Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Sorted by date Results 26 - 45 of 45
LOVELL — Richard Hawley has an idea that he reckons could change the face of Wyoming agriculture. But he needs people to buy in first. It’s not what you’d expect for a land-locked state like Wyoming, but Hawley believes Wyoming could become one of the nation’s largest producers of shrimp. The popular shellfish can be raised just about anywhere, according to Hawley “It’s not as crazy as it sounds,” he said. Hawley, a Lovell resident, currently works as a government liaison for an energy firm called Inductance Energy, but he worked as a staffer... Full story
Lawmakers prep bill making tribal ID legal for voting RIVERTON (WNE) — In a Monday meeting in Fort Washakie, members of the Wyoming Select Committee on Tribal Relations worked through a proposed bill that would endow tribal identification cards with the voting criteria mandated by federal law. Federal law states a registered driver may not use a tribal ID alone to register to vote, as tribal ID cards do not link to criminal history and other databases. There is no overwhelming push to change that law at this time, but on the state level, t... Full story
SHERIDAN — Wyoming lawmakers have fully embraced the state’s developing blockchain industry as a potential building block for the future of its economy. A total of thirteen bills related to blockchain technology have sailed through the Legislature during its past two sessions. Combined, those laws have created a regulatory environment that has drawn national attention from companies hoping to develop the technology. The Legislature’s Blockchain Task Force — which met in Sheridan this week — hopes that its efforts to build on the state’s e... Full story
EVANSTON — “When we show support for our brothers and sisters, we encounter the Lord,” Father Augustine Carillo of St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church said as he finished reading a letter from Bishop Steven Biegler of the Diocese of Cheyenne. Father Carillo was the first to speak at the WyoSayNo Fiesta De Familias gathering held at Hamblin Park on Sunday, Aug. 18. Approximately 200 people attended the event, coming from Cheyenne, Laramie, Green River, Rock Springs, Bridger Valley and Evanston. Visitors also came from Salt Lake City and Clear... Full story
LARAMIE — Tired of seeing the millionaires in political office continuously representing big corporations instead of the Wyoming people, Albany County resident R. Mark Armstrong has announced he is running for U.S. Senate. “I’m not sure they know the struggles of the family that struggles from paycheck to paycheck, and it’s hard to have the empathy for people that you don’t have any connection with,” Armstrong told the Boomerang earlier this week. “I’m not a big tax the rich guy; I’m a represent-the-people guy. I want fairness in our g... Full story
RAWLINS – Vehemently saying he supports “people wearing the uniform,” Rawlins City Manager Scott Hannum last week stuck up for the Rawlins Police Department after members of the public accused them of practicing bully tactics and “bias, selective enforcement.” Members of the public also voiced concerns during a meeting on Aug. 20 over the alleged inaction taken by city officials for not implementing any sort of disciplinary steps in response to several Rawlins Police Department controversies. Specifically, this year saw the State of Wyoming a... Full story
GILLETTE — Patience may be a virtue, but if you’re among the nearly 600 locked out Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal miners who have been out of work for 56 days, it’s also more difficult to practice. For many, there is no more patience. Deanna Fritz has spent a dozen years as a coal mine worker, including the last two has a haul truck driver for Blackjewel. After Fritz and about 1,700 of her coworkers in four states were abruptly locked out of their jobs without notice July 1, they’ve been living what she described as a roller coaster soap op... Full story
TORRINGTON – After over a month of nothing but bad news concerning the collapse of a tunnel along the Fort Laramie Irrigation Canal, farmers affected by the collapse can breathe a little easier. The United States Department of Agriculture announced Friday that crop insurance will cover the loss of crops due to the disaster. The collapse was projected to an impact of nearly $90 million in Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle. The decision comes after United States senators and representatives from Wyoming and Nebraska penned a letter on Aug. 22 t... Full story
CHEYENNE – Only by remembering the mistakes and sins of the past, can we find a way to come together and deal with the problems of today. That was the message from a group of worshipers gathered in Cheyenne's First United Methodist Church on Saturday night for a prayer vigil. The prayer gathering led by three different congregational leaders marked 400 years since the first enslaved African was brought to a European colony in North America. "It's part of America's history, and it's the part w... Full story
Man drowns after drift boat overturns JACKSON (WNE) — A family was fly-fishing from their drift boat on the Snake River on Friday when their trip took a deadly turn. The private drift boat hit a rock near the bridge just north of the Snake River KOA, first responders said. Officials are now trying to determine how 69-year-old Greenville, Mississippi, resident George Roulhac died in the accident. “The driver of the drift boat said they were coming down under the bridge where there is construction, and someone had told him to stay to the lef... Full story
GILLETTE — Hundreds of locked out Blackjewel LLC Wyoming coal miners are wondering when or if they’ll be called back to work at the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines in Campbell County. What they may not have to wonder about after Saturday is the status of their health insurance. That’s because the company has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to terminate its medical insurance as of the end of the month, which is Saturday. Because Blackjewel is seeking to terminate the medical plan it bought under Revelation Energy, employees are n... Full story
TORRINGTON — The Goshen Irrigation District announced Monday afternoon that contractors from SAK Construction and GID employees “have succeeded repairing and fixing the collapsed tunnel.” Manager Rob Posten declared tunnel crews have seen the “light at the end of the tunnel.” The tunnel collapsed on July 17. Dirt from the collapse caused water to back up and eventually breach the canal. There has been no water in the canal since the collapse. According to the release, SAK construction completed the excavation of the tunnel and finished... Full story
LARAMIE — Former University of Wyoming football player Carl Granderson has been released from the Albany County Detention Center after he was granted a reduced sentence by Campbell County district court judge John Perry in a Monday ruling. Granderson will now serve one year of supervised probation. He was sentenced to six months in jail by Albany County district court judge Tori Kricken after pleading no contest to two misdemeanors, one count of unlawful contact and one count of sexual battery. The appeal of his sentence was transferred to P... Full story
Saratoga man convicted of possession of nearly quarter pound of meth RAWLINS (WNE) – A Saratoga man caught earlier this year with nearly a quarter pound of crystal methamphetamine was last week convicted by a district court judge of three felony counts. Ryan Scott Simmons, 30, could spend up to 47 years in prison and pay upwards of $65,000 in court-related fines. He was found guilty of one count of felony possession of methamphetamine, including two respective felony counts of intent and conspiracy to deliver. On Feb. 28, according to court r... Full story
GILLETTE — A proposed sale of the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal mines to Contura Energy Corp. “is dead,” according to a Tuesday afternoon U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing in the case of Blackjewel LLC. In a response to a Blackjewel motion to separate the Pax Surface Mine from Contura’s deal to buy it along with the Wyoming mines, the company’s senior debt holder, Riverstone Credit Partners, claims Blackjewel “recently advised Riverstone that Contura’s proposed acquisition of the Western mines ‘is dead.’” The document goes on to say the deal-kil... Full story
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Supreme Court last week affirmed a decision out of Laramie County District Court that requires a local woman to pay restitution following her “no contest” plea to exploiting a vulnerable adult. Linda M. Freeman appealed the decision on the basis that the district court acted “contrary to law” by awarding restitution to the victim’s estate. District Judge Catherine Rogers ordered Freeman to pay the estate $532,890.80 in restitution. Freeman raised four issues to the Supreme Court: whether the district court erred in or... Full story
SHERIDAN — Paul Demple, chief executive officer at Northern Wyoming Mental Health Center, said a proposed bill that would require mental illness adjudications be reported to firearm dealers is a response to gun violence in the U.S. based on fear, not fact. The Wyoming Legislative Joint Judiciary Committee reviewed the bill titled, “Reporting mental illness adjudications to firearms dealers,” at a meeting Aug. 16. Demple said the bill is based on a pervasive and misleading national rhetoric that all mentally ill people are dangerous. “It’s... Full story
JACKSON — The Wyoming Department of Health wants to make air ambulance travel cheaper for everyone. Officials have drafted a waiver application to send to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking to change air ambulance travel regulations. Essentially they want to treat air ambulance service like a utility, extending the service at Medicaid prices to everyone, regardless of age, income level or location by creating a type of regulated monopoly. “We’re trying to fix the free market,” said Franz Fuchs, a Health Department policy... Full story
Gov. Mark Gordon has drawn praise from conservationists in adopting “the vast majority” of recommended changes to his greater sage grouse protective order. But in the new executive order Gordon signed last week, he balked at a recommendation that called for “expansion” of the bird’s population and habitat, making such actions voluntary in the statewide conservation plan. Gordon also drew criticism for sticking with development guidelines critics say don’t meet the best practices recommended by science. Two conservation groups nevertheless laude... Full story
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