Wyoming News Briefs

Final health order expires

CASPER (WNE) — As expected, the state of Wyoming entered June without any remaining health orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The state health department announced late last month that it was immediately eliminating one of the two health orders that were then in place: a requirement that indoor events of more than 500 people be held at a maximum of 50% of a venue’s capacity and that face masks and social distancing be required at such events. 

The state said May 21 that it planned to allow the other coronavirus health order — one mandating face masks and social distancing at K-12 schools — to expire on June 1. Wyoming Department of Health spokesperson Kim Deti confirmed Friday that the state had decided against renewing the order. 

Even the final remaining health order was only in effect for part of the state; more than half of Wyoming’s school districts, including the Natrona County School District, had received permission from the state health officer to lift the mask requirement. (In its May 21 announcement, the state also immediately removed the mask mandate for colleges in Wyoming.)

On the flip side, two counties in Wyoming still have districts with local health orders in effect related to face masks, according to Deti: Teton and Albany counties. 

State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist previously said that the state was letting the health orders expire because the COVID-19 vaccine had been readily available for anyone in Wyoming who wants one for a while now. 

More people abandoning campfires in B-T Forest

JACKSON (WNE) — More people than ever visited Jackson Hole in late May and early June, and those who spent their stay camping were pretty crummy about extinguishing their fires.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest is reporting that there were 21 abandoned campfires documented in the area in the weeks leading up to this past Wednesday. That’s a lot, considering that there were only seven abandoned fires detected through June 2 during 2020 and just three during the same pre-COVID-19 period in 2019.

“People just aren’t thinking of fire safety at this time of year,” Bridger-Teton spokeswoman Mary Cernicek said in a news release. “It’s like folks assume because it’s spring they don’t need to worry about putting out their campfires.”

“It is early,” she added, “but it only takes a couple of days of warm dry weather to dry things out.”

None of the still-hot fires found have sparked wildfires so far, but some have escaped their rings.

Best practices are to douse any campfire with water until it’s cold to the touch. Failing to do so leaves lingering embers at the whims of weather, and last fall there were a spate of abandoned hunter warming fires that sparked small wildfires.

Falcon Car Corporation moving to Sheridan

SHERIDAN (WNE) — A new corporation will join the Sheridan County Airport Business Park and is scheduled to complete a facility by 2025, adding an estimated 260 workers to Sheridan’s workforce. 

Falcon Car Corporation is a factory focused on producing vehicles. The business holds a license to produce 2,999 vehicles for each model year 2023 and 2024. 

The vehicles Falcon produces include Falcon 9X full-size pickup trucks and Falcon 3B buses. 

Business leaders chose the Sheridan County Airport Business Park based on its proximity to Interstate 90, rail services and aviation access with direct access to Denver International Airport, “which is essential for business travel,” according to a press release from the company. 

Falcon secured land, initial capacity building and permits to produce electric vehicles in the state of Wyoming, with additional production capacity increasing to 30,000 units by 2026, according to the release. 

Falcon Car is owned by DynamiX Energy Corporation. In February, the airport signed 40-year leases with both DynamiX and Falcon Cars. Falcon Cars is leasing five lots totaling 4.94 acres.

DynamiX is leasing two lots totaling 1.51 acres to house its corporate aircraft and to conduct light manufacturing and development of electrical flight systems.

The DynamiX lease commenced March 1, while the lease with Falcon began May 1, according to airport manager John Stopka. 

Construction on the new facility for Falcon Cars is set to begin later this year, Stopka said.