Fremont County

The Bookmarked Literary Arts Festival is back in Lander later this month for its fifth year. The gathering aims to broaden the definition of what literature looks like – and who’s writing it – in the state.

Primary voting appeared to go off without any hiccups Tuesday, Aug. 20, in the Fremont County town, where community members fall on both sides — and the middle — of the political spectrum.

The Leeds Creek Fire was first reported Aug. 1 in the Bridger Teton National Forest, about 18 miles southwest of the town of Dubois. Since then it’s grown to more than 1,200 acres. Maps show it’s burning right through the Continental Divide Trail.

The Fremont County School Board is considering two policies about topics like pronouns and names for transgender students and staff this week. The new policies, “Student Transgender Considerations” and “Staff Transgender Considerations,” will go before the board for a first reading at a meeting on the evening of July 16.

After a Sublette County man allegedly tortured a wolf, a state-appointed working group was formed to examine Wyoming’s predator policies. They met for the first time and began to craft language in hopes of preventing similar incidents.

Wyomingites could see new voter restrictions come out of the upcoming legislative session. A bill filed by state lawmakers could make it so voters have to live in the state for at least 30 days to register.

The Riverton Rescue Mission is one step closer to seeing if building a shelter for unhoused members in the community might be possible. The group set out to raise $25,000 to fund a study to better understand if building a shelter would be feasible – and now that goal has turned into a reality.

Fremont County for Ceasefire Now (FCCN) was created shortly after Oct. 7. It wants to make sure conversations about the Israel-Hamas conflict don’t fade away in the area. The group is made up of community members from the county and the Wind River Reservation.

Back in December, a Riverton man’s death prompted conversations about resources for the unhoused population in Fremont County. Wyoming Public Radio’s Taylar Stagner found that that tragedy galvanized the community to come together and talk about how to fix the problem. Stagner attended the summit for Our Unhoused Neighbors in mid-March.

In Riverton, Native Americans make up less than 11 percent of the population but account for more than 77 percent of all arrests.