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From the Wyoming News Exchange Wyoming began taking steps toward normalcy this week as some counties won permission to reopen restaurants and churches. State officials approved requests from seven counties for county-wide variances from the public health orders that were imposed in mid-March to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Most of the variances issued were for outdoor dining for restaurants and bars, as seen in Natrona, Park and Sheridan counties. However, indoor dining was allowed in Lincoln and Washakie counties. In all cases, the...
POWELL - Greater sage grouse numbers are expected to continue dropping across the West for the fourth year in a row, alarming scientists and conservation officials. It also raises questions of federal management of habitat home to the grouse and more than 350 other species dependent on the sagebrush steppe. Since the signing of a historic collaborative conservation plan in 2015, state-level data suggest sage-grouse populations have declined 44% on average. Scientists and conservation...
CASPER – Wyoming has received roughly $32.5 million in federal funding to help its 48 school districts offset costs incurred because of the novel coronavirus, the state announced last week. The money, part of the gargantuan stimulus bill passed by Congress several weeks ago, will be doled out to Wyoming’s districts according to previously established formulas for providing federal money to districts with low-income students. It cannot be used to offset existing expenses — like payroll — but it can be used to offset the cost of steps taken b...
GILLETTE — The Powder River Basin’s coal workforce shrunk by about 6% Thursday with the layoff of 300 workers from three mines. Peabody Energy Corp. employees were informed Thursday that about 170 employees have been laid off from the North Antelope Rochelle mine near Wright in Campbell County. Navajo Transitional Energy Co. also announced 130 layoffs, 73 from its Spring Creek Mine in southern Montana and 57 employees at the Antelope Mine in southern Campbell County. The layoffs represent about 6% of the 4,834 people employed by Powder River Ba...
RIVERTON — New developments in the standoff that occurred Wednesday afternoon in Riverton have emerged, revealing that James Hinman, 56, was shot during a rapid volley of gunfire earlier in the day – not while being extricated from his home by law enforcement at the end of the incident. Hinman died between Thursday night and Friday morning. His death marks the third officer-involved shooting fatality in Riverton in 15 months. Two involved the Riverton police department, while the other shooting was by federal drug enforcement agents. Hin...
CASPER — Legislative leaders voted unanimously on Thursday to pursue several pieces of emergency legislation, all but guaranteeing the Wyoming Legislature will meet in its first special session since 2004. In a conference call with Management Council on Thursday morning, Gov. Mark Gordon outlined a tentative agenda for state lawmakers in the coming months to begin to immediately stabilize the state’s economy – which is projected to experience revenue declines anywhere between $555 million and $2.8 billion due to COVID-19 and an overseas price w...
CODY — Many people should start seeing checks from the government this week as one of the most direct pieces of a multi-trillion dollar relief package to stem the economic effects of COVID-19. The federal checks are sent using a simple formula. Just about every person who makes less than $75,000 per year in adjusted gross income will receive $1,200 sent to the address or bank account – for direct deposit – where they received their last tax return. There are some tweaks to the rules, which is why Luke McNeely, a wealth advisor and an owner...
SHERIDAN — Legislative leadership has indicated a special session of the Wyoming Legislature may take place in the “very near future” as industries across the state feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to the members of the 65th Legislature, Senate President Drew Perkins, R-Casper, and Speaker of the House Steve Harshman, R-Casper, indicated that ongoing discussions regarding the public health crisis have prompted the need for additional work from legislators. The Legislature’s Management Council will meet remotely April 1...
CHEYENNE – A lot has changed since Gov. Mark Gordon announced earlier this year that the state was exploring a deal to buy roughly a million acres of land in southern Wyoming from Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Yet while the coronavirus has brought rapid changes to daily life in Wyoming – and put its main revenue streams in jeopardy – state leaders are still seriously considering the potential land purchase, which would also include about four million acres of mineral rights. Discussions of the deal were forced “to take a back seat for a w...
GILLETTE (Wyoming News Exchange) — Wyoming gas prices have fallen 10.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $2.16 per gallon Monday, according to GasBuddy’s daily survey of 494 stations. Like everything else in the nation these days, the cause of the lower prices is the coronavirus. People are staying home and driving far less than they did two weeks ago. It has led to “an unprecedented drop never before seen in U.S. gasoline demand, causing prices to sink like a rock,” said Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBudd...
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. Court documents state the following: On March 26 at about 5:09 a.m., Courtnie Mills, 43, called the Riverton Police Department to report that 38-year-old Trevor Bartlett had shot himself to death at her home on Sunset Drive in Riverton. Mills had said she and her husband, 37-year-old Mario Mills, found Bartlett dead in their garage that morning when they woke to let their dogs out. Mario Mills s...
Casper Star-Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange 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. The letter — signed by 20 other Republican governors — seeks additional funding for states within a “phase three” spending bill currently under debate by Congress. Negotiations on that bill were still ongoing as of Monday afternoon. “We are working to less...
Sweetwater County healthcare agencies were notified Tuesday by a private medical laboratory that Sweetwater County has its first case of COVID-19. WDH has confirmed an adult male in his 40s, living in Green River, has tested positive for COVID-19. The patient continues to self-isolate at home. “We would like for this to be our one and only case, but we are aware this likely will not be the situation,” said Kristy Nielson, MHSC Chief Nursing Officer. “We are taking precautions to minimize the spread; we ask the community to help us with this...
CHEYENNE - It remains to be seen whether the state will decide to buy roughly 1 million surface acres and 4 million mineral acres in southern Wyoming, but the process is now in place for the state to begin exploring such a purchase. On the final day of this year’s budget session Thursday, lawmakers gave approval to a bill authorizing the state to explore purchasing the land from Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Gov. Mark Gordon announced the state’s interest in the land in a news conference with legislative leadership Feb. 17. Since then, the...
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. As the pandemic grows, the state’s leading industry is attempting to keep workers safe while also weathering stormy energy markets and keeping up production. As schools and businesses announced plans to close statewide, several coal firm executives joined a conference call Monday morning to discuss various steps the state’s coal mines could...
A notice from Governor Mark Gordon is immediately closing businesses and public spaces throughout the state, according to Michael Pearlman, communications director for the governor's office. The closure will remain in effect until April 3. According to a press release, the closure includes “schools, theaters, bars, nightclubs, coffee shops, employee cafeterias, self-serve buffets, salad bars, unpackaged self-serve food services, gyms, conference rooms and museums.” Restaurants can remain ope...
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. U.S. oil prices were down by as much as 34% on Monday, largely due to two factors: a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and dropping demand as the coronavirus continues to spread globally. The effects of the rising supply and dropping demand of oil could be felt in Wyoming, where oil extraction is a linchpin of the state’s eco...
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. While there’s a dollar increase to account for inflation, the House and Senate voted Monday to finalize the budget bill with a “standard budget” for UW — meaning just enough for the university to maintain its current operations. The Legislature sent the budget bill to Gordon’s desk with $175.4 million in base funding for e...
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. As members of the House and Senate appropriations committees and other leading lawmakers negotiated, the majority of lawmakers were sidelined. Leaders sought compromises on the more than $7 billion two-year budget, state-funded construction and the potential purchase of 1 million acres of land and 4 million acres of minerals rights from Occidental Petroleum. D...
The impacts of coronavirus have hit home as several closures related to limiting the spread of the illness were announced last week. Aside from schools throughout Green River, Golden Hour Senior Center and the Sweetwater County Library System have also announced they would close until further notice. Jackie Grubb, executive director of GHSC said their closures started Monday. She said the home delivery meal program will continue to function and GRHS is offering a drive-through meal service to pe...
CASPER — Wyoming had the second-highest suicide rate in the United States in 2018, according to data released earlier this month. More than 25 Wyomingites out of every 100,000 died by suicide that year, a sweeping report by the American Association of Suicidology found. That was well above the national rate of 14.2 and barely trailed New Mexico, which had the highest rate in America. It was, however, lower than Wyoming’s rate in 2017, when the figure was more than 27 people per 100,000. “It’s one of our top priorities, easily,” said Lindsey M...
CHEYENNE - A 5% lodging sales tax proposal won final approval from the Senate on Friday afternoon, marking passage of the only tax measure aimed at putting a small dent in the roughly $200 million revenue deficit facing the state in the next few years. If signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, who has stated his support for such a proposal, House Bill 134 would implement an additional 5% sales tax on in-state lodging services. Three-fifths of that tax revenue would go to an account to promote tourism in the state, while the remaining two-fifths...
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. The state is one of only four that don’t participate in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, which asks middle and high school students to answer 49 and 89 questions, respectively. The data is then used to identify trends and inform public health decisions on a local, state and nationa...
CHEYENNE — Wyoming may be a frontier state, but it sure loves its fences. More than a century ago, Wyoming built its stock with fences, its forebears reining in the wild, open spaces with apportioned grazing lands and property lines all neatly demarcated within the otherwise craggy and rugged state’s clean, rectangular border. But as the state enters a new frontier — with eyes toward conquering emerging marketplaces in technology — can Wyoming’s current leadership similarly rein in the borderless expanses of the internet? Is it feasible...
