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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Wyoming senators join effort to ban federal mask mandates CHEYENNE (WNE) — U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., joined U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, in introducing legislation to prevent the government from imposing new federal mask mandates for domestic air travel, public transit systems and in schools. The Freedom to Breathe Act would also prevent air carriers, public transit authorities and all educational institutions from refusing service to those who choose not to wear face masks. On Thursday, Senate Democrats b...
Wyoming is aging and aging quickly. That fact is not new. In 2014, experts urged state action to prepare for an impending “gray wave” in Wyoming. The state’s rapidly aging population is raising similar concerns almost a decade later. But there is a silver lining. The majority of Wyoming’s 65 and over residents are “young-old,” giving the state valuable time to reinforce its elderly and health care systems, according to a new report and data compiled by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Boston in partnership with the Wyoming Hea...
Baby stroller allegedly used to steal drone CODY (WNE) — The Cody man charged in July with endangering his daughter by allowing her to be in the presence of meth was recently charged with burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit burglary after he and another Cody man allegedly used a baby stroller to steal a drone from Walmart on Aug. 2. Jeremy Johnstone, 25, is accused of partnering with Brad L. Corbin to steal the drone. They face the same charges. Cody Police Officer Steven Bassett was dispatched to Walmart at around 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 t...
CASPER — Drive through downtown Casper on a typical summer afternoon, and more likely than not, you will see nothing remarkable. You may notice that the traffic is mild and the sidewalks are tidy and mostly empty — save for maybe a few shoppers and businesspeople wandering about. Visit during the evening, and you may have some angst finding street parking, especially if there’s a concert going on. Life downtown is pretty ordinary, in other words. Which might surprise you if you’ve Googled Casper lately. A rash of recent attention from nationa...
Wyoming decides to leave National School Board Association POWELL (WNE) — The Wyoming School Board Association, which includes Park County School District 1, is no longer a member of the National School Board Association (NSBA). Kim Dillivan, PCSD1 board chairman, said he does not anticipate a change to the school board’s professional development as a result of Wyoming’s exit. Individual school boards can still be a member of the NSBA, but Dillivan does not see a difference between membership to the NSBA or the Consortium of State School Board...
Driver booked for assault after hitting pedestrian with car CHEYENNE (WNE) — A male pedestrian was transported to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Thursday evening after a driver struck him with his vehicle. The victim is in custody, and the driver has been booked into the Laramie County jail on an assault charge. Koby Rodriguez, 25, was arrested on the charge of aggravated assault with injury after an altercation at 5:40 p.m. Thursday. Rodriguez told police that, after exiting Interstate 80, waiting at a light to turn onto North Greeley H...
11-acre fire south of Wright sparked by mine blast GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County Fire Department fought its biggest fire of the season Sunday caused by a blast at Black Thunder Mine. At 2:15 p.m., firefighters responded to the Hilight Road area, south of Highway 450, for a reported grass fire. The fire was contained at 1370 acres and was caused by a blast from Black Thunder mine, said Battalion Chief Bryan Borgialli. The fire department had 17 firefighters and two chiefs working the fire, which was contained by 6 p.m. Sunday. The U...
Streaming service airs episode on missing Gillette woman GILLETTE (WNE) — The story of missing Gillette woman Irene Gakwa recently aired on a nationwide streaming service. The 25-minute episode titled “American Dream, American Nightmare” follows Gakwa’s journey from Nairobi, Kenya, to Gillette where she disappeared in early 2022. The episode is part of Paramount Plus’ “Never Seen Again” series, which documents families sharing the stories of lost loved ones. Featured on the show are Gakwa’s brothers, Kennedy Wainaina and Chris Gakwa and Chris...
Driver kills mountain lion on Moose-Wilson Road JACKSON (WNE) — A vehicle hit and killed a mountain lion Thursday evening on the Moose-Wilson Road, a fatal strike that follows a series of other deadly encounters between cars and animals in Jackson Hole. A motorist struck the roughly two-year-old female cat at about 6:30 p.m., said Mark Gocke, a spokesman with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Mountain lions are intelligent, social carnivores that occasionally make public appearances in Jackson Hole. This spring, for example, a young cat w...
Minnesota man placed on probation for high-speed chase outside Cody POWELL (WNE) – A Minnesota man who recently led police on a high-speed chase on the North Fork Highway has been released on probation after spending two-and-a-half weeks in jail. On July 24 in Park County District Court, Kirk D. Raymond, 53, pleaded guilty to a felony count of interference with a peace officer; it relates to Raymond trying to injure a pursuing Park County Sheriff’s deputy. Raymond’s guilty plea came as part of a deal with prosecutors that involved three other...
Nine school districts to participate in RIDE pilot CASPER (WNE) — Some Wyoming school districts will soon see the first fruits of a statewide effort to rethink the public K-12 education system. Gov. Mark Gordon’s office announced Wednesday that nine Wyoming school districts will participate in a pilot program beginning later this summer that aims to focus on more competency-based and student-centered learning. This initial pilot emerged from recommendations that came out of Gordon’s Reimagining and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE) Ad...
Tiny the cat chomps down on Park County 4-H Educator Mary Louise Wood's thumb during the Park County Fair cat show on Wednesday of last week....
GILLETTE — Inflation and staffing shortages have hit the Wyoming Department of Transportation hard, and nowhere else is feeling the crunch harder than in northeast Wyoming. WYDOT has 1,734 employees around the state, and there are 313 vacancies. In District 4, which is northeast Wyoming, WYDOT employs 170 people, and it has about 40 vacancies, the highest of any district, said WYDOT District 4 Engineer Scott Taylor during a presentation to Campbell County Commissioners last week. It’s down mechanics, resident engineers, maintainers and str...
LARAMIE — Four years ago, Manufacturing Works, Wyoming’s extension of a national manufacturing partnership network, was one of the poorest performing centers in the country, according to Center Director Rocky Case. Today, a recent national achievement distinguished the center as one of the roughly top 20% of performing manufacturing centers in the United States. Manufacturing Works is a collaborative program with the University of Wyoming that provides a variety of services to manufacturing programs across the state. According to Steve Far...
The Wyoming WIC Program, operated by the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH), helps many Wyoming families with free nutritious foods and education, breastfeeding support and healthcare referrals. The Wyoming WIC Program serves women who are pregnant or new moms, infants and children up to age five. WIC features free, easy-to-use benefit cards participants can take to local stores to get nutritious foods at no cost. Some WIC families also are eligible for infant formula benefits. “Our income guidelines are newly and significantly updated, w...
Colorado man dies, bus driver airlifted in Sunday morning crash GILLETTE (WNE) — A 25-year-old Colorado man died and a bus driver was airlifted for treatment after a head-on crash Sunday morning south of Wright. Campbell County Coroner Paul Wallem said Nicholas Finnian Mahoney, of Littleton, Colorado, died instantly at the scene. Sheriff Scott Matheny said the Sheriff’s Office began receiving “numerous” 911 calls at about 7:30 a.m. for a pickup versus passenger bus accident on Highway 59 south of Cosner Road. He said Mahoney was driving...
Strike-down of affirmative action will not impact admissions at UW or CSU CHEYENNE (WNE) — The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action in college admissions on Thursday will not impact the admissions processes at either the University of Wyoming or nearby Colorado State University. Though the court declared race can no longer be a factor in admission, neither university anticipates changes in their own admissions. “The university does not see any direct impact from this,” UW associate vice president of institutional comm...
North Antelope Rochelle Mine workers injured in tornado released from hospital GILLETTE (WNE) — All mine workers hospitalized after a tornado carrying up to 130 mph gusts struck North Antelope Rochelle Mine early Friday night have been released and the large open-pit coal mine is gradually resuming its operations. The tornado touched down at about 6 p.m. Friday while shift change was underway, knocking over at least 12 empty train cars, flipping multiple buses there to transport workers and sparking a search and rescue operation that drew n...
Man who led deputies on chase with meth and fentanyl in car gets 8-10 years GILLETTE (WNE) — A man who led sheriff’s deputies on a car chase through Gillette while his passenger threw meth and fentanyl out the window was sentenced to up to ten years in prison. Zachary Thomas Stott, 29, was given two imposed eight- to 10-year sentences in May for possession with intent to deliver meth and fentanyl. The two sentences are to run concurrent with each other, according to court documents. Dawn M. Merdink, 44, was in the car with Stott and acc...
The Wyoming Department of Transportation wants to remind residents about upcoming changes to license plates for light trailers. Starting July 1, owners of light trailers – defined as trailers weighing less than 1000 lbs. – can purchase a permanent plate for their trailer. Light trailers that are less than 6 years old would incur a $350 one-time permanent registration fee for the plate. To register older trailers, owners will need to pay a $50 one-time administration fee, a one-time fee equ...
Temple Grandin to speak in Sheridan in support of new nonprofit SHERIDAN (WNE) — Temple Grandin, a prominent figure in both the agriculture and autism communities, is coming to Sheridan in July to help raise funds for a new local nonprofit. Grandin is an advocate for the humane treatment of livestock. According to her website, around half the cattle in the U.S. are handled in facilities she designed specifically to reduce stress on animals before slaughter. A professor of animal science at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado, sh...
GILLETTE — Gary and Darva Rye looked out their window to a surprise Thursday morning. On days when the sky is clear, they have a full view of the Big Horn Mountains situated more than 70 miles from their home on Bell Road, just south of Gillette. But when they looked out toward Highway 50 last week, it wasn’t the mountains that grabbed their attention. That morning, construction began on a 5200 square-foot cryptocurrency mine, one of at least two crypto mines currently being built in Campbell County. The mine sits close to Highway 50 south of...
SHERIDAN - Learning to read well should be a reliable outcome of K-12 public education, but when Crystal Lenhart started as a reading specialist at Big Horn Elementary she confronted the heartbreaking reality that's not guaranteed in American schools. After a decade of teaching - from fourth grade to art to kindergarten - Lenhart shifted her focus to literacy. The change coincided with the publication of Emily Hanford's reporting on how the American education system fails to teach kids to read....
Bond revoked for Dell Range shooting defendant CHEYENNE (WNE) — Tirso Munguia, 19, one of the three defendants charged in connection with the shooting death of Angelina Harrison, 16, had his bond revoked last week after violating the terms of his bond by allegedly making contact with Harrison’s family. Judge Edward Buchanan ordered the District Court to revoke Munguia’s bond, saying that he “materially violated his bond.” Buchanan also said that his bond could be reinstated on the same terms, with the condition that Munguia be subject t...
CHEYENNE — Wildfire season can cause concern for the general public, especially considering the increase in damage done by fires in the West. In spite of this, the state of Wyoming is confident in its ability to manage fires this season. During a press briefing Monday, officials from state and federal agencies discussed the expectations and resources available for the upcoming fire season. The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook has indicated that Wyoming is expected to have an average to normal fire season. “The extra sno...
