Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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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...
CASPER — Wyoming’s Black Butte Mine in January 2021 applied to add federal coal reserves at its Sweetwater County operations, which supplies the Jim Bridger Power Plant and a sizable share of baseload thermal energy throughout the West. It was a run-of-the-mill application that state regulators expected to be approved smoothly. Instead, it has become mired in a nightmarishly tedious approval process that’s brought state leaders to their wits’ end. Concerns at the Black Butte Mine are among a host of recent complaints coming out of coal country...
CASPER — In August, lawmakers on the Joint Education Committee shot down a controversial ban on the “instruction” of gender identity and sexual orientation in Wyoming’s K-3 classrooms. For some conservative lawmakers and parents, it was a blow. But at the same time that the panel rebuffed Wyoming’s own version of a “Don’t Say Gay” law modeled after Florida’s, it also advanced the rest of a proposal to expand “parental rights” in education. After some debate, that draft bill is now heading to the 2024 legislative session. The Joint Education C...
Man caught after getting stuck in snow pleads guilty to federal charges GILLETTE (WNE) — A Campbell County man who was arrested after driving his truck into a snowbank on the side of Highway 50 pleaded guilty to federal drug charges while another man involved in the drug bust has been sentenced to state prison. Jesse Ray Walthers, 39, pleaded guilty at his October change of plea hearing in U.S. District Court to a count of possession with intent to distribute meth and a count of possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking, a...
Governor Mark Gordon’s proposed budget for the next biennium is a conservative one, recognizing that the pandemic-related “funding tsunami” has receded but the circumstances that led to program cuts three years ago still exist. However, it also addresses immediate challenges faced by Wyomingites, such as expanding property tax relief to $20 million. “It is not easy to have to reduce programs, especially those providing services for our most vulnerable populations. And yet that is what circumstan...
Black 14 Philanthropy delivers 40,000 pounds of food to Laramie LARAMIE (WNE) — Cathedral Home and the University of Wyoming Food Share Pantry welcomed a delivery of 40,000 pounds of food and goods that traveled to Laramie last Tuesday. The delivery is made possible through a partnership between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Black 14’s “Mind, Body and Soul” initiative, which dispatches food to communities identified by active Black 14 players, according to a news release from the Cathedral Home. Mel Hamilton and John Gr...
BUFFALO — The state of Wyoming continues to recover from the pandemic, with unemployment trending down and the average monthly employment back to pre-pandemic levels. The preliminary numbers for the first-quarter average monthly employment this year was 3187 compared with 2978 in 2020 in Johnson County, according to data from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services. The first quarter in Wyoming had 269,312 average monthly employees, a few hundred more employees than in the first quarter of 2020. That’s the first time the quarterly emp...
Information sought about missing Cody woman POWELL (WNE) — Family members of a missing Cody woman are asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to get in touch with law enforcement. Katie Ferguson was last seen on Oct. 10 in Arkansas, Ferguson’s mother, Mona Hartling, wrote in a Nov. 5 Facebook post. Ferguson had been traveling from Dothan, Alabama, to Cody with her ex-boyfriend and their two children, but “somewhere near Little Rock, Arkansas she disappeared,” Hartling wrote. Hartling shared few other details, explaining in a Saturd...
CHEYENNE — State lawmakers advanced a bill draft on Monday that aims to ban all hemp-products containing any psychoactive properties, including delta-8, without providing a distinction between “synthetic” and “naturally occurring” properties. Members of the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee were divided in their opinions of the bill. Some members said the draft was a necessary step toward protecting youth, while others hesitated over the bill’s broad language. Committee co-Chairman Rep. Art Washut, R- Casper, said the bill was “not read...
CHEYENNE — Will potential voters be required to live in Wyoming for at least 30 days in order to vote? Do people need to register as a PAC if they spend more than $1000 in an election? After some heavy deliberation Thursday, members of the Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee advanced bill drafts that could create significant changes to existing Wyoming election laws. 30-day residency requirement Legislators forwarded a bill to next year’s budget session that, as written, would add a 30-day resid...
Hightman drops Supreme Court appeal GILLETTE (WNE) — A Gillette man serving prison time for stealing from his fiancée – who remains missing – in the days and weeks after she was last seen, has backed out of his appeal filed with the Wyoming Supreme Court. Nathan J. Hightman, 40, filed his intent to appeal less than two weeks after receiving a three- to six-year prison sentence — along with fines, restitution and probation — in June. The motion to waive his appeal was filed last week, as Hightman decided not to move forward after weighing his op...
An analysis of wolverines in Wyoming and the rest of their Lower 48 range paints a grim picture of a low-density species that’s losing its habitat and facing an uncertain future. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a 100-page “species status assessment” for North American wolverines in late September. That document presages a final determination that federal wildlife managers must make by late November to satisfy a May 2022 federal court order. The assessment’s closing paragra...
Shooting complex task force finalizes pre-proposal survey SHERIDAN (WNE) — The State Shooting Complex Oversight Task Force completed work during its meeting Friday morning that will help it identify communities interested in being home to the complex. The task force was established by Senate File 169, which Gov. Mark Gordon signed into law March 2. The task force comprises several legislators and representatives from Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Wyoming Travel and Tourism, firearm and archery m...
BUFFALO — The Ellis family has welcomed hunters and anglers onto its remote mountain property off Hazleton Road for more than 50 years. “Give the Ellises a holler and get written permission and enjoy the land” was how it always worked, said Brendan Ellis, one of three siblings who sold the Ellis Sheep Co. Ranch to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in November 2022. Now, the 3835-acre parcel is known as the Ellis Wildlife Habitat Management Area. It’s open to the public and managed by Game and Fish for wildlife conservation and recreat...
CASPER – Katrina Ferrell helps people in crisis. As program coordinator for the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, she assists callers who may be feeling desperate or despondent. The lifeline provides free emotional support and resources day and night. “I think we make a really big difference in a lot of lives,” she said. For years, Wyoming has struggled with one of the nation’s worst suicide rates. And for years, it did so without a lifeline staffed by local folks. That’s no longer the case. Wyoming is now home to a pair of call centers t...
Women in stable condition following severe crash JACKSON (WNE) — Three women are rebounding after their SUV was hit Sunday afternoon by a tanker truck hauling milk near Munger Mountain Elementary School on Highway 89. State trooper Andy Jackson said the driver of the Suburban, 63-year-old Big Piney resident Patricia Berndt, was life-flighted to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center after the 4:17 p.m. crash. The hospital told him that Berndt sustained serious injuries but was in stable condition Monday morning. The two other women in the c...
SHERIDAN — Property tax relief for Wyomingites is set for consideration after several bills were approved by the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee last week. Tax relief was a hot-button issue during the 2023 session and Sheridan County’s delegation was critical of the Wyoming Legislature’s failure to provide substantial property tax relief for residents. “People want us to get something done, and they want us to act,” Co-Chair Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, said during the revenue committee meetings. Homeowner tax exemption The committee c...
Gov. Mark Gordon announced this week the state will decline an invitation to apply for millions in federal Inflation Reduction Act funds aimed at shuttering low-producing oil and gas wells. The Mitigating Emissions from Marginal Conventional Wells program would pay the costs of voluntarily closing and remediating wells that produce less than the equivalent of 15 barrels of oil per day - aka "stripper" wells. Wyoming is eligible for up to $5 million of the $350 million program, according to feder...
Solar eclipse will be visible in Western U.S. Saturday morning GILLETTE (WNE) — When Wyomingites look up at the sky Saturday morning, they should be able to see a partial eclipse. During an annular solar eclipse, the apparent size of the Moon’s disk is slightly smaller than the apparent size of the Sun’s disk, so that only the outer edge of the Sun remains visible. For those who are inside the path of the eclipse, this will give the appearance of a bright ring of light, hence the name, ring of fire. The path of annularity, in which 91% of the s...
CHEYENNE — Members of the Joint Revenue Committee moved to draft legislation during their Monday meeting that would amend the state constitution and implement an acquisition value property tax system in Wyoming. An acquisition value property tax system assesses a property at its market value from the time the property was purchased, with limited annual tax increases until the property is resold, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Acquisition value is defined under HB 100 as “the purchase price paid for the acquisition of pro...
GILLETTE - A few years ago, life was good for Jacob Smith. He had a construction business, two homes and "all the cars I needed." Now everything he owns fits into a storage container that sits in the hallway of the Way Station at the Council of Community Services. Smith moved to Gillette when he was 16 years old, and he's lived here for 23 years. For the last year and a half, Smith has been homeless. He's bounced around, staying at a friend's house for a bit before going to another friend's home...
Ft. Washakie man charged with embezzling funds for guns, furniture LANDER (WNE) — A federal grand jury has charged Logan James Savage, Fort Washakie, with five counts of wire fraud and one count of embezzlement, alleging he used a company credit card to make personal purchases for more than $25,000. Savage worked as the finance director for Wind River Family and Community Health Care Between July 2022 and May 2023. He was one of several employees who had been granted company credit cards to cover business-related purchases, according to the f...
Couple pleads not guilty to attempted murder, child abuse CHEYENNE (WNE) — At separate hearings with separate judges Monday, both of the defendants charged with attempted first-degree murder in connection with the alleged abuse of a two-year-old boy pleaded not guilty. Hannah Wingert, the 20-year-old mother of the child, and Joshua Moody, her 21-year-old boyfriend, were arrested for attempted first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse on Aug. 25. Law enforcement contacted them after Wingert’s stepmother called police to perform a wel...
As part of its commitment to help reduce suicide deaths across the state, the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is sharing key information about the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and its operations in Wyoming. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and always available. The system involves a national network of local crisis centers that provide free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. Two call centers within Wyoming are part of the lifeline network. “We believe it’s a benefi...
Wyoming has long had an adversarial relationship with smokable or edible intoxicants, and that may continue with delta-8 – colloquially known as "weed light" and "diet weed." Members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee will consider a draft bill Tuesday in Casper that would effectively ban that substance and any other with "similar chemical structure and pharmacological activity." The discussion comes at a time when stores selling the substance are proliferating in Wyoming, national l...
