Former Montana utility regulator will lead the $4 billion federal power-marketing agency serving the Pacific Northwest U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced Travis Kavulla as administrator and CEO of the Bonneville Power Administration, putting the former Montana utility regulator in charge of the agency that markets wholesale power across the Pacific Northwest. “Travis Kavulla’s Read More…
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has released its first round of funding opportunity overviews under the Rural Health Transformation Program, marking a significant step forward in the state’s effort to reshape healthcare delivery in underserved communities across Idaho. The funding opportunity overviews are designed to give stakeholders an early look at the expected Read More…
The Justice Department announced a final settlement with the state of North Dakota in the case of North Dakota v. United States, resolving litigation stemming from the violent and disruptive protests surrounding the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. While the federal government disputed the district court’s legal analysis of North Dakota’s claims and its own Read More…
(The Center Square) – In a reversal, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson has ordered that surveillance cameras be turned on during the FIFA World Cup Tournament. Wilson said in a statement Friday that the decision to activate the cameras followed updated information from Seattle police and the FBI “on the current global and local threat environment.” Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon is pleased that a federal court in Wyoming reached a decision Tuesday that “will allow Wyoming and three other energy producing states to restart legal challenges to an overreaching Obama-era rule,” according to the governor’s office. Gordon’s office says the Wyoming federal district court’s decision comes after a Read More…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) – South Dakota is trying to lure Minnesota businesses to relocate by promoting its looser coronavirus restrictions, but Minnesota’s governor predicted businesses would stay put. South Dakota is spending $369,500 on an advertising campaign in Minnesota now through Labor Day. Ads will air on TV, radio, social media, and in print, according to a Read More…
LARAMIE – The University of Wyoming has released a more detailed plan of what partial closures might look like if the number of COVID-19 cases on campus spikes, as well as the “decision points” that could trigger changes this semester. Representatives of the university administration and the consultants who have been hired to manage the Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. — Leaders of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota sued the federal government Wednesday due to a Department of Interior opinion that sides with the state over valuable mineral rights beneath a portion of a man-made lake on the Missouri River. The Three Affiliated Tribes’ lawsuit said the Interior Department Read More…
The Wyoming Supreme Court today issued an order disbarring Laramie lawyer Michael J. Pearce from the practice of law. Pearce, who is currently serving a one-year suspension of his law license for previous professional misconduct, failed to respond to a formal disciplinary charged filed by the Office of Bar Counsel of the Wyoming State Bar. Read More…
UPDATE: Laramie County prosecutor David Singleton and attorneys for the defendants questioned Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigations Special Agent John Briggs on Thursday during the start of the preliminary hearing. Laramie County Circuit Court Judge Antoinette Williams is presiding over the hearing, which was extended to an as-yet-unannounced date. — Ed. Wyoming Division of Criminal Read More…
Legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk shredded through the Badlands — and snubbed the rules — while visiting the national park with his family on Sunday. “Driving through Badlands with my family, no other cars in sight. Saw a downhill section and stopped so I can skate it,” Hawk wrote on Twitter. The 52-year-old then Read More…
CASPER, Wyo — Soon more locations in Natrona County will be offering simulcast gaming machines that will let residents bet on live horse races taking place at the Wyoming Downs racetrack near Evanston. The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) passed a resolution Tuesday, July 7, authorizing Wyoming Downs, LLC to expand pari-mutuel wagering operations on Read More…
SHERIDAN — Athletes who planned to compete for teams at Sheridan College or Gillette College in the upcoming school year will not have a chance to play at the Division I level of the National Junior College Athletic Association locally. Faced with the need to cut nearly $4 million from its annual budget, Northern Read More…
FARGO, N.D. – Nearly three years ago, Elon Musk tweeted “You can now drive anywhere in the US using the Tesla supercharger network.” But he forgot about one state: North Dakota. “I joined Twitter on that tweet to tell him that we still exist,” said Brian Kopp, a North Dakota Tesla owner. For the past Read More…
Wyoming’s unemployment rate fell to 8.8% in May, as the state began to recover from the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. The Equality State had the nation’s third lowest unemployment rate for the month, trailing only Nebraska and Utah, federal figures show. The national unemployment rate, meanwhile, stood at 13.3%. In April, Wyoming unemployment Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – In April, North Dakota saw a 500% increase in online sales tax revenue because more people were staying at home and shopping, according to North Dakota Tax Department officials. North Dakota Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger said last year North Dakota took in half a million dollars in April, in 2020 that number has Read More…
AMERICAN FALLS – Congratulations to Brett Jones, of Rock Springs Wyoming on a new catch-and-release state record rainbow trout. Jones caught the huge trout while fishing American Falls Reservoir on May 25. The 31.25-inch monster was just long enough to break the previous record of 30.5 inches, held by David Raisch since 2018. State records Read More…
Noting that the announcement came with “heavy hearts,” officials confirmed Saturday that the two bodies recovered from a backyard in Idaho were the remains of the missing children of “doomsday cult” mom Lori Vallow. Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, had been missing since September. Their remains were found Tuesday, buried on the property of Read More…
Staff of the North Dakota Supreme Court Law Library have been discarding more than 67,000 books over the span of more than a year. “I can tell you, it’s been devastating to see them go, but we understand the impetus,” Legal Self-Help Center Director Catie Palsgraaf said. The 2019 Legislature budgeted $970,000 to Read More…
Updated public health orders that take effect June 15 will continue to ease restrictions on public gatherings in Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon announced today. The updated orders allow indoor gatherings of up to 250 people with restrictions, permit parades to occur (with appropriate social distancing), and allow K-12 schools, community colleges, the University, and other Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Authorities say a South Dakota couple is facing charges for giving drugs to children and using cattle prods on them over several years. Lance Long and Chrystal Long face 14 charges, including aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon, Capt. Josh Phillips of the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday. Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota’s top prison administrator is resigning after 15 years to take a job in the private sector. Gov. Doug Burgum announced Thursday that Leann Bertsch is stepping down as head of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on July 31. Dave Krabbenhoft, the agency’s head of administration, will serve as interim Read More…
GOSHEN COUNTY, Wyo. Goshen County Economic Development Corporation provides information about how small businesses throughout Wyoming can join a free Cybersecurity Competition. Any small Wyoming business can enter the competition and receive free basic cybersecurity business counseling services. READ FULL STORY
Non-residents will be able to camp in Wyoming beginning Monday, as the state continues to gradually relax COVID-19 restrictions. In a news release, Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources Director Darin Westby said the criteria for opening camping to non-residents has been when surrounding states open their camping and their COVID-19 cases began leveling. “Now Read More…
The OL Reign announced Sunday it was headed to train in Missoula, Montana, in preparation for the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup. The Challenge Cup is a 25-match tournament, which begins June 27 in Salt Lake City, in lieu of a 2020 season because of the coronavirus pandemic. The Reign are training in Montana because the team Read More…
BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Coronavirus cases are spiking in the food and meat processing plants of Jerome and Burley. Both plants are in rural areas, but what they process ends up in major cities, including Boise. That caught Boise Mayor Lauren McLean’s attention. “We talk regularly with Central District Health about the status of COVID in Read More…
The person who oversees North Dakota’s Department of Health has resigned in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, with Gov. Doug Burgum naming her interim replacement within a matter of hours. State Health Officer Mylynn Tufte submitted her resignation letter Wednesday, saying “I feel it is time for me to return to the private Read More…
UNDATED (NewsDakota.com) – Although first established in 2018, it wasn’t until earlier this year that the North Dakota Ethics Commission welcomed its first executive director. The Commission is still working on finalizing procedures for dealing with complaints and penalizing guilty parties. However, under the guidance of its new director, it will be looking at ethical misconduct and Read More…
For the first time in more than two months, no new coronavirus cases were reported in Wyoming on Friday. The Wyoming Department of Health, in its daily coronavirus update, said the number of confirmed cases in the state stayed steady at 608. The news came one day after the Health Department reported the 12th coronavirus-related Read More…
The Wyoming Cowboy Hall of Fame will have 41 new members in its next class, including two men from Campbell County. Butch Reynolds and his cousin Aldin Reynolds are a part of the class of 2020 that will be inducted Sept. 19-20 at the Little America in Cheyenne. READ FULL STORY
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Cleo counts out crumpled dollars, straightening the bills as she stacks them neatly on her bare leg. “Twenty-two dollars,” the 23-year-old exclaims. “Not too bad!” All around her, more than a dozen nearly naked women are dancing on the stage and swinging from a brass pole as music thumps and customers shower the Read More…
North Dakota’s eight commercial service airports during April had their lowest monthly passenger count since record keeping began 40 years ago, the state Aeronautics Commission reported Thursday. About 5,000 passengers — or 5% of the normal expected traffic — flew out of North Dakota’s airports during the month. The commission attributed the drop to the Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. – The Wyoming Machinery Company announced on Wednesday that it has laid off a number of employees. In a statement, the company laid blame on the recent downturn of the energy sector coupled with the economic effects of COVID-19 shutdowns. According to the statement, the company reduced its workforce by approximately 13 percent. Read More…
A 1,151-megawatt (MW) coal power station in North Dakota is set to be retired after it was deemed to have “lost value compared to other alternatives in recent years.” Announcing the decision at the end of last week, electric power supplier Great River Energy said it planned to shut down the two units of Coal Read More…
Wyoming Medical Center’s first experience with a severe coronavirus patient came through a panicked phone call. The doctor on the line was from another hospital in Wyoming. They were frantic. A patient in their 20s had come in that day. On paper, in theory, such a young patient should’ve responded well to a respiratory Read More…
A top financial ratings service has listed western Wyoming gas drillers Ultra Resources and Jonah Energy among issuers of “top bonds of concern” whose securities could face “imminent” default. Fitch Ratings named the two companies that operate in the Pinedale Anticline, Jonah Field and Normally Pressured Lance, or NPL Field in an April 13 report Read More…
Appearing via video conference from the Sheridan County Detention Center, 55-year-old Dana Beartusk pleaded “not guility” to three counts of First Degree Murder. Beartusk was charged with the crimes for allegedly killing three family members in Big Horn during the evening hours of Sunday, March 29, reports Sheridan Media. District Court Judge John Fenn set the Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Even in a pandemic, entrance fees at Idaho state parks still apply. State parks have seen a major increase in visitors since the coronavirus outbreak spurred closures and event cancellations across Idaho. But officials with the parks department say many of those visitors are not paying the required fees to get in. Read More…
LARAMIE — Wyoming will be handsomely compensated for its trip to Texas during the 2023 football season. UW announced the pending matchup with the Longhorns, scheduled for Sept. 16, 2023 at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium, earlier this year. Texas, which won’t be making the return trip to War Memorial Stadium, will pay UW $1.85 million for Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Some Wyoming school districts are deciding to remain closed for the rest of the school year. The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Natrona County on Monday joined a handful of other districts in deciding against reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic. Others include Albany and Campbell counties, and the Green River-based Sweetwater County Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – Gov. Doug Burgum is clarifying that North Dakota businesses which are not covered under his statewide executive closure orders are allowed to be open. Burgum ordered schools and a select group of businesses to close in order to minimize the spread of COVID-19. “If you are closed and if you aren’t Read More…
One of the advocates of a movement urging Idahoans to disobey the governor’s stay at home order has been arrested at a protest in Meridian. Forty-year-old Sara Brady, who’s affiliated with the anti-vaccine groups Idahoans for Vaccine Freedom Health Freedom Idaho, was arrested at Kleiner Park in Meridian Tuesday afternoon. As a video posted to Read More…
JACKSON, Wyo. — Census season is in full swing and Wyoming is falling far behind in its responses. The national self-response rate currently hovers at around 50.5%; Wyoming is lagging behind that at 41.7%—the majority of that response coming from online responders. Only West Virginia (39%), New Mexico (39.7%), and Maine (41%) have been slower Read More…
Futures prices for oil fell into the negatives for the first time in recorded history Monday, further straining a Wyoming economy already reeling from months of price declines, continuing strife in the coal industry and the shutdown of numerous businesses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. West Texas Intermediate oil contracts for the month of Read More…