Wyoming News Briefs

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead is telling state lawmakers that if they won't approve a 10-cent a gallon fuel tax hike to help pay for state highways they should dip into revenues from state energy production to help cover the tab. Mead addressed members of the Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee on yesterday in Cheyenne. The committee took no action on his recommendations and plans to meet this week to consider budget issues.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has agreed to delay a civil lawsuit over a 2010 fire that damaged a landmark Cheyenne hotel. Judge Nancy Freudenthal granted a request from National Surety Corp. to delay action in a civil lawsuit. National Surety has accused CJM Hospitality of deliberately burning the Hitching Post Hotel to try to collect $13.6 million in insurance money.

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana wildlife commissioners have closed down the state's gray wolf season in some areas north of Yellowstone National Park in response to a spate of recent shootings of animals that had been collared for scientific research. The move shuts down hunting and trapping in areas to the east and west of the town of Gardiner, just days before trapping season was set to begin.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A northern New Mexico man has been sentenced to 41 years in prison for charges related to the death of a Wyoming man. Federal prosecutors say 22-year-old Carl Ernesto Romero of Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo was sentenced yesterday in the death of 26-year-old Naayaitch Friday, a member of the Arapaho Indian Tribe of Wyoming. Prosecutors say Romero admitted during an FBI interview that he killed Friday.