Wyoming News Briefs

Jackson, Teton officers remember slain sergeant in Sheridan

JACKSON (WNE) — Jackson and Teton County law enforcement officers joined a convoy of police cars from across Wyoming in a procession Friday to honor a Sheridan policeman who was killed in the line of duty.

Sgt. Nevada Krinkee, a 33-year-old husband and father, was shot and killed Feb. 13 while attempting to serve a trespass notice. 

Six members of the Jackson Police Department joined the somber procession in Sheridan.

Eight members of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office also traveled to Sheridan.

“Reality definitely hits,” Sgt. John Faicco of the Teton County Sheriff’s Office said. “No area is immune from violent crime. It’s a reality check for a lot of people.”

Casper police supported the service by patrolling Sheridan on Friday so that all of the Sheridan officers could attend the service held at 1 p.m. on the Sheridan College campus.

Originally from Bozeman, Montana, Krinkee served in Afghanistan as a member of the U.S. Army’s airborne infantry. He had been with the Sheridan Police Department since 2017.

Krinkee was shot and killed Feb. 13 while attempting to serve a trespass warning. The shooting led to a standoff with a barricaded suspect that lasted more than 30 hours, resulting in the suspect’s death.

Krinkee leaves behind his wife and Sheridan Police Cpl. Karla Krinkee, and their infant daughter.

Ruschill said the arena, which can hold around 1800 people, was nearly full.

Two thousand more people streamed the service online.

“[Krinkee] died serving a trespass notice to somebody who had been evicted from a property. We do that weekly. Our officers do that constantly,” Jackson Police Lt. Russ Ruschill said. “So it’s just a solemn reminder of the dangers that are reality in our business.”

Cody honors fallen Sheridan officer 

POWELL (WNE) — Across the state, first responders and members of the community honored fallen Sheridan Police Sgt. Nevada Krinkee on Friday. 

Krinkee was killed in the line of duty in Sheridan on Feb. 13. 

His memorial service was held in Sheridan, where community members and law enforcement participated in a procession down Main Street. The crowd of community members, first responders and convoy of police cars included those from surrounding communities as well as South Dakota, Montana and Idaho. 

That same night in Cody, first responders and community members gathered at Cody City Park to honor the fallen sergeant. They donned bright blue glow sticks and sang along to hymns.

The event was planned independent of any organization.

Cody Mayor Matt Hall, Cody Police Chaplain Warren Murphy and Cody Police Lt. Beau Egger were in attendance. 

“In Wyoming, in law enforcement, it’s a community — people know each other, they’re part of each other. You may not know each other personally, but they do know that they are law enforcement,” Murphy said. 

Egger added that Krinkee was “courageous, selfless and committed to ensuring the wellbeing of his community.” 

Cody High School student Brooklyn French was the last to take the stage. The young musician played Taps in honor of Krinkee. Then the crowd dispersed, but some stayed to donate to Krinkee’s wife, Sheridan Police Cpl. Karla Krinkee or write a letter of support to the Krinkee family or Sheridan Police Department. 

An account in Krinkee’s name has been set up at First Federal Bank and Trust in Sheridan. Checks should be made payable to Karla Krinkee or FBO Nevada Krinkee.

Scammers billing Medicare patients for unneeded urinary catheters

CODY (WNE) — Medicare beneficiaries across the country are finding charges worth thousands of dollars on their Medicare statements related to urinary catheters that were not needed or received.

“Scammers are taking advantage of the Medicare program and billing for unnecessary products, which is hurting the program. This is also putting Medicare beneficiaries’ Medicare card numbers at risk and compromising their medical identities,” said Sandy Goodman, Wyoming Senior Medicare Patrol. 

The SMP program exists in every U.S. state, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C. It assists Medicare beneficiaries, their families, and caregivers to prevent, detect, and report health care fraud.

SMPs started receiving complaints of urinary catheter claims in May, 2023. 

They saw a handful of complaints per month until August, 2023, when the number of complaints jumped 750%. 

Through the end of the year, SMPs continued to receive a staggering number of complaints, with the highest number to date received in December 2023.

The SMP program recommends that people regularly check their and/or their loved ones’ Medicare statements to make sure that Medicare wasn’t billed for items or services that were never requested or received. 

To learn how to read Medicare statements or get help with a compromised Medicare number, contact your local SMP. The SMP can also help you request a new Medicare number and report the claims.

 To contact the Wyoming Senior Medicare Patrol, call (800) 856-4398 or visit https://wysmp.org.

Grass fire west of Cheyenne forces residents to evacuate

CHEYENNE (WNE) — A grass fire west and northwest of town Friday caused county officials to order two major sections of Laramie County to evacuate, and several homes were believed to be burned in the blaze.

The cause of the fire remains undetermined, according to Laramie County Fire Authority DC of Operations Josh Van Vlack.

The fire was deemed contained at around 5 p.m. Laramie County Fire Warden Matthew Butler said that although crews would continue to monitor the fire into Saturday, there was no immediate danger to people in the area.

Wyoming’s Office of Homeland Security and the U.S. Forestry Service also helped with the response to the fire, along with crews from the Wyoming National Guard, Butler said. Firefighters with F.E. Warren Air Force Base provided aerial support for fire suppression, bringing helicopters that dumped water onto parts of the fire.

An estimate for the size of the fire, and how much was destroyed, is still unknown.

Just after 3 p.m. Friday, authorities asked residents of the Happy Valley subdivision to evacuate. 

As of 4:45 p.m., firefighters were still working on extinguishing the blaze, which a family that lived along Horse Creek Road said started in that area sometime between 11:30 a.m. and noon. Authorities asked residents along Horse Creek Road to evacuate and asked them to convene at the Tractor Supply Company store near Interstate 25.

The fire’s location was generally between Horse Creek Road and Happy Jack Road east of Road 109 and west of Roundtop Road (WYO 222).

Trooper Tyler Matheney confirmed that the blaze started as a grass fire in the area of Happy Jack Road. A trooper confirmed to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle Friday afternoon that the fire, which originated south of Highway 211, had jumped the road and was burning north. 

The blaze was the second major wildfire in Laramie County in the past week, following one which broke out along Interstate 80 west of Cheyenne on Feb. 24.

Jackson skier dies after fall into tree well

JACKSON (WNE) — A 67-year-old Jackson man died Friday when he fell into a tree well inbounds at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. This marks the second death within two weeks in a tree well at an area resort.

Teton County Coroner Dr. Brent Blue identified the skier as Kelly George Krause. Early in the afternoon, he became separated from a group of valley residents he was skiing with as part of the resort’s Mountain Sports School.

A group of snowboarders found Krause. A resort ski instructor notified Jackson Hole Ski Patrol, resort spokesperson Eric Seymour wrote in a news release.

“The Jackson Hole Ski Patrol responded immediately to the location, which was in a section of tightly spaced pine trees between Rendezvous Trail and The Hobacks on the south side of the mountain,” Seymour wrote.

Krause couldn’t be revived. An emergency medicine physician with St. John’s Health Urgent Care pronounced him dead at the scene.

Blue said an exact cause of death will be available in a few days but cited the preliminary cause as tree well immersion.

Snow immersion suffocation occurs when a skier falls into a tree well or deep, loose snow, becoming trapped under the snow and dying by asphyxiation.

Krause and his family own the Virginian Restaurant.

“We offer our sincere sympathies to the family and friends of those involved,” Jackson Hole Mountain Resort President Mary Kate Buckley said, “and we hold them in our thoughts and hearts during this difficult time.”

Krause is the second skier to die inbounds after falling into a tree well this season in Teton County.

A 67-year-old Colorado skier died two weeks ago, Feb. 19, after falling into a tree well inbounds at Grand Targhee Resort.

Snowpack in Big Horns below average for winter season

LOVELL (WNE) — The snowpack is below average in the Big Horn Mountains, according to Jeff Coyle, Water Supply Specialist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Wyoming Snow Survey.

“Right now, if you’re talking about the Big Horn Mountains, the snowpack is not doing very well. And a lot of it ranges from 60 to 80% [of median]. But there’s a lot of near record lows,” Coyle said.

The Big Horn Basin is at 77 percent of median for snow water equivalent, according to the February 26 USDA-NRCS snow report. The weighted state average for snowpack is 81 percent of the median.

A snow dump was predicted to bring 7 to 12 inches of snow in the Big Horn Mountains this past weekend but only resulted in one to two inches throughout the mountains, Coyle said.

Certain sites are still reporting above average snowpack, with the Greybull sub-basin SNOTEL sites in the Timber Creek drainage and near Carter Mountain reporting snowpack above 150% of median, he said. The Owl Creek drainage and Wind River Basin snowpack are around 100%.

While snowpack this water year is below average, precipitation for the current water year is near median for the Big Horn Mountains, due to early precipitation in October that is now in reservoir storage or soil moisture.

Reservoirs near the Big Horn Basin area range from a bit below median to a bit above median, Coyle said. Measurements near Thermopolis are at a deficit, with precipitation at 80 to 90 percent of the median. Areas surrounding Greybull and Lovell are a mixed bag ranging from 80 to 110 percent of the median precipitation. 

Despite the low snowpack thus far, it is too early to determine what the overall water year will look like for the Big Horn Basin, he said. 

“The forecasts become more accurate later in the year, usually around late March, April,” Coyle said. 

BLM receives $2.9M to clean up Wyoming orphaned wells

CHEYENNE (WNE) – The Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming has received a $2.9 million investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to clean up nine orphaned well sites in the Casper, Lander, Rock Springs and Worland field offices. The restoration funds are part of a $50 million investment announced Feb. 22 by the Department of the Interior to clean up legacy pollution sites.

“The investments we are making in Wyoming this year will improve public health and safety, create good-paying jobs, spur economic growth, and help our state address these orphaned well sites,” said BLM Wyoming State Director Andrew Archuleta in a news release.

“It will also make public lands safer to visit and reduce methane leaks that can harm the ecosystem.”

The targeted wells are in Fremont, Hot Springs, Natrona and Sweetwater counties.

BLM will soon announce an opportunity to plug these wells through the federal government’s procurement website, SAM.gov.

The funds received by Wyoming are part of a multi-year, $4.7 billion investment by the Department of the Interior to plug and reclaim hundreds of orphaned wells and restore lands on public lands and in national parks, national forests and national wildlife refuges throughout the country.

Yellowstone gets $40M gift for housing

JACKSON (WNE) — A $40 million gift will build more than 70 new modular units for employee housing in America’s first national park.

The gift, made by donors who want to remain anonymous, was described as “transformational” by Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly and National Park Foundation President and CEO Will Shafroth.

It will “meet a critical need for new housing in Yellowstone and be a catalyst for more philanthropic investment,” Shafroth said in a press release.

In that release, the foundation and the National Park Service noted that affordable housing in and near parks is a growing challenge throughout the park system that makes it hard to recruit and retain rangers, resource staff, maintenance staff and other employees.

Work on the new units in Yellowstone will begin later this year.

Lawsuit filed in pedestrian death

LANDER (WNE) — A Wyoming man is suing a Minnesota trucking company over the death of his wife, who was struck and killed by a semi in 2022. 

Carrie Beasley, 53, was killed while walking on Wyoming Highway 789. Her vehicle was parked about 200 yards away on a pullout. 

Her husband, Clinton Beasley, filed a lawsuit in federal court last week alleging the company, TDS Trucking, and its driver were “careless and negligent” in operating the vehicle at the time of the crash. 

Carrie Beasley, court documents state, exhibited no negligence in the collision. 

The lawsuit alleges Clinton Beasley has “been damaged in the loss of probable future companionship, society and comfort of Mrs. Beasley.” It seeks a jury trial and compensatory damages “substantially in excess of $75,000,” according to the court filing.