Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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Students and staff were caught off guard last Friday morning when four K9 units were brought on the premises at Hot Springs County High School to do a sweep for illegal substances after some safety issues that arose the previous week with students vaping. Dogs from the Big Horn County Sheriff's Office, Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Lander Police Department and Fremont County Sheriff's Office worked the building for about an hour and a half of the two-hour lockdown. While there were a couple... Full story
Senator Wyatt Agar reported that the budget debate had reached something of a standstill last week and was picked up again Tuesday. The issues, Agar explained, stem from the House wanting $75 million for capital construction projects in Laramie and Cheyenne. The Senate voted against it, instead proposing $200 million be set aside in a separate account to impact the upcoming $250 million structural deficit in education. Naturally, Agar said, the Senate’s proposal was voted down so both the H...
Representative John Winter checked in from Cheyenne this week after taking action on several bills, including the grizzly delisting resolution, shed antler legislation, regulation of hunting methods, lodging tax and Board of Outfitter and Guides civil penalties. All of the aforementioned bills passed the House on third reading and will now head to the Senate for consideration. One of the bills making the rounds this past week was HB0066, a statewide lodging tax bill. The bill calls for a 5...
The Hot Springs County Commissioners held a public hearing last week on a request for a land use change from Howard and Belenda Willson, asking for a 15-acre parcel of their property be changed from agricultural to industrial. Presented as the “Willson Third Land Use Change,” the acreage in question has been industrial previously, then changed back to agricultural, making this the third requested change for the same plot. In 2014, the Willsons were granted a 10-acre land use change from agr...
Thermopolis Independent Record won second for overall typographic excellence in the small weekly category during the 120th annual winter convention of the Wyoming Press Association held in Cheyenne Jan. 18 and 19. Staff members also came home with several Pacemaker awards including: First Place General News Photo, “Fire in the hole,” Mark Dykes. Scenic Photo, “Trailing ‘em home,” Donna Pennoyer. In-Depth Reporting, “Bones Identified,” Cindy Glasson. Government Issue Reporting, “Investigation into assault,” Lara Love. Front Page Design, staf...
The local Kiwanis board recently made a decision to no longer sponsor its annual health fair. The board expressed appreciation to all of the volunteers who helped make the fair and the blood draws possible, and all those who participated. Though the fair has been successful, the board expressed sentiment that its time has gone. At this time it is unknown if there are any organizations sponsoring a health fair. As for the blood draws, they are available elsewhere and people are encouraged to take advantage of these services....
The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) is asking interested residents to share their thoughts, ideas and perspectives on a draft State Health Assessment (SHA) produced by the department. “The state health assessment is an important undertaking,” said Stephanie Pyle, Public Health Division senior administrator with the WDH. “The assessment will inform efforts to develop a state health improvement plan.” The WDH has been working in partnership with staff and stakeholders to complete a comprehensive state health assessment to identify and underst...
Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees met last week for their January meeting and received the final presentation of the District’s financial audit from Koerwitz, Michel, Wright and Associates. The auditors didn’t find any glaring discrepancies with the annual audit that have not been present before, such as not enough separation between duties in the administrative side of things. This is typical with most businesses in the area since there simply aren’t enough employees to ke...
Some can look at a stick on the side of the road or a tree branch and think nothing of it, but for Kevin Jacobs it’s an opportunity to help others. Jacobs noted he was very appreciative of his brother in getting the word out about what he does for those in the community. A lifelong Wyoming resident and former railroad man with Union Pacific, Jacobs is now disabled and lives in Thermopolis. According to a letter from his brother, Ken, Jacobs taught himself woodworking and over the years has m...
Named to the Hot Springs County High School Honor Rolls for the first semester are: Superintendent, 4.0: Caydence Becher, McKenna Bomengen, Kamry Bowman, Ashley Brawley, Autumn Brawley, Josiah Butler, James Christensen, Cole Christiansen, William Clark, Jasmine Collins, Kaylee DeVries, Eli Dickey, Bronwyn Dobbins, Kolby George, Sterling Gerber, Xander Getzfreid, Lee Grimm, Tyler Hoskins, Hannah Hu, Tahja Hunt, Courtney Jeunehomme, Hardy Johnson, Tyler Kay, Taydee Landrum, Dakota Leonhardt, Hallie Martinez, Eli McCumber, Wyatt McDermott, Ashley...
Thermopolis Middle School has released the lists of students who had straight A’s, perfect attendance and perfect 6 P’s for the first two quarters of the school year. Straight A’s Fifth Grade — Elizabeth Arcand, Dean Bihr, Lainie Boren, Sharon Burgess, Scott Coale, Nolan Collins, Caden Dodd, Jadeth Elder, Kamryn Farrell, Peyton Green, JolieAnne Herring, Cooper Holman, Taylor Ivie, Kamilla Johnson, Miya Mailloux, Mercede Martinez, Cruz Mascorro, Maile McCumber, Jayssiie Owsley, Charlee Slagle, Alix Sorensen, Cambria Stephensen, Kaycee Stothar...
During their regular Tuesday night meeting, the Thermopolis Town Council, with council member John Dorman Sr. absent, approved a resolution to accept ownership of the South Thermopolis Water & Sewer District (STW&SD) water line between the Owl Creek water line at Highway 120 and the top of Cedar Ridge. Under the resolution, the town accepts ownership of the segment of line between vault 101 and vault 102 in the Owl Creek water line. Further, STW&SD has secured right-of-way agreements with Rocky...
If you happened to be out and about late this past Sunday, you might have caught a glimpse of this blood-red moon during the eclipse. This is also the first full moon of 2019, and a "super moon" due to its closeness to Earth....
On Thursday, Jan. 10, a message was relayed to parents regarding a health and safety issue that has come up at the high school. “The health and safety of our high school students is a top priority,” the message said. “At this time it is a concern that students are vaping at school, and that Juul pods containing high concentrations of potent liquids could leak onto surfaces and unaware students could come into contact with dangerous substances that can be absorbed through the skin.” The message went on to say, “there is a dark side to vaping. I... Full story
Last week, Senator Wyatt Agar reported an 11-1 vote effectively killed a bill related to the Wyoming Pioneer Home. Specifically, the legislation sought to have the the department of health conduct a study and develop recommendations on the financial benefits cost savings and programmatic impacts of transferring state ownership of the Pioneer Home and Wyoming Retirement Center to another health care provider. Ager also reported that within the Appropriations Committee they are having hearings...
The 2019 session of the Wyoming State Legislature is well underway, and our Representative John Winter is in full swing. "This new role is very interesting, to say the least," Winter said, "and I am still on a learning curve. The bills are just starting to come out of committee for voting, so last week was just the beginning." Winter is a member of the Travel, Recreation and Wildlife (TRW) Committee as well as the Agricultural Committee in the house, so he will be voting on the various bills...
Employees of our local Shopko found out last Tuesday that the doors will soon be closing on our local store due the company filing voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. For a few months, Shopko had been releasing the locations of stores that were closing, but Thermopolis had not shown up on any of the lists until last week. The Worland Shopko will also be closing. Since December, the company has been selling off...
A hearing has been scheduled for Friday, Feb. 1 in a case against Ray DeVries, who is charged with five counts of theft, one count of property damage and one count of criminal trespassing. All seven charges are misdemeanors. The hearing is in regard to an objection raised by DeVries’ attorney on Hot Springs County Attorney Jill Logan’s motion to bring in a special prosecutor for the case, due to a conflict of interest. The objection states the Fremont County Attorney’s Office hasn’t been pr...
The Hot Springs County Clerk of District Court office no longer accepts passport applications. At this time there is nowhere in Thermopolis providing the service. People can go online to travel.state.gov to access, fill out and print applications. The website usps.com is also available to make appointments online for post offices that accept and process passport applications. The Worland Post Office can be contacted at 307-347-3321 and the Riverton Post Office can be contacted at 307-856-3725, for inquiries about the services they offer and to...
Sunday afternoon the Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department responded to a house filled with smoke. There was some damage to the kitchen of the home....
Though Keith and Amy O'Brien had plans to move to Thermopolis when they retired, tragedy put them here a couple years ahead of their schedule. The O'Briens are many who lost their home in the devastating Camp Fire that started on Nov. 8 in Paradise, Calif. The couple came to Thermopolis Dec. 28, though they've been visiting family and friends here for years. Living in Paradise, Keith said they were no strangers to forest fires around their town, as they lived in a mountain community with plenty...
The Bureau of Reclamation recently released its January forecast of the April through July runoff predicted for the Bighorn Basin. The report shows the forecasted April through July inflow to Boysen Reservoir is 400,000 acre feet (af), which is 66 percent of the 30-year average of 603,300 af The bureau prepares monthly forecasts for the runoff, which typically occurs between from April through May. Forecasts take into account snow accumulating at an average rate. If the temperature increases and there’s not as much snow as predicted in the c...
Just like water turns to ice, fingers, hands, toes, feet and even your ears and nose can freeze. The phenomenon is known as frostbite and can occur in as little as five minutes in severely frigid weather. Unfortunately, some folks don’t even realize they are getting frostbite until its too late since the area becomes numb. So what do you look for? In the early stages of frostbite the skin turns pale yellow or white and may itch, burn, sting or feel like pins and needles. Once it gets to the i...
Rates for all first class and priority mail will go up by five cents beginning Sunday, Jan. 27. This essentially means stamps will increase from 50 to 55 cents each, and books of 20 stamps will go from $10 to $11. Forever stamps purchased at the current rate will still be valid....
During the Jan. 8 meeting of the Thermopolis Town Council, Julie Mathews was appointed by Mayor Mike Chimenti as the new police chief, Her law enforcement experience is quite varied and goes back to the late 90s. Mathews started with the Riverton Police Department in September of 1999 as a communications officer. Four years later she went to patrol. There is a branch at the Riverton department which lends out an officer to the Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which she was for...
