News

The Casper City Council repealed the smoking ban for bars and private clubs yesterday, despite opposition from the mayor and some council members.

The Casper Star Tribune reports that the amended ordinance will likely take effect by the end of next week.

Several bar and club owners had objected to the ban, saying they were losing business to establishments in neighboring communities which don’t have smoking bans.

Governor Matt Mead’s office interviewed current and former employees of the Wyoming Department of Education about Superintendent Cindy Hill’s administration there. The Legislature removed the superintendent as head of the Education Department in January. Mead’s office released a report compiling positive and negative feedback Tuesday.
 

A study commissioned by the Center for American Progress found that voters in western states think that there should be more balance between conservation and energy development.

The Wyoming Board of Parole has approved the establishment of a victim-offender dialog program. The program will create an avenue for perpetrators and victims of a crime to meet in person and talk, which advocates say helps the healing process for both parties.

The Board of Parole’s Victim Services Coordinator, Randi Losalu, says this approach gives victims of crimes more of an opportunity to be heard. 

A project to restore sage grouse habitat in the Powder River Basin is moving forward.

The Bureau of Land Management, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and other agencies are participating. Their goal is to focus on areas with abandoned gas wells and make those areas hospitable for sage grouse again, by planting sage brush and removing roads and power lines.

The BLM’s Bill Ostheimer says many landowners and local groups have been receptive to the idea. But he says it could be years before sage grouse move back into areas they were displaced from.

University of Wyoming researchers have found that Wyoming sugar beet producers would stand to lose about 12 percent of profits if they were no longer able to grow genetically modified beets.

Agricultural economics research scientist Brian Lee was the primary investigator for the study.

“There’s research out there that suggests that Roundup Ready Sugar Beets can produce anywhere from five to 15 percent higher yields than conventional beets. So, we kind of used that as a basis for our analysis and changed that to a dollar figure.”

After a harrowing drought and a wet spring, Wyoming’s hay inventory is down and prices are holding steady.

Still, the forage market is a fickle industry, says Wyoming Business Council Crop and Forage Program Manager Donn Randall. He says hay values are not standardized the way other commodities are.

“It’s so subjective to the buyer’s preference,” Randall says. “Horse people, they want it green and leafy, and you know, dairy people, they have to have relatively high feed values.”

Some Wyoming students won awards at the National History Day competition in Maryland.

Laramie’s Hazel Homer-Wambeam and Jackson Higgins won first place for their Junior Group Performance entitled “The Golden Age of Radio: Turning Points in American Culture.

Brianne Beale and Nicole Collins from Jackson received third place for their Senior Group Documentary “The Gray Wolf Reintroduction: A Scientific Approach to Protect the Yellowstone Ecosystem.”

The number of cattle nationwide is at its lowest since the 1950s. Wyoming’s population is just under 1.3 million, down 5% from last year and the lowest since the early 1990s. Drought has caused many ranchers in the state to sell off cattle.

Executive Vice President of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, Jim Magagna, says some older ranchers with smaller operations liquidated their herds altogether and he predicts those cattle will not be replaced for close to a decade.  

The city of Rock Springs is busy getting ready to host the National High School Finals Rodeo for the second year in a row.

Organizers say this year’s event will include students from 43 states as well as from high schools in Canada and Australia. Chad Banks is the marketing director for the Sweetwater Events Complex.  He says while last year’s event was a big success for the community, there’s still some room for improvement.

A review of state legislative work shows that 37 states are led by one party, and that has led to changes in many state laws across country.  The report was published by Stateline, a news service of the Pew Charitable Trusts.  Editor Sandy Johnson says having majorities in legislative bodies helps pass a lot of legislation, from pro-marijuana laws in more Democratic States to loosening gun laws in more Republican states like Wyoming.  Johnson says that it’s led to other changes as well.

A study by the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit shows that elk are not especially stressed out by the presence of wolves.

Pregnancy rates among migratory elk herds near Yellowstone have declined, and one theory was that wolves were harassing the elk – causing them to run and hide, and depriving them of grazing opportunities.

Arthur Middleton, the lead author on the report, says elk did move around somewhat to get away from wolves, but only when the wolves were within one kilometer away. And he says wolves only rarely came that close.

A woman who served Wyoming as Secretary of State for 24 years has died.  Thyra Thomson died Tuesday at the age of 96.

She was elected to the office in 1962, just two years after her husband Congressman and U-S Senator-elect Keith Thomson  died of a heart attack.  Thyra Thomson served until 1987.  Thomson was an advocate for comparable worth, equal pay for women and affordable day care.  During a 1993 interview for the state archive’s she noted that wage disparity was a serious issue and tried to work on it.

The Supervisor of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says his agency is accepting public comment on a rule that would require baseline water testing.

The rule requires water testing before oil and gas development begins and after it ends.  Grant Black says when problems occur, it’s important to have all the facts.   

The Wyoming chapter of the American Institute of Architects is working with Laramie County Community College to make it easier for Wyoming residents to become licensed architects.

The Institute’s president-elect Chet Lockard says UW does not have an accredited architectural design program, and he says that’s a problem.

“Students have to leave the state of Wyoming to complete their architectural education,” Lockard said. “Often times they don’t return.”

The Summit on the Snake – an annual conference about use of the Snake River – will take place in Jackson this Saturday. Speakers will discuss the wildlife, history, ecology, and management of the Snake River and there will be a panel regarding the future of river management in Jackson Hole.

Snake River Fund Program Director, Margaret Creel, says the Bureau of Land Management will transfer management duties to Teton County soon, and the county needs to figure out how to manage the resource responsibly. Currently, river use is unregulated. 

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead says he is still weighing the attributes of the three finalists for the state’s new Education Director.  The Director would run the State Department of Education.  

Mead has interviewed all three, but says he wants more time to consider them.

An international conference about mining reclamation ended in Laramie today. The American Society of Mining and Reclamation and the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center hosted the event, which featured technical presentations about reclamation issues as well as policy questions and case studies.

UW professor and director of the Wyoming Reclamation and Restoration Center, Pete Stahl, says there were many Australian and Chinese stakeholders in attendance.   

A study by the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit shows that elk migrating to and from Yellowstone are raising fewer calves than in the past.

Report co-author Arthur Middleton says hot, dry weather has limited the amount of forage available, so fewer elk have been getting pregnant. Plus, he says wolves and bears are rebounding and killing more elk calves.

He says in contrast, non-migratory elk outside the park are doing well, because land is irrigated, and predators are scarce.

The Sierra Club and partner organizations filed a lawsuit today against BNSF Railways and several coal producers. The suit claims the companies are violating the federal Clean Water Act when they discharge coal dust along railways from the Powder River Basin without permits to do so.

Pacific Northwest Regional Press Secretary for Sierra Club’ Beyond Coal campaign, Krista Collard, says a letter of intent to file the suit was sent to all parties two months ago, but they did little to limit coal dust pollution.

Silver Star Communications has used federal stimulus money to add 120 miles of new fiber optic cable, which is benefiting businesses in Teton County.

Two federal grants paid 80 percent of the 15 million dollars it cost to run the cable over Teton and Togwotee Passes. But most consumers will have to pay to install the final leg to their homes or businesses. That could be expensive. But Silver Star’s Kim Billimoria says there is a potentially more affordable option on the horizon.

The Wyoming State Geological Survey has released a study showing an abundance of rare earth metals in rock samples from across the state.