The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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WBC pauses Kickstart program for review CHEYENNE (WNE) — The Wyoming Business Council paused its state-funded Kickstart: Wyoming program last week for review and improvement following a six-month trial period. Kickstart, launched late last year, provides up to $50,000 in grant money to Wyoming startups with fewer than 50 employees. It’s one of several initiatives funded through 2018 economic diversification legislation. More than a dozen startups received a total of $640,000 in funding since the program launched, but only 10 percent of app...
GILLETTE — The second round of public comments about the Campbell County School District considering arming educators for safety drew 30 people and 11 speakers Thursday evening. The district is using three armed educator listening sessions to gauge public sentiment in favor or opposing such a policy. One public session remains, and although there were more comments in favor of the measure Thursday, the number of those opposed also grew. The school district’s Safety Committee — trustee Toni Bell, Superintendent Alex Ayers and state Sen. Micha...
Cheyenne South High student who shot gun on campus pleads not guilty CHEYENNE (WNE) – Cheyenne’s South High went into lockdown one morning in late February after a student shot a gun in the school’s parking lot. Matthew Carabajal, 17, was originally charged with felony aggravated burglary of a motor vehicle with a deadly weapon, felony theft, misdemeanor property destruction and misdemeanor marijuana possession. A Laramie County Circuit Court judge dismissed the felony theft charge, but sent the rest of the charges to district court. Carab...
City recognizes Cheyenne man for life-saving efforts during blizzard CHEYENNE (WNE) – Cheyenne city officials on Monday recognized a man for saving the life of another man who could have frozen to death during the city’s recent blizzard. During a short ceremony and with his family looking on, Miles Quisenberry received a certificate for his March 14 actions from Mayor Marian Orr and Police Chief Brian Kozak. Quisenberry had gotten up early that day. The wind howling, and it was very cold. According to city officials, Quisenberry left his hou...
JACKSON — Dave Hodges was glad he didn’t park in the driveway. When the sheriff’s deputy got home from work Wednesday evening, he made a last-minute decision to pull his squad car into an overflow lot in Melody Ranch, rather than next to his personal car. He was walking toward the house when he heard what he could only describe as the roof cracking. “I stopped, turned around and there she went,” he said. He could do little more than watch as a mass of snow, accumulated over months, roared off the garage and slammed into his Subaru Legacy wi...
‘Wyoming Promise’ continues drive despite death of bill SHERIDAN (WNE) — Despite the Free and Fair Elections Resolution failing in the Senate Corporations Committee on a 3-2 vote, Wyoming Promise volunteers are encouraged by their success so far. “The successful effort to date is due to over 300 volunteers who donated time and money, collected voter signatures, contacted legislators, attended and testified at the legislature, distributed educational materials, hosted informative presentations, and networked with counties across the state,” Sher...
Phishing scam creates headache in Albany courthouse LARAMIE (WNE) — Hope Quade, who oversees IT in the Albany County Courthouse, suggested to commissioners last week there needs to be mandatory training on internet safety for some county employees. Quade is the county’s account manager for Medicine Bow Technologies, which is currently contracted to handle the county’s IT needs. The suggestion came after an employee in the courthouse fell prey to a phishing scam Feb. 28 and certain “financial information was intercepted,” Quade said. Under tha...
CHEYENNE – Counties seeking delinquent ad valorem taxes from bankrupt energy companies will automatically move to the front of the line of creditors seeking payment starting in 2021. This general session, the Wyoming Legislature passed Senate File 118, which gives primacy to counties seeking delinquent tax payments from bankrupt energy companies. The new system starts in 2021. Currently, counties can file a claim for first payment but must compete against banks and other lenders for a chance to recapture some of the money owed. The bill’s spons...
Student pleads not guilty to attempted murder charges GILLETTE (WNE) — Dale Warner’s voice grew fainter Friday afternoon as the eighth-grader pleaded not guilty to nine counts of attempted first-degree murder in Gillette. The 14-year-old boy is accused of bringing two guns and 36 bullets to Sage Valley Junior High School with a plan to shoot nine teachers and students identified as people he wanted to target or who were in the classroom where he intended to shoot them Nov. 13. He was later disarmed by the school principal and arrested by the...
CHEYENNE – The Senate killed a bill to implement a statewide lodging tax on a final vote Monday after it was pulled from the consent list. It was just one of several bills aimed at broadening and diversifying the state’s revenue stream that failed to make it through the Legislature after a lot of talk to start the session about this being the year for change. House Bill 66 died 19-7 in the Senate after it had passed out of the House earlier this session on a 44-16 vote. The bill would have put a 5 percent statewide tax on lodging sales, wit...
Woman injured in well explosion EVANSTON (WNE) — Uinta County emergency crews responded to an explosion near Henry Fork Road, between County Road 283 and Lonetree, on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 23, at a building covering a well head at an oil field location. One person was working in the building at the time of the explosion. Dexter Mohler, Bridger Valley Fire Chief, said that person, a female private contractor, was able to phone a coworker for help. The coworker was able to get to her and begin transporting her to rendezvous with e...
CHEYENNE — The effort to end the death penalty in Wyoming was unable to get past conservative opposition Thursday in the state Senate. House Bill 145, sponsored by Rep. Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, was defeated on its first reading in the Senate on an 18-12 vote. Only the day before, the bill had passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 5-0 vote. One of the Senate co-sponsors, Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, laid out the arguments for HB 145 during a floor debate Thursday, focusing on the financial cost for the state, the moral issues with g...
Gillette man sentenced to prison in string of attacks GILLETTE (WNE) — A Gillette man was sentenced Thursday to more than 10 years in prison for assaults on a puppy, his girlfriend and a fellow jail inmate. “This is a horrific series of events,” said District Judge Thomas Rumpke. “It’s bad enough that you tortured the animal. … Then on probation you beat up a household member, and if that’s not enough, while in jail, you decided to — pardon the language, but there’s no other way to say it — beat the crap out of somebody.” In 2016, Santos plead...
JACKSON — Satchel Toole, 23, wasn’t breathing when his friends pulled him out of an avalanche Saturday afternoon on Teton Pass. Twenty-four hours later, Toole said the experience was “humbling.” Two additional young men were caught in the same slide and buried to varying degrees. The Jackson resident said he’s lucky to tell the tale of his successful rescue. “I think it’s fairly haunting to think about a lot, but it definitely gives you a perspective on being thankful and also aware,” he said. “You can learn a lot from it.” The near-miss was o...
CHEYENNE — After a drawn out tug of war between Casper and Buffalo for the recommendation to host a new skilled nursing facility for Wyoming veterans, the Legislature has made its final decision: It’s going to Johnson County. Following weeks of location-changing amendments to a bill authorizing the construction of the facility, the Wyoming Senate — days after switching the location for the fourth time — voted 24-6 on Thursday to build the facility in Buffalo. The switch came shortly after a Senate committee voted to amend the bill — which pas...
UW basketball player pleads not guilty to assault LARAMIE (WNE) — A suspended Wyoming men’s basketball player has pleaded not guilty to assault and battery charges. Ny Redding, who’s facing two counts of simple assault and one count of battery, entered a not guilty plea in Albany County Circuit Court on Friday through his attorneys, according to court documents. The charges stem from his alleged involvement in a December incident at a Laramie bar. Redding also requested that his initial court appearance set for Feb. 14 be vacated and a scheduli...
Bill requiring work for Medicaid heads to House CHEYENNE (WNE) — A bill to place work requirements on certain recipients of Medicaid in Wyoming made its way to the House floor Thursday. Senate File 144, sponsored by Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, would require able-bodied Medicaid recipients between the ages of 19 and 64 to put in 20 hours a week through a combination of work, schooling, workforce training or volunteering with a local nonprofit. The bill passed out of the House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee on Thursday morning on a 5...
Cody woman sentenced to prison in meth ring case CODY (WNE) — A Cody woman will spend the next 3-5 years in prison for her role in a large-scale methamphetamine ring. Wendy Lee was sentenced Friday in Cody by District Court Judge Bill Simpson for conspiring to possess meth with intent to deliver and for possession of meth with intent to deliver. “I regret deeply everything that has happened,” Lee told the judge at her sentencing. The sentence was part of a no contest plea Lee and her public defender Timothy Blatt made with the state, which...
Yellowstone reopens as shutdown ends CODY (WNE) — Visitors to Yellowstone National Park resumed paying entrance fees Sunday after 35 days of free admission during the partial shutdown of the federal government. Other operations and services reopened Monday. With the enactment of the continuing resolution to fund the federal government Friday, the park started resuming regular operations. “Employees are happy to return to work serving the American people and welcoming visitors to Yellowstone,” the park announced in a release. Sunday, visit...
Tribe sends letter asking delegation to end shutdown RIVERTON (WNE) — The Eastern Shoshone Tribe has sent a letter to Wyoming’s congressional delegation outlining the ways the federal government shutdown has negatively impacted tribal members. “Although the shutdown is partial, the federal departments and agencies that remain effectively closed are those that are inextricably linked to the health, welfare, safety and economic security of the tribe,” the letter states. “(We) implore you to stop the shutdown of the federal government on behalf...
EVANSTON — The Uinta County Herald was met with confusion when asking Wyoming Sen. Wendy Schuler, R-Evanston, why she co-sponsored a bill last week that would allow municipalities to be their own watchdogs and publish public notices on their own websites. “If I’m listed on there, it’s totally in error,” Schuler said Monday morning. The freshman legislator seemed baffled, and said she absolutely supports newspapers and believes local governments should continue to be required to publish public notices in local newspapers. The Herald reached o...
GILLETTE - Kathy Berman cried for 20 minutes after seeing the text message. It was a Thursday night and she was tired. These days, she's always tired. She sleeps more than she's awake. It's what she's been used to for more than two years now. Exhausted, Berman was spending another night in when her daughter sent a text message with a photo. It was a picture of a cake. On the cake was a frosted kidney with three words: "Share da spare." How many people can say that they knew their life would be...
CHEYENNE — Two Democratic lawmakers hope to launch meaningful income tax discussions in Wyoming with the introduction of new legislation. House Bill 233, introduced Thursday, would impose a 4 percent tax on residents and corporations earning more than $200,000 in taxable income a year. Sponsors of the bill say the tax would raise an additional $208 million annually for the Wyoming Department of Education's School Foundation Program, which oversees public school funding. This would undoubtedly solve the state's education funding woes, said S...
CASPER — Wyoming lawmakers will try to set aside $250,000 to sue Washington state over coal, bypassing Wyoming’s attorney general and hiring a private lawyer, via a bill introduced Thursday in Cheyenne that largely mimics a failed measure last year. Washington has effectively blocked a coal export terminal development by denying a state water permit. Wyoming — which wants an export terminal on the West Coast to get its coal to Asian buyers — has long maintained that Washington’s block is political: that the powers that be in Washingto...
JACKSON — Alfalfa-spewing elk-feeding trucks and the federal employees who drive them will be deemed “essential” and thus unaffected by the partial government shutdown, but so far the herds are OK without the help. National Elk Refuge Biologist Eric Cole has been allowed to work part time to determine when feeding is needed, and he has found that grasses are still plentiful and accessible for the approximately 2,800 elk congregated on the refuge’s south end. “What we’ve had going for us is we haven’t had any significant thaw-freeze c...
