Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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Supreme Court upholds decision to charge 14-year-old as adult GILLETTE (WNE) —The state Supreme Court affirmed a ruling by a district judge that allowed a 14-year-old boy to be considered an adult after he took guns to Sage Valley Junior High with the intent of killing nine people in 2018. The Monday court ruling said Judge John G. Fenn considered all aspects of the law when deciding that Dale L. Warner could be tried as an adult rather than have the case be transferred to juvenile court as his attorneys wanted. His attorneys had claimed in a...
RER coming to Upton NEWCASTLE (WNE) — Rare Element Resources, or RER, will open its test facility in Upton, where it will process elements from RER’s Bearlodge mine located 12 miles from Sundance. RER is an energy company specializing in mining rare earth elements to provide them to technology companies. According to George Byers, vice president of RER, the search for a test facility site started about 10 years ago. “The industrial park (in Upton) was a good choice because No. 1, you guys all wanted it,” Byers said. “Upton . . . has got the a...
CHEYENNE — State lawmakers are beginning to question the interpretation of the special session bill recently signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon after the suspension of the federal vaccine mandate. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration recently halted the rollout of the Biden administration’s new rules, which would have required employers with 100 or more employees to have their entire staff vaccinated by the new year or face regular virus testing. The announcement was made after the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered OSHA no...
Man sought in Mississippi murder found in Shoshoni CASPER (WNE) — Shoshoni police on Saturday apprehended a man wanted for murder in Mississippi after learning he’d been living in a local motel. Kingduron Pyle Jr., was taken into custody late Saturday after he tried to flee from authorities, Shoshoni Police Chief Christopher Konija said in a statement. He was taken to Fremont County Detention Center. Pyle, 19, is wanted in connection to the Nov. 1 murder of Shad Reese in Columbus, Mississippi, according the Facebook page of the police dep...
Gov. Kristi Noem was joined by Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming Monday as the two visited Spearfish Forest Products Inc. "This mill here is in jeopardy if we don't start getting the [National] Forest Service to release more timber under contract, which means that it can be milled and it can get into the production supply chain and make sure that we protect these jobs, but not just that, it's about maintaining healthy forests," Noem said. Noem was referencing a general technical report (GTR), which...
CHEYENNE - Gov. Mark Gordon proposed a balanced general fund budget of nearly $2.3 billion for the 2023-24 biennium Monday that will be considered by the Wyoming Legislature during the 2022 budget session. Recommendations for state agency funding compared to the previous budget stayed flat, but close to $453 million is proposed to be allocated to the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, better known as the "rainy-day fund." This was made possible by the use of American Rescue Plan funds as...
RIVERTON — There has been an “extreme increase” in violence among Fremont County youth as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Riverton school board heard last month. “It is alarming,” Sydney Allred, executive director of the Fremont County Alliance Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, told the board. “COVID changed things. …We are seeing really, really incredibly adult violent behaviors, ranging from dating violence and stalking behaviors through rape occurring with teenagers.” COVID-19 introduced a lot of “dynamics” that...
Man sentenced for child sex abuse CHEYENNE (WNE) — A man convicted of having sexual contact with two children in his care received prison time Tuesday during a sentencing hearing in Laramie County District Court. Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell sentenced Billy Mike Carrera to two concurrent terms of five to 12 years in prison, with 40 days of credit for time served. Campbell added that, if Carrera makes parole, he should be supervised for “the longest period of time.” Carrera pleaded guilty, pursuant to an Alford plea in June,...
Two of 399’s cubs trapped, radio-collared to beef up monitoring JACKSON (WNE) — Federal agencies trapped three of Grizzly 399’s cubs and then outfitted two with tracking collars before releasing all three Saturday to increase monitoring as a way to curb conflicts with people. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service touted the successful collaring of two bears as necessary to keep the five-bear family safe, wildlife watchers saw the operation near Astoria Hot Springs as high risk for the well-being of the bears. “The Service recognizes the hig...
After DUI arrest, man out as county Homeland Security director POWELL (WNE) — Less than a week after being arrested on allegations that he drove his work truck while drunk, Jack Tatum is out as Park County’s director of Homeland Security. Tatum’s last day on the job was Friday, said Park County Sheriff Scott Steward, who oversees the county’s Homeland Security office. Tatum had served as director since June 2019 and had previously received praise from the sheriff and others for his work in the role. However, on the night of Oct. 24, a citizen...
Cheyenne school district experiences pandemic-driven bus driver shortage CHEYENNE (WNE) — Laramie County School District 1 has not been immune from the national bus driver shortage caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The shortage has led to governors across the nation having members of the National Guard drive buses, and even the federal government proposing legislation to ease the guidelines for commercial driver’s license holders. Although the local school district has not been driven to this point yet, the burden of being sho...
CASPER — With four weeks left before Wyoming’s last underground coal mine shutters, the employee transition is well underway. The long-anticipated closure of the Bridger Underground Coal Mine was originally expected to impact 94 mine workers, according to the layoff notice sent to the Rock Springs City Council a month ago. The number of affected staff has since fallen to 89 and is continuing to shrink as staff leave to start new jobs. “Employees are aware that the mine will be closing,” said Tiffany Erickson, media relations manager for Roc...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee voted Monday to reduce the recommended external cost adjustment for K-12 education by $60.1 million. Gov. Mark Gordon will receive the recommendation next month from the committee for an amount of only $10.1 million. If approved as recommended, those funds would go toward energy and supplies costs for the first year of the 2023-24 biennium education budget. The cut goes against a recommendation made by the Joint Education Interim Committee at the beginning of October. Law...
CASPER — The Wyoming State Legislature has voted to hold a special session to combat federal vaccine mandates, but another obstacle remains. When results of the vote came in Thursday evening, there were 36 lawmakers in the House and 18 in the Senate in favor of the special session, clearing the majority that was needed in each chamber. (The Senate currently has 30 members, while the House currently has 59.) But once they gather, lawmakers will need to approve rules for the session. That will necessitate another vote on the session’s first day...
Vaccination numbers plateau CASPER (WNE) — The number of Wyoming residents seeking COVID-19 vaccines has again plateaued. In the last two weeks, just under 4600 people sought a first dose, and 576 sought the one-dose Janssen shot. Those numbers are roughly the same as they were in the previous two-week period. The shift is a turn from August, when nearly double that number of people were seeking initial vaccine doses in Wyoming. The plateau persists despite a new advertisement campaign from the Wyoming Department of Health, and pleadings f...
GILLETTE — A Gillette man who shot and killed his friend in 2020 will serve three to ten years in prison. Joshua Lewis Campbell, 22, was charged in the death of 21-year-old Tanner Miller on June 2, 2020. In October 2020, Campbell pleaded not guilty, but in June, he changed his plea to no contest to one count of manslaughter. On Thursday, District Judge Thomas W. Rumpke went along with the prosecution’s recommended sentence of three to 10 years in prison. Campbell’s defense attorney, Steven Titus, asked Rumpke to suspend the prison sente...
Woman pleads guilty to assault in stabbing GILLETTE (WNE) — The woman accused of stabbing her ex-boyfriend has pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and battery, which was reduced from attempted second-degree murder in a plea agreement. With the plea, the maximum penalty for Karissa Bowling, 26, is ten years in prison and a $10,000 fine compared to a possible five to 25-year sentence and a $50,000 fine for the attempted second-degree murder charge. A count of aggravated burglary was dropped as part of the agreement. Prosecutors will recommend a...
Campbell library accused of criminal activity GILLETTE (WNE) — The Campbell County Public Library has been accused of criminal activity for having books in the teen and children’s section that some deemed inappropriate for teens and children. At 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Hugh and Susan Bennett went to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office to report criminal activity going on at the library. They believed the library board and the library director were committing a crime by “offering for dissemination obscene material,” said Sheriff Scott Matheny....
Lummis releases statement on COVID-19 and vaccines JACKSON (WNE) — U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, in her monthly newsletter, reiterated her stance on COVID-19, the deadly virus which has hospitalized as many Wyoming patients in recent weeks as it did at the height of the pandemic. “COVID-19 is serious. It has already taken the lives of too many people in Wyoming, and each death is a travesty. My heart breaks for those who have lost family members to this devastating illness,” the Wyoming Republican said in her letter to constituents. Despite that...
POWELL — A trial has been delayed for a Cody man and woman who stand accused of fatally abusing a 2-year-old child earlier this year. Moshe Williams, 30, and Carolyn Aune, 28, each face a count of first-degree murder in connection with the April 4 death of Williams’ daughter, Paisleigh. Williams and Aune have pleaded not guilty, and a trial was originally set to begin Monday in Park County District Court. However, attorneys involved in the case informed District Court Judge Bobbi Overfield earlier this month that they weren’t ready. Defen...
The Wyoming Department of Transportation wants to remind residents and travelers about the offerings under the Wyoming Travel Authorization Program (W-TAP) ahead of the 2021-2022 winter season. Through W-TAP, drivers can apply to receive authorization to travel on sections of closed roadways when it is deemed safe enough to do so. The W-TAP includes the Wyoming Authorized Travel (WAT) program and the Rolling Closure Authorization (RCA) program. The WAT application is open to all drivers but requires justification as to why a driver will need...
Algae bloom advisory issued for Keyhole State Park GILLETTE (WNE) — Recreational use and toxin advisories went into effect at Keyhole State Park this month after more of the harmful cyanobacterial blooms, otherwise known as blue-green algae, were spotted in two separate parts of the reservoir last month. Recreational use advisories were issued on Aug. 19 for the Rocky Point and Wind Creek areas of the reservoir, based on samples collected Aug. 16, according to the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality map of statewide algae blooms. The b...
The Wyoming State Bar is pleased to announce that Teresa S. Thybo, an attorney from Green River, Wyoming, has been elected Vice President. The 2021/2022 Election of Officers was held according to Article II, Section 1 and Article VI of the Bylaws of the Wyoming State Bar. The results of the election were announced today during the Bar’s Virtual Annual Business Meeting. Thybo succeeds R. Scott Kath of Powell, Wyoming. Thybo grew up on a ranch in western South Dakota. She began her education at Casper College in the paralegal program. While a...
CHEYENNE – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow showed her full support Friday morning for legislation designed to fight back against critical race theory in state schools. She was alongside state Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and the Civic Transparency Act’s creator, and co-sponsor Senate President Dan Dockstader, R-Afton. They stood in front of the state superintendent’s office inside the Capitol to introduce and discuss the importance of their bill, which will be introduced during the 2022 budget session. They...
Murder trial in July shooting death moves forward NEWCASTLE (WNE) — Sixth Circuit Court Judge Matthew Castano bound over Paul Manders to district court on the charge of second-degree murder, following his preliminary hearing on Sept. 1. Castano also denied Manders’ request to have his bond lowered. During the hearing, both Weston County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Fields and Special Agent Ed Rosier of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation testified that enough evidence, in their opinion, existed to support the view that the murder was commi...
