Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
Proudly Serving the Hulet and Devils Tower Community
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WYOMING RANGE FOOTHILLS – From its mobile perch high in the sky, the infrared camera didn't detect so much as a jackrabbit. Jared Rogerson, a Wyoming Game and Fish Department wildlife disease biologist, wielded the controller of the DGI Matrice 300 drone from a flat, grassy field just outside of the Bench Corral Elk Feedground's fenced haystacks. He scanned one acre of sagebrush and grass after the next. This was the state agency's top-of-the-line drone, a roughly $12,000 machine, and he was fam...
Wapiti hunter to pay $15K for mistakenly killing grizzly POWELL (WNE) — A local black bear hunter who mistakenly killed a grizzly last spring must pay $15,000 in restitution and is barred from hunting over the next year. At a Wednesday hearing in Park County Circuit Court, Patrick M. Gogerty of Wapiti pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of illegally taking a grizzly without a license. However, under a deal accepted by the court, Gogerty’s guilty plea was deferred and the case will be dismissed if he successfully completes a year of uns...
Man found in woman’s home arrested for drug use, trespassing GILLETTE (WNE) — A 31-year-old man was ticketed for drug use after a 65-year-old woman found him in her home Friday night. The woman called police after finding the man in her apartment in the 600 block of Tyler Avenue. She had not given him permission to be there, but she was able to get him out of her apartment and into the hallway. He appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance, and EMTs were called. The woman showed police a syringe that she found in her apartment...
CHEYENNE — Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, announced on Tuesday that a public hearing on Feb. 13 would be an official meeting of the Legislature, but legislative leaders clarified they were never notified of the hearing. Steinmetz said in Tuesday’s news release that the Legislature’s Joint Agriculture State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee would hold an “Oversight Hearing...on the Environmental Impact of ‘Net-Zero’ and ‘Carbon Negative’ Policies,” as well as the Annual Forest Health Briefing on Feb. 13 upon adjournment. Howe...
JACKSON — In a written opinion filed Friday morning, the Wyoming Supreme Court declined the appeal of two state lawmakers and an anti-abortion nonprofit to become parties to a case challenging two abortion bans. The intervenors — represented by Tim Garrison of the Alliance Defending Freedom, a national Christian legal advocacy group — argued in front of the justices Dec. 12 that they were not being adequately represented by the state Attorney General’s Office and that they had special interests in the case’s outcome. The three parties ...
A measure that would provide a $10 million "stimulus" to encourage more carbon capture for use in the oil industry will advance to the upcoming legislative session following a special hearing this week by the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. The stimulus, according to committee members, aims to enhance a federal tax credit program that they say favors direct storage of the greenhouse gas over pumping it into oilfields to produce hard-to-get reserves. "The intent of...
CHEYENNE — Members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus signed onto a House bill that would prohibit the Centers for Disease and Control and the World Health Organization from having any jurisdiction in Wyoming. House Bill 91 was received for introduction on Thursday, sponsored by Rep. Jeanette Ward, R-Casper, and co-sponsored by 14 other Republican lawmakers, ten in the House and four in the Senate. Ward said this version of the bill is similar to a previous House bill she introduced in the 2023 general session, HB 143, which failed to pass on t...
Imagine buying a newly built house, but when Wyoming's winds start huffing and puffing at its front door, the whole thing falls flat, endangering the lives of those within. That's the sort of thing building codes are intended to prevent. They're requirements for how new structures are supposed to be built to keep the occupants safe and sufficiently withstand the elements, whether that be winds, precipitation, earthquakes or other natural disasters. Keeping houses and businesses standing amidst c...
Man stuck in the snow gets federal prison on drug and gun charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A Campbell County man who was arrested after driving his truck into a snowbank last spring has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison on drug and gun charges. Jesse Walthers, 40, appeared before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson in Cheyenne on Jan. 12. Johnson gave Walthers a 100-month sentence for possession with intent to distribute meth and a 60-month sentence for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, set to r...
SARATOGA — Despite the advent of the internet and social media, Wyoming newspapers still serve as an important avenue for public notices — at least according to Governor Mark Gordon, who spoke at the 125th Annual Wyoming Press Convention in Casper on January 19. Over the past several years, the Wyoming Legislature has seen a number of bills introduced which would remove public notices from the pages of Wyoming newspapers. They were proposed despite the fact that 86% of Wyoming adults cite newspapers as their most trusted source for public not...
Gordon urges BLM to listen to Wyoming on Rock Springs RMP CHEYENNE (WNE) — Gov. Mark Gordon is urging the Bureau of Land Management to “reconsider its restriction-heavy preferred alternative and deliver a reasonable plan incorporating more of Wyoming’s compromise approach to managing the Rock Springs area,” the governor’s office said in a news release. Gordon submitted his comment letter, along with those from numerous state agencies, on the BLM draft Resource Management Plan this week. “No other National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documen...
Amid funding and staffing pressures at emergency medical service agencies across Wyoming, two bills this legislative session aim to help attract more volunteers. The Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee voted nearly unanimously to sponsor two bills for this session: Senate File 3 – State employee leave for volunteer fire or volunteer EMS and Senate File 8 – Health insurance for volunteer emergency responders. They come at a time of mixed success for legislation intended to help rur...
LARAMIE – Endurance riding is a matter of balance. For Bonnie Swiatek, balance was both the reason for retiring from the sport she loves, and the reason to return to it. Endurance riding is something of a marathon on horseback. Riders can travel from 25 to 100 miles, through mountainous terrain, sometimes at altitudes of up to 10,000 feet. The trails are rugged and demanding. According to the American Endurance Riders Conference, which organizes these rides, to finish is to win. Late in 2022, S...
Salt River Range avalanche kills former Jackson resident JACKSON (WNE) - David Rice, 41, was caught and killed in an avalanche Sunday in the mountains east of Star Valley Ranch. Rice, an avid musician, lived in Jackson for years and owned Jackson Hole Music, the only music store in town, before closing the shop last year. Until June 2021, he also owned a guitar store in Boulder, Colorado. Rice was killed after a week of sustained snowfall dropped over three feet of snow in the Tetons. That snow...
2th Air Force welcomes its first female commander CHEYENNE (WNE) - The 20th Air Force received its first female commander, the highest- ranking position overseeing the nation's ground-based nuclear missiles, weeks after Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., released his blockade on military promotions last month. Maj. Gen. Stacy Jo Huser was officially initiated into the position during a symbolic change-of-command ceremony Friday at F.E. Warren Air Force Base. "It's not lost on me that I'm the first...
Newly published research exposes the role gas drilling infrastructure played in shrinking habitat for northeast Wyoming's dwindling sage grouse population - and it also provides a blueprint to help the imperiled species continue to exist on industrialized landscapes. In the Powder River Basin, a coalbed methane industry boom around the turn of the century brought with it some 30,000 wells, thousands of miles of roads, power lines and pipelines, along with scores of wastewater ponds resulting...
PacifiCorp moving forward with study on bird safety near turbines CHEYENNE (WNE) — PacifiCorp and its research partners are moving forward with a study to evaluate the effects of painting a single wind turbine blade black on 36 different turbines to reduce collision risks to birds flying near the wind turbines. “This is an extraordinary partnership of scientists, federal regulators, wildlife managers, a nongovernmental organization, academia, developers and utility companies working together to find solutions to reduce the impacts of cri...
BUFFALO — Federal legislation that would, among other land management directives, release three wilderness study areas in Johnson County from longtime protections, is one step closer to becoming law. Long championed by Wyoming’s congressional delegation and the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative was introduced in 2015 to finalize the designation of several Wilderness Study Areas throughout the state. The bill passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee by voice vote during a bus...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Department of Health is seeking $121 million in additional state funding on top of its $2.1 billion budget request for the 2025-26 biennium, but officials are willing to settle for the governor’s recommendation of $101 million. Despite the $20 million difference, Director Stefan Johansson said the Health Department worked closely with Gordon on his $101 million recommendation. The director clarified the differences in request were not due to different opinions on spending. “We worked with the governor and his staff quite...
CASPER — A mine exploration project in Halleck Creek was ranked as one of the top ten critical mineral sites on the planet after assay results earlier this year revealed exceptionally high levels of rare earth elements. But this month the project owners, American Rare Earths, U.S. subsidiary of an Australian-founded exploration company, have completed their full development drilling campaign, and the new assay results suggest that soon this Albany County mine will be ranked number one. Mineral testing of samples from Overton Mountain r...
Applications open for internship program for new farmers, ranchers CHEYENNE (WNE) — The GrowinG Internship Program is now accepting applications for 2024, according to a news release from University of Wyoming Extension. “The goal of this program is to provide interns with a hands-on internship at a working farm or ranch in Wyoming, in cooperation with state producer organizations and educational institutions,” said Kendra Faucett, program coordinator, in the release. The program provides a $5000 stipend for a 10-week work experience, which...
Man accused of strangling girlfriend, holding her against her will GILLETTE (WNE) — Officers forced their way into a home and later arrested a 37-year-old man who allegedly strangled his girlfriend and held her against her will Friday night. Police went to the 100 block of Bay Avenue for the report of a man and woman in a fight at about 11:15 p.m., Police Cpl. Dan Stroup said. When they arrived, they forced their way into the home after they heard a woman whimpering and what sounded like strangling noises. In the home, they spoke to the man a...
Children, mother injured in fiery crash near Ralston POWELL (WNE) — A woman and her two school-aged children suffered “extensive” injuries on Sunday evening after their vehicle crashed down an embankment and caught fire just east of Ralston. The 36-year-old woman, her nine-year-old son and her six-year-old daughter were all taken by ambulance to Powell Valley Hospital and then flown on to larger hospitals in neighboring states, said Trooper Kaycee Shroyer of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. Authorities were unsure of the occupants’ place of residen...
Wyoming leaders blame Biden administration coal policies as well as bureaucratic delays they claim are deliberate for layoffs at the Black Butte coal mine in southwest Wyoming. Nineteen miners were notified this week that they’d lose their jobs, and more layoffs could be in the works, according to reports. WyoFile was unable to confirm the information with Black Butte Coal. Gov. Mark Gordon’s press secretary Michael Pearlman told WyoFile, “We don’t have any concrete information, although we had heard that there may be additional layoffs...
12-year-old arrested Thanksgiving Day bound over on drug charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A 75-year-old Gillette man arrested on drug charges Thanksgiving Day has been bound over to District Court. Dickie F. Sandy waived his preliminary hearing Nov. 30, binding him over to District Court for possession with intent to deliver meth and possession of meth and liquid meth, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts of cocaine and amphetamine pill possession, according to court documents. A Sheriff’s deputy, who recognized Sandy from his past work wit...
