Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 517
WORLAND – The Washakie County Commission met Tuesday for the first meeting of the year, hearing department reports, recapping events of 2018 and minor upgrades to county properties. Commission members Terry Wolf and Fred Frandson were sworn-in at a ceremony in the morning, with Frandson appointed commission chairman before convening department reports. Washakie County Ambulance Director Luke Sypherd reported to the commission that the county ambulance service answered 963 requests in 2018, w...
WORLAND - Re-elected county officials will be sworn-in today, at an 8 a.m. ceremony at the Washakie County Courthouse, before the county commission holds the first monthly meeting of 2019. County commissioners Fred Frandson and Terry Wolf, County Attorney John Worrall, County Treasurer Doris Kern, County Assessor Kathy Treanor, District Court Clerk Suzann Whitlock, Sheriff Steve Rakness, Coroner Jeff Lapp and County Clerk Mary Grace Strauch will be sworn-in by Judge Bobbi Overfield. The county commission will convene at 9 a.m., and include...
WORLAND – Representative Mike Greear (R-Worland) of house District 27 will be headed back to the state capitol this weekend, to prepare for the 2019 legislative session and continue his role as chairman of the Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee. Part of this session’s training, which starts Monday after a Republican caucus on Sunday, will include new chairman training, to teach how to handle conflict within the legislative body. “The first year as a chair sitting in committees, it was harder than I had thought,” said Greear....
THERMOPOLIS – Freshman state Representative John Winter (R-Thermopolis), representing District 28 and elected in November after Nathan Winters vacated the seat to run for state auditor, headed to the state capitol in Cheyenne on Thursday, to participate in three days of orientation. A former outfitter from Cody and board member of the Park County Conservation District, Winter will be walking through his first legislation in an effort to delist the Grizzly bear from protected status, a measure which has failed in the past. “Predator issues are a...
BUFFALO – For what would have been their 15th year of operation, the Big Horn Mountain Festival planning committee has decided to cancel the annual music event in Buffalo this year, due to a schedule conflict with Longmire Days, an event celebrating a fictional, Wyoming-based character featured in books and on television. Earlier this week, the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce announced that Longmire Days will be held July 18-21, the same weekend traditionally reserved for the Big Horn Festival. L...
WORLAND – Washakie County Ambulance Director Luke Sypherd, a national certified paramedic with a bachelor’s degree in paramedicine and a master’s degree in emergency management, reported on Wednesday that the county ambulance service answered 963 requests in 2018, with 746 patients transported for medical services. The ambulance service, not funded by a mill levy but funded through the county general fund, relies greatly on private donations and grants to operate, and received $20,000 in private funding in 2018. “We are very grateful to the...
WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) requested on Saturday that her congressional pay be suspended, as long as the current government shutdown is in effect. Although Cheney voted for border wall funding in the House of Representatives, a compromise was not met in the Senate, leading to a partial shutdown of government entities at midnight Saturday. In a letter to Phillip Kiko, chief administrative officer of the Congress of the United States, Cheney stated that, “It is my understanding that Members of Congress will continue to rec...
TEN SLEEP – During a mid-month meeting of the Ten Sleep Town Council on Friday, the town voted to proceed with a project to drain and repair the town’s sewage lagoon, although unexpected engineering costs ballooned the budget for the task. Earlier this year, the town awarded a bid to fix the town’s lagoon, which has breached its original bentonite liner, to Bornhoft Construction of Riverton, at a total of $675,225. Two other bids were received, each in excess of $1 million. The leak was discovered this summer, and town engineer Lidstone and A...
WORLAND – At a special budget hearing held by the Washakie County Commission on Tuesday, Bob Vines with the county Witness and Victims Office and Allison Funk with the Department of Family Services explained the best use of $5,000 awarded to the county for helping troubled youth. The county currently holds a VOCA grant, and the money added by the state Wyoming Children’s Trust Fund, as announced Tuesday, will go toward helping area youth with alternative activities to help fight negative influences in their lives. The federal Victims of Cri...
WORLAND – Members of the Army Corps of Engineers met with Washakie County officials on Dec. 12 to kick off a pilot study for a Section 205 request (Flood Damage Reduction), after multiple flooding events in 2017, including major damage due to an ice jam on the Big Horn River. A project manager from the Army Corps has been assigned and once the study proceeds, the manager can authorized up to $100,000 for the flood mitigation pilot study to best determine infrastructure improvements to curb further flooding. Any funding above the initial $...
WORLAND – Fifth Judicial District Circuit Court Judge Tom Harrington wasn't your typical law student. A 1970 graduate of Worland High School, Harrington first received a teaching degree from Boise State and University of Wyoming before becoming a social studies teacher and wrestling coach in Worland. The grandson of a Basin lawyer, Harrington decided to go back to school in 1991 and gain a law degree, serving as Washakie County Attorney from 1994 until 2002, then practicing law in Hot S...
CHEYENNE – An $867 billion farm bill passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 369-47 on Wednesday (the bill passed the Senate in June by a vote of 86-11) effectively legalized industrial hemp production in the United States, pending President Donald Trump’s signature, although a lack of budget for research in Wyoming may keep the crop from growing in the Cowboy State. “Right now, Wyoming is in a hold pattern,” said Wyoming Department of Agriculture Public Information Officer Derek Grant. “We are waiting to see what will happen wh...
WASHINGTON, DC – A bill overwhelmingly supported by the U.S. House of Representatives was killed in the Senate on Monday, when Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming objected, citing the increasing cost of care for U.S. Navy veterans exposed to Agent Orange and various herbicides during the Vietnam War. House Resolution 299, the “Blue Water Navy Vietnam Veterans Act of 2017” would have provided Veterans Administration benefits, in the form of health care and disability compensation, to thousands of naval veterans serving in Southeast Asia, inclu...
WORLAND – The Washakie County Fair Board met Monday evening, and passed a motion to eliminate gate fees for the fair, in favor of fees for individual events such as the rodeo and music acts. With a vote of 3-2, the board effectively alleviated a problem that had received several complaints in past years from fairgoers. “Now, you’ll only pay to go to special events and not the fair itself,” noted Fair Board President David Doyle. After the 2018 fair, the board recognized that, although there have been complaints, the entrance fee at the fair ma...
WORLAND – Local agencies and infrastructure organizations completed a county-wide full-scale exercise last Saturday, to enact a hazardous materials event. The event was a success, with 18 local emergency management and business interests participating. The Saturday exercise, paid for by a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant, took place north of Worland from 9 a.m. until noon, in the vicinity of the town sewer lagoon property. In the planning stages for nine months through t...
WORLAND – After a 2016 study by the Bighorn Mountain Coalition, county commissioners from Washakie, Johnson, Sheridan and Big Horn counties are seeking two to four members each for a working group to determine best use based on recommendations for camping in the Bighorns. Made up of commissioners from the responding counties, the coalition polled 590 online users and 140 meeting attendees with a survey to take suggestions for improvement in camping in the Bighorn National Forest. The subsequent 65-page report offered a variety of options. R...
WORLAND – On Tuesday area first responders including law enforcement, fire and emergency response teams and ambulance crews, met with the Washakie County Commission to detail plans for a county-wide full-scale exercise to be held this Saturday, to enact a hazardous materials event. The Saturday exercise, paid for by a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant, will take place north of Worland from 9 a.m. until noon, in the vicinity of the town sewer lagoon property. In the planning stages for nine months through the Local E...
TEN SLEEP – At a regular meeting of the Ten Sleep town council on Tuesday, the town approved a building request from the Ten Sleep school for a new, 5,000 square foot Vocational / Agriculture building, to be located on land owned by the school on West Fir Street. As indicated by Maintenance Director David McGarvin, the building, expected to begin construction in 2019, would feature classroom space, wood and welding workshops, tool storage, a finishing room and student restrooms. While the project is still in the architectural rending planning p...
WORLAND – During a special session of the Washakie County Commission this afternoon, area first responders will meet to detail plans for a county-wide full-scale exercise to be held this Saturday, to enact a hazardous materials event. The Saturday exercise, paid for by a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) Grant, will take place north of Worland, in the vicinity of the town sewer lagoon property. In the planning stages for nine months through the Local Emergency Planning Commission, the exercise will test local first responders i...
TEN SLEEP – The Town of Ten Sleep will review a project to fix the town’s sewage lagoon at the regular December council meeting on Tuesday, along with town department reports. The town awarded a bid to fix the town’s lagoon, which has breached its original bentonite liner, at last month’s town council meeting. Bornhoft Construction of Riverton won the bid, at a total of $675,225. Two other bids were received, each in excess of $1 million. The leak was discovered this summer, and town engineer Lidstone and Associates recommended replace...
WORLAND – A former Worland man is facing six counts of first degree sexual abuse of a minor in Washakie County. The alleged abuse occurred from August of 2014 until September of 2016. Jason Arnold Miller, 42 of Cheyenne, pleaded not guilty in Washakie County Fifth Judicial District Court Wednesday on charges that carry up to 50 years each, with five of the charges carrying a minimum of 25 years. In all, Miller could be facing 25 to 300 years in prison if convicted of all six felonies. According to the Washakie County Attorney’s Office, the cha...
WORLAND – An ongoing investigation by the Washakie County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of three Worland residents on Sunday and charges brought before the Fifth Judicial Court for conspiring to sell heroin within 500 feet of a local school. Aaron K. Brown, Braydan Lucas Brown and Destiny Guitierrez made an initial appearance in court on Monday, each facing one charge of Conspiracy to Deliver a Controlled Substance Within 500 Feet of a School. According to police affidavits, a search warrant was executed on the Brown residence, loc...
THERMOPOLIS – The Hot Springs Pioneer Association, founded in 1930 to preserve the history of the Thermopolis region, is currently seeking donations to purchase property adjoining the Hot Springs Museum in Thermopolis, in an attempt to expand the museum complex and handle an overflow of local artifacts. Ray Shaffer, current president and a grandson of the founders of the association, explained that the current museum is at capacity with wagons, architectural items from historic Thermopolis buildings and farm implements from personal c...
WORLAND – A bill introduced in September by Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) would remove wilderness designations from Lincoln, Sweetwater and Big Horn counties, and effectively restrict the designation of further lands in Wyoming with wilderness characteristics without federal approval. Entitled “Restoring Local Input and Access to Public Lands Act,” House Resolution 6939 was moved forward last week in a vote of 19-11 House Committee on Natural Resources. After the vote, Cheney issued a statement. “Today’s [Friday, Nov. 16] passage of the Re...
WORLAND – The Washakie County Commission met Tuesday for a busy morning session to hear department reports, and heard from Library Board member Terry Livingston on options moving forward to relocate the Washakie County Library from its current location, 1019 Coburn Avenue in Worland, the former Worland Hospital complex. The library received funding through the one cent tax from 2008 – 2012, generating the library $1 million, which was originally intended to build a new facility. According to the Washakie County Library options report, pub...