Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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CASPER — A bill requiring Wyoming citizens to present specific forms of photo identification when casting their ballots in elections sailed through the Senate on Thursday and will now head to the governor’s desk for review. House Bill 75 would require voters to show certain kinds of identification before being able to vote in person. Voters would need to present one of the following forms of identification: a Wyoming driver’s license or identification card, a tribal identification card, a valid U.S. passport, a U.S. military card, a Medic...
Fatal hit and run case to be heard in Laramie County District Court CHEYENNE (WNE) – The case of a local man accused of fatally hitting a pedestrian with his truck while drunk was found to have probable cause Friday morning and will be heard in Laramie County District Court. Kyle Ziemer, 32, of Cheyenne appeared in Laramie County Circuit Court Friday for a preliminary hearing. He is currently charged with aggravated homicide by vehicle (DUI), which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, and with leaving the scene of an accident r...
GILLETTE — The COVID-19 pandemic has stretched on for more than a year now, greatly disrupting lives everywhere. One byproduct of the pandemic is that Americans are drinking more. Alcohol sales are up across the country and in Wyoming. The Wyoming Survey and Analysis Center at the University of Wyoming has an ongoing survey that has examined alcohol consumption during the pandemic. WYSAC’s early results look at the first months of the state of emergency declaration in Wyoming and show that increased sales correlated with increased use of alc...
CASPER – Wyoming recorded significantly more deaths in 2020 than in the prior year, new figures from the Wyoming Department of Health show. The state documented 5983 deaths last year — an increase of 862, or 16%, compared with the year prior. While increases do occur from year to year, this year’s was notably larger, a health department official noted in a statement released Friday. “Our data has shown steady, small increases in deaths for several years largely due to our state’s aging population,” said Guy Beaudoin, the Vital Statistics Servic...
Cheyenne man pleads guilty to strangulation, property destruction CHEYENNE (WNE) – Eric Earl Carter pleaded guilty to felony strangulation of a household member and felony property destruction in two separate cases as part of a plea agreement. In the agreement, the state and defendant jointly recommended sentences of three years of probation, with a suspended sentence of three to five years of incarceration, for each count. The sentences would run concurrently. Additional charges in both cases – two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery (first...
Man charged in Riverton stabbing faces enhanced sentence RIVERTON (WNE) — Accused of stabbing a 55-year-old man in a van near North Federal Blvd last week, Jody VanFleet was sent to a higher court on Wednesday. The 37-year-old VanFleet has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one for the stabbing, and one for threatening the alleged victim with a drawn deadly weapon. One of the assaults is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. But because VanFleet has been convicted of two felonies prior and now faces an allegation of f...
Wyoming to receive $1B from latest relief package CASPER (WNE) — Wyoming will receive over $1 billion in state aid soon, thanks to the latest stimulus package signed into law Thursday by President Joe Biden. The federal government passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package along party lines this week, the third economic recovery act to pass Congress since the pandemic began last year. Wyoming will soon see hefty returns under the sweeping act. In addition to the approximately $1 billion in state aid, the federal government will funnel an ad...
DOUGLAS — The City of Douglas last week charged the Douglas Budget $37.60 for a copy of City Administrator Jonathan Teichert’s contract, a public document. Later, the newspaper was ironically charged $27.10 for a copy of the 2015 resolution that sets the fee structure for public documents and research cost. Budget News Editor Cinthia Stimson formally requested the contract via email from City Clerk Chaz Schumacher March 5. Stimson then received a city “Public Records Request Form,” in which she had to state her company affiliation, contact...
SHERIDAN — On third reading Friday, the Wyoming House defeated a bill some legislators said would limit government transparency by moving public notices out of newspapers. “I’m not quite there with the notion that we pull the funding that makes sure that we get information out to our public,” Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said. Senate File 17, sponsored by the Senate Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, would have allowed cities, towns, counties and school districts to move their public notices — including meeting m...
Wyoming unemployment rate falls slightly CHEYENNE (WNE) — The Research & Planning section of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services reported Monday that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell from 5.2% in December to 5.1% in January. Wyoming has recently completed a comprehensive annual revision of its unemployment data. The revised data show that the state’s unemployment rate peaked at 8.5% in May 2020 and has steadily decreased since then. Wyoming’s January unemployment rate of 5.1% was much lower than the U.S. rate of...
CASPER — A bill requiring citizens to present specific forms of photo identification when casting their ballots in elections passed its first vote in the Wyoming House of Representatives on Monday. House Bill 75 requires voters to show specific kinds of photo identification before being able to vote in person. Under the bill, voters would need to present one of the following forms of identification: Wyoming driver’s license or identification card, tribal identification card, valid U.S. passport, U.S. military card, or Medicare insurance car...
CODY — Three stolen vehicles, two near-miss collisions, a deployed spike strip, and one black eye later, Garret Bailey is now in custody at the Park County Detention Center. Bailey, 27, led authorities from the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Park County Sheriff’s Office and Cody Police Department on a high speed chase reaching speeds of 125 MPH on WYO 120 South late last Tuesday night. He is now facing felony charges for two counts theft of property valued at more than $1,000 and property destruction of $1,000 or more, charges carrying up to 30 yea...
Three UW students killed in accident LARAMIE (WNE) — Three University of Wyoming students were killed in a two-car collision that took place on Saturday, Feb. 27, on the Colorado side of Highway 287. According to Colorado Trooper Josh Lewis, the collision occurred at about 4:38 p.m., at mile marker 377, in Colorado. A total of five people were involved; four are believed to be UW students. According to Lewis, the driver of a 2005 Subaru Forester, a male, age 21, who was the only occupant, appeared to have lost control of his vehicle and the F...
Missing toddler found dead in Cheyenne dumpster CHEYENNE (WNE) — Following a missing child search that began early Friday afternoon, Cheyenne Police discovered the body of two-year-old Athian Rivera in a dumpster. The search for Rivera – which involved multiple law enforcement agencies, as well as two local fire departments – began following a report of the child being missing at about 1 p.m. Friday. CPD, along with members of the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, Cheyenne Fire Rescue and Lar...
CASPER — Every year, the Wyoming state forester is statutorily required to update the Legislature on the health of Wyoming’s forests. In a typical year for members of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, State and Public Lands & Water Resources, the report is a valuable resource for identifying problems that face the state’s forestlands, encouraging cooperation between state and federal agencies and, potentially, developing solutions to address those problems. 2020, however, was not a typical yea...
SHERIDAN — Attorneys for Crow tribal member Clayvin Herrera argued in a written filing in 4th Judicial District Court that the latest ruling on the case surrounding tribal hunting rights by Sheridan County Circuit Court should be reversed and remanded, again. Circuit Court, which issued its ruling in June 2020, concluded that issue preclusion applies to both the occupation and conservation ruling and cited prior cases — primarily Crow Tribe of Indians v. Repsis and Ward v. Race Horse — that considered similar issues. Issue preclusion centers ar...
CASPER – Executives of a bankrupt coal firm in the Powder River Basin received over half a million dollars in bonus payments in the year leading up to the company’s bankruptcy filing, court documents reveal. Lighthouse Resources paid 11 “insiders” within the company and its subsidiaries a total of $3.3 million, including at least $702,500 in bonuses, in the 12 months before filing for bankruptcy. These insiders included a president, chief operating officer, treasurer, general manager, two secretaries and four directors. The company also re...
Fremont County lawmakers propose adding unborn children to murder statutes RIVERTON (WNE) — An effort to add protections for unborn children to the state’s murder laws has considerable support from Fremont County delegates. If it becomes law, Senate File 96 would attach murder chargeability to a defendant whose attempted or actual murder resulted in the victim’s unborn child dying. The bill got its number on Feb. 8 and has yet to be heard by a committee in the Wyoming Legislature, which reconvenes for session on March 1. Co-sponsors are many,...
CASPER — At least four bills that would specifically regulate public health orders have been introduced in the Wyoming Legislature this session. The tenor of the proposals ranges from broad legislative oversight of public health orders to more minor specifications regarding timing and executive approval. Several of the bills are similar but propose different degrees of oversight. A bill sponsored by Rep. Chuck Gray, R-Casper, would require the Wyoming Legislature to ratify any public health order that would be active for more than ten days. I...
University of Wyoming researchers are surveying Wyoming cattle and sheep producers about pests tormenting their livestock. “The goal of this survey is to understand the current degree of external parasitism, prevalent external parasites, diagnosis and treatment methods in Wyoming livestock as well as the financial impact on Wyoming producers,” said Derek Scasta, UW Extension rangeland specialist. Parasites are broken down into six categories: flies, lice, ticks, mange, cattle pests and sheep pests. “We would like to give Wyoming cattle and she...
Cody resident detains burglary suspect CODY (WNE) — Jumping over neighborhood fences as he chased the auto burglary suspect, Cody resident Colton Johannsen, 20, was not willing to let the man go despite the late-night hour and winter’s chill. Despite not being armed, Johannsen still took the law into his own hands in order to stop an attempted auto burglar from getting away on Feb. 1, and was successful, tackling and apprehending suspect Bryan Nihei, 31, of Powell. “I felt like I had to catch him no matter what, even if he was armed,” Johanns...
CHEYENNE — Facing massive cuts to the state’s K-12 schools budget, one lawmaker has proposed a bill to study the cost-saving benefits of consolidating Wyoming’s 48 school districts into 24. “We, as a Legislature, fully understand that we have to rein in costs for education. Rather than making cuts to teacher salaries, personnel or closing down schools, I thought this was a better avenue to pursue,” said Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, who is sponsoring House Bill 77. “I spent two years chairing the Revenue Committee trying to raise some money...
Man charged in fatal accident PINEDALE (WNE) — The driver of a truck involved in a fatal head-on collision on July 14, 2020, is charged with aggravated homicide by vehicle. That evening, Alex W. Smith, then of Hartford, Connecticut, was driving north in a white Ford F150 pickup on Highway 191 between Hoback Rim and Bondurant and a quarter of the way into a dangerous curve, collided with a blue 2006 Ford Mustang in the southbound lane driven by Gerald I. Fagerhaug. Fagerhaug, of Castle Rock, Colorado, died on impact, according to Wyoming H...
Florida congressman to protest Cheney in Cheyenne CHEYENNE (WNE) — A couple weeks after Congresswoman Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, one of Trump’s strongest supporters in Congress is set to visit the Wyoming State Capitol later this week in reaction to Cheney’s vote, which has drawn some GOP pushback at home and in Washington, D.C. U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, who has repeatedly criticized Cheney since her impeachment vote, plans to visit Cheyenne on Thursday for a rally at the Capitol. Tentatively s...
Pronghorn and mule deer alter their natural movement nearly 40% of the times they encounter fences, according to a Wyoming study that could change how wildlife managers worldwide alleviate the toll imposed by such barriers. Published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, the research used GPS data from 48 tagged animals in 2014 and 2016, plus the locations of 3728 miles of fence to demonstrate that the barriers alter natural movements, costing wildlife energy and possibly keeping them from high-quality habitat. Furthermore, researchers observed...
