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As you can see, we’ve made a lot of changes in the past week. The biggest change being the format of the newspaper itself. Starting this week, the Star will be printed in Jackson at the same press which prints the Jackson Hole News & Guide. The News & Guide is not only one of the best newspapers in Wyoming, but in the nation and part of that comes from the high-quality press work involved in printing the newspaper. We’re excited to be able to work with the crew at Teton Media Works. The page size has gotten shorter as a result, but tha...
The $1.9 trillion stimulus plan’s full implications for Wyoming are too numerous and nuanced to know yet, but the import of one facet is already clear: The roughly $1.3 billion it provides Wyoming’s state, county and local governments will go a long way toward alleviating their current fiscal crises. President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act into law last week and the details of this latest federal stimulus are finally emerging. Observers are already making comparisons to the CARES Act passed just under a year ago. Many que...
Wyoming is the most beautiful, wonderful place in the country. I’m honored to be from here, and even more honored to be a voice for the greatest state in the United States Senate. I’m also humbled to be the first woman to serve as U.S. Senator for the Equality State. However, this position isn’t about me. It’s about you. I tell my staff that I want us to be “All Wyoming, all the time.” While I have the privilege of serving as your Senator I am committed to making sure that we do everything we can to make your voices heard in Washington....
Not all tax bills are created equal. Some increase the amount of money flowing into the state’s coffers with new taxes, higher rates or repealed exemptions. Others, however, reduce the state’s income with new exemptions and credits or lower rates. Few will be surprised to learn that the latter far outnumber the former in a typical Wyoming legislative session. But this year is far from typical. Wyoming is wrestling with a historic revenue crisis and many of the state’s cornerstone industries remain on the ropes. How has that affected lawma...
By Jill Kruse, D.O. The Prairie Doc Whenever someone is admitted to the hospital, they are asked to stipulate their “code status.” Levels of code status include full code, meaning resuscitate and intubate if required; as well as various combinations of do not resuscitate (DNR) and do not intubate (DNI). In simple terms, a code status clarifies what you want the medical team to do in the event your heart stops or if your heart goes into a rhythm that is not compatible with life. This question is often interpreted as follows: if you are abo...
Do you know anyone who had influenza this past year? Chances are you do not. Sure, plenty of people had the “stomach flu” with vomiting and diarrhea, otherwise known as gastroenteritis. Some people had colds and others had COVID-19. But cases of influenza this season have been exceptionally low. Starting a year ago, when someone came to my clinic with symptoms of influenza, including fevers, chills, muscle aches, or respiratory symptoms, we tested for both COVID-19 and for influenza. At first, every COVID-19 test was negative while many influen...
As a longtime resident of Rock Springs, I was disturbed to find out that a coyote killing contest is being organized in my town. So along with a few friends I decided to protest it. We held signs outside Buddha Bob’s Bar at the Sands on third, fourth, fifth and sixth of February. A group called Wyoming Best of the Best has organized this contest. In this contest participants completed for cash and prizes to see who can kill the most coyotes in one day. There are 2 main reasons why we want these events to be banned. The first one is these c...
Some hefty matters await Wyoming lawmakers when they reconvene March 1 for the final stage of this most unconventional 2021 legislative session. The supplemental budget bill looms large, and with good reason: The state is in the midst of a historic revenue crisis and a number of difficult cuts will have to be made. But for pure law-making nuance, political complexity and long-lasting impact, perhaps no forthcoming sausage will be meatier than House Bill 61- School finance recalibration. Recalibration happens every five years — at the end and t...
“Tis funny about th’ constitution,” said Mr. Dooley, the legendary, philosophical Irish bartender created by Finley Peter Dunne. “It reads plain, but no wan can undherstant it without an interpreter.” The Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the Constitution, but since the dawn of the republic, Americans have engaged in spirited, often heated, debates – constitutional conversations – about how it should interpret the Constitution. This is not surprising for a nation whose revolutionary origins lay in fundamental disputes with England...
Do you want to know what your city, county and school districts are up to? As a responsible taxpayer and citizen of your community, of course you want to keep an eye on what these governments are undertaking. Where do you go for that information? Do you spend your day logging into the county’s website to find what your county commissioners did about county roads at their last meeting, but can’t find anything about it in their meeting minutes? Next you switch over to the town’s website so you can read about changes in garbage pick-up days and r...
State should not follow Utah’s education example Dear Editor, This is an open letter to the Wyoming Legislature. My name is Drew Roska. I am originally from Salt Lake City and attended elementary, junior high and high school in the Salt Lake valley. All of my alma maters, including my high school, have closed since I was there due to cuts in funding. I grew up waiting for public transit with my teachers so they could go to their second jobs. I watched them trade in their chalk and erasers for backpack vacuums so they could clean the school f...
It’s hard to find good news whenever the COVID-19 pandemic is concerned. It’s an event that has completely changed our lives and what we consider “normal,” at least for the time being. During a regular update to local leaders by Sweetwater County Health Officer Dr. Jean Stachon Monday, a lot of good news was shared. Infection rates continue to trend downward and, thankfully, the COVID-19 variants haven’t been found within the county. More people have received vaccines than have been infected with COVID-19 and vaccination opportuni...
Many people are familiar with the classic Abbott and Costello comedy skit “Who’s on First?” For those who are not familiar, the routine is a hilarious interaction between the two comedians as they discuss players on a baseball team while using confusing references such as “who’s on first” and “what’s on second.” The audience can see that Abbott believes he is clearly communicating the player names to Costello, but it digresses into a laughable experience of misunderstanding and frustration for both parties. The men become increasingly angr...
(Publisher's note: the following column was written for our annual 'Things We Love' section.) It's hard to believe one of the best art collections in the Western United States actually exists in our backyard. Yet, it's true and is easily viewable at its home in Rock Springs. The Community Fine Arts Center in Rock Springs displays hundreds of pieces owned by Sweetwater County School District No. 1. Both the collection and the CFAC itself owe their existence to a man and his desire to share his...
(Publisher's note: the following column was written for our annual 'Things We Love' section.) The Green River Fire Department is a service that has done a lot in the community. While the same can be said of any fire department anywhere, the firefighters in Green River have shown they're committed to the community and Green River is better from it. More importantly, they're deserving of our trust. The last year hasn't been kind to the department. It's unfortunate the department was rocked by an...
This is perhaps an interesting thing I find myself doing in a time that seems to be marked with never ending problems and few answers in sight. My name is Ryan Desmond for those who have been in the community for quite some time, My grandparents owned the Desmond Motel In Green River. I grew up in Green River and after my enlistment with the Marines ended, I came back home. I enrolled at Western Wyoming Community College in 2018, setting out to start my education on the right foot. The truth is I struggled in school as a kid (I graduated in 200...
Some favorite places around Laramie to access public lands have become, for a few, places of trauma and danger. Since mid-November six dogs became entangled in neck snares or held in terror by foot-hold traps. That is, six cases in an eight-week period. If we broaden the time frame to include February of 2020, less than 12 months ago, we can add another. Except for one, all were on public land and at least half set illegally. The one case on private land occurred early December 2020 and involved a foot-hold trap that lacked an identification...
Dear Editor, It must be difficult to call a press conference and suggest that President Biden’s ban on gas and oil permits is a “crushing blow” to Wyoming, when not so long ago, Mark Gordon was aligned with some of the most radical environmental groups in the country whose mission was to destroy fossil fuels. Now that he is largely responsible for balancing Wyoming’s budget, I wonder if he has started to realize how important fossil fuels are to Wyoming and its people. It is hard for me to discern if he is regretful of his past allianc...
Dear Editor, I am writing this letter in response to the article headlined, “WWCC leaders to select 15 to layoff” published in the January 27, 2021 edition of the Green River Star. I was misrepresented regarding my concerns about the upcoming layoffs at Western and would like to clarify what I brought up at the board meeting. I am a former employee of more than 12 years at Western Wyoming Community College. I resigned from my position in December 2020. I had a wonderful career and loved the work we did. However, after assessing some things I re...
Wyoming’s public schools have long been a subject of derision for many Republican state lawmakers who claim they underperform. If such scrutiny leads to the constant improvement of our K-12 system, then I’m all for it. But that’s not the solution the Legislature is considering. Instead, a committee charged with determining how much the state spends on education wants to cut funding by an estimated $250 million over the next three years. That’s like complaining of a headache and then “solving” the problem by cutting off your head. If the topi...
Wyoming has a revenue problem. That’s something we can all agree on. The continued reliance on the mineral extraction has put several state services at risk as legislators scramble to find ways to cut costs without increased taxation or other “revenue enhancers” that would bring more funding into the state coffers. We’re certain their efforts won’t be enough, even if they go as far as cutting $100 million from education spending and bait the state’s school districts into a lawsuit in the process. A reader sent us a rough outline creating wh...
President Trump now has the dubious distinction of being the only President to have been impeached twice, this time for “incitement of insurrection. There was no due process or presenting of facts, just representatives stating opinions. This was a personality contest — and he lost. The U.S. Supreme Court’s unsigned opinion, handed down in 1969, stated advocacy could be punished only “where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action.” Did President Trump’s speech meet that high bar? Apparently, it is OK for Vice...
By now, even casual observers recognize that Wyoming’s near single-minded reliance on mineral revenues leaves the state vulnerable to wild swings of boom-and-bust volatility and makes funding the basic functions of government a dicey proposition in bust times like these. What readers may not realize, however, is that other states with similar economies and political environments have figured out how to avoid putting all their eggs in one basket. Take West Virginia for example. Wyoming and West Virginia each have claimed coal as one of their m...
The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic led to a lot of event postponements or changes worldwide and our little corner of it in Sweetwater County was no exception. Flaming Gorge Days, International Day, high school graduations, River Festival; the summer was quieter for sure. Initially, our belief was that this summer would take place in a vastly different environment where everything would largely be back to normal. We could enjoy the summertime events we missed out on last year would return and we could generally have a good time celebrating the end of...
I have probably made the jog from my house to the work at the college and/or back home, legitimately 500 times over the last couple years. I have run Grant Street so many times, I might actually have every crack in the sidewalk memorized. However, every time I run up, or down, it’s not only different, but it’s always still hard. Some days when I run, the wind is blowing (as it does often in Rock Springs). Some days it’s cold. Some days there is snow and it is slick. In the summer, some days are pretty warm. Some days my body is feeling prett...
