Week of September 24, 2026
Week of September 24, 2026
In 2022, Wyoming First Lady Jennie Gordon launched the Fair to Fork program in partnership with Wyoming 4-H and FFA members as part of the Wyoming Hunger Initiative. The program purchases pigs as secondary pigs from one participant in each Wyoming county to donate to a local food organization of their choice. The selection is made through a lottery system and the participants are paid $750 for their animal. Hot Springs County 4-H member Sawyer Wilson was selected to participate this year. He...
Thermopolis Rotary Club joined 'hands' with the Themopolis FFA club of Hot Springs High School. The rotary club recently received a district grant to purchase 40 prosthetic hand kits for amputees in under served communities around the world. The Rotary Club and the FFA club, headed by Britton Van Heule, met September 15 at the high school to assemble the hands. The activity taught the groups how to communicate, problem solve, divide responsibilities and assemble a functional prosthetic hand....
The Board of Directors of the Thermopolis - Hot Springs County Chamber of Commerce held their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 17. Without a quorum present, the board was unable to take any decisions upon action items on its agenda, and was left to address just informational matters. Chamber Director Cindy Sampson stated that she had tendered her resignation and that her last day would be September 25, 2026. Sampson has only been with the Chamber for a short few months, having taken over the position when long-time Director Meri...
by John Bernhisel For some hunters, a successful deer, elk or antelope season means a freezer full of carefully wrapped meat and meals planned for months ahead. For others, the reward is the hunt itself: time in Wyoming’s mountains and fields, the challenge of filling a tag and the experience shared with family or friends. They may want a few steaks or a backstrap, but not an entire animal. Out-of-state hunters, meanwhile, may face the expense and inconvenience of getting hundreds of pounds of meat home. The Food from the Field Initiative...
The Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees met on Thursday, September 17 for their regular monthly meeting. District Superintendent Dr. Jason Fuss recognized several district employees who had recently achieved credentialing in the district. Among those acknowledged for their hard work were Maryn Hillman, Alisa Martinez, Mike Mascorro, Alan Rossler, Ally Bohleen and Maggie Wambeke. Fuss also raised the issue of once again producing a podcast for the school district, which had been done in the past, but not recently. Student...
The Thermopolis Town Council held Regular meetings this month on September 1 and September 15. The council approved a Notice to Proceed with the upcoming chip seal project, which will involve some traffic delays as the work progresses. The project will begin on 5th Street on September 23, weather permitting. Crews start at Arapahoe Street and work north on 5th Street toward Park Street. They will then skip the block of 5th Street between Arapahoe and Broadway and pick the project back up south of Broadway, continuing south. They will then...
The Thermopolis Chapter of Hunting with Heroes Wyoming will be hosting disabled veterans from around the nation for the Annual Antelope Hunt this weekend. Each year expert guides, generous tag donors, kind landowners and scores of additional volunteers work together to honor our heroes with a large dose of g hospitality. VFW Post 2281 serves as home base throughout the hunt weekend. Saturday, Sept. 26 is hunting day followed by an evening of fun and storytelling at the VFW. Hunting with Heroes Wyoming has been hosting hunts for disabled...
by Allison Allsop Casper StarTribune via Wyoming News Exchange Nearly $30 million could be added to Wyoming’s public education funding next year as lawmakers weigh how much more the state should spend to keep pace with rising costs. The potential increase came into focus Sept. 15, when the Wyoming Joint Education and Joint Appropriations committees met to review the state’s K-12 education resource block grant, the funding model used to determine how much money Wyoming’s public schools receive. The timing is significant. Wyoming...
The Bighorn River is an amazing fishery that can be fished year-round for big healthy Browns, Rainbows and an occasional Cutthroat Trout. Fishing the river from a drift boat is advised as it is a large river. There is limited public access. In the spring the river gets pretty busy. Winter can be a great time to fish the Bighorn with little to no crowds. In summer, anglers can count on moss but some great dry fly fishing. Fall can be a magical time on the river with cooler temps, less moss and fish chasing streamers. This summer, a long period...
From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers Gas, diesel prices continue to rise; gas up another 10 cents in Wyoming CHEYENNE (WNE) — Average gasoline prices in Wyoming have risen 10.1 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $4.49 a gallon Monday, according to a GasBuddy.com survey of 494 stations in the state. Prices in Wyoming are 17.7 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand $1.41 a gallon higher than a year ago. The national average price of diesel has increased 30.7 cents compared with a week ago and stands at $6.49 a gallon....
On Saturday, Sept. 26 the Thermopolis Farmers & Artisans Market will have cooking demonstrations from 10:30-11:30 a.m. and provide free samples to the public. Market vendor Red Canyon Bison Ranch will demonstrate how to grill bison kabobs and a second grill will be used to grill garden produce from vendor Empty Nest Garden and the Thermopolis Community Garden’s Grow A Little Extra program. The public is invited to watch and enjoy samples until they’re gone. The raffle basket drawing will be the following Saturday, October 3 at 10 a.m....
Democratic candidates to visit Thermopolis On Thursday, September 24, Democratic candidate for US Senate James Byrd and Democratic candidate for US House Lisa Kinney will be in Thermopolis at Storyteller from 2-4 p.m. to visit with voters about their concerns. Both candidates are multi-generational Wyomingites who previously served in the Wyoming State Legislature for multiple terms. Byrd will face off with current incumbent Senator Harriet Hageman, and US House Candidate Lisa Kinney is challenging current Secretary of State Chuck Gray in the...
At the Hot Springs County Commissioner’s September 15 regular meeting, the primary agenda item was to review a draft Request for Proposal (RFP) agreement to outsource the position of county planner. The position is currently held by County Planner Les Culliton. Commissioner Paul Galovich opened the discussion stating that he had received three letters in support of Culliton and opposing the outsourcing of his position. The letters had been penned by Hot Springs County Clerk Becky Karsten, District Court Clerk Kris McNeff and County Attorney...
The Hot Springs County High School Lady Cats volleyball team co-hosted the Western Wyoming Challenge Tournament last weekend, with games played on Friday and Saturday in both Greybull and Thermopolis. Seven teams competed in the Thermopolis schedule. On Friday morning, the Lady Cats first took on Ft. Washakie and came away with a 2-0 win by scores of 25-11 and 25-10. In the afternoon, the team was pitted against Wyoming Indian. After dropping a really close first set (27-29), the Lady Cats...
The Hot Springs County High School Bobcats played their first away game of the season last Friday in Cokeville. In a game of two ranked teams in the 2A West Conference, the battle was evenly matched and grueling. Thermopolis came in to the game ranked #3, while Cokeville sat in a two-way tie with Lovell at #5 in the week’s rankings. In the first quarter, the two teams slugged away like heavy weight fighters, with the defenses consistently pushing both offenses into punting situations. Early in the second quarter Cokeville scored a...
The Wyoming high school cross country season hit the half-way point last week and headed into the second half of the short season. The Hot Springs County High School cross country teams ran in the Lander Invitational at the Lander Community & Conference Center on September 17. For the Lady Cats, sophomore Jakae Elder set a new personal record for the second week in a row. Running a time of 21:45.85, Elder finished 11th in the over-all standings. Junior Mimi Johnson ran a time of 25:55.33. Ava Tapia of Worland finished first in the girls...
Last Thursday, the Thermopolis Middle School cross country team competed at the Lander Invitational held at the Community & Convention Center/Golf Course. For the boys team, Thermopolis finished in 6th place with 14 other schools attending. The girls team placed 6th out of 8 schools. This week, the team will be in Worland on Friday, Sept. 25 at the Green Hills Golf Course with the girls race at 2 p.m. and the boys race at 2:30 p.m. Boys Archer Jenks, 6th place, 11:25.30; Wyatt Johnson, 12:52.70; Aksel Polson, 13:02.60; Levi Logan, 13:03.30;...
Even with rain and cloudy skies, the Hot Springs County Airport Fly-in was well attended on Saturday. Breakfast was served from 7 a.m.-11 a.m. and attendees were able to get in out of the...
Red Dirt Master Gardeners select the garden of Melene Mierzewski as the garden of the month for...
Hikers make their way along the Spirit Trail during the Hot Springs State Park Veteran's Hike led by Interpretive Ranger Katie Singleton last...
Steam rises from the water as it leaves the Big Spring in Hot Springs State...
A brown praying mantis explores vegetation along a fence as dew droplets glimmer in the light. Praying mantis eat harmful garden bugs and are completely harmless to...
Hot Springs County High School Homecoming week is set for Sept. 28-Oct. 3. Each school in the district will host dress up days and other events through out the week. On Thursday, Oct. 1 the Buff Puff and Powder Puff games will be held beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the high school gym and on the football field. Friday, Oct. 2 the homecoming parade will make its way through downtown beginning at 10 a.m. The FFA dinner will be at 4 p.m. at the high school and the varsity homecoming game against Pinedale will kick off at 6 p.m. To be included in the...
Next week is homecoming week for the Bobcats. Please see the insert in this paper for details on the parade, game and more. There is also a story on page 13 with more information. Homecoming is community event. Who doesn’t love a parade? This one features our homecoming royalty, Bobcat and Lady Bobcat athletes and more. Be sure to come out and cheer on your Bobcats as they take on Pinedale for their homecoming game on Friday, Oct. 2. Remember there will be celebration blasts following each home team...
by John Bernhisel Apps and controllers, adapters and SD cards, usernames and passwords, verification codes and security questions. Unless you are 14 years old, I’m not sure there is any way to keep track of all of it. I hate being that guy with a little gray in his hair yelling, “May I please speak to a human?” into the support line for my bank, hoping the computer will finally give up and connect me to one. And don’t even get me started on appliances that are smarter than I am. All of this got me thinking about the other end of the...
by Dr. Kelly Evans Hullinger Too many people know the pain of having shingles. Shingles, or Zoster, occurs when a Herpes virus, the same one which caused chicken pox in childhood, reemerges from dormancy in a spinal nerve. Symptoms include nerve pain and tingling followed by an eruption of a blistery red rash over the distribution following that nerve. Typically the rash of shingles lasts up to a couple of weeks, but for some patients the associated nerve pain can continue and even be permanent, a condition known as post-herpetic neuralgia. A...
by John Bernhisel Questions 1. Rounded to the nearest 50 miles, what is the diagonal distance from the northwest corner of Wyoming to the southeast corner? 2. The border between which two countries forms the longest international border on Earth? 3. What do these early computer abbreviations stand for: AOL, DOS, and CD-ROM? 4. Why did Disney change the title of its 1994 animated film from King of the Jungle to The Lion King? 5. According to Revelation 4:4, how many thrones were surrounding the one central throne? Fun Facts Each year, the...
Roger L. Shaffer, beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother and friend passed away on September 15, 2026. He was born on May 30, 1946, in Milwaukee, Wis., to Betty and Clifford Shaffer. He lived a life filled with hard work, service, family, adventure and a deep love for the outdoors. Roger was drafted into the United States Army and proudly served his country during the Vietnam War. For his service and sacrifice, he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Soldiers Medal, an...
On the Record policy It is the Thermopolis Independent Record’s policy that all people arrested or cited under the “Sheriff’s office” or “Police department” in the On the Record section are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. We print the names of all people upon their initial arrest. Names of minors are not printed. Sheriff’s office Tuesday, Sept. 15 Unknown time: Aaron Marcus was arrested for alleged possession of a controlled substance, child where meth is stored, ingested or possessed and manufacturing...
