Street in Big Piney, according to a press release. "Upon entering the home, deputies found an adult male on the ground with significant injuries," the press release explained. "He...
Rep. Bob Wharff didn't hide his anger about federal wildlife managers denying Wyoming authority over its grizzly bear population, despite meeting Endangered Species Act recovery goals for over 20 years. The Republican representative from Evanston, who's back in the Legislature after a one-term absence, went beyond "fist shaking" by bringing a bill that called for grizzly bear hunting as soon as 2026 - regardless of the species' federal status. "It's me trying to get this body to stand up and...
Despite growing support for nuclear energy nationally and here in Wyoming, there are simply too many concerns to entertain the possibility of opening the state to the country's growing stockpile of spent nuclear fuel waste, some lawmakers say. House Bill 16, "Used nuclear fuel storage-amendments," touted by its backers as a tool to initiate a larger conversation, died Wednesday morning in the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. In addition to being flooded with emails an...
The Wyoming Senate narrowly voted for a resolution demanding that Congress turn over some 30 million federal acres to the state — but only after first defeating the measure and then reconsidering it. Senate Joint Resolution 2, “Resolution demanding equal footing,” insists that Congress act by October to begin turning over the property. That includes Grand Teton National Park, all or parts of eight national forests, Devils Tower National Monument, the Thunder Basin National Grassland and vast swaths of sagebrush and desert managed by the Burea...
The 2024 Sublette County case of wildlife torture and abuse is spurring a "Clean Kill Bill" initiative, asking the Wyoming Legislature to establish felony penalties to punish those who would purposely torture Wyoming's wildlife. The proposed bill protects recreational hunting and predator management. Wyoming Sportsmanship, a new advocacy organization led by respected leaders of Wyoming's sportsman community, is advocating for a stronger bill than is currently drafted in the state Legislature...
James Warren Martin, 38, of Casper, Wyoming, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, with a lifetime of supervised release, for transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity. This sentence is to run concurrently with his 37-to-45-year sentence imposed in Wyoming’s Seventh Judicial District state court for his victimization of the same minor. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Scott W. Skavdahl imposed the sentence on Jan. 23, in Casper. According to court documents, the defendant was brought to the attention o...
CHEYENNE-Laura Pearson's sheep ranching family has had a rough go of it lately. Woolgrowing is an industry that's shrunk dramatically from its heyday, including in Wyoming. Modern disruptions and hardships, like the brutal winter of 2022-'23, were a gut punch to operations that have hung on, even knocking some woolgrowers out of business. "Ranchers are hurting right now," said Pearson, a Republican state senator and school bus driver from Kemmerer who's new to the Wyoming Legislature. "In May,...
President Donald Trump's executive orders will fast-track oil and natural gas development, erase perceived federal regulatory "burdens" for extractive industries, halt electric vehicle incentive programs and wind energy permitting, withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and, above all, "are a win for U.S. energy and Wyoming," according to Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon. Details on exactly how the new administration will achieve these things are not clear, according to some...
