Latest Wyoming News

VIRUS OUTBREAK-WYOMING

Bars, restaurants in Wyoming can resume late-night service

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Bars and restaurants across Wyoming will be allowed to return to normal operating hours beginning Jan. 9 as COVID-19 hospitalizations decline in the state. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports Gov. Mark Gordon made the announcement Saturday. He praised businesses for adapting to health orders and thanked residents for recognizing the strain on hospitals. The updated health orders allow bars and restaurants to resume onsite consumption from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., and they allow gyms to increase the number of participants in group fitness classes from 10 to 25.

EXCHANGE-FOOD NETWORK

Wyoming group seeks to improve public access to healthy food

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A group of farmers, educators and economic development officials are about to go public with plans to provide healthy food to low-income people in Wyoming. The Wyoming Food Coalition first met last winter. The Casper Star-Tribune reports the coronavirus pandemic has only heightened the need to provide fresh food to those who need it. Adam Bunker is a member of the coalition’s executive committee and proprietor of Papa Joe’s Produce, a Sheridan-based greenhouse. Bunker says one goal is to help backyard growers and medium-sized greenhouse operators get their produce to market and provide people with easier access to healthy food.

AIR QUALITY-WYOMING

Wyoming officials prepare forecasts for 2021 air quality

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming air quality regulators are working on preparations and forecasts for the 2021 winter ozone season in the state’s Upper Green River Basin.  A combination of weather conditions and human activity can generate high levels of ozone, an air pollutant that blossoms when sun reacts with emissions or other pollutants. Add cold temperatures, a lack of wind or snow and ground-level ozone thrives. This winter will mark the 15th year Wyoming regulators have monitored the region for ozone. In 2020, Wyoming inspectors conducted 939 site visits and 29 inspections to facilities at risk of contributing to heightened ozone levels in the region.

GRIZZLY BEARS-RECOVERY PLANS

Judge: Groups can’t challenge endangered species plans

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled that an environmental group has no legal standing to challenge the specific components of endangered species recovery plans. The ruling last week came in a 2014 petition by the Center for Biological Diversity that asked federal wildlife officials to update a recovery plan for threatened grizzly bears. It also asked the agency’s plans to take into account updated information from new research. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ruled that recovery plans are guidelines for the agency and not rules that can be challenged in court. 

EXCHANGE-DEVILS TOWER VISTORS

Devils Tower visitation up in fall after coronavirus closure

GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — Tourists flocked to Wyoming’s Devils Tower National Monument this fall despite the coronavirus. The national monument closed in March because of the pandemic but reopened in May. The Gillette News Record reports more than 113,000 people visited the park in August, some 13,000 more than in August, 2019. September, October and November set visitation records. Overall, more than 420,000 people visited Devils Tower through November. That was down by just 7% compared to the number of visitors during that period in 2019. Devils Tower KOA campground owner Ogden Driskill says many visitors were eager to get outside and away from cities.

HUNTING RULING

Court upholds hunting on private land in Grand Teton park

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling that allows some hunting on privately owned land within Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The Jackson Hole News and Guide reported that the decision Wednesday by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirms the state’s authority over wildlife on the 1% of land that belongs to private owners or the state within the park. Several conservation groups had sued over the issue. The dispute began in 2014, when a wolf was shot and killed on private land in the park. The National Park Service later ceded authority over wildlife on private land in Grand Teton to Wyoming. As a result, state-sanctioned hunting of some animals became legal.