Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 553 - 577 of 671
At the March 2 Hot Springs County Commissioner meeting, Public Health Nurse Tricia McPhie gave her report of local COVID vaccinations and her goals of getting more doses available to the public. This would include more new people receiving their first doses and also having others receive their second dose. There are still people on the waiting list. Chairman Tom Ryan asked McPhie, “Do you think you have vaccinated the majority of people over 70 years old?” McPhie paused and then replied, “I...
At the February Hot Springs Health Board meeting, CEO Margie Molitor introduced to the board Caroline St. Charles, who is a Heath Tech consultant working as a Chief Clinical Officer. Molitor said, “She is the guru for all of the conditions of participation and compliance, quality, credentialing, anything that has to do with the patient. She is the expert. She is here and doing a mock survey.” St. Charles said that the last mock survey was approximately three years ago. She explained that hos...
T-O Engineers held their second public meeting at the Hot Springs County Annex Building on February 25 to update on the Master Plan for the new county airport. All three commissioners were present along with a former commissioner, other participating members, and others who are pilots or users of the airport. Traci Hodgins is the project manager of the aviation master plan and presented an hour-long slideshow giving the public a lot of data and showing the process of their methodologies that go...
At the Thermopolis Town Council meeting on February 16, treasurer Tracey Van Heule presented a resolution for a budget adjustment for some unanticipated revenues and expenditures. One key element to the adjustment was from police chief Julie Mathews who was able to receive a grant from Homeland Security for $134,884.78. This money went to provide the department with new portable radios and upgrade the second console in the dispatch office. There were some other small revenue items such as from t...
At the Hot Springs County Commissioners meeting on February 16, the commissioners voted and approved the COVID Charitable Organization Funding Requests for HOPE Agency, Sleep in Heavenly Peace, HSC 4-H, Gottsche Foundation, H Diamond W, Hunting With Heroes, Friends of the Library and the VFW. Chairman Tom Ryan added to the requests that they send a letter for their awards that they are relying on them that their application with the state is correct and that they would be responsible for...
At the Travel and Tourism Board meeting on February 17, treasurer Matt Hughes presented the financial report. He said that all COVID money has been spent and the report is strictly non-COVID-related expenses. For the past month, they spent $19,420 and had an income of $8,409.30. This was down 24% from last year in the same month, but still in the average ballpark historically. Also, there is currently $62,543 remaining in carryover funds. Director Jackie Dorothy gave her report and said they...
At February Chamber of Commerce meeting on February 11, executive director Meri Ann Rush said that their city/county maps participation will be extended to February 15. This extension was due to Rush being out in January. The map usually is available at the end of April because the peak tourist season starts around May 1. These maps are a fundraiser for the chamber. In new business, the chamber will be preparing their nomination forms for the 2020 Business / Citizen and Non-Profit Organization...
At the February 2 Thermopolis Town council meeting, the council voted to approve a bar and grill liquor license for the new Mexican restaurant Los Cabos, owned by Ricardo Lopez and located at the old Raptor’s location previously owned by Tony Nettles. In the administration report assistant to the Mayor Fred Crosby said he worked up a two-year contract for IT support with Mike Mortimore’s CompuDoc, which is the same as the previous contract. Crosby said he recommends the council ratify the con...
Hot Springs County Senior Center’s Trenda Moore said, “We are going to reopen for congregation and activities with access to the dining room on February 16.” The Senior Center is also doing an Easter egg fundraiser with wooden eggs painted up for the yard or house and other decorations. Each set of three eggs will cost $50. This fundraiser is similar to what they did at Christmas time. Moore said they are excited to be back open and that “It was hard with no one in the building.” Their rem...
The Big Horn Basin Nature and Discovery Center Joint Powers Board will host a “Call to Wyoming Artists” for their 2021 Wyoming Discovery Days on August 7 and 8 at the Hot Springs State Park. The event will be Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Organizer Audra Domínguez says she is excited about the event. Its theme is “Rails, Trails and Folktales,” where we get to explore “Where did we come from? Where are we going? How did we get here?” Dominguez sa...
The Thermopolis High School Robotic Team is actively making progress to prepare for their coming competitions despite them now being virtual due to COVID. Coach London Jenks said, "We're continuing our robotics season like we normally do. We have not had any in-person competitions, they mostly moved to virtual and everything is about two months behind." In February they would usually be ending their season and have their Wyoming State Championship, but it has been moved. The team's first...
At the January Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital Board meeting, in the growth report, hospital CEO Margie Molitor said they just started their second round of Moderna COVID-19 vaccines for 80 employees and also 13 people from Gottsche and the dental clinic. Molitor mentioned their work with the Public Health Office and getting people who are 70 years and older to get vaccinated. She added that they are waiting for more doses to come to them. She said, “As it comes in, Public Health has a w...
At the most recent Town Council meeting on January 19, the council approved two catering permits for Shorty’s, one for Duck’s Unlimited at the fairgrounds and the other for a Kirby Creek Mercantile event. In his report, town engineer Anthony Barnett said that they did get the landfill wells sampling started. These samples will be taken to Casper. He said several individuals all helped out in getting the sampling done and that “things went well.” Assistant to the mayor, Fred Crosby added that th...
At a recent traffic stop, Thermopolis police officer Mike Mascarro made a major drug bust of a local distributor that captured around $1,000 of crystal meth. This is still an open investigation, and all allegations for those involved are still alleged. On Friday night January 15, officer Mascarro was driving southbound on South 6th Street in the area of Family Dollar and he saw a van pull out of the Paint Brush motel. Mascarro had been aware of the van for several days already. He saw that it...
The Hot Springs County Travel and Tourism board met for its January meeting and addressed several marketing decisions and received an overview of their strategic plan from a consultant. In the financial report, treasurer Matt Hughes said that the lodging tax spending showed receipts for December at $18,625.92. For spending related to COVID, expenses from March 20, 2020, until December 20, 2020, totaled at $59,554.23. In Jackie Dorothy’s director’s report, she said that December saw low occ...
At the Thermopolis Town Council meeting on January 5, town attorney Mike Messenger swore in both Dusty Lewis and Bill Malloy as re-elected town council members. The council also approved a motion to reappoint Julie Mathews for another term for two years. Messenger also swore her in for this position. In his report as director of public works, Ernie Slagle said that they lost their backup generator at the water treatment plant. A repairman arrived and found that all the computer boards are...
All too common in conversation it has been spoken that 2020 was the hardest year our nation and state have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related issues. Finding hope has been a great challenge for most. In Hot Springs County, our residents have been hit very hard. There have been job losses, business failures, divorces, suicides and other very challenging situations. However, the community of Thermopolis has been working hard to bring support to its residents. First responders, fr...
At the December Hot Springs County Memorial Hospital board meeting, CEO Margie Molitor talked about the fact that they have three qualified surgeons for orthopedic care. She said that the staff met Dr. Caldwell on his second trip to the area. He was also in surgery and was seeing patients. Dr. Francisco from Lander is in Thermopolis on certain days, and Dr. Rice is at Gottsche for providing care. Regarding construction Molitor said that the Covid bill that recently passed gave an extension on...
The Hot Springs County Museum recently added a new display to its features that celebrates the legacy of the late Dorothy Grace Buchanan Milek. The Pioneer Association chose Cynthia Garbin to create the Milek display, as Garbin is very familiar with Milek's legacy in the area. Garbin said, "Milek is very special and important to the community. I felt very honored when they asked, 'would you like to do this?'". Milek, whose husband was the late Bob Milek, had five children and is known as an... Full story
At the December 15 Thermopolis Town Council meeting, Wyoming Finance Insurance agent Luke Anderson presented himself at the request of Assistant to the Mayor Fred Crosby. Crosby wanted Anderson to take a second look at the town’s properties and assets to see if there is a better way of insuring them. Anderson’s work covers the Big Horn Basin and he has 21 years of experience, eight with his current company, and has been in the Cody office for 13 years. His title is regional vice president. And...
Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon along with State Health Officer Alexia Harrist updated public health orders on December 9 to require bars and restaurants to close at 10 p.m. instead of being able to stay open until 2 a.m. There are also limits on groups of patrons seated together and gatherings without required social distancing. Bar owners around the state and in Thermopolis are very concerned about the lost revenue they will face and some are questioning the legality of the health orders. The...
At the December 1 Thermopolis Town Council meeting last week, there was no citizen participation and few reporting parties. Assistant to the mayor in codes administration, Fred Crosby said he met with some other individuals the previous week about their fire rating audit and those results have not yet been provided. The data was almost identical to their previous audit in 2016. Crosby said, “I anticipate our rating will be the same. I don’t know how it can be different.” There were the same...
Someone once said, “Difficult, unusual times require difficult, unusual solutions.” Jennifer Fisher, co-owner of One Eyed Buffalo, both the brewery and saloon, has taken those words to heart. Fisher said they have decided for the brewery they are going to implement breakfast for their restaurant. Fisher said, “We’ll probably start off just doing it Friday’s, Saturday’s, Sunday’s and Monday’s. The hours will be 6 until 11 a.m. We will serve crepes, benedicts, and a few things like that.” The reas...
Retail business owners reported that business went well for them on Small Business Saturday. Karen Sinclair of Thermopolis Hardware said, “I think it went pretty good. We’ve had great support from our community. We just appreciate everyone supporting small businesses, brick and mortar. I’m just happy to be open and chugging along. Regarding how well their business went overall for the year 2020, Sinclair said, “I think we’ve had a good year. Thermopolis supported us. I think fewer people we...
Restaurant owners in Thermopolis have been faced with challenges as consequences from public health orders on the state and county level due to COVID-19. At one point earlier in the year, restaurants were only able to serve to go orders. Currently, they still face limited seating restrictions to maintain social distancing and most recently the face covering requirement in Hot Springs County. The order requires face coverings be worn by all members of the public, except for minors, when they are...
