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Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
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BUFFALO — Federal legislation that would, among other land management directives, release three wilderness study areas in Johnson County from longtime protections, is one step closer to becoming law. Long championed by Wyoming’s congressional delegation and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative was introduced in 2015 to finalize the designation of several Wilderness Study Areas throughout the state. The bill passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee by voice vote during a bus...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Department of Health is seeking $121 million in additional state funding on top of its $2.1 billion budget request for the 2025-26 biennium, but officials are willing to settle for the governor’s recommendation of $101 million. Despite the $20 million difference, Director Stefan Johansson said the Health Department worked closely with Gordon on his $101 million recommendation. The director clarified the differences in request were not due to different opinions on spending. “We worked with the governor and his staff quite...
CASPER — A mine exploration project in Halleck Creek was ranked as one of the top ten critical mineral sites on the planet after assay results earlier this year revealed exceptionally high levels of rare earth elements. But this month the project owners, American Rare Earths, U.S. subsidiary of an Australian-founded exploration company, have completed their full development drilling campaign, and the new assay results suggest that soon this Albany County mine will be ranked number one. Mineral testing of samples from Overton Mountain r...
Applications open for internship program for new farmers, ranchers CHEYENNE (WNE) — The GrowinG Internship Program is now accepting applications for 2024, according to a news release from University of Wyoming Extension. “The goal of this program is to provide interns with a hands-on internship at a working farm or ranch in Wyoming, in cooperation with state producer organizations and educational institutions,” said Kendra Faucett, program coordinator, in the release. The program provides a $5000 stipend for a 10-week work experience, which...
Man accused of strangling girlfriend, holding her against her will GILLETTE (WNE) — Officers forced their way into a home and later arrested a 37-year-old man who allegedly strangled his girlfriend and held her against her will Friday night. Police went to the 100 block of Bay Avenue for the report of a man and woman in a fight at about 11:15 p.m., Police Cpl. Dan Stroup said. When they arrived, they forced their way into the home after they heard a woman whimpering and what sounded like strangling noises. In the home, they spoke to the man a...
Children, mother injured in fiery crash near Ralston POWELL (WNE) — A woman and her two school-aged children suffered “extensive” injuries on Sunday evening after their vehicle crashed down an embankment and caught fire just east of Ralston. The 36-year-old woman, her nine-year-old son and her six-year-old daughter were all taken by ambulance to Powell Valley Hospital and then flown on to larger hospitals in neighboring states, said Trooper Kaycee Shroyer of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Authorities were unsure of the occupants’ place of residen...
Wyoming leaders blame Biden administration coal policies as well as bureaucratic delays they claim are deliberate for layoffs at the Black Butte coal mine in southwest Wyoming. Nineteen miners were notified this week that they’d lose their jobs, and more layoffs could be in the works, according to reports. WyoFile was unable to confirm the information with Black Butte Coal. Gov. Mark Gordon’s press secretary Michael Pearlman told WyoFile, “We don’t have any concrete information, although we had heard that there may be additional layoffs...
12-year-old arrested Thanksgiving Day bound over on drug charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A 75-year-old Gillette man arrested on drug charges Thanksgiving Day has been bound over to District Court. Dickie F. Sandy waived his preliminary hearing Nov. 30, binding him over to District Court for possession with intent to deliver meth and possession of meth and liquid meth, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of cocaine and amphetamine pill possession, according to court documents. A Sheriff’s deputy, who recognized Sandy from his past work wit...
Man caught after getting stuck in snow pleads guilty to federal charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A Campbell County man who was arrested after driving his truck into a snowbank on the side of Highway 50 pleaded guilty to federal drug charges while another man involved in the drug bust has been sentenced to state prison. Jesse Ray Walthers, 39, pleaded guilty at his October change of plea hearing in U.S. District Court to a count of possession with intent to distribute meth and a count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, a...
LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees’ three-day meeting from Nov. 15-17 featured discussions of ongoing construction projects across campus, budget matters, and notably notices of intent to offer new degree programs, minors, and certificates that will be further discussed early next year. “Notices of intent are the first step in a two-step process, so this will come before the board again after further due diligence has been done on these various certificates and degree programs,” Treasurer Michelle Sullivan said. The new pro...
CASPER — In August, lawmakers on the Joint Education Committee shot down a controversial ban on the “instruction” of gender identity and sexual orientation in Wyoming’s K-3 classrooms. For some conservative lawmakers and parents, it was a blow. But at the same time that the panel rebuffed Wyoming’s own version of a “Don’t Say Gay” law modeled after Florida’s, it also advanced the rest of a proposal to expand “parental rights” in education. After some debate, that draft bill is now heading to the 2024 legislative session. The Joint Education C...
Black 14 Philanthropy delivers 40,000 pounds of food to Laramie LARAMIE (WNE) — Cathedral Home and the University of Wyoming Food Share Pantry welcomed a delivery of 40,000 pounds of food and goods that traveled to Laramie last Tuesday. The delivery is made possible through a partnership between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Black 14’s “Mind, Body and Soul” initiative, which dispatches food to communities identified by active Black 14 players, according to a news release from the Cathedral Home. Mel Hamilton and John Gr...
Information sought about missing Cody woman POWELL (WNE) — Family members of a missing Cody woman are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to get in touch with law enforcement. Katie Ferguson was last seen on Oct. 10 in Arkansas, Ferguson’s mother, Mona Hartling, wrote in a Nov. 5 Facebook post. Ferguson had been traveling from Dothan, Alabama, to Cody with her ex-boyfriend and their two children, but “somewhere near Little Rock, Arkansas she disappeared,” Hartling wrote. Hartling shared few other details, explaining in a Saturd...
BUFFALO — The state of Wyoming continues to recover from the pandemic, with unemployment trending down and the average monthly employment back to pre-pandemic levels. The preliminary numbers for the first-quarter average monthly employment this year was 3187 compared with 2978 in 2020 in Johnson County, according to data from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. The first quarter in Wyoming had 269,312 average monthly employees, a few hundred more employees than in the first quarter of 2020. That’s the first time the quarterly emp...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Department of Transportation faces a shortfall in revenue of around $400 million each year, and the state is digging through the couch to find ways to increase revenue with minimal consequences for commercial and residential drivers. The combination of commercial drivers, cross-country travelers and extreme weather conditions means constant upkeep for Wyoming’s interstate highways. WYDOT is responsible for administering and distributing gasoline, diesel and alternative fuel taxes in the state, with a significant por...
LANDER — A Riverton woman is facing 20 years in prison for repeat shoplifting offenses under a new felony charge that debuted this summer. Beatrice Monroe was the first in Fremont County charged under the new law, which gives prosecutors the ability to seek bigger penalties for offenders who continue to shoplift in Wyoming. After four prior convictions in ten years, a fifth shoplifting charge can now become a felony, punishable by up to ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Monroe was charged with two counts under the new statute. Local p...
Viewers see a newborn moose calf struggling to stand mere seconds after it entered the world. The sun shines and the wind blows through a nearby pine tree. As the calf’s mother licks its back, cleaning amniotic fluid away from its fur, the newborn lifts its back legs and tumbles. It’s one of the most intimate moments a human can witness in the animal world. And researchers have a six-minute video taken not by a human, but by a small camera similar to a GoPro attached to the mother’s neck. “Watc...
GILLETTE (WNE) — A man accused of going on a crime spree throughout Gillette in which he allegedly stole several pickup trucks, drove into multiple buildings and led law enforcement on a high-speed chase has been found competent to proceed in court. Cody K. Fuger, 40, has been charged with 16 counts, including five felonies, ranging from destruction of property, theft, fleeing law enforcement and meth possession. District Judge Stuart S. Healy III found him competent to proceed in court at an Oct. 12 review hearing, based on the findings of a...
Hightman drops Supreme Court appeal GILLETTE (WNE) — A Gillette man serving prison time for stealing from his fiancée – who remains missing – in the days and weeks after she was last seen, has backed out of his appeal filed with the Wyoming Supreme Court. Nathan J. Hightman, 40, filed his intent to appeal less than two weeks after receiving a three- to six-year prison sentence — along with fines, restitution and probation — in June. The motion to waive his appeal was filed last week, as Hightman decided not to move forward after weighing his op...
CHEYENNE — Will potential voters be required to live in Wyoming for at least 30 days in order to vote? Do people need to register as a PAC if they spend more than $1000 in an election? After some heavy deliberation Thursday, members of the Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee advanced bill drafts that could create significant changes to existing Wyoming election laws. 30-day residency requirement Legislators forwarded a bill to next year’s budget session that, as written, would add a 30-day resid...
Shooting complex task force finalizes pre-proposal survey SHERIDAN (WNE) — The State Shooting Complex Oversight Task Force completed work during its meeting Friday morning that will help it identify communities interested in being home to the complex. The task force was established by Senate File 169, which Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law March 2. The task force comprises several legislators and representatives from Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Wyoming Travel and Tourism, firearm and archery m...
CASPER — Fall enrollment at the University of Wyoming continues to slide and has reached its lowest point in decades, but the school’s most recent census provided some good news for university leaders as they look to reverse worrying attendance trends. UW recorded jumps in both graduate and transfer students, while the school’s freshman retention rate also increased this fall, the university announced last month. Yet even with the gains, UW’s overall enrollment continued to decline, marking the fifth consecutive year enrollment at Wyoming...
Women in stable condition following severe crash JACKSON (WNE) — Three women are rebounding after their SUV was hit Sunday afternoon by a tanker truck hauling milk near Munger Mountain Elementary School on Highway 89. State trooper Andy Jackson said the driver of the Suburban, 63-year-old Big Piney resident Patricia Berndt, was life-flighted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center after the 4:17 p.m. crash. The hospital told him that Berndt sustained serious injuries but was in stable condition Monday morning. The two other women in the c...
Gov. Mark Gordon announced this week the state will decline an invitation to apply for millions in federal Inflation Reduction Act funds aimed at shuttering low-producing oil and gas wells. The Mitigating Emissions from Marginal Conventional Wells program would pay the costs of voluntarily closing and remediating wells that produce less than the equivalent of 15 barrels of oil per day — aka “stripper” wells. Wyoming is eligible for up to $5 million of the $350 million program, according to federal documents. The funds could mostly only be us...
Solar eclipse will be visible in Western U.S. Saturday morning GILLETTE (WNE) — When Wyomingites look up at the sky Saturday morning, they should be able to see a partial eclipse. During an annular solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon’s disk is slightly smaller than the apparent size of the Sun’s disk, so that only the outer edge of the Sun remains visible. For those who are inside the path of the eclipse, this will give the appearance of a bright ring of light, hence the name, ring of fire. The path of annularity, in which 91% of the s...
