Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Sorted by date Results 26 - 39 of 39
CASPER — As record numbers of workers across the United States are forced to apply for unemployment benefits as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, workers in Wyoming can rest somewhat reassured that the state’s unemployment fund is among the nation’s strongest. According to a report released by the Tax Foundation on Thursday, Wyoming’s unemployment insurance fund was flush enough to fund current levels of unemployment claims for 321 weeks — the longest such duration in the country. That time estimate, based off of unemployment claims as of Apri...
CHEYENNE – Laramie County School District 1 is being sued for its handling of a sexual relationship between a student and a teacher. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court on March 31 against the district by the sexual assault survivor. The former student was in the class of a former math teacher, Joseph Meza, at Johnson Junior High School in Cheyenne. Meza pleaded guilty to one count of sexual abuse of a minor in 2018 for having sex with a student, an adoptive teenage daughter, when he was in his 30s, according to previous reporting. H...
GILLETTE — So far during the coronavirus pandemic in Campbell County, eight of the 11 people who been confirmed positive for coronavirus have recovered. No one has been hospitalized because of COVID-19 yet. But the worst is yet to come, especially if the community lets down its guard, CCH officials say. There are several models that predict the spread of the novel coronavirus, and most of them project that Wyoming’s surge will start the last week of April and peak in the first or second week of May, said Dr. Nick Stamato, chief of medical sta...
RIVERTON — Wyoming’s recovery from the economic fallout caused by coronavirus will depend on mindset, says State Sen. Cale Case, R-Lander. “It’ll be hard to come back fast, and it’ll be a fairly long process,” said Case, who has a doctorate in economics and has long presided over the state senate’s revenue committee. “The longer you’re closed, the longer it is to get everybody back, and get your business back.” Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon dispatched three orders this month closing public gathering spaces and close-contact businesses until at...
With a goal of supplementing the ongoing work of the Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a “Community Protection Initiative” team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has arrived in the state for a temporary mission. Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health officer and state epidemiologist with WDH, said she invited the CDC team to supplement the work her staff is doing to help slow and limit the spread of COVID-19 in Wyoming. “The CDC indicated an interest in directing some of their...
Wyoming’s Second Coronavirus-Related Death Confirmed The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is announcing the death of a hospitalized Laramie County man previously identified as a laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) case. The older man represents Wyoming’s second reported death associated with COVID-19. There have been 287 confirmed and 105 probable cases reported so far from across Wyoming. “Unfortunately, we have seen this disease touch another Wyoming family in the worst way,” said Dr. Alexia Harrist, state health...
Maverik, Inc. Customer Wins $870,470 From WyoLotto Winning ticket is sold at Douglas, Wyoming Maverik Douglas, WY (April 15, 2020)– One lucky Maverik Inc. customer recently won $870,470 on April 13, 2020 from WyoLotto. The winning Cowboy Draw ticket was sold at the Maverik store in Douglas on Monday, April 13. Cowboy Draw drawings take place every Monday and Thursday at 2 p.m. MT. According to WyoLotto, a lotto participant that matches all five numbers (in any order) is a Cowboy Draw jackpot w...
CASPER — As the executive director of homelessness advocacy group Family Promise of Cheyenne, Lori Kempter knew all too well how vulnerable people can be, even in the days before the COVID-19 outbreak. Running the sole homeless shelter for families in the state’s capital, Kempter has spent her career helping to break the cycle of instability for many families stuck in homelessness, helping them secure steady employment and safe housing at critical points in their lives. Since the coronavirus all but shut down the state’s economy, putting a reco...
CHEYENNE – Last month, Congress passed a historic $2 trillion stimulus package that grants all single Americans (whose annual income is $75,000 or less) a one-time, non-taxed payment of $1,200. Married couples in the same position will receive $2,400, and parents will be given $500 for each child under the age of 17. Last Thursday, the IRS started depositing these Economic Impact Payments into the bank accounts of Americans who opted to get their federal tax refund directly deposited this year or last. However, some Wyomingites are at risk o...
CODY — The Centers for Disease Control is now recommending people cover their faces with cloth during the COVID-19 pandemic. With so many materials and fabrics existing, it can feel a little overwhelming to know what to use and not to use. The CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain like grocery stores and pharmacies. The biggest purpose is to prevent asymptomatic victims of the virus from transferring it to others. Items that can be used include T...
JACKSON — Since early March the county’s top health official has been begging the state to support his restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus in Teton County. Emails obtained by the News&Guide through the Wyoming Public Records Act show a back and forth that became heated as Teton District Health Officer Dr. Travis Riddell pushed state officials to allow him to enact a stay-at-home order. Riddell initially sought the state’s blessing for a stay-at-home order narrowly tailored to just the most vulnerable people — seniors and those w...
With many employees still reporting for work during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers may have to adopt new measures to comply with regulations requiring safe workplaces. Employers have an obligation to protect workers from “recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration states in a 35-page publication offering COVID-19 guidance in the workplace. Employers should use the guide to identify the risk their workers face and to determine appropriate...
Debate in Wyoming is increasing over whether Gov. Mark Gordon closing some businesses but stopping short of a stay-at-home order is inadequate or a threat to liberty, even as a top doctor contends a hospital surge is still on the horizon. The growth of confirmed cases slowed last week, though a wave of new confirmed cases over the weekend brought the state’s case load to 275. Of those cases, 140 have recovered, according to the Department of Health. But Dr. David Wheeler, the head of the Wyoming Medical Society, said case counts might grow f...
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – As Wyoming continues to experience the direct and indirect fiscal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Mark Gordon has instructed all state agency directors to identify opportunities to immediately reduce spending. This is through the end of the current budget year, which ends June 30, and into the next two-year budget. Specifically, the Governor has immediately directed agencies to institute position freezes, halt general fund contracts greater than $100,000, and implement a rigorous review of major maintenance s...