Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community

Articles written by Jake Goodrick


Sorted by date  Results 1 - 8 of 8

  • Members of family gospel quartet among seven dead in Campbell County plane crash

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Aug 1, 2024

    GILLETTE — Three family members of popular gospel quartet The Nelons are among seven who died when a private plane crashed Friday afternoon in Campbell County north of Gillette. Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark and daughter Amber Nelon Kristler died in the crash, according to a Facebook post made by Gaither Music Group and the Atlanta quartet’s fourth member, Autumn Nelon Streetman. Nelon Kistler’s husband Nathan Kistler, along with Melodi Hodges and pilot Larry Haynie and his wife Melodi also died in the crash, according to the s...

  • PRB coal slips in 2023, expected to resume long-term decline

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Feb 22, 2024

    GILLETTE — Powder River Basin coal mines entered 2024 back on a downhill slope, as the long-term trajectory of Campbell County’s legacy industry resumed its decline following a two-year upswing in production. With an unexpected boost to coal demand fading away, the long-term trends of coal-fired power plant retirements and short-term availability of cheaper energy sources has put Wyoming coal back into a slide. Wyoming’s 12 PRB mines — all in Campbell County — combined to produce about 230.4 million tons of coal in 2023, according to data from...

  • NARM tornado trekked 3.8 miles through county; mine resumes operations

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Jul 6, 2023

    GILLETTE - The tornado that pummeled North Antelope Rochelle Mine last Friday traveled a nearly four-mile path from the Converse County line through the massive southern Campbell County open-pit coal mine where it ripped apart buildings, flipped empty train cars and injured eight people. The long-track twister, officially graded as an EF-2 on the zero-to-five tornado scale, grew as wide as 700 yards during its 3.8-mile course northeast into Campbell County with a duration between 5:49 p.m. and...

  • 'Two realities': Hightman gets prison time, ordered to pay $13K as missing persons case continues

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Jun 22, 2023

    GILLETTE — Kennedy Wainaina and Chris Gakwa may have made their last trip to Gillette for a while. They’ve made the nearly 800-mile drive several times since reporting their sister, Irene Gakwa, missing last March. This time, they drove east in a 15-passenger van with eight other family members to attend the sentencing of Nathan J. Hightman, the man convicted of stealing from Irene’s bank account, running up her credit cards and deleting her email account in the days and weeks after she was last heard from. At his sentencing Wednesday, Hight...

  • Moorcroft native builds decade-plus music career with practical patience

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record|Mar 23, 2023

    Chancey Williams isn't in a hurry. While country music artists have risen to the national scene and fallen from its graces throughout the years, Williams and the Younger Brothers Band have steadily made a career for themselves over the past decade. The concept of a music career, especially at the highest levels, tends to be an oxymoron. Careers are typically stable and music careers are known for being many things but that. A life in music can be volatile on the way up and down. That's a...

  • PRB coal demand and production continues

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|May 5, 2022

    GILLETTE (WNE) — The coal production from Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Resources Inc. through the first three months of 2022 aligned with the strong projections each company had for their Powder River Basin mines headed into the year, despite rail issues and other logistical challenges. Their steady coal production comes amid an increased demand for thermal coal sold at higher prices that has carried over from last year. But both companies have kept an eye on the short-term gains with the other fixed on the looming long-term downfall of the c...

  • Search continues for missing Gillette woman

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Apr 28, 2022

    GILLETTE — Just about every day at about 5 p.m., Kennedy Wainaina waits on a phone call. Ever since his sister, Irene Wairimu Gakwa, went missing from Gillette in February or March, he has stayed in close contact with the Gillette police detectives working to solve his sister’s disappearance. After Wainaina talks with detectives each night, he calls his mother and father in Kenya, who also have grown accustomed to waiting by the phone. “They’re in rough shape, especially my mom,” he said. “My dad maybe hides it well but my mom, I can tell sh...

  • Officers cleared in Gillette shooting

    Jake Goodrick, Gillette News Record Via Wyoming News Exchange|Apr 21, 2022

    GILLETTE — The officers involved in the shooting that killed a Gillette man this January have been named and cleared of criminal charges. Park County Attorney Bryan A. Skoric found Gillette Police Department officer Patrick Totzke and Lt. Jason Marcus’ use of force justified in the death of 22-year-old Ismael Trinidad Montes earlier this year. The incident began when Totzke and Marcus responded to the 500 block of Church Avenue around 7 a.m. Jan. 16 when homeowners reported a man was in their home who had made violent threats and refused to...