Sorted by date Results 626 - 650 of 1667
I covered the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees for six years in the 1990s, through turbulent times that included academic and athletic program eliminations, proposed facility closures and controversies over academic freedom. Those challenges of yesteryear all pale compared to the recent bungled firing of UW President Laurie Nichols. The board chose not to renew the three-year contract of Nichols, who took the job in the wake of turmoil. The South Dakota native came to UW when the institution was facing a serious financial crisis. She...
During his recent visit to the Genesis Alkali facility, Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., mentioned the association health plan idea he worked on with Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta. However, a federal judge has ruled against the plan and in the words of the Washington Post, placed some companies in limbo. This is an unfortunate event because we think the idea is promising for a sparsely-populated state like Wyoming. The association health care idea allows similar businesses to pool together for health insurance coverage and retirement plans. While...
I want to share a story. My oldest daughter Aly graduated a couple of years ago from Western. Then she worked at Western, while still taking a couple of classes after graduation. For her own reasons, she needed some time off before pursuing her bachelor’s degree. This January, she left Rock Springs for California and now lives 710 miles from me. This is hard because even though she is 22 years old, she will always be my little girl. This semester, Aly is taking a history class, two psychology classes and a math class as she pursues her psycholo...
The world of radiology began in 1895 when a European physicist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed fluorescence behind heavy cardboard when a cathode tube was activated nearby. Röntgen used his wife’s hand to demonstrate for the first time how these unknown rays, or X-rays, could penetrate the soft tissue of her hand and illustrate the bones that lay within. Röntgen generously refused to patent his discovery, which allowed the explosive growth and development of a new industry. Unfortunately, researchers were unaware of the dangers of too much X-ray expo...
Given the context of our relatively short lives on this beautiful world we live on, it’s hard to think of a lot occurring within our lifetimes as being truly historic. It has been said that each generation has a defining historical event occurring during their prime developmental years. Think about the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the assassination of John F. Kennedy or the entirety of the Vietnam War. For people my age, that event will most likely be the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the World...
Several years ago, in what was widely hailed as a tremendous achievement, most of the Wyoming Range was protected from oil and gas drilling. Dozens of oil and gas leases, issued during the 1990s and 2000s, were purchased and retired, and Congress passed legislation withdrawing the area from further leasing. It was a success story, achieved only through years of dogged activism from sportsmen, conservationists, and local officials, along with willing leadership from Wyoming’s congressional delegation. But the Wyoming Range is as much a c...
Recently Peggy, an Indiana woman and reader of this column, sent me a lengthy email about her 94-year-old mother who is rapidly spending down her minimal savings to pay for prescription drugs. Peggy didn’t hold out much hope that prices would come down before it was too late for her mom. But she succeeded in lowering her mom’s drug costs and what she learned along the way can be helpful to others strapped by high pharmaceutical bills. Her mother is typical of many women in old age who have only a tiny financial cushion to absorb the con...
As our readers are likely happy to note, much of the snow that has accumulated in Green River during the past few months has mostly melted away. Local temperatures are warm enough during the day to enjoy a couple of hours outside without a winter coat, or even a light jacket. This had us thinking about springtime in Green River and how residents should celebrate the end of a cold winter. In Green River, there isn’t a public opportunity to celebrate the end of winter. Of course, springtime in Wyoming may bring the odd snowstorm as late as e...
I remember running into Allan Wilson at Smith’s a few years ago. He had been a member of the Green River City Council for a year or so at that point. He was on his way out and I was going in to grab a quick lunch. We exchanged pleasantries and he talked about how he planned to work on his cabin later that week. We shook hands and parted ways. He greeted me last week at the Sweetwater County Courthouse prior to his sentencing hearing. This time, the exchange was much different. He looked at me a...
Ms. A. was in the bagel shop line and told the server she was allergic to peanuts. The server reassured her there were no peanuts in the bagel but was unaware some peanut butter was left on the knife from an earlier sandwich. After a few bites of the bagel, Ms. A.’s face and lips started swelling, she itched all over, slipped off her chair, vomited and fell flat losing consciousness. When the ambulance arrived the emergency team kept her flat, gave an intramuscular injection into her thigh muscle of epinephrine (also known as adrenalin), t...
If you purchase an item from Amazon, they will, in what appears to be a modern miracle, deliver it your door, even in the remotest part of Wyoming, within a day or two. If you don’t like it, an even bigger miracle takes place. When the courier comes to retrieve the item, in that same box Amazon sent it you, the courier scans it at your door, for delivery back to Amazon and you are instantaneously refunded the money. Amazon might be getting an empty box when they credit you, no questions asked. But that’s no miracle - their business model is...
A dear friend of mine needs some help in locating someone here in Green River. Harry Holler, who many of you know, has been on a selfless mission at least since I met him 10 years ago. His mission is to recognize our local loved ones who are serving in any branch of the military. Through his efforts, Harry makes sure that our soldiers are provided with proper recognition for their service, oftentimes during our City Council meetings. Additionally, over the past 10 years since I met him, Harry has also worked with the schools and the city of...
I read a passage in a book recently, describing mood contagion. Mood contagion says that when a person walks in the room, we can automatically sense if they are sad, angry, anxious, or upset and unless we are very mindful, their negative mood can overtake ours. Similarly, if we are happy or joyful, we can project that to others. I agree completely. Many times I have heard myself say, “Oh man, it’s Monday,” or “the weather is awful,” when really I should be saying, “I get to go to work and support my family,” or “After work, the kids and I reall...
For Wyoming Waste Systems, a lot of the headache over recycling could have been avoided with a simple statement. “Due to circumstances beyond our control, recyclable materials collected by Wyoming Waste Systems’ curbside recycling program in Green River will be sent to the Rock Springs Landfill until further notice. We are working to alleviate the situation as quickly as possible and remain committed to recycling in Green River. We will update residents when we’re able to provide recycling services again.” However, after we published an arti...
College is expensive. This is something that is common knowledge at this point, which is why it’s hard for me to believe the county hasn’t received a lot of applications for its scholarships in the past. The Sweetwater County Commissioners are once again seeking applications from Sweetwater County high school students who are going to graduate with the class of 2019. Commissioner Randy Wendling said the Commissioners will give three $1,000 scholarships to three applicants. Wendling said he was...
Medicare has just announced it is penalizing more than 700 of the nation’s hospitals because they have higher rates of patient safety mishaps, which the government and patient advocacy groups have been trying for years to prevent. What are those incidents that have resulted in a one percent cut in a hospital’s Medicare payments over the year? They are mistakes you wouldn’t want to have happen to you or a family member, things like infections caused by incisions made during colon surgeries and hysterectomies, by urinary catheters and by centr...
It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. The image, depicting a distorted human face, with bulging eyes, long black hair, a deformed nose and a mouth seemingly crossed between a bird beak and a human’s, is something that will stick with a person long after they’ve seen it. On face value, Momo and its challenge were a perfect internet panic storm geared to alarm parents. The Momo Challenge has since been dubbed a hoax, but it initial scare perfectly illustrates how the collective id of the internet can take something and run with it. For those...
We’ve written a lot about economic development in this newspaper. So much so it’s a common theme for both news and opinion. Economic development is an important activity for both the city and Sweetwater County to engage in, as it means more business activity, more opportunity and more commercial options for everyone. It also means more sales tax, which is a benefit for both cities because city budgets are mainly funded through sales tax. This brings us to the conditional use permit application Love’s Travel Stops recently filed for its propo...
(Publisher’s note: The Prairie Doc is a new health column offered to us from the Wyoming Press Association. Let us know if you enjoy it.) My good friend, a single man in his 60s, didn’t like going to the medical clinic for anything, let alone a cold. His illness started with a fever, aches all over and a sudden overabundance of mucus. After one or two days of those obvious viral symptoms, for which we have no good therapy, he got better, except he acquired a new dry hacky cough. Initially he did what he should have and stopped going to wor...
I thought my days of going without a shower for a few days was over when both of my children were in elementary school. I was wrong. Recently, I rediscovered this feeling when my two sons and I got terrible colds. For my youngest son, John, it didn’t start as a cold, but something else. He had a fever, was tired, extremely needy, dizzy and weak. The poor thing. It makes me sad when he is like that. Almost every hour for two days, I changed his ice pack for his head upon request and catered to h...
If you’ve been wondering why there’s been so much talk of budget negotiations in the Legislature this year — a supposedly non-budget year — you’re not alone. During my 12 years of service in the House, I sensed that the most difficult aspect of state government for the general public to get a good grasp on was the state budget. The same was true for many legislators. Typical citizens perhaps know the Legislature meets annually. They may also realize every other year is a “budget session.” The 2019 session, as in all odd-numbered years, is ref...
With the myriad of bills being debated within the Wyoming Legislature, we’re happy to see one make its way through that will benefit local governments utilizing their special purpose taxes. House Bill 95 was sent to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk Friday and would allow governments to use excess special use sales tax revenues after the voter-approved projects are completed. One of the difficulties with a special purpose tax like the sixth penny improvement projects tax used in Sweetwater County is the fact that the tax cannot end until after the ent...
The pursuit of a sensible public policy for wind power in Wyoming has become an unsettled, decade-long saga. Most other states in the region have already figured out how to appropriately regulate and tax wind resources, but it seems Wyoming inherently deals with a more complex set of circumstances. We can trace this, in large part, to the perceived conflict between wind and the state’s primary breadwinner — the mineral industry. Coal, oil and natural gas together have combined as the basic economic engines and financiers of public services in...
Whether celebrating a relationship or longing for something more, Valentine’s Day has a way of turning our heads and hearts to finding that special someone. In today’s world, it is perfectly acceptable to go looking through online dating sites, social media, and mobile apps in search of love. While these sites and apps can be a great place to meet people, it is important to recognize that not everyone is who they say they are online. The FBI tells us that reports of romance scams have grown from around 5,000 in 2012 to nearly 15,000 in 201...
Losing Green River’s Shopko Hometown store was certainly a blow to many residents throughout the city, but we believe the city will ultimately thrive once a new business makes use of the property. The space has long been a spot for a small-scale department store. Prior to Shopko, the building was a Pamida, which retained the name until 2013 after Shopko completed a merger with the company. In our view, the location is perfect for the same commercial use it has seen under Shopko and Pamida. It isn’t hard to see a Hobby Lobby or Target occupying...
