Business Council welcomes new business ready grant program manager

The Wyoming Business Council is pleased to announce Julie Kozlowski as the new Business Ready Community/Community Facilities Grant and Loan Programs manager.
Prior to this position, Kozlowski, of Cheyenne, Wyo., worked with the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program at the Business Council, first as an economic development project manager and most recently as the planning and program development manager.
“Julie brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position,” said Molly Spangler, director of the Investment Ready Communities Division at the Business Council that oversees the Business Ready Community (BRC) and Community Facilities Grant and Loan programs. “We are really pleased to have Julie take on this new role and we know she will do a great job in this position.”
Kozlowski previously worked as the housing and community development coordinator/technical assistance grant program manager for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation in Anchorage, Alaska. She also served as a policy analyst and assistant director of the Office of Federal Land Policy for the state of Wyoming. Prior to that, Kozlowski worked for Wyoming Governor Sullivan, then U.S. Rep. Craig Thomas, and former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson in their Washington, D.C., offices.

Report safety concerns at Wyoming center

A report by a disability advocacy group says residents at a state facility for the developmentally disabled are exposed to significant safety risks. The group says the unsafe conditions are exacerbated by the Wyoming Life Resource Center's failure to secure dangerous areas or lock away potentially harmful chemicals. It also says staff at the Lander facility failed to take adequate steps to address suicide risks at the center, leaving residents unsupervised or with easy access to items they could use to harm themselves. The report was done by Wyoming Protection and Advocacy System, which is a nonprofit that investigates abuse and neglect of people with disabilities. State officials say that the center is safe but they're reviewing the report and facility operations.

Green River URA Main Street Annual Trunk or Treat This Saturday

The Green River URA/Main Street Annual Trunk or Treat will be held this Saturday. Rod Ness wants area kids and their pets to put on those costumes and head on down to Clock Tower Plaza and North First Street East.






The event also features a Kids' Creepy Crawly Parade and Pumpkin Patch.






All of the ghoulish fun will take place from 11 am to 1 PM this Saturday.

US judge Shutdown won't delay NV mustang hearing

A federal judge says the government shutdown is not a good enough reason to postpone a hearing in Reno Thursday in a fight between the Interior Department and wild horse advocates over hundreds of mustangs gathered from a wildlife refuge on the Nevada-Oregon line. Justice Department lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Miranda Du for a stay in the proceedings until Congress restores both agencies' appropriations. Horse advocates claim it's a ploy to keep them from securing a court order to stop the shipment of animals to a Mississippi contractor they say has a history of reselling them for slaughter. The judge didn't address that claim, but ruled the critics have a right to argue their First Amendment right to have access to the horses to ensure their safety before shipment.

Wyo. Trout Unlimited gets council award

Wyoming Trout Unlimited has been recognized by the national organization for its statewide efforts. The Wyoming organization was presented recently with the "State Council Award for Excellence" by Trout Unlimited Vice President of Volunteer Operations Bryan Moore. Wyoming Trout Unlimited Chair Mike Jensen, of Evanston, received the award on behalf of the Wyoming group's council leadership, 11 chapters, 1,700 members and staff members. The state council award recognizes such things as work on leadership and organizational actions, attracting new members, mentoring new leaders and carrying out Trout Unlimited's coldwater conservation mission and vision.

Army Corps agrees to halt missile site cleanup

At the request of the state of Wyoming, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has temporarily halted the cleanup of groundwater contamination at an abandoned Atlas missile site west of Cheyenne. The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality asked the Corps to stop cleanup so it could collect more data to determine the exact location and movement of the underground contamination. DEQ Water Quality Division Director Kevin Frederick says the agency believes the Corps needs to do a better job of identifying where the contamination is and how deep it is in the Ogallala Formation. Project director for the Army Corps of Engineers Jeff Skog says that the data collection project will take a couple of years.

Wyo. education board stands firm on Common Core

The state Board of Education is sticking with its support for new statewide K-12 education standards in English, language arts and math. Wyoming is among about 45 states that have adopted the Common Core State Standards. Members of the board heard a presentation Tuesday from Amy Edmonds with the Wyoming Liberty Group, which opposes the new standards. Edmonds asked the board to consider stopping the rollout or ending the use of the Common Core and returning to a system that better allows for local control. Two teachers spoke in support for the new standards, saying they were tougher and more challenging. Board member Pete Gosar noted the standards have a lot of support from educators in the state.

Shutdown nixes Yellowstone wedding bells

Megan Wenk spent three months planning her dream wedding at Yellowstone National Park's Artist's Point. Then the government shutdown closed all the national parks to visitors, leaving Wenk and her husband-to-be, Kory Hammerbeck, scrambling to find a new location for Sunday's ceremony. It didn't matter that her dad is the park's top official. Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk said Wednesday he and his daughter are scouting new wedding locations north of the park, near the Gallatin National Forest. He says the wedding will still go on, with 65 guests expected to arrive from across the nation. Wenk says it won't be the wedding his daughter had hoped for, but they are no different from anybody else when it comes to the effects of the shutdown.

Former state AG would be lead special counsel

A special House committee investigating state schools Superintendent Cindy Hill has voted to hire former state Attorney General Bruce Salzburg as its lead special counsel. The committee is seeking $100,000 from the Legislature's Management Council to hire Salzburg and his firm to help with the investigation. The Management Council will consider the request next Tuesday. The special committee is investigating Hill's administration of the Wyoming Education Department before she was removed by a new state law earlier this year. Hill had denied any wrongdoing.

UW will help student veterans stay in school

University of Wyoming President Bob Sternberg has issued a directive that no military veterans who attend the college will be forced to leave or to have their studies curtailed because of the federal budget impasse. More than 400 veterans are students at UW. There's concern that the partial federal shutdown will cost them their financial support for tuition and residence hall costs. But Sternberg says the university will work to help military veterans regardless of what happens with their federal funds. The university expects to review each veteran's needs, and a customized variety of resources will be employed to help address each student's immediate financial needs.

Y'stone treatment of tour group draws complaints

Some tourists to Yellowstone National Park are complaining about their treatment by National Park Service rangers when the park was closed down last week because of the partial federal shutdown. One tour guide operator went so far as to say rangers used "Gestapo tactics" in the treatment of his tour group. Gordon Hodgson, of Provo, Utah, described one confrontation with a ranger where his tour group was prevented from taking pictures of bison along a road. Pat Vaillancourt, of Salisbury, Mass., was a member of the tour group. She says some foreign members of the group felt they were under arrest because armed rangers ordered them confined to the lodge when the park was closed Oct. 1. National Park Service officials in Washington didn't immediately comment on the matter.

Sweetwater County Library Book Sale Starts Thursday

The Sweetwater County Library Book Sale will be held this Thursday through Saturday at the White Mountain Library. Britney Wells says that a wide variety of items is available for purchase at discounted prices.






Hours for the sale are 9 AM to 8 PM on Thursday, 10 am to 5 PM on Friday and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.






All Library Book Sale items will be sold for donation. The Sale is sponsored by the Sweetwater County Library System. For more information call the White Mountain Library at 362-2665.

UW in tax dispute with Albany County

The University of Wyoming and Albany County are in disagreement about whether a campus apartment development should be subjected to local property taxes. The dispute over the 9.14-acre Bison Run Village has been argued before the county's Board of Equalization, which consists of the three county commissioners. Albany County Clerk Jackie Gonzales says that a decision is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 15, the county commission's next official meeting date. The Albany County assessor contends the land and development should be taxed because it is being used for commercial purposes. Bison Run Village is owned by UW and leased to a private nonprofit company.

NPS issues citations in Grand Teton, Yellowstone

National Park Service rangers in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks have been issuing trespassing citations to people being found in the closed parks. Grand Teton park spokeswoman Jenny Anzelmo-Sarles says the park has issued nine citations. Yellowstone spokesman Al Nash says a few citations have been issued there. The national parks closed last week after Congress and the White House deadlocked over spending priorities and the new health care law. Anzelmo-Sarles says that people cited for trespassing in Grand Teton included cyclists, runners and drivers taking vehicles around temporary barricades. In addition to closure violations, she says rangers have issued citations for taking a vehicle off-road and for resource damage.

Management Council to consider special counsel

The Wyoming Legislature's Management Council will meet Oct. 15 to consider a request to pay for an attorney and others to help the state House in its investigation into Superintendent Cindy Hill. Council Chairman Sen. Tony Ross says the meeting is to vote on the budget request of the Select Investigative Committee to provide for special counsel and other contractors determined necessary by the committee as it looks into allegations against the state superintendent of public instruction. The Management Council won't take public testimony during the meeting. The special committee is investigating Hill's administration of the Wyoming Education Department before she was removed by a new state law earlier this year. Hill had denied any wrongdoing.

Sweetwater County Daughter sentenced for exploiting father

A 52-year-old Sweetwater County woman has been sentenced to two to eight years in prison for taking money from her father while he was being treated at a senior care center. Brenda L. Griffiths pleaded guilty to abuse, neglect, abandonment, intimidation or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. District Judge Rick Lavery also ordered Griffiths to pay $20,000 in restitution to her father. Deputy prosecutor Teresa Thybo says Griffiths took advantage of her father, Everett Kraft, while he was a patient at Sage View Care Center. Thybo said Griffiths spent tens of thousands of dollars from her father's bank accounts without permission at stores and restaurants and to buy a car. Griffiths apologized and offered to get another job to help repay her father.

Wyo. coal-fired plants top EPA new-plant CO2 limit

Several of the coal-fired power plants located in Wyoming emit carbon dioxide at a much higher rate than a proposed federal limit for new power plants. The standards recently proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would require new coal-fired plants to exceed no more than 1,100 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. The relatively new Dry Fork Station north of Gillette emits roughly 2,100 pounds of CO2 per megawatt-hour. Power plant owner Basin Electric touts the plant as one of the cleanest coal-fired power plants in the U.S. Officials at PacifiCorp say CO2 emissions from their four Wyoming coal-fired power plants range from 2,100 to 2,600 pounds per megawatt-hour. The EPA plans to issue carbon pollution standards for existing power plants in June.

Rock Springs man killed at Bridger Coal; MSHA concerned about 3 US mining deaths in 3 days

Sweetwater County Detective Dick Blust, Jr. tells us that a Rock Springs man was killed in an industrial mishap early Sunday morning.






Stassinos, the dozer’s lone occupant, was thrown from the cab and died from injuries he sustained.






The death of Stassinos has brought the total of mining deaths to three in the last three days and that has federal regulators concerned. They are urging U.S. coal companies to refocus on health and safety regulations. The three deaths have occured amid the ongoing government shutdown. In West Virginia, a miner was struck in the head with a piece of equipment and became the state's sixth fatality this year. In Illinois, a miner died when a golf cart flipped and pinned him. It's the first time since 2002 the industry has had three deaths in three days, and Mine Safety and Health Administration director Joe Main calls it an extremely troubling pattern. Fewer than half of MSHA's employees are on the job, and inspections are largely focused on mines with a documented history of problems.

Construction to begin on Casper oil-to-rails hub

Developers say they expect to begin construction this week on a major rail terminal in Casper where crude oil from trucks and pipelines will be transferred onto tanker cars. The pipeline crude will come from as far away as Alberta, Canada, along Spectra Energy's Express Pipeline. Other oil will be trucked in from oil fields west of Casper. The facility also will have tanks for storing and blending different grades of crude. Heavy crude is difficult to refine and blending in lighter crude in Casper instead of at a refinery elsewhere can save customers money. The project is part of a 6-year-old rail development where a variety of other raw products are loaded and unloaded onto rail cars in the Casper area.

WyDOT honored for work to reduce big-game deaths

A regional association of wildlife agencies is honoring the Wyoming Department of Transportation for its work to reduce big-game deaths on Wyoming's roads and highways. WyDOT has built big-game underpasses in three different parts of Wyoming since 2001. Monitoring suggests tens of thousands of mule deer and other animals now use those underpasses during their annual migrations. That potentially saves many big-game animals from being hit and killed. The honor comes from the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. The association represents wildlife agencies in 23 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.