Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 1122
It’s time to curb large gatherings countywide and restrict visitations at Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, Sweetwater County Health Officer Dr. Jean Stachon, and Sweetwater County Public Health, are advising any gatherings greater than 250 people be canceled or postponed until further notice. “That in no way implies that a smaller gathering can’t be canceled or postponed if the organizer believes it is in the best interest of the attendees,” said Judy Roderick, Sweetwater County...
PINEDALE - The High Desert District's wild horse draft environmental impact statement and proposed Bureau of Land Management revisions for its management are open for public comment through April 30. The BLM's "preferred alternative" would remove about 74 percent or 1,529 of the wild horses from four herd management areas or HMAs, where populations are well above its current appropriate management levels or AMLs. HMA acreage where BLM actively manages wild horses would be reduced by about 87 per...
Sweetwater County is prepared to combat the Corona virus according to the Sweetwater County Emergency Management. “Sweetwater County Emergency Management is in contact with the State Response Coordination Center (SRCC), as well as Sweetwater County Public Health and others as we monitor the situation,” said Judy Roderick, Sweetwater County Emergency Management Coordinator. “We are advising individuals to use the same preventative measures as they would with other viruses: wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds; avoid...
CASPER - At least three people died in a wreck involving 80-100 vehicles Sunday on Interstate 80, while a second crash on I-80 involving at least 30-40 vehicles occurred around the same time, just miles away. The larger crash came amid winter conditions on westbound I-80 at milepost 184 near Creston Junction. Videos posted to social media depict a chain-reaction wreck involving cars, trucks and tractor-trailers on icy roads with poor visibility. Three people are known to have died from that cras...
A historic land purchase Wyoming’s top officials are interested in pursuing could involve nearly 1,000 square miles of surface land in Sweetwater County. Last week, Gov. Mark Gordon announced the state was interested in buying land and mineral rights throughout southern Wyoming from Occidental Petroleum, which had acquired the land through its 2019 purchase of Anadarko Petroleum. The land was originally granted to the Union Pacific Railroad during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad, c...
ROCK SPRINGS (Wyoming News Exchange) — A former Green River resident who is serving multiple life terms for murder and attempted murder is alleging the mayor of Green River has violated his oath of office in not responding to letters seeking support in reopening one case. Steven Mitchell served Mayor Pete Rust with a commercial affidavit by certified letter on Nov. 25, 2019, requesting a response to a separate affidavit stating that during his trial at least one witness was coerced into testifying against him. Mitchell was convicted in W...
CHEYENNE — In what could be a historic step for Wyoming, Gov. Mark Gordon and several top lawmakers announced Monday the state will explore the possibility of buying a million acres of land owned by Occidental Petroleum Corporation in southern Wyoming. Occidental acquired the parcels after merging with the original owner of the land, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, last August. Much of the land lies along the Union Pacific Railroad, which runs across all of southern Wyoming. The governor discussed the possible purchase in a news conference M...
(Editor's note: This article has been corrected and updated to reflect that residents do not have to notarize their absentee ballots prior to sending them to the Sweetwater County Clerk's Office. The Green River Star apologizes for the error and any confusion it may have caused.) As the 2020 election season begins to heat up across the United States, the Sweetwater County Clerk’s Office is gearing up for local elections. “We want more people involved in elections,” Sweetwater County Clerk Cindy...
People will likely start seeing work at the future site of Love’s Travel Stop near Jamestown in April. According to Jim Zimmerman with the Sweetwater County Land Use Office, the company is working to provide the county with needed plans to start preparing the are for construction. Zimmerman said the company needs to submit documentation and its final site plans before construction can begin. However, there won’t be nay further comment periods or hearings because the county commissioners app...
From the Wyoming Department of Transportation As part of a county-wide, multi-agency Impaired Driving Enforcement Operation over Super Bowl weekend, Sweetwater County law enforcement stopped 67 vehicles and arrested four impaired drivers. For Super Bowl weekend, the focus was on impaired drivers, but area law enforcement also issued 9 speeding citations and issued 51 warnings for traffic violations. There were no fatal crashes reported in Sweetwater County over the weekend. Sweetwater County law enforcement agencies are conducting a county-wide...
The Sweetwater County commissioners approved and certified changes to the county’s zoning codes related to solar farms Tuesday morning. The codes were subject to a 45-day comment period. According to Eric Bingham, director of the county’s land use department, the county did not receive comments on the regulations. The changed codes force developers to approach and seek comment from area mines if the development would be placed upon land zoned for mining. It would also force developers to see...
The Sweetwater County commissioners approved two budget amendments aimed at funding local ambulance services. The county moved $150,500 from its cash carryover reserves to pay Castle Rock Hospital District for ambulance services starting in January and ending June 30. The commissioners also moved $296,640 from that same account to pay for services provided by Sweetwater Medics for the same time period....
The former director of the Sweetwater County Combined Communications Center and his wife were booked at the Sweetwater County Detention Center Monday. Robin Etienne, 50, of Ogden, Utah and his wife, Laura Etienne, 55, of Ogden, Utah, both face charges in Sweetwater County. Robin, the former director of the combined communications center, is charged with theft of an amount greater than $1,000, unlawful use of a credit card and wrongful appropriation of public property. Laura is charged with theft of an amount greater than $1,000 and unlawful...
The Bureau of Land Management will host an open house regarding the proposed Raven Solar Project west of Green River Feb. 13. The open house takes place 3-6 p.m., at the BLM’s Rock Springs Field Office, located at 280 U.S. Highway 191 North in Rock Springs. According to a press release from the BLM, Raven Solar, LLC filed right-of-way grant to operate a 66 megawatt facility along Wyoming Highway 372, near the existing Sweetwater Solar facility. “The project will include up to 341 acres of solar modules, inverters and battery energy storage sys...
The Wyoming Public Services Commission will host a public comment hearing in Rock Springs Jan. 29, continuing with its investigation into Rocky Mountain Power’s plan to retire two units at the Jim Bridger Power Plant. The hearing is scheduled to take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Rock Springs City Hall. Michelle Irwin, a local member of the Powder River Basin Resource Council, said the group is supportive of the process. “We want to ensure that rates and reliability are addressed ade...
A recent update to software and services used by the Sweetwater County Clerk’s Office allows users to seek information without paying for it. The county recently upgraded its online database to the iDoc Market because service and support for its previous iteration was going to be discontinued, according to Sweetwater County Clerk Cindy Lane. Lane’s office has come under fire in recent months because of the move, as critics claim the upgraded service forces users to subscribe to a service for...
After it fired an employee who saved ducks from oilfield ponds near Rock Springs, Dominion Energy said it will strive to “better protect” animals that run perilously afoul of its facilities. Dominion will work with wildlife officials to “expeditiously implement additional measures” to better protect animals that bypass existing deterrents at deadly oilfield facilities, a vice president wrote. She posted her statement Jan. 9 after WyoFile first reported Dominion fired employee Adam Roich who said he had saved 50 waterfowl during five years w...
From Western Wyoming Community College Western Wyoming Community College will host Scottish Burns Night on Jan. 25 from 2-4 p.m., in the Rock Springs campus atrium. Scottish Burns Night is a traditional birthday celebration of the Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns. Robert Burns penned classic poems such as Address to a Haggis and Auld Lang Syne. Western will host its own Burns night to celebrate the poet’s life and work, as well as the culture and traditions of Scotland. Savor the sounds of live bagpipe music and the taste of haggis, a d...
The Sweetwater County Commissioners elected a new chairman for the group Tuesday morning, opting to give the role to Commissioner Randy Wendling. Commissioner Wally Johnson was the previous chairman for the group, serving in 2019 and during a majority of the 2010s. While speaking about the role, Commissioners Roy Lloyd, Jeffery Smith and Lauren Schoenfeld announced they were not interested in the role. Johnson opened his statements by saying the role traditionally was voted on after an election...
Recent charges for use of the county’s iDoc records system has created escalating tensions between realtors and Sweetwater County, with one realtor having retained an attorney to represent her. According to a press release on the Sweetwater County Clerk’s Office website, the system was upgraded to allow people to view and print county records form their home or office. The record include mortgages, land records, liens, warranty deeds, as well as other land records. “ There are no public recor...
Dominion Energy fired an oilfield worker in Rock Springs after the employee saved an estimated 50 waterfowl from wastewater ponds. Adam Roich said he’s rescued about that many waterfowl in the last five years after they landed in tainted ponds at his worksite about 50 miles south of Rock Springs. He would take the oil-slicked birds to a company facility, wash them with Dawn household soap, warm them in his truck, then set them free on clean water, he told WyoFile in an interview. “I got fired a couple days before Christmas for rescuing these gu...
In some 50 years of working as a sage grouse scientist, Clait Braun has seen it all. He’s witnessed the adoption of conservation plans, their subsequent dilution, the loss and degradation of sage grouse habitat, the waxing and waning of populations. He even helped discover and document a new species — the Gunnison sage grouse, distinguished by its inordinately long neck plumage — in the late 1990s. He’s so highly regarded that courts accept his descriptions of species’ health and status as expert testimony. Over the decades, Braun has battl...
The year saw many new faces taking office within the county. New county commissioners, a new sheriff, a new county clerk, and county assessor took their oath of office at the beginning of the year. However, not all county vacancies were a result of the 2018 election. Don Van Matre, a respected member of the board of county commissioners, died after a long battle with cancer. Issues impacting the county included a debate about a truck stop proposal outside of Jamestown and an increase in the...
A dispute over a portion of a public records request made by Sen. Tom James (R-Rock Springs) has led the senator to question a delay Superintendent Jillian Balow made this week. James requested a list of names, positions and salaries of every school district employee in Wyoming on Nov. 27. The request was approved by the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office, but received criticism from educators throughout the state. In an email addressed to James, dated Dec. 19, Balow said both her office and the...
Changes to the county’s industrial solar permitting rules, which would force developers to seek comments from the trona industry and state agencies like the Wyoming Game and Fish Department were approved by the Sweetwater County commissioners Tuesday in a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Wally Johnson was absent from the meeting. The changes come after issues arose during the Sweetwater Solar permitting process. A second solar facility, Raven Solar, is proposed near the current Sweetwater Solar location....
