Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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Although a lifelong tattoo artist, Michael Mendoza opened his own tattoo shop for the first time on Aug. 24 in Worland. Simple Tatts is open at 123 North Fourth Street in Worland, Monday through Friday, noon to 9 p.m. Mendoza is also available for appointments by contacting the Simple Tatts Facebook page. While he may be opening a brick-and-mortar business for his art only recently, Mendoza has been doing tattoos for 27 years. He said, "I've always been tattooing, like literally. I started in...
With Big Horn County results rolling in at 10:25 p.m., the preliminary results for the Senate District 20 could be tallied. Incumbent Senator Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) won Republican primary election by a margin of 222 votes, pushed by a 686 vote-victory in his home of Washakie County. Cooper had 2,650 votes, winning in Washakie and Fremont counties, and his opponent Tom Olmstead of Basin had 2,428 votes, winning in Park, Hot Springs and Big Horn counties. Cooper will go on to appear in the...
After growing up in Worland and staying in Thermopolis for 20 years, Bethany Webber is excited to continue her teaching career as an intervention teacher at East Side Elementary this school year. Webber said, "I love teaching, I have been instructing students of all ages for close to 18 years." She has worked in Washakie County School District No. 1 for three years as a substitute teacher leading up to this year. She added, "Prior to that I worked in Hot Springs County as an elementary teacher...
U.S. Senator John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman were declared winners in their respective party nomination races Tuesday night, about an hour after polls closed. Unofficially, according to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s website, with all 23 counties reporting Barrasso won the Republican nomination with 70473 votes, Reid Rasner with 25,424 votes and John Holtz with 7,867 votes. Washakie County followed this trend, with 1,171 votes cast for Barrasso, 510 for Rasner and 109 for Holtz. The Democratic Senate nominee Scott Morrow has 1...
Several special district offices – elected positions that have a local impact – are set to appear on ballots for Washakie County’s General Election on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Terms are up for elected officials in eight of Washakie County’s Special Districts, and 20 offices will appear on the ballot. The filing period for these offices is currently underway, having begun on Aug. 7 and continuing until Monday, Aug. 26. The offices up for election, the incumbents whose terms are ending, and the status of individuals that have filed with the Washaki...
Megan McCoy is celebrating five years of sobriety on the day of publishing, August 15. She revisited the story of her addiction and her journey to overcome it. Megan's addiction began as she was growing up in Southern California at 11 years old. She was introduced to drugs and alcohol by a mix of both family and friends. She said, "Where I grew up in Southern California, it was pretty common for your friends' parents to be cool with you drinking at their house, or they would have older...
During their meeting Monday, Aug. 12, the Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees approved a plan to implement “leadership governance” in their operation moving forward. Superintendent Annie Griffin introduced the concept as establishing a framework for what it means to be a board member. This practice entails putting roles and responsibilities in place for board members and giving clarity and focus to their goals as a board. A practice that has already been implemented in some neighboring districts, Griffin said that a key ben...
Judy and Jim Blackburn were sad to inform the Northern Wyoming News that although their dog Haley’s life was extended after receiving a blood transfusion from Sasha, a dog at New Hope Humane Society, Haley passed away on Aug. 1. After suffering from an enlarged spleen, Haley underwent surgery to remove the organ at Tharp Veterinarian Clinic in Worland last month, but her condition continued to deteriorate. The Blackburns traced the decline in Haley’s health to June 12 when she received a distemper vaccine. They conclude that Haley was mis...
The Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office released a statement on July 29 stating that the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Tax in Wyoming through a Homeowner’s Exemption,” a citizen-led initiative to get a 50% cut to residential property tax on the ballot, did not achieve the 29,730 approved signatures required for approval for it to appear on ballots in the Nov. 5 election. This minimum was determined from state statute that requires a minimum of 15% of Wyoming voters who participated in the 2022 general election. Notably, the initiativ...
Chief Nursing Officer Brandy Kottman reported that the hospital was one of countless businesses affected by the Crowdstrike outage that hit Microsoft computers using the third-party cybersecurity software on Friday, July 19. She said, “All of our computers were down. We were unable to transfer images from our radiology department. Thankfully, Doctor [John] Bramble was in town, so he was able to read images while we were down, and we did not have to divert trauma or stroke patients.” She continued, “We did reschedule any outpatient procedures un...
Earlier this month, Judy Blackburn's dog Haley fell ill, and she and her husband were scratching their heads trying to understand what was wrong. Haley, being only a 2.5-year-old Catahoula and Terrier mix, was by all means healthy prior to her sickness. In an interview on July 26, Blackburn said, "About four weeks ago, we just noticed that she was losing her energy. She started sleeping a lot, and she lost her appetite. She wasn't doing very well. Then, three weeks into her sickness, she just...
Audra Neighbors, a senior at Worland High School, attended her first hospital board meeting on July 23. Neighbors was appointed an ex officio member of the board, which does not grant her the ability to vote on board matters, but in all other capacities she is considered a member. This position was held by Rivers Carrell before her, and board President Dean Carrell expressed that he would like to maintain an ex officio member representing Worland High School to offer interested youth an...
The Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees approved their 2024-2025 fiscal year budget at the July 17 meeting. The district has approved $20,717,012 in appropriations, an increase of $57,637 from the prior year. This includes $15 million in capital construction amid the ongoing project of constructing a new school building. The district’s business manager Rachel Casteel explained the increase, saying, “The increase is primarily due to our salary schedule increase of the base from $43,000 to $44,000. Our building support expense...
Thompson Square, comprised of singer/songwriters Keifer and Shawna Thompson and their band, will be headlining the Washakie County Fair with a performance on Saturday, July 27 at 7:30 p.m. Based out of Nashville, Tennessee, Keifer said, "We don't make it out your way very often, so we're looking forward to that!" Shawna, during their interview with Northern Wyoming News on July 12, said that they had been married for 25 years, after dating for three years when they met in Nashville in 1996....
The Washakie Museum held a Paleontology Symposium on Saturday, July 6 that hosted presenters from across the country, and one from Belgium. Each presenter is a respected member of the scientific community, having published work relating to the paleontological phenomena found in the Big Horn Basin. Many of them have made their entire careers studying the ancient history of the Big Horn Basin, which is unique among fossil sites for having well-preserved specimens of both flora and fauna - not...
The Washakie County Library is currently in the process of receiving a grant of federal funds in an amount of just over $1 million for a project to expand the children’s center at the library. Library Director Karen Funk said the need for the library expansion comes from an influx in use seen by both children and adults at the library that is currently hurting their ability to provide space for both groups. Currently, the children’s center is a sliver of a room at the north end of the building with a maximum occupancy of 22 people, housing som...
Get ready for live, authentic country music when Tris Munsick and The Innocents take the stage at the Washakie County Fair on Thursday, July 25 for a set listed from 9 p.m. until midnight. Entry is free. Munsick, a lifelong country musician who grew up in rural Sheridan County is excited to bring his band to play in Worland this summer. "The last four or five years we've been playing out of the state more and more, but there's nothing like playing to Wyoming folks; they're our kind of people,"...
Being the week of the Fourth of July, Worland Fire Chief Chris Kocher advises extra caution this year. “We are expecting to stay drier and hotter than average ... There is heavy loading of readily available fuel; it’s a time when everyone needs to be cautious, whether they’re off-roading out in the badlands or shooting off fireworks,” said Kocher. With dry conditions at present, Kocher advises that it doesn’t take much to start a fire right now. He cited a fire that occurred on June 25, when someone launched a firework from the roadway o...
If you are a fan of live gospel music, Big Praise will have you covered this summer with two upcoming performances at the Washakie County Fairgrounds. Big Praise is a nondenominational Christian band founded on the message of the bible verse Psalm 95:1, which says, "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation." Kelly Schauble, a singer in the band who represented them in an interview said, "We have been together for six years, and basically, we are a...
The June 24 meeting of the Washakie County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees began with the presentation of the annual Bell Ringer Award to photographer James Yule. Presented to a community member each year who makes a difference within the schools, Yule was selected as the recipient of the Bell Ringer Award for the time he has spent over the years photographing school events. Chairman David Tommerup read aloud a statement saying, "I can't think of anyone else who devotes so much of their...
After 12 years at Hot Springs County School District No. 1, Curriculum & Professional Learning Community Specialist Breez Daniels submitted and was granted a resignation from the district during the June 20 meeting of the Board of Trustees. According to her profile on the district’s website, “In 22 years as an educator, Daniels has taught grades K-5, as well as 8th-9th grade reading strategies and social studies in a large junior high… Named Wyoming Elementary/Middle Schools Principal of the Year and National Distinguished Principal in 2016,...
The Worland Speech and Debate Team is currently in Des Moines, Iowa, competing in the 2024 National Speech and Debate Tournament. Bus driver Dave Wiley departed with speech and debate competitors from Worland, Thermopolis, Rawlins and Laramie on June 15. Of the busload of students, 10 are from Worland; eight qualifiers and two supplemental entries. Coach Rick Dorn said, "That's a new thing that the National Speech and Debate Association started offering, you get up to two spots to let kids go ex...
Dan and Maureen (Tolman) Flannery weren't expecting to begin a new adventure in Wyoming at this stage in life, but three historic wooden buildings later they don't seem to regret their decision. Now based in Illinois, the home state of her actor and English teacher husband Dan, Maureen works as a poet, often drawing inspiration from her upbringing in Worland and her family's sheep ranch in Ten Sleep. She is an award-winning poet, having written 10 books of poetry including over 500 poems...
The Arapaho Ranch, with its headquarters six miles west of Thermopolis, has long been a symbol of Native American culture in the West, but new developments are making the ranch a place for hands-on education in history, science, agriculture and art. According to arapahoranch.org, the ranch's website, it was originally established in 1867 on 75,000 acres outside Thermopolis and it grew to become the largest sheep ranch in Wyoming by 1918. The ranch fell victim to the Great Depression and went...
Washakie County School District No. 2’s ‘Annual Leave’ policy came under review by the board of trustees during their meeting on June 10, sparked by a grievance from Technology Director Boyd Whitlock. Earlier in the school year, Whitlock suffered a broken ankle that rendered him unable to work for an extended period. Whitlock anticipated that he would get to use his sick days while recovering with a broken ankle, but found that he had to use his annual vacation days up first. He said, “I have 78 days of accrued sick time, and to have to use...