Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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As I write this the Wyoming Legislature is about 30 minutes from officially starting the 2025 General Session and already several bills are making me go hmm, what are they thinking. First up is a bill I referenced last week regarding fireworks. The bill sponsored by Rep. Steve Harshman (R-HD37, Casper), states “No municipal ordinance shall prohibit or otherwise regulate the use or possession of fireworks between noon and midnight on July 4 of each year if the use or possession would otherwise be permissible under this act unless the prohibition...
The 68th Wyoming Legislature begins its general session next Tuesday, Jan. 14. You may be wondering why you should care? As I have said previously while many of the laws the Wyoming Legislature enacts may not apply to you, many may impact your life, your neighbor’s life or a member of your family. One of the most recent laws that comes to mind is the amendments that were enacted into the Slayer Rule in 2021 with Senate File 66. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Ed Cooper after discussions with Mel and Darr Lea Walker. Prior to the change the l...
This week we said goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025. In this week’s issue we listed what we deemed were the top 10 stories locally for 2024. To be fair there were many honorable mentions that did not quite make the top 10. 2024 was full of stories chronicling our achievements, heartache and decisions that impact the lives of our readers. 2024 was a busy news year and 2025 will likely not be any different. We will hit the ground fast and furious in 2025 with the grand opening of the Ten Sleep School slated for next Thursday and the following w...
The generosity of the community in Washakie County, especially during the holidays, never ceases to amaze. This year more than 160 families were provided a Christmas dinner through the Washakie County Ministerial Association’s Christmas basket program. The association’s angel tree program, the Worland fire department’s toy drive and Mad Cyclez new toy drive also helped many children have a Merry Christmas this year. Here at the Northern Wyoming News, with more than 60 bells for our senior community saw people go above and beyond to help our e...
In this week's issue you will find the traditional Letters to Santa from Worland and Ten Sleep students. There are plenty of adorable Santa letters in the special section. I do not know half of the toys the kids are asking for this year, but I do know one of the popular ones is squishmallows (yes I had to "Google" it). Several of the teachers had the students write about how they have been good and some of their letters are hilarious. Take some time and enjoy the read this week. Also take some t...
Last week the Big Horn Basin received the news that the Big Horn Cooperative Marketing Association would be closing many of its retail stores including Worland’s farm store. The tire shop had closed in September without any official notification. The news was somewhat of a gut punch, similar to when we heard that Shopko would be closing. Worland is not the only community dealing with this. According to the cooperative’s press release, released to media outlets and on social media last Wednesday, all retail locations will be open until the end...
This past weekend, with me taking a four-day weekend, my husband and I and our dogs enjoyed some time outdoors, taking advantage of the actual fall weather we are having in the Big Horn Basin this year. On Thursday we helped the cross-country teams by paying our entry fees to partake in the Gobble Wobble two-mile walk. My thought was it would be a family outing with both dogs. It was a partial family outing with Alan, myself and Shadow. Roscoe, an alpha male, was not going to play well with others, which became apparent just a few steps away fr...
The staff at the Northern Wyoming News would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving this week. As a staff we have much to be thankful for including you our readers and our advertisers, all of whom see the value in local news and sports coverage, the value and importance of a local newspaper in the community and we thank you for your support this week and every week. We hope you enjoy this week’s issue that includes a wide variety of photos, features as well as news. Individually we also have much to be thankful for and due to space c...
Yes we are now more than two weeks removed from the Nov. 5 General Election but it seems to be what most people are still talking about so here are three more random thoughts on this year’s election cycle. (I promise this is it for this year.) Despite President-elect Donald J. Trump winning both the electoral college votes and the popular vote this year, talk of abolishing the electoral college rages on. I am a supporter of the electoral college because in my belief it gives small populations, such as Wyoming a voice in the presidential e...
I learned several things leading up to, during and after this year’s General Election. •First, many people truly do not understand the election process, know the Constitution or state statute. Many people do not realize that municipal, county, state and federal offices are sworn in, in the new year. They do not take office right after the election. Some special districts, such as school districts, swear in newly elected members to begin serving in December. Perhaps I know this information based on the numerous elections I have covered dur...
Halloween was last week. The election was this week. Still need something scary to fill that fear void? Check out my favorite podcast Monsters Among Us Podcast. I came across it many months ago and it is my favorite. I love the stories, the format and the host. The host is Derek Hayes and per the podcast website, he “currently calls the mountains above Los Angeles, California home but originates from the backwoods of Southeast Ohio. He’s worked in the film industry for 10 years in addition to producing oddity inspired artwork on the side. A c...
The State constitutional amendment on next Tuesday’s ballot is just one of many important decisions voters face in Wyoming and Washakie County. There is much to decide in Tuesday’s General Election, from federal races to the City of Worland’s next mayor and how the Legislature will handle property taxes in the coming years. Of course, selecting the next president, mayor, city council, school board, cemetery board, fire board, conservation district board are all important, but one of the most important decisions on the ballot is Const...
Who knew one of the biggest things to divide the Worland community would be bras and tank tops on display at Pioneer Square. There was much debate about the Bras For A Cause display during two city council meetings and even more debate on social media, most of it civil. As I read and listened to comments from people on both sides, I came to a few realizations. First, I have come full circle from my comments on this space a few years ago when I wrote that I didn’t feel the push you see everywhere, especially in October, was necessary anymore. E...
One of my all time favorite memes is the one that states, “My brain has too many tabs open; 4 of them are frozen and I have no idea where the music is coming from.” For this week’s column I am going to try and go through some of those tabs open in my brain and jot down some random thoughts so I can close them and open some more. 1. Who said NASCAR’s Championship Chase was boring? Last Sunday’s race as Kyle Larson dominated the final stage, the drama unfolding was who was going to advance to the playoffs and the Round of Eight. That question...
A few weeks ago I wrote that words matter, referring to verbal words, and this week, as we observe National Newspaper Week I am going to discuss other words that matter — printed words in newspapers. This year’s theme is Tell Our Stories, meaning for us newspaper folk to tell why we got into this business and for me the theme says it all. That’s why I do this — to tell our stories. I started in Thermopolis at the Independent Record while a senior in a career class. Students were placed with businesses in areas where they had a potenti...
Tuesday marked the centennial of the “Yellowstone highway” through Wind River Canyon. The Wyoming Department of Transportation conducted a small ceremony Tuesday morning. While I did not go to the ceremony, our reporter Sean Mortimer did but it made me think about the hundreds, if not thousands, of trips I have made through that canyon. One of the first memories was when the driver’s education teacher took us through the canyon. I was nervous, following a vehicle and I was going about 40 or 45 mph. The teacher suggested that I pass and I said I...
You are probably thinking with that headline that I am going to talk about the importance of the written word and print newspapers. That is for another time, perhaps National Newspaper Week coming in a few weeks. But this week I want to talk about when you say something and try to walk it back or make excuses or clarify. It does not work. You said what you said and in my opinion 90% of the time, or more, people believe what they said they just did not think they would get push back from the comments. Perhaps the most notable is Republican...
While Congress was able to delay the U.S. Postal Service from removing both Regional Processing and Distribution Centers out of Wyoming it appears at an online meeting last Thursday that the Postal Service is still moving forward with the plan. During the Pre-Filing Conference to discuss the “Delivering for America Plan,” a plan to “transform the Postal Service’s processing and transportation networks,” a map for the new plans show Casper’s RPDC operations moving to Billings, Montana and Cheyenne’s operations to Denver, Colorado, leaving Wyomin...
President Ronald Reagan. As with most presidents and politicians people love him or hate him. Politics aside, if you want to take a walk through your childhood (for Generation Xers or Boomers) then I would recommend the movie “Reagan” released in theaters last weekend. According to Newsweek, the movie beat box office expectations for the Labor Day Weekend, bringing in “an estimated cumulative total of $9.2 million, including projections for Monday.” The movie is a biopic of our 40th president, but it doesn’t feel like some mundane, boring biopi...
So time to dole out some snickerdoodle cookies and a crumb from events over the past week. The first cookie goes to everyone who posted their dog photos to our Facebook page on Monday, International Dog Day. I had one reader and Facebook follower text me that we know what people care about … their dogs. As a dog lover I completely understand that. It was so fun to check out everyone’s dogs and the expressions on some of the dogs were priceless. Thank you to everyone who participated, it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the interaction. And spe...
It’s been a little sad at our household lately. A little over a week ago Mom took Ivy to the doctor. She had not been feeling well, was not eating and was losing a lot of weight. Mom came back sad and said something about cancer and that they were going to do an ultrasound on Ivy. It sounded scary. Then Mom took Ivy to the doctor the next day when she went to work but when Mom came home Ivy was not with her. I heard something about the Rainbow Bridge and that Ivy was playing with Luke, Sarah and Jake. I never met them before but Mom and Dad t...
It is time to look at some positives and negatives heading into Tuesday’s election so I am handing out two cookies and some crumbs. The first cookie goes to all the candidates on Tuesday’s ballot for being willing to serve, for putting yourself out there for people to vote on your policies and ideas and for hitting the campaign trail this year. Share the cookie with your family who is standing beside you on your journey. The second cookie goes to Washakie County Clerk Lily Rakness Parra for standing up to some bullies. In the nine years I hav...
Some years I can take or leave the Olympics or half-hearted watch. This year though I have enjoyed watching it more than in years past. I cannot tell you what has changed or why this Olympics is different than years past. What I can tell you is some of the fun moments I have enjoyed over the past week or so. Let’s start with the trampoline first. I wanted to watch that because I did not pay attention last time and I am amazed at the athleticism and artistry of these men and women. I remarked to my husband “just think if my high school wou...
I miss the good old days in Wyoming where Wyoming ethics and values could be seen and heard on the campaign trail. I am not sure I can pinpoint a specific election where that started to change but you can certainly see it is lacking in this campaign cycle. Wyoming candidates used to pride themselves on no attack ads, running clean campaigns with no mudslinging and not allowing outsiders to try and influence our elections. Two years ago we had outsiders from as far away as Florida come and tell us who to vote for in the U.S. House race and many...
Fair week wraps up in the next few days. Hopefully you have ventured out to the Washakie County Fairgrounds to check out the hard work from the youth and from many adults in the community who have entered projects in open class. What you have missed is the horse show, cornhole tournament, the 4-H judging but you can still check out all the projects on display; you missed the swine show, dog show and public style revue where 4-H members modeled their sewing projects; you missed the goat and sheep show, open class exhibit judging, the cat show (a...