Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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This past few weeks saw major erosions to the rights of Americans. Supreme Court decisions were made along political party lines. Us old people know this, but the young don’t, so for their benefit, I’d like to give a synopsis. There are 2 competing visions for America (called political parties: Dems and Reps). The GOP (grand old party)-Republicans push laws for putting more guns on the streets, cut worker’s abilities to unionize, strip working people from access to Medicaid, Medicare & Social Security, protect monopolies by corporations, spend...
by Ryan McConnaughey The Petroleum Association of Wyoming (PAW) issued the following statement in response to both the Q2 2022 BLM Lease Auction and the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA: While the oil and natural gas industry is continually improving operations and reducing emissions, we believe any federal regulatory framework must be based in legal authority granted by an Act of Congress. The Legislative Branch has long abdicated its duty in passing coherent, meaningful legislation that addresses the most pressing issues of t...
This summer is packed with many activities here in Thermopolis and we should be thankful. With the post-pandemic COVID circumstance, we must never take our freedoms for granted. They can be lost if we are passive. President Ronald Reagan once said, “Freedom is a fragile thing, and it’s never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by way of inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people.” Just last week Thermopolis enjoyed the PRCA Parade and Rodeo, which...
by Jill Pertler If the fire alarm went off in your home or workplace and you had to evacuate quickly, what would you grab on your way out? Besides pets, spouses, chapstick and an extra change of underwear, I’m guessing most of us could agree on one item: our phones. Our phones have become an extension of us. We wouldn’t consider leaving home without them. I didn’t see it coming - this reliance I have (we have) on our phones. They’re our communication link to the outside world, but that’s only the beginning. They are calendars, calculato...
by John Malmberg We are not at all surprised the U.S. Fish and Wildlife is conducting a status review on the Yellowstone bison to determine if they should be given Endangered Species Act status after the USFW received pressure from environmental groups. The Yellowstone bison population with 6,000 head is now larger than at any point since the park’s founding. So apparently to the those environmental groups’ way of reasoning, since the bison population is greater than ever and increasing despite depredation by wolves, grizzly bears, bru...
by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, M.D. Wyoming is the energy capital of America. Americans count on Wyoming energy for gasoline and diesel fuel for our cars and trucks. Natural gas powers and heats our homes in the winter. We rely on coal to generate our electricity. Tens of thousands of Americans have jobs that rely on production of Wyoming oil, natural gas, coal and uranium. The Biden administration is trying to change that. Once again, the president has sided with the radical left to choke off American energy production. This latest move is...
Time will tell how much the flood-caused closing of Yellowstone will hurt the Wyoming tourism industry. Seems there was a brief boom for Thermopolis as tourists already on the way saw the signs “Yellowstone Park All Entrances Closed” or learned the bad news elsewise and turned to other locations. But what about people who are still at home, in parts east, west and south of the nation’s first national park--and that’s most of the country--and planning to go elsewhere? I sure hope they don’t go to Disneyland/World or some other artificial “theme...
Wyoming’s property tax system is deeply flawed. The recent burden that rapidly rising home values placed on residents illustrated those flaws. Rising home values mean steep property tax increases for everyone who owns real estate, including elderly homeowners on fixed incomes. Certainly a 20% or more hike in property taxes is a tough pill to swallow for anyone. But for those residents living solely on social security, it is devastating. Because property assessments are governed by state statute, there is nothing that county-level a...
by Brian Schroeder Superintendent of Public Instruction “We’ll go fishing on Saturday, boy, I promise!”All week long, it’s what the kid lived for. To spend a whole day with dad in a boat on the river would be the highlight of his summer. In fact, the young lad was so excited that on the Friday night before the big day, he took his fishing pole and tackle box to bed with him. Early the next morning the boy was up before his dad, getting dressed, assembling his gear, re-examining his lures for the umpteenth time. Then he heard the phone ring. T...
by Thomas L. Knapp, Director The William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism The clamor for “gun control” never goes away in American politics. It occasionally simmers down to a dull roar, but every mass shooting recharges the bullhorn batteries. Thus, in the wake of the recent atrocities in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, a Morning Consult / Politico Poll poll says that 56% of Americans consider it “a top priority” or “an important, but lower priority” for Congress to pass legislation “placing additional re...
by Kevin Killough Every time we go grocery shopping, fill up our cars, or buy new appliances, we all feel it. Inflation is up 8.5% over last year, the highest rate in over 40 years. Many analysts, including President Joe Biden’s own White House Council of Economic Advisers, point to the federal government’s COVID-response policies as the main culprit. It’s not surprising that if you send millions of Americans big unencumbered checks, they’re going to spend that money on stuff. The increased demand for goods and services will create shortag...
by Lara Love Plans are underway to put up the Memorial Avenue of Flags at Monument Hill Cemetery on Monday for Memorial Day. If there is significant chance of rain, the flags will not be put up as many of the flags are original coffin flags and have to be protected since they cannot be replaced. Please be understanding if the flags cannot be placed due to weather concerns. If they are put up, be sure to visit the cemetery and view the awesome display of the Avenue of Flags. Memorial Day is a federal American holiday observed on the last Monday...
by Kevin Killough Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, purchased Twitter for $44 billion. Musk has long been a critic of the platform’s content moderation policies, and appears poised to, among other improvements, make the platform more open to a wider range of perspectives. “Twitter is the digital town square, where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,’’ Musk tweeted last month. Twitter is a public company and well within its right to decide what content it does and does not want to host. So, the “digital town squ...
Property taxes shooting up 50%, 70%, 90% in a single year — or 337% in four years, depending on what properties sold in a neighborhood — shows just how broken Wyoming’s tax structure is. While claiming to be staunchly anti-tax, Wyoming lawmakers are taxing some residents at these exponential, eye-popping rates. Skyrocketing bills illustrate the need for the Legislature to find new ways to pay for schools and other basic needs. Historically, new taxes have been shot down. Legislators won’t tax personal income. They won’t tax corporate income. T...
The 2022 Thermopolis/Hot Springs Wyoming Visitor Guides have arrived. We will be doing our best to begin getting them delivered to area businesses and attractions. You are welcome to stop by during regular business hours and pick up some guides so you can begin distributing them now. May is a busy month for us. As your community newspaper, our staff members will be attending several events this month including school award ceremonies, graduations and other year end school events, along with a number of community events and fundraisers, then...
by Jim Herlihy, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications, Alzheimer’s Association When we gather on May 8 to celebrate Mother’s Day, give a special prayer for the more than 4 million women across the United States who are living with a unique challenge: Alzheimer’s disease. Roughly two-thirds of the 6.5 million people in the U.S. living with Alzheimer’s are women. Supporting and caring for these 6.5 million Americans are more than 11 million unpaid caregivers, family and friends who volunteer their time and energy. Perhaps it comes as no...
Mother Nature offered up some much needed moisture last week on Friday and Saturday. The Owl Creek area received a full inch of measurable moisture, with 5 inches coming from wet snow and the rest from rain. On Saturday evening, a section of loose rocks fell in Wind River Canyon, closing the roadway to travelers. The rocks were cleaned up in fairly short order and the road was fully reopened later that night. It was an inconvenience for those who had to wait to continue on their way, but a bus load of Powell High School soccer players didn’t w...
I am respectfully submitting an excerpt from a book called “Freedom Tide” written by Chad Connelly: Anyone making statements that our Founding Fathers were not predominantly Christian, or that they did not base our form of governnment on God’s eternal laws, or that they intended the form of “separation of church and state” that we have today, is sadly mistaken. A small amount of homework conclusively reveals otherwise. Just a few truths for your study: The University of Houston conducted a study in which 15,000 writings of the founders...
by Kevin Killough Who wouldn’t want to go back to the economically simpler times before the COVID pandemic? We can look back with warm nostalgia on 2019, when our national debt was only a frightening $23 trillion. The following year, a global pandemic shut down businesses, forced millions out of work, and led to a wave of government emergency spending that has brought the debt to around a terrifying $30 trillion. The rate by which our debt grows makes a few years seem like a generation. Even before $7 trillion was added to our crushing national...
Reports on improper meetings serve as reminder to governing bodies around the state. Gillette City Council recently found itself in hot water after an investigation found the governing body repeatedly violated open meetings laws. According to the Gillette News Record’s report of a comprehensive review released early this month, the city had conducted improper executive sessions — which are closed to the public — conducted meetings without proper notice and improperly utilized personal devices, among other issues. Shortly after the report was r...
Editor’s note: This information originally ran in the June 17, 2021 Independent Record on this page. We are running it again to help answer questions now being raised since the wooden park has been torn down. After multiple years of consideration, the Hot Springs County Board of Trustees approved going out for bid on a new bus drop off that will serve Hot Springs County High School and Ralph Witters Elementary students next fall. The new bus drop off lane would encompass the school district property on the south end of the track that is c...
The Bighorn River runs 95 miles from the Wedding of the Waters south of Thermopolis to the North Kane Boat Ramp on the south end of the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation area. There are currently 16 access points. Four public meetings at towns along the river were held, with the final meeting in Thermopolis last Thursday, to discuss the Bighorn River Blueway Trail. The attraction of the Bighorn River is growing. The portion of the river in Hot Springs County has long been known for its blue ribbon fishing, with other rereationists including...
by CJ Baker Spring didn’t officially arrive in Wyoming until Sunday, but you’d be forgiven for thinking it began March 13 — when we and the rest of the country (or most of it, at least) switched from standard to daylight saving time. After getting past the grogginess and inconvenience associated with having to push our clocks and schedules forward an hour, there’s a certain joy that comes with getting that extra hour of daylight shifted to the evenings. Still, it’s hard to get past the hassle of changing our clocks back and forth. In fact, in...
by Jill Pertler Grief teaches me new lessons every day. I think writing about them is important, because grief is a topic many of us shy away from. It’s uncomfortable. It’s beyond that. It’s terrifying. Because here’s the truth that none of us wants to hear: If you love someone, there is a very huge chance one of you will grieve the other at some point. Love culminates in grief. We pretend this isn’t true, but there is no dodging the bullet. Grief is a sniper. And that sniper got me. But, if my experience and insight can help one person, t...
The Biden administration’s response to rising oil prices is perplexing, to say the least. Whether the much higher prices of oil and gas are a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, whether they pre-date that invasion or are a reaction to some other market force, it would seem that the last thing our nation should be doing is trading one dictator for another. It took Biden far too long to order a ban on Russian oil, with the invasion of Ukraine commencing on February 24 and Biden announcing his executive order on March 8. And we u...
