Sorted by date Results 426 - 450 of 526
SUNDANCE — Backed by a much larger crowd than the council chamber usually enjoys, two citizens expressed dissent last week over a fledgling plan to replace Sundance Police Department with contracted service through the Crook County Sheriff’s Office. The Sundance City Council, Sheriff Jeff Hodge and Police Chief Marty Noonan were on hand during the scheduled public meeting to answer questions and concerns from the audience. Roger Connett, who said he was there as a private citizen and not as the chairman of the Crook County Republican Par...
CHEYENNE – With only a few weeks remaining until Election Day, the candidates vying to be Wyoming’s sole delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives discussed their visions for a country hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic during a debate Thursday night in Torrington. The debate, which was hosted by WyomingPBS and Wyoming Public Radio at Eastern Wyoming College, featured incumbent Republican Liz Cheney, Democratic challenger Lynnette Grey Bull and Constitution Party candidate Jeff Haggit. The discussion offered the first opportunity for the...
CHEYENNE – With just a few weeks remaining until Election Day, the pair of candidates vying to become Wyoming’s next U.S. senator discussed their approaches to the federal COVID-19 response, health care reform and several other issues during a debate Thursday night in Torrington. The event, which was hosted by WyomingPBS and Wyoming Public Radio at Eastern Wyoming College, featured Republican Cynthia Lummis, who previously served as the state’s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017, and Democrat Merav Ben-David, a zoo...
RIVERTON — Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Buchanan’s elections division is reviewing the practices of a social media activist that has been pressuring Fremont County campaigns this election season. Wyoming Gun Owners identifies itself as a pro-gun group but has been accused by many of picking favorites in Wyoming Legislative campaigns regardless of candidates’ Second Amendment stances. The group often posts negative, combative videos about candidates on sites including Facebook and YouTube that accuse their unfavored political contenders as an...
At a Sep. 3 press conference, Gov. Mark Gordon introduced a nonprofit that’s been advocating for Wyoming’s coal industry for years: the Energy Policy Network. He announced a new contract with the group in which taxpayers would “contribute” $250,000 this year. The governor believes there’s still a place for Wyoming’s coal in the electric utility market despite the long and accelerating shift toward renewable sources and natural gas. “We face the challenge that many other states’ public service commissions, unfortunately, don’t see it that way,...
CHEYENNE – Roughly 30 Wyomingites gathered on the grounds of the state Capitol at noon Thursday to protest against the requirements for children to wear masks in school. The protestors came from across the state to demonstrate against school districts’ reopening plans, all of which require masks be worn when social distancing cannot be enforced. Laura Jorgensen, a main organizer of the protest, drove several hours from Fort Bridger to demonstrate. “We just would like the freedom of choice for our own kids back, and we want our local contr...
CHEYENNE – After at least one teacher and one student at McCormick Junior High School tested positive for COVID-19 last week, the Cheyenne-Laramie County Health Department is urging continued use of face masks among all students and staff. “Masks, for the time-being, are the next best thing to actually having a vaccine,” Dr. Stan Hartman, county health officer, told the Laramie County School District 1 Board of Trustees at a meeting Monday night. “Right now, having students wearing masks whenever they cannot properly social distance is the key...
CASPER — Wyoming lawmakers are considering allowing the shipment of Wyoming-made liquor across state lines as a part of a package of bills allowing greater flexibility for the state’s small distillers amid mounting economic challenges brought on by COVID-19. Spurred by concerns of distillers like Casper’s Backwards Distilling and Kirby-based manufacturer Wyoming Whiskey, members of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions voted almost unanimously to draft legislation allowing multiple retail...
LUSK – Todd Hoelmer's spot on Main Street is not a visible one. The white structure looks like an abandoned garage at first glance. Step inside, and it still looks that way, thanks to remnants of a 2015 flood Hoelmer said he is still dealing with. Past empty rooms with concrete floors is The Skeleton Closet, as indicated by his business card. The work area, illuminated by dim lights and filled with fossils of early mammals and dinosaurs alike, is where he restores and preserves these ancient a...
CASPER — The new owners of 5 million combined acres of land and mineral rights in southern Wyoming say they plan to pursue opportunities to expand renewable energy development in addition to existing drilling and mining activity — a potential new source of revenue for the state as a third-party investment company takes over land long held by oil companies Anadarko and Occidental Petroleum. In a Friday interview with the Star-Tribune, Jon Lamb, the CEO of the purchasing firm Orion Resource Partners, and Johnny DeCooman, the new CEO of Swe...
An increase of 58 laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases in Wyoming on Tuesday — including 18 new cases in Albany County — pushed the number of active cases in the state up by 36. The Wyoming Department of Health, in its daily coronavirus update, said a total of 71 new confirmed and probable cases were reported Tuesday to bring the number of active cases to 610. Albany County had 98 active cases; Carbon had 76; Laramie had 73; Fremont had 58; Natrona had 53; Sheridan had 50; Park had 37; Goshen had 30; Teton had 29; Campbell had 25; Uinta had...
GILLETTE — Under the right circumstances, carbon under pressure produces diamonds. But the intense pressure from multiple fronts now squeezing Powder River Basin coal is crushing the industry. Already struggling with weakening demand for U.S. coal, the nation’s largest coal-producing region also has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic with historically bad results. Through the first eight months of 2020, PRB production is nearly 25% below this time last year and hundreds of high-paying jobs have been lost. While the last four months of the...
GILLETTE — Campbell County Commissioners will not adopt a resolution against the state’s coronavirus public health orders. At a directors meeting Monday, Commissioners Del Shelstad and Colleen Faber said they had received questions from residents about whether Campbell County would pass a resolution against government overreach similar to what has been done in other communities. The city of Sheridan adopted a resolution July 20 “declaring all legal businesses and personnel in the city as essential.” The resolution was necessary “for the purpose...
CHEYENNE — A bill concerning immunity and liability during a pandemic was approved to be sponsored by the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee in the upcoming legislative session. The bill was brought up in light of the COVID-19 pandemic because insurance doesn’t always cover situations that emerge due to pandemics. The bill addressed immunity during pandemics for business owners and passed through the committee. The bill would create immunity for “any person or entity who follows in good faith the instruction of the health officers, wheth...
CHEYENNE – With Wyoming facing a projected $1.5 billion revenue shortfall over the next two years, a few mayors from across the state asked lawmakers Monday to start seriously considering new taxation options. In response to the budget crisis – which emerged from long-term declines in Wyoming’s energy industries and was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic – the state has already cut about 10% of its state agency budgets, totaling about $250 million. But for mayors who testified to the state Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee on Monday, c...
(Publisher’s note: This column covers a variety of digital scams reported throughout Wyoming and is being printed to help residents identify potential scams before they occur.) Anthem Blue Cross Fake Email: An email claiming to be from Anthem Blue Cross encourages you to open an encrypted message about an invoice. The email is from invoice@wpsic.com or sa.gese.cas.to.re@gmail.com and the subject line is EFT Enrollment Form – Approved. Similar messages have been used to steal people’s personal information. It was followed up by a second email...
CASPER – As COVID-19’s interruptions on everyday life began stretching into the late-spring and early summer, voters around the country began looking toward their upcoming elections – and a pivotal presidential election in November – with apprehension and uncertainty about how exactly things would work. From logistical questions like whether we’d be waiting days or weeks for the results of the election, to the practical questions of finding an alternative to voting in a crowded gymnasium or post office, the early days of the pandemic offered l...
JACKSON - It was mid-morning when Lesley Williams Gomez's Bridger-Teton National Forest pickup truck inched up onto the sagebrush to make room along the seldom-traveled, graveled northern stretch of Antelope Flats Road. Not one, but four vehicles were headed her way, and the roadbed wasn't big enough for the both of them. The caravan of campers was pointed north toward Lost Creek Ranch and the quickly filling dispersed camping area along the ridges above Triangle X Ranch. They'd already been to...
JACKSON - Three hot air balloons carrying dozens of people lost control Monday morning and came to a crashing halt in a field near Teton Village. The multi-balloon incident is under investigation by federal authorities. More than 16 passengers were hurt. Some of them described the incident as "terrifying." "We were descending so fast," Clinton Phillips told the Jackson Hole Daily. "It was lifting us up and slamming us back down again. We were desperately trying not to fall out." Phillips said...
SHERIDAN — A bill to create a relief program for businesses with 100 employees or more passed through the Wyoming Legislature Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee Tuesday. Rep. Donald Burkhart, R-Rawlins, said the program would support large companies that continued to fuel the economy and retain employees despite the economic crisis but did not benefit from aid programs directed at small businesses. He estimated about 30 Wyoming companies, which employ several thousand residents, would qualify. “The relief does not pro...
Casper Star-Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange CASPER — The COVID-19 pandemic and corresponding collapse in energy markets have wreaked havoc in the oil and gas sector. An estimated 76,000 direct oil and gas jobs were slashed across the U.S. from February to June, a low not witnessed since around 2006. Though oil prices have rebounded in part, thousands of energy workers remain without work. But a new report compiled by the Resources for the Future and Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy proposes a potential solution. The res...
CHEYENNE -- Laramie County District Judge Steven Sharpe acquitted Michael Abrams of two felony counts of attempting to injure a police officer Thursday afternoon. “The system worked in this case,” Robert Moxley, Abrams’ attorney, told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle on Friday morning. “If we hadn’t had body cameras, they could have said anything they wanted to. Those things saved Michael.” The acquittal came after trial lawyers and Sharpe spent roughly two hours Thursday reviewing the police body camera footage of the incident in question, w...
LARAMIE — The federal government is investigating the Western Research Institute, a Laramie-based nonprofit, for making false claims to win more than $500,000 in research funding between 2015 and 2018, according to a document obtained by the Boomerang. WRI used a “paper company,” Thermosolv, to obtain four grants that it would have otherwise been ineligible for, according to federal prosecutors. Prosecutors claimed that WRI had Thermosolv make false claims about its independence in order to win the grants. Mark Klaassen, the U.S. Attor...
