Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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Man accused of shooting at friend found not guilty GILLETTE (WNE) — The man accused of shooting a gun at his friend has been acquitted of all charges against him. Peter Maynard had been charged with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent. In March, he allegedly fired a gun at his friend, Joshua Vavich, after an argument. Thursday evening, after about two and a half hours of deliberation, a jury found him not guilty on all three charges. The question at the heart of the trial was...
CASPER — A week after one of the most discussed elections in Wyoming’s history, a panel of lawmakers will consider changes to the state’s voting system. The Legislature’s Joint Corporations Committee will discuss a ranked-choice voting system and whether to implement special elections if one of the state’s top elected officials departs. The committee will also consider two other important issues in Wyoming: housing and liquor licenses. The meeting, which is open to the public and will be streamed online, will take place in Casper on Thursday...
Atlas Carbon, UW collaborating on coal refinery project GILLETTE (WNE) — Ground will break soon on a new coal refinery demonstration project north of Gillette. The University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Atlas Carbon and Wood PLC will hold a groundbreaking ceremony in September to launch the project near Atlas Carbon. The site will be developed and operated collaboratively by the three stakeholders, with the goal of showcasing and developing — at a pre-commercial scale — a sustainable coal refinery process, as well as product techn...
CASPER — The federal government must reevaluate the environmental impacts of coal mining on federal lands before it can issue new leases, a judge ruled Friday. Just over a week after he ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to revise its coal leasing allowances in the Powder River Basin for a second time, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris of Montana found that a Trump-era environmental review of coal leasing “was arbitrarily curtailed and failed to consider relevant factors.” He reinstated an Obama-era moratorium on most federal coal...
SHERIDAN — On paper, the state of Wyoming has some of the strongest guardian ad litem laws in the country. The only problem, lawyer Jonathan Martinis said, is there seems to be a world of difference between the law itself and how it is applied in many courts across the state. “I do a lot of guardianship work across the country, and I can tell you that Wyoming’s law is actually very good,” Martinis said. “You have one of the only laws in the country that absolutely guarantees someone facing a guardianship petition the right to a guardian...
CASPER — TerraPower, the advanced nuclear developer planning to build a demonstration reactor in Kemmerer by 2028, announced Monday that it has raised $750 million from new private investments. The bulk of the funding came from Bill Gates, the company’s founder, and subsidiaries of SK Group, a major South Korean energy and technology conglomerate that contributed $250 million. “To our knowledge, no other advanced nuclear company has achieved an investment of this magnitude, and we have continued interest from the financial community,” said Te...
Transient man arrested for setting another man on fire CHEYENNE (WNE) – A 54-year-old transient man was arrested early Sunday morning after Cheyenne Police said he set another man on fire. Kenneth Potter, 54, was found at Martin Luther King Park with a knife and lighters in his possession. He was arrested and booked into the Laramie County Jail on an aggravated assault charge without incident. At approximately 1:15 a.m. Cheyenne Police officers were dispatched to a report of an aggravated assault at 1111 Martin Luther King Court, according t...
CHEYENNE — Gasoline prices are falling nationwide, prices at gas stations across the state draw closer to the U.S. average and experts say prices in many places may decline further still. Frequent drivers also are starting to notice, according to two driving professionals with whom the Wyoming Tribune Eagle spoke by phone Saturday. They, too, were hopeful that what they pay for a gallon of gas locally will continue to fall. Among reasons for the nationwide trend is wholesale prices for oil are falling. At the same time, motorists seem to be c...
LARAMIE — As Wyoming residents and businesses struggle with inflation and staffing shortages, more than 25% of Cowboy State workers face another hurdle in surviving a turbulent economy: low wages. Wyoming workers are some of the lowest paid in the nation, according to a recent study by the Wyoming Community Foundation. The study is part of the organization’s annual Wyoming Counts Kids Data Book, which exposes vulnerabilities at the state and county levels. Wyoming’s minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, tied with Georgia for the national low, accor...
Man sentenced for stabbing son-in-law with scissors CHEYENNE (WNE) — A man convicted of an assault in which he stabbed his son-in-law with scissors was sentenced recently in Laramie County District Court. Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell sentenced Kevin Dale Brown on July 25 to three years supervised probation, with a suspended sentence of three to five years in prison. The sentence followed one laid out in a plea agreement. Brown pleaded guilty in March to felony aggravated assault and battery, bodily injury with a weapon. The L...
GILLETTE — Halfway through 2022, Powder River Basin mines have produced about half of the total amount of coal as last year, keeping up the pace of production despite struggling to get enough trains to maximize on the continued demand for thermal coal. The 12 Campbell County PRB mines combined to produce 115.7 million tons of coal this year through June. Last year, those same mines produced about 230 million tons, according to coal production data from the Mine Safety and Health Administration. Spring Creek, a PRB mine in Montana, has p...
CASPER — Three potential Wyoming schools have applied for charters now. Prairie View Community School in Chugwater, Wyoming Classical Academy Charter School in Mills and Cheyenne Classical Academy Charter School have applied for charters, according to an update from State Superintendent of Public Instruction Brian Schroeder. If their charters are approved, the schools will likely open their doors in fall 2023. Charter schools are public schools, so they’re funded with state money. They don’t charge tuition and they’re still accountable to stat...
Gordon taps Secy. of State Buchanan as a judge CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon’s office announced Saturday morning that he has appointed Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Buchanan to be a district court judge for the 8th Judicial District, serving Goshen County. That has been his home county. Buchanan plans to remain in office for now “to fulfill his forthcoming duties and ensure a smooth transition before taking the bench,” according to a news release from the governor’s office. No timeline for him to assume the judgeship has been determine...
CASPER — Wyoming is the wine country of wool. At least, that’s how the University of Wyoming Extension sheep specialist, Whit Stewart, describes it. And with the state ranking No. 1 in wool production in the 2017 Census of Agriculture — with 2,796,792 pounds shorn — it kind of is, in a way. With the goal of continuing to expand the sheep industry in the state and to further its current value, the University of Wyoming recently announced the launch of the Wyoming Wool Initiative at the annual Wyoming Wool Growers Association conference this mo...
GILLETTE — A county resident who has been involved in some large public records requests is claiming that the county’s new public records policy is illegal. Jacob Dalby made a public records request in May that the county is saying cost $4407. Dalby questioned why he was singled out when there were nine other people who had signed the request, including Kimberly Glass Dalby, Terri Glass, Roger Glass, Josh Glass, Jeff Raney and Rodney Hopson. Campbell County’s new policy was put in place to help departments recoup the costs, mostly in staff...
After Gordon certifies trigger bill, abortion will be banned in Wyo. Wednesday JACKSON (WNE) — Abortion will be banned in Wyoming, with narrow exceptions, starting Wednesday, July 27. Gov. Mark Gordon certified Friday the state’s “trigger bill,” which was passed during the 2022 budget session and intended to go into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe V. Wade. The Supreme Court overturned the 49-year-old precedent on June 24, prompting Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill to review the Wyoming law. Hill said Thursday that th...
Man who pulled shotgun on fireworks users bound over GILLETTE (WNE) — The man accused of threatening a group of adults and children with a loaded shotgun because they continued to light off fireworks has been bound over to District Court. Randy A. Stephens, 41, was charged July 1 in Circuit Court with felony aggravated assault and battery and six counts of misdemeanor reckless endangering after allegedly using a shotgun to threaten a group of people setting off fireworks June 30. He waived his preliminary hearing July 7 and was bound over to D...
Wyoming Department of Health: state saw 98 abortions in ’21 CODY (WNE) —Nearly 100 women were reported as having received abortions in Wyoming in 2021, according to a recently released report by the Wyoming Department of Health. The 2021 Wyoming Abortion Report was released soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, triggering a bill sponsored by a Cody representative to ban nearly all abortions in the state. The report is required to be released by June 30. It records that the Wyoming Department of Health Vital Statistics Ser...
POWELL - Former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a July 7 ceremony at the White House by longtime friend, U.S. President Joe Biden. "Joe Biden and I have been friends for 55 years and worked together for 18 years," Simpson said in a Tuesday interview. "It's a high honor and I'm touched." The Cody resident served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1965 to 1977 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978. Simpson held several leadership...
Sublette County Health’s hospital a reality PINEDALE (WNE) — The century-long quest for a hospital in Sublette County is finally a reality. On June 28, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a $32-million loan application submitted by the Sublette County Hospital District to construct a new critical access hospital. The USDA’s historic decision gives the SCHD the green light to break ground on its proposed 70,000-square-foot hospital facility in Pinedale. In addition to inpatient and emergency room care, the critical access hospital will...
Despite several years and a spate of new laws designed to delay the retirement of coal-fired power generating units, the state may have to press harder to broker a deal that results in a coal carbon capture project, according to some lawmakers. “We’ll see what it’s going to take to make a business deal that will work for everybody — and everybody includes the ratepayers,” Joint Corporations, Elections and Subdivisions Committee member Sen. Charles Scott (R-Casper) said Wednesday morning. Determined to preserve coal-fired power generatio...
JACKSON — Less than a week after Yellowstone National Park reopened following historic floods, bison gored two visitors in three days, bringing the total number of gorings this season to three. Park officials have said that Yellowstone typically sees a goring or two a year, though there are years, like 2015, when bison injure an unusually large number of visitors. In that year, five people got the horns. Park officials did not respond Thursday to a request for an interview on the recent pair of gorings, but on Wednesday a spokesman for the N...
Park lifts indoor masking as Teton County COVID risk declines JACKSON (WNE) — Grand Teton National Park has lifted its requirement for wearing masks inside park buildings as Teton County’s risk for COVID-19 has declined. After just one week at high risk for COVID, the county is back down to medium, based on a decrease in new COVID-positive hospital admissions. The Teton County Health Department announced the change Friday afternoon, minutes after an emergency Nixle showed a 28.7% decrease in weekly cases. Since June 10, there have been 119 rep...
JACKSON — Barely a week after floods wiped out roads in the northern part of Yellowstone National Park, officials plan to reopen the park’s southern loop Wednesday with a license plate-based system to control the amount of visitors to the park’s southern half. National Park Service Director Charles “Chuck” Sams III also announced Sunday that officials will likely allow access to more than 80% of the park’s roads shortly afterward. “In the next two weeks, we will be opening the northern loop,” Sams told a crowd of reporters Sunday afternoo...
Gordon forms group to examine gas prices PINEDALE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon on June 8 announced the formation of a Gas and Diesel Price Working Group to address rising fuel costs. That working group includes members of the governor’s cabinet, representatives of the transportation and agricultural sectors, citizens and legislators. “Fuel prices have hit yet another high this past week, driving inflation affecting our seniors, veterans and all Wyoming citizens,” Gov. Gordon said in a release. “Yet, all we hear out of Washington, D.C., is that i...
