Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Serving the Platte Valley since 1888
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 103
GILLETTE (WNE) — Three men were arrested Sunday evening for kidnapping and attempted first-degree murder for allegedly assaulting a 36-year-old man. Deputies responded to the Northeast Wyoming Regional Airport at about 4 a.m. Sunday for a report of a man sleeping in the entryway of the terminal building. He did not have a shirt or shoes on, and he had serious injuries to his face. His jaw was swollen and he was unable to open his left eye, said Undersheriff Quentin Reynolds. He was taken to the emergency room by EMS to be tre...
RIVERTON - On Monday afternoon, a semi-truck loaded with hurricane relief supplies rolled out of Riverton High School and began the long journey to North Carolina. Dozens of RHS National Honor Society students stood by for the sendoff, exhausted from a long day of packing boxes and satisfied with the completion of a multiweek effort. "The idea first started during our NHS meetings shortly after the hurricanes," said RHS Student Council and Honor Society member Aquinnah...
DOUGLAS - When graphic novelist and author Jason Viola visited Douglas elementary schools last week, he found not just a warm welcome but an excited bunch of students eager to learn about his writing and art. Viola came from Boston, Massachusetts where he co founded a non-profit organization, Boston Comic Arts Foundation. Through his foundation, Viola assists others through the power of comics to educate, inspire and bring people together. "I co-founded the Boston Comic Arts...
CODY - Cody chiropractor Vince Kalkowski and his son Garrett vividly recall the close encounter they experienced with a grizzly bear on October 3 east of Meeteetse. "All seven of us left camp and headed up the same drainage that day. My friend's daughter got her first bull on that trip and the other guys helped her take care of it," he said "Since I still needed to fill my tag and it was still early, my son and I decided to keep hunting." Kalkowski and his son, after tying up...
BUFFALO - On Thursday mornings, there's no livelier place to be than Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4969 in Buffalo. The coffee is brewing and pancakes and bacon are on the stove before sunrise. Veterans representing nearly every branch of the U.S. military come for the breakfast, and they stay for the camaraderie. "It's just a tight-knit gathering of folks that have experiences in common," said Jurgen Hakert, who served in the Air Force for 23 years. At the VFW, every member...
CHEYENNE — Senate Vice President Dave Kinskey proposed a rule to fellow Wyoming legislative leaders on Thursday that would have expanded media access for photographers and video crews on the chamber floors. The proposal came after lawmakers voted, and later rescinded, a proposal to bar media access on the chamber floor entirely. Kinskey, R-Sheridan, proposed a rule to the Management Council that would have allowed photojournalists and TV broadcast journalists behind the bar on the chamber floor, unless otherwise directed b...
CHEYENNE — As the 2024-25 school year began, teachers across Laramie County School District 1 had a new lesson to add to their first day agenda: How to comply with the district’s new parental rights policy. Specifically, teachers had to explain to students the new rule that requires teachers to report students’ preferred names to their parents. School districts across the state were mandated by the Wyoming Legislature to pass a parental rights policy outlining the situations in which the schools are required to notify paren...
GILLETTE - Dogs from Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, Iowa and more were at the Cam-plex Wyoming Center last weekend for the first American Kennel Club scent work trial held in Wyoming. Hosted by the Icelandic Sheepdog Association of America, three judges - from South Dakota, Arizona and Idaho - were on hand to judge the dogs on how well and how quickly they could sniff out cotton swabs scented with essential oils hidden throughout different rooms. "It's like police dogs, only...
JACKSON - Rain and snow fell Saturday evening on Town Square as a group of soaked, candle-holding mourners listened to wildlife guide Bo Welden talk about one of his life's most meaningful, one-way relationships. "Seeing 399 is like falling in love for the first time," he said. "Every time you got to see her, it was kind of like you forgot to breathe. You will just bail on your friends and your family to go spend time with that first love. And I argue people do that with 399...
CHEYENNE — More than a dozen Wyoming schools had received threats of either an active shooter or a bomb on campus as of Monday afternoon, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. Part of a national trend, Wyoming is not unique at this moment, and these threats appear to be “spilling over” from other states, DCI’s Ryan Cox told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Based on current information, it appears that threats have been made in other states in the past month. Schools and local police departments are respond...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature could be back on track to fully funding its K-12 public schools after a committee of state lawmakers voted Friday to adopt a $66.3 million cost adjustment. The state funds its public schools through the K-12 education resource block grant. Every year, the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee must make an external cost adjustment (ECA) recommendation from this block grant to the governor and legislative body by Nov. 1. There are two different funding models that calculate the cos...
SHERIDAN — When it comes to housing, Sheridan is already doing some things right. The city and county have adopted a joint planning agreement that governs land use in a 60 square mile area surrounding the town, Stephen Whitlow, a consultant with Abt Global — a firm working with the Wyoming Community Development Authority on a Statewide Strategic Housing Action Plan — said at a forum in Cheyenne on Oct. 21. The joint planning agreement between Sheridan County and the city is focused on preserving agricultural and rural areas...
CHEYENNE - South High senior Deanna Davis spent Tuesday morning before class working at the polls at the Laramie County Governmental Complex. At just 17 years old, Davis is making big strides toward a future in politics. This year, she's the youngest poll worker in Laramie County, and next year, she'll be headed to the University of Wyoming to study political science and communication, eventually aiming to get her law degree. Davis is more than just a poll worker, though....
POWELL - Step after step while climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the endeavor by area residents Deb White and Cathy Blanchard was as much mental as it was physical. For nine days the retirees pushed toward the summit on the mountain with the world's fourth highest vertical climb, cementing a lifelong bond through their adventure on the 19,340-foot behemoth. "I had never been tested to the full extent of my physical and mental capabilities," said Blanchard, a 70-year-old making her...
GILLETTE —- Gillette College is in the process of approving new language to give more direction to students and teachers on artificial intelligence when it comes to academic dishonesty and potential uses in the classroom. The additions to the college’s academic dishonesty policy and classroom syllabi were developed by the college’s AI task force, which was put together this spring. The task force, led by Dean of Letters and Sciences Martin Fashbaugh, has been working throughout the summer on a slate of broad goals relat...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Community Development Authority presented the first draft of its statewide strategic housing plan this week which identifies the state’s greatest housing needs and how to address related concerns. WCDA selected Abt Global, a consulting and research firm, to craft the plan and it held its second of two public meetings Monday in Cheyenne to share what it has learned so far and get more feedback before finalizing the plan in November. A statewide housing needs assessment released by the WCDA in March sho...
CHEYENNE — Lawmakers unanimously voted Thursday to rescind a previously voted-on rules change that prohibited photojournalists’ access to the chamber floors during legislative session. Last month, members of the Legislature’s Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process voted four to two in favor of a policy change that barred photojournalists’ access to the hallways on the chamber floor. This issue grabbed the attention of news outlets across the state, which re-sparked the conversation during the com...
POWELL - Michael Seib had lost his job, his car and was losing control. The musician and artist was in a free fall. After a sterling high school experience, he was accepted to a prestigious university in Southern California. That's when he lost control. "It was almost off the rails, you know. I was drinking a lot and just partying and gambling," he said. "I wasn't living up to my potential." He descended into addiction, eventually falling in with a group of musicians who felt...
JACKSON - Following a community outcry over the shop's impending closure, Pearl Street Bagels owner Heather Gould agreed Tuesday to extend her lease with the property owner, Jeff Neishabouri. The two spoke by phone and discussed a lease extension. In an email to the News&Guide, Neishabouri said he was open to extending the lease until the property at 145 W. Pearl Ave. is redeveloped. "I feel like this town really rallied for Pearl Street Bagels," Gould said Tuesday afternoon,...
RIVERTON — Last year, Karen Wetzel was removed from a Fremont County Commissioners’ meeting, and footage of the incident was briefly taken offline. People who were in the room knew what had happened; anyone who was absent and counting on the recording, including this newspaper, could only try to piece together the puzzle by asking people who were there or waiting for the video to be restored. While more and more government meetings are recorded and even conducted partially or wholly online, there are circumstances in whi...
CHEYENNE — In the face of projected revenue shortfalls, some Wyoming lawmakers are hesitant to change the state’s major maintenance formula that would increase funding for school facilities projects. Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, voted against a bill draft Wednesday, during the Legislature’s Select Committee on School Facilities meeting in Cheyenne, that changes how the state calculates its major maintenance funding for schools. The bill, as written, increases the allowable square footage in the formula from 115% to 135%, which...
BAGGS-This town of 400 residents on the banks of the Little Snake River in south-central Wyoming has a school, a grocery store, a post office and a hotel with a restaurant and bar. Sometimes there's a food truck. But when it comes to health care, residents now have two options: calling 911 or driving at least 40 miles to the nearest town with a clinic or hospital. That's because, as of last month, Baggs' only clinic closed its doors, leaving residents without any local...
The Select Committee on Legislative Facilities, Technology and Process voted last month to bar photo- and broadcast journalists from entering the halls that run next to the House and Senate floors. The rule change eliminates the opportunity to gather eye-level images of lawmakers at work in each chamber, relegating journalists to documenting what’s happening on the floors from the galleries above. If adopted by the Management Council in November, the policy change would b...
Lawmakers are scrambling to draft a bill that would restrict what wildfire victims can claim damages for when electric utilities spark blazes. Insurance premiums for utilities are exploding due to class action lawsuits stemming from utility-caused wildfires that have resulted in death and property damage — particularly in the West. Some utilities fear they may lose insurance coverage while increasing insurance rates threaten to raise costs for electric customers and b...
CHEYENNE — Elle Sanderson’s son, Raylan, is diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, SYNGAP1, that affects his ability to communicate. Two years ago, right before school let out for the summer, his school refused to let him take home his augmentative assistive communication (AAC) device. The AAC is an iPad her son used during the school year to communicate with his teachers. “I didn’t know why it was wrong; it just sounded terrible to me,” Sanderson said. She called several people at the school and told them it was “wildly i...