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GAS FIELD-ANTELOPE
Antelope worries prompt lawsuit over Wyoming gas field plan
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Environmental groups are suing to contest plans for a potentially huge gas field they say would endanger antelope in Grand Teton National Park. The Upper Green River Alliance, Western Watersheds Project and Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne on Wednesday. They say the agency didn't adequately consider a 170-mile (270-kilometer) antelope-migration corridor between Grand Teton and the Upper Green River Basin before approving a plan to develop the Normally Pressured Lance gas field in the basin. Bureau of Land Management officials say they are reviewing the lawsuit but dispute the allegations.
TOWN DAYCARE
Wyoming high court rules against town in daycare tax case
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled against a small town that sought to avoid paying taxes on a daycare business. The justices ruled Wednesday in favor of the Laramie County treasurer and assessor, saying the town of Pine Bluffs in southeastern Wyoming can't claim the daycare is exempt from property taxes just because it owns the business. Pine Bluffs began operating a daycare in a community center in the 1970s and moved the business into a separate building in 2009. A District Court judge previously sided with the town but the Supreme Court ruled the town owes property taxes in part because the daycare is a service normally provided by private enterprise.
NAVAJO COAL-TAXES
NTEC reaches deal to pay taxes on Wyoming coal production
GILLETTE, Wyo. (AP) — The new owner of two Wyoming coal mines has reached an agreement to pay $44 million in local taxes. The taxes are owed to Campbell County for production at the Antelope and Cordero Rojo mines from the second half of 2017 through the end of 2019. Navajo Transitional Energy Company bought the mines in 2019 in the wake of the bankruptcy of Gillette-based Cloud Peak Energy. The Campbell County Commission unanimously approved the tax payment plan with the Navajo tribal company Tuesday. The agreement calls for NTEC to make one payment right away, then monthly for a year. Campbell County Administrative Director Carol Seeger tells the Gillette News-Record the company after that will continue to make installments on the balance through the end of 2026.
STUDY HALL PROTEST
Wyoming high school students protest closure of study hall
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Students at a Wyoming high school have protested the closure of a study hall period, calling the reduction of time to do homework and other educational tasks a class issue for economically disadvantaged students. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reported South High School in Cheyenne has cancelled the daily study period, prompting about 200 students to protest. Students say many of them have work and family responsibilities outside school, reducing time for homework. Eliminating the study period adds nine minutes to four other class periods. Principal Phil Thompson says the school is redistributing its time to be more effective.
STARKWEATHER GIRLFRIEND-CLEMENCY
Nebraska denies pardon for notorious killer's ex-girlfriend
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska's pardons board has refused to pardon the murder conviction of the ex-girlfriend of Charles Starkweather, the infamous killer who went on a rampage in the 1950s. The board voted 3-0 Tuesday to deny the application from Caril Ann Clair, even though some relatives of Starkweather's victims lobbied in her favor. Clair. who was known as Caril Ann Fugate at the time, currently lives in Michigan. She was 14 when Starkweather, then 19, went on a killing spree in 1957-58 that left 11 people dead in Nebraska and Wyoming, including her mother, stepfather and baby half-sister. Clair's sentence was commuted and she was paroled from prison in 1976. She has since married and goes by the name Caril Ann Clair.
SEMI CRASH-TOILET PAPER SPILLED
Semi crashes in Montana river, spilling diesel, toilet paper
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A semitractor-trailer slid on icy roads and crashed into a guardrail in south-central Montana, causing the cab to go into the river and the load of toilet paper to be strewn across the highway. Red Lodge Fire and Rescue says the driver suffered minor injuries Monday morning. Up to 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the Clarks Fork of the Yellowstone River near Belfry. Officials say the driver lost control of the rig while approaching an S-curve on Montana Highway 72. The semi hit the end of a bridge guardrail, splitting the cab from the trailer. The river was only a couple feet deep and the semi stayed on its wheels.
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