Wyoming News Briefs

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A conservation group is asking the National Park Service to rule that an area between Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks should be off-limits to wolf hunting. The National Parks Conservation Association filed a petition yesterday with the National Park Service, asking it to start a formal rulemaking process. Wyoming officials took over wolf management from the federal government last year and held an organized wolf hunt in the 24,000-acre John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A former Army Ranger who fled from Fayette County Circuit Court last summer just before being convicted of rape and sodomy has been caught in Wyoming. Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts told the Lexington Herald-Leader that 29-year-old John C. Buckley IV was back in custody after escaping July 12. Buckley was arrested yesterday by members of the Central Kentucky Fugitive Task Force along with U.S. marshals offices in Colorado and Wyoming.

PINE BLUFFS, Wyo. (AP) —Laramie County authorities say a pilot escaped injury after crash landing while practicing touch-and-go landings at the Pine Bluffs Airport. The county sheriff's department says the Cessna 188 went down about 11:45 a.m. about a mile and half west of the runway. Pilot Mark Nardin, of Emigrant, Mont., told authorities the plane lost altitude, forcing him to land in the field.

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Charles Hankerson Jr. has just one hobby — basketball. Hankerson will get to display his hobby for Wyoming basketball fans next season after transferring from Alabama last summer. The 6-foot-5, 220-pound guard tells the Laramie Boomerang that his size can cause some mismatches offensively for opponents and allows him to be flexible on defense.