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Art Lawson wanted to show actor Martin Sensmeier what the Wind River Indian Reservation was all about when he came through town this summer. So Lawson, the Shoshone and Arapahoe Fish and Game's director, took Sensmeier fishing in the backcountry. The actor - star of the upcoming film, "Wind River: The Next Chapter" - got a good glimpse of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho's 2.2-million-acre reservation's wild landscape. "A bear just popped up right in front of camp," Lawson recalled of t...
A red fox jumped into someone's golf cart in Grand Teton National Park a few summers ago, presumably looking for a snack. It wasn't the fox's first foray into begging humans for food, and it wouldn't be his last. After hopping on occupied picnic tables and stealing fish from ice fishermen, park rangers ultimately trapped and killed the creature. It's one thing for foxes to linger near campsites and pose for the occasional photo, it's another for a fox to hop up next to a person. Red foxes aren't...
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is dedicated to ensuring the sustainability of our diverse aquatic ecosystems. To that end, annual fishing closures are in place to protect spawning kokanee salmon and other species in Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Green River below Fontenelle Dam. Shoreline spawning kokanee are crucial for maintaining and recovering the kokanee population in Flaming Gorge Reservoir. Research indicates that they constitute a significant portion of the kokanee population,...
Wyoming has long had an adversarial relationship with smokable or edible intoxicants, and that may continue with delta-8 - colloquially known as "weed light" and "diet weed." Members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee will consider a draft bill Tuesday in Casper that would effectively ban that substance and any other with "similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity." The discussion comes at a time when stores selling the substance are proliferating in Wyoming, national leaders...
Fear and outrage about rising electric rates have set the stage for lawmakers to go after renewable energy and possibly throw up roadblocks to future wind and solar development in the state. Rocky Mountain Power has testified and submitted data to show that volatile fossil fuel pricing - including a spike in December that boosted Wyoming's revenue outlook - is the primary driver behind its staggering 30% rate hike proposal. But some lawmakers, and many of the utility's customers, say renewables...
CHEYENNE — Officials from the Wyoming Military Department advised legislators against restarting the Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy until sufficient staffing for the residential program for at-risk youth is secured. Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, the state’s adjutant general, stressed to the Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee that a restart of the program isn’t possible until the staffing issue is resolved. “What I would offer — and I would tell the governor of Wyoming the same thing — until we are able to solve the s...
CASPER — Though the three-day bench trial that will decide the fate of abortion in Wyoming remains months away, the contentious legal battle over the state’s two bans continues to play out in Teton County court. Ninth District Court Judge Melissa Owens ruled last month in favor of the women challenging the bans after a monthslong clash over the fact-finding portion of the case, also known as discovery, forcing the state and the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office to answer questions about the laws and their meaning ahead of the trial. Owens...
When it came to doing his Eagle Scout project, Logan Wadsworth chose something that combined a way to serve the community with one of his favorite activities. Logan loves camping with his fellow scouts, so after the Boy Scouts worked with the county commissioners to be able to camp overnight at Pioneer Trails Picnic Grounds, Logan wanted to do something that would both complete their camping experience and benefit the community as a whole for years to come. "I thought of putting a couple fire...
As part of the Sweetwater County Library System commitment to the community, there are opportunities to exhibit local artists work. The Exhibits Committee invite both emerging and established artists to display their original artwork in the Sweetwater County Library in Green River and White Mountain Library in Rock Springs. Along with individual exhibits, annual group exhibits include the Sweetwater Open, Photography Open, Quilter's Open, and the Small Works Exhibit. These open shows provide...
Tip Top Search and Rescue and the Sublette County Sheriff's Office were looking for a missing hiker last week, and on Thursday they reported recovering his body. On Tuesday, August 22, the Sublette County Sheriff's Office reported that Tip Top Search and Rescue was seeking public assistance to locate John Diepholz in the Wind River Range out of the Elkhart Park Trail head in the greater Wall Lake area. Diepholz was reported missing to Sublette County Dispatch the afternoon of Monday, August 21...
Rocky Mountain Power's proposal to hike electric utility rates in Wyoming by an average of 29.2%, if approved, would put households and businesses in peril and only serve to line the pockets of the company's shareholders and executives, which includes its parent company PacifiCorp's owner, billionaire Warren Buffett. That was the consensus among about two dozen people who spoke at a public comment hearing held by the Wyoming Public Service Commission Thursday in Casper. "We're going to lose a lo...
Gov. Mark Gordon let a crossover-voting ban go into effect without his signature earlier this year because he was worried the bill’s ambiguity could deny participation to eligible voters. An agreement to work on clarifying the bill before the 2024 election dissuaded Gordon from a veto, but lawmakers have yet to settle on a solution. Instead, they opted Thursday to delay a decision after the secretary of state questioned whether a legislative fix was necessary.. The Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee met in D...
Nesting falcons, development concerns and loud local opposition bedeviled a proposal to build a via ferrata in Sinks Canyon State Park. But it was an engineering cost that finally spelled its end, according to Wyoming State Parks. State Parks recently announced it is pulling the plug on the effort to build a via ferrata - a series of cables and rungs strung up a cliff that offers users protection while climbing. After spending considerable time determining a site that most people found...
The state's top energy office has recommended two energy projects for a combined $19 million in support from a Wyoming taxpayer-funded program established to provide matching dollars for federal energy and carbon capture grants. Some $9.1 million would go to the Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub in southwest Wyoming, and $10 million would support a "nuclear microreactor" effort to assess the manufacture and deployment of small-scale nuclear reactors in the state and beyond, according to the Wyoming...
New estimates show that more than 10,000 people have lost Medicaid or Kid Care CHIP coverage since the start of a Wyoming eligibility review and removal process in April. That’s compared to about 9,000 who’s coverage was renewed for the government programs. While about 600 of those removed no longer qualify, the Wyoming Department of Health writes, more than 10,000 lost coverage for “procedural reasons.” Those reasons could include not returning or not completing forms. Three quarters of those procedural terminations involved children, accordi...
Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, pled guilty to arson of a building used in interstate commerce, specifically the Wellspring Health Access Clinic located in Casper, Wyoming. Green entered her guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson on July 20. She was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service following the hearing. At the hearing, Green admitted that she set fire to the clinic on May 25, 2022, which was under construction at the time and planned to offer OB/GYN services, gender-affirming care, and abortion procedures....
With thousands of people facing food insecurity every day, there’s no reason fresh, quality food should go to waste. Over 119 billion pounds of quality food is discarded in the U.S. each year equating to a shocking 40% of all food in America going to waste. Food Bank of Wyoming is combatting this waste through their Grocery Rescue Program, which connects local pantries and grocery stores so fresh food can go to people, not to the landfill. The single largest amount of material sent to landfills in the U.S. comes from food waste. To reduce this...
The Bureau of Land Management Kemmerer Field Office is seeking public comment on a right-of-way for the proposed Sweetwater Carbon Storage Hub CO2 Sequestration project. If approved, Pond Field, LLC would sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) in up to 44,570 acres of sub-surface federal pore space in Uinta, Sweetwater and Lincoln counties. This proposal to permanently store carbon in underground rock formations will reduce atmospheric carbon. The proposal follows a June 2022 BLM policy update authorizing rights-of-way on public lands for the geologic...
CASPER — U.S. Senator John Boozman sat opposite a group of more than 20 Wyoming farmers, ranchers, government officials and nonprofit leaders in a cold conference room on the third floor of Casper’s Thyra Thomson State Office Building. Addressing his audience in a quiet, unhurried voice, the Arkansas congressman told them he was there to listen — and to ensure their concerns wouldn’t fall on deaf ears in D.C. “I believe very strongly that the answer to our problems needs to come from the bottom,” Boozman said. The Friday roundtable discussion...
CASPER — The Sweetwater County parents suing a southern Wyoming school district for allegedly concealing their child’s gender identity and contributing to their child’s “social transitioning” have updated their lawsuit after a judge’s order to focus their legal case on parental rights and freedom of religion claims. Ashley and Sean Willey sued Sweetwater County School District No. 1 and several district administrators in April. They accused the district of violating their parental rights by following their child’s requests to use a male name a...
CASPER — About a dozen people spoke at a Rock Springs meeting earlier this month about a historic rate hike proposal brought by Rocky Mountain Power — Wyoming’s largest electricity provider. Though more than 70% of Rocky Mountain Power’s customer base consists of industrial users, most of the people who spoke at the public hearing were typical residential customers and community members who fear the impact these cost increases could have on their lives. Rock Springs Mayor Max Nicholson said the rate increases could threaten lives; those w...
Wyoming's largest electric utility, Rocky Mountain Power, wants to hike prices by nearly 22%, a request that's primarily driven by volatile natural gas and coal markets, according to the company. It's the largest rate increase request the regulated-monopoly utility has made in more than a decade, and it would result in an additional $16.42 per month for the average household customer, according to the company. A hearing on the matter, including an opportunity for public comment, will take place...
WIND RIVER RANGE FOOTHILLS-Kristy Wardell dawned rain gear though the skies were clear. The lifelong rancher was dressed in protective garb to guard against manure and urine that 366 ewes and 442 lambs had discharged along the wheeled journey around the Winds. On her hands and knees, the 59-year-old crawled into the bowels of a big rig she'd driven to flush out the animals, which will summer on Jim Magagna's pasture land along the banks of Lander Creek. Not used to being trucked, the band "had a...
After 15 years of planning and permitting, construction will begin this year on the TransWest Express high-voltage transmission line - a milestone expansion of Wyoming's electric power export industry to markets in the American Southwest and one of the largest transmission upgrades to the western grid in decades. The Bureau of Land Management granted TransWest Express LLC a "notice to proceed" in April, culminating years of work and millions of dollars invested in a "vision" to bring Wyoming's...
GILLETTE - Two years ago, Heidi Nation was looking for a purpose in life. She had moved out to the Oriva Hills subdivision in the spring of 2021 after years of living in Gillette. "We came out here, and there was, like, nothing," said Nation, the owner of Spirit Nation Alpacas. But even before the move, "I was in the same kind of predicament," she said. She needed something to do, she needed someone to take care of. Then one day, Betty White, Gary Busey, Kevin Hart and Wanda Sykes walked into...
