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CHEYENNE-When Rep. Karlee Provenza arrived at the Wyoming Capitol this legislative budget session, three death threats were waiting in her mailbox. The Democrat from Laramie says she has watched people stand in the gallery overlooking the House of Representatives, trying to intimidate her "all day." It's likely that come the Legislature's 2025 general session, those same folks trying to bully Provenza could legally be carrying firearms. "In this space where I'm receiving death threats, I...
Mar. 4 – Two VIN checks. Paper service. Traffic stops. Fall. Three house watches. Life Flight. Citizen dispute. Two business checks. Assist other agency. Three EMS pages. Fire. Mar. 5 – Seven VIN checks. Five business checks. Three traffic stops. Two house watches. Welfare check. Suspicious circumstance. Fraud. Traffic complaint. Broken bone. Fall. Five EMS pages. Mar. 6 – Three VIN checks. Two paper services. Three traffic stops. Welfare check. Four business checks. Two EMS pages. Fire page. Mar. 7 – VIN checks. Two fingerprints. Four...
CASPER — Gov. Mark Gordon will have the option to choose from several bills which to sign to provide property tax relief in Wyoming. All bills differ on approach on how to provide relief. Homeowners saw an average increase of 20.3% in 2023 and 16% increase the year before that. House Bill 3, which provides a 50% exemption of the assessed value for one property of Wyoming residents over the age of 65 that have also paid property taxes for at least 25 years, passed the Senate on Wednesday. The Senate on Thursday approved for the third...
Three Cheyenne police officers on leave after suspect is killed CHEYENNE (WNE) — A call to the Cheyenne Police Department for a domestic dispute ended in the police killing the suspect Friday evening, CPD said in a news release Monday afternoon. The man was identified Monday as 47-year-old Cheyenne resident Patrick Flores. The shooting occurred Friday, March 8, when police officers were dispatched to calls for a domestic disturbance with a firearm, which the agency said was around 6:18 p.m. Dispatchers told police that he was “shooting the...
Jackson, Teton officers remember slain sergeant in Sheridan JACKSON (WNE) — Jackson and Teton County law enforcement officers joined a convoy of police cars from across Wyoming in a procession Friday to honor a Sheridan policeman who was killed in the line of duty. Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, a 33-year-old husband and father, was shot and killed Feb. 13 while attempting to serve a trespass notice. Six members of the Jackson Police Department joined the somber procession in Sheridan. Eight members of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office also travele...
SHERIDAN — Sheridan County residents, law enforcement officers and supporters from all walks of life gathered Friday in Sheridan to honor the life of fallen Sheridan Police Department Sgt. Nevada Krinkee. Krinkee was shot and killed Feb. 13 while attempting to serve a trespass warning on William Lowery. He leaves behind his wife, Karla Krinkee, and their infant daughter. Hundreds of people of all ages lined Main Street and Coffeen Avenue Friday to show support as a procession of family and first responder vehicles traveled to the Sheridan...
GILLETTE — The Campbell County Recreation Center is one of the county’s busiest facilities, with hundreds of thousands of visits each year. But earlier in February, Rec Center staff members were faced with a situation they’d never dealt with before, and the Campbell County Attorney’s Office and human resources department are working on a solution. At the Parks and Recreation Board’s quarterly meeting with commissioners Monday, Commission Chair Del Shelstad said an adult at the Rec Center reported seeing a transgender woman in the...
BUFFALO — If its methanogenesis technology is successful, a new company could bring a second life to some of the Powder River Basin’s tens of thousands of coalbed methane wells. The Denver-based clean energy and climate tech company Cowboy Clean Fuels was recently awarded $7.8 million in state funding to pursue commercial scale development of a technology that will produce so-called renewable natural gas and capture carbon emissions using existing coalbed methane infrastructure, though not everyone is as optimistic as the company and its...
Jackson receives high ranking in AARP Livability Index CHEYENNE (WNE) — AARP recently released its Livability Index, a list of the most livable communities in the country recently, with Jackson ranking in the top 10 in the nation for communities with a population between 5000 and 24,999. The AARP Livability Index evaluates and ranks communities based on various factors that contribute to residents’ quality of life. It looks at everything from homes and transportation to health and community engagement. Jackson was ranked ninth in the Livabi...
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...
Bill would OK $50M for lawsuits CASPER (WNE) — The Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill that would allocate $50 million for the purpose of litigating federal land-use policy. The Senate Agriculture, State & Public Lands & Water Resources Committee last week moved the bill forward. Citing constitutional principles of co-equal government, Senate File 13 would authorize the Legislature to sue feds for acts and administrative rules, with specific reference to the Environmental Policy Act, National Historic Preservation Act, Endangered...
WYOMING RANGE FOOTHILLS – From its mobile perch high in the sky, the infrared camera didn't detect so much as a jackrabbit. Jared Rogerson, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife disease biologist, wielded the controller of the DGI Matrice 300 drone from a flat, grassy field just outside of the Bench Corral Elk Feedground's fenced haystacks. He scanned one acre of sagebrush and grass after the next. This was the state agency's top-of-the-line drone, a roughly $12,000 machine, and he...
Wapiti hunter to pay $15K for mistakenly killing grizzly POWELL (WNE) — A local black bear hunter who mistakenly killed a grizzly last spring must pay $15,000 in restitution and is barred from hunting over the next year. At a Wednesday hearing in Park County Circuit Court, Patrick M. Gogerty of Wapiti pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegally taking a grizzly without a license. However, under a deal accepted by the court, Gogerty’s guilty plea was deferred and the case will be dismissed if he successfully completes a year of...
Man found in woman’s home arrested for drug use, trespassing GILLETTE (WNE) — A 31-year-old man was ticketed for drug use after a 65-year-old woman found him in her home Friday night. The woman called police after finding the man in her apartment in the 600 block of Tyler Avenue. She had not given him permission to be there, but she was able to get him out of her apartment and into the hallway. He appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance, and EMTs were called. The woman showed police a syringe that she found in her...
CHEYENNE — Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, announced on Tuesday that a public hearing on Feb. 13 would be an official meeting of the Legislature, but legislative leaders clarified they were never notified of the hearing. Steinmetz said in Tuesday’s news release that the Legislature’s Joint Agriculture State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee would hold an “Oversight Hearing...on the Environmental Impact of ‘Net-Zero’ and ‘Carbon Negative’ Policies,” as well as the Annual Forest Health Briefing on Feb. 13 upon...
JACKSON — In a written opinion filed Friday morning, the Wyoming Supreme Court declined the appeal of two state lawmakers and an anti-abortion nonprofit to become parties to a case challenging two abortion bans. The intervenors — represented by Tim Garrison of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national Christian legal advocacy group — argued in front of the justices Dec. 12 that they were not being adequately represented by the state Attorney General’s Office and that they had special interests in the case’s outcome. The three...
A measure that would provide a $10 million "stimulus" to encourage more carbon capture for use in the oil industry will advance to the upcoming legislative session following a special hearing this week by the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. The stimulus, according to committee members, aims to enhance a federal tax credit program that they say favors direct storage of the greenhouse gas over pumping it into oilfields to produce hard-to-get reserves. "The intent of...
CHEYENNE — Members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus signed onto a House bill that would prohibit the Centers for Disease and Control and the World Health Organization from having any jurisdiction in Wyoming. House Bill 91 was received for introduction on Thursday, sponsored by Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, and co-sponsored by 14 other Republican lawmakers, ten in the House and four in the Senate. Ward said this version of the bill is similar to a previous House bill she introduced in the 2023 general session, HB 143, which failed to pass on...
Imagine buying a newly built house, but when Wyoming's winds start huffing and puffing at its front door, the whole thing falls flat, endangering the lives of those within. That's the sort of thing building codes are intended to prevent. They're requirements for how new structures are supposed to be built to keep the occupants safe and sufficiently withstand the elements, whether that be winds, precipitation, earthquakes or other natural disasters. Keeping houses and businesses standing...
Man stuck in the snow gets federal prison on drug and gun charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A Campbell County man who was arrested after driving his truck into a snowbank last spring has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison on drug and gun charges. Jesse Walthers, 40, appeared before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson in Cheyenne on Jan. 12. Johnson gave Walthers a 100-month sentence for possession with intent to distribute meth and a 60-month sentence for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, set to...
SARATOGA — Despite the advent of the internet and social media, Wyoming newspapers still serve as an important avenue for public notices — at least according to Governor Mark Gordon, who spoke at the 125th Annual Wyoming Press Convention in Casper on January 19. Over the past several years, the Wyoming Legislature has seen a number of bills introduced which would remove public notices from the pages of Wyoming newspapers. They were proposed despite the fact that 86% of Wyoming adults cite newspapers as their most trusted source for...
Gordon urges BLM to listen to Wyoming on Rock Springs RMP CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon is urging the Bureau of Land Management to “reconsider its restriction-heavy preferred alternative and deliver a reasonable plan incorporating more of Wyoming’s compromise approach to managing the Rock Springs area,” the governor’s office said in a news release. Gordon submitted his comment letter, along with those from numerous state agencies, on the BLM draft Resource Management Plan this week. “No other National Environmental Policy Act (N...
Amid funding and staffing pressures at emergency medical service agencies across Wyoming, two bills this legislative session aim to help attract more volunteers. The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted nearly unanimously to sponsor two bills for this session: Senate File 3 – State employee leave for volunteer fire or volunteer EMS and Senate File 8 – Health insurance for volunteer emergency responders. They come at a time of mixed success for legislation intended to h...
LARAMIE – Endurance riding is a matter of balance. For Bonnie Swiatek, balance was both the reason for retiring from the sport she loves, and the reason to return to it. Endurance riding is something of a marathon on horseback. Riders can travel from 25 to 100 miles, through mountainous terrain, sometimes at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet. The trails are rugged and demanding. According to the American Endurance Riders Conference, which organizes these rides, to finish is to win. Late in 2022,...
Salt River Range avalanche kills former Jackson resident JACKSON (WNE) - David Rice, 41, was caught and killed in an avalanche Sunday in the mountains east of Star Valley Ranch. Rice, an avid musician, lived in Jackson for years and owned Jackson Hole Music, the only music store in town, before closing the shop last year. Until June 2021, he also owned a guitar store in Boulder, Colorado. Rice was killed after a week of sustained snowfall dropped over three feet of snow in the Tetons. That snow...