Latest Wyoming News

LODGE GRASS-PURSUIT

Shooting prompts lockdown in Lodge Grass

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The FBI says two people are in custody following reports of a shooting at a Lodge Grass post office that prompted a lockdown on public buildings.

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Dujanovic Bertram said Wednesday there is no threat to public safety. She declined to release additional details.

Lodge Grass Mayor Henry Speelman says it is unclear if anyone was injured. He says officers were in pursuit of a blue truck with Wyoming plates.

That matches the description of a blue Ford F-150 linked to a shooting in Washakie County, Wyo.

Washakie County Sheriff's Office Captain Rich Fernandez says 34-year-old Carlos Sanchez may have fled to the Lodge Grass area after allegedly shooting a man Tuesday. The victim survived.

Sanchez was considered armed and dangerous and was traveling with a juvenile female.

ONLINE SALES TAX

US senators introduce online sales tax bill

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A bipartisan group of 10 U.S. senators wants to give states a way to require online retailers to collect sales taxes.

The group is led by Sens. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. They announced Wednesday that they're introducing a bill that would allow states that adopt the same administrative procedure for collecting taxes to be able to require online sellers to collect taxes.

The bill drew a divided reaction from some major Internet businesses.

Amazon says it strongly supports the bill. The company has fought some state taxation efforts and says it prefers a federal solution.

Online auction company eBay opposes the bill, saying requiring small vendors to collect sales tax for states around the country would be an unfair burden.

LARAMIE ELECTION

Laramie voters back city council changes

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — Voters in Laramie have backed changing the way city councilors there are elected.

Currently, voters pick city councilors to represent seven wards and two at-large members. On Tuesday, voters were asked whether to stick with that system or change the number of wards or change the number of at-large members.

The city clerk's office said Wednesday that unofficial results show that the option to create three wards with three council members each got the most votes.

The results won't be official until election officials review the results on Thursday.

The League of Women Voters proposed the changes to try to make races more competitive.

STATE LAND MAPPING

Wyo. state lands office rolls out online mapping

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Outdoorsmen will soon have a new place to go online to look up which state lands they may access for hunting and fishing and which are off-limits.

The Office of State Lands and Investments plans to roll out the new website within the next couple days and is seeking help from the public. State lands staff are encouraging people to report any inaccuracies they discover on the online maps.

Wyoming has fairly complex rules for accessing state lands. People can only access state lands from a public road, certain waterways or adjacent public land — not by crossing private property without permission.

State land under cultivation is off-limits.

The webpage is http://www.onanypc.com/StateLandAccess/ and it shows roads, topography and the boundaries of state and federal lands in Wyoming.

OLIVES-BEAN SOUP RECALL

RI firm recalls possibly tainted olives, bean soup

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — United Natural Foods Inc. is recalling some stuffed olives and bean soup that may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, which can cause botulism — a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition. No illness has been reported.

The firm on Wednesday recalled FoodMatch Inc. Divina Olives stuffed with feta cheese sold in 4-ounce cups with a 'best by' date of Jan 11, 2012, and UPC 63172352780 distributed to Safeway Inc. stores in South Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming.

It is also recalling olives stuffed with blue cheese and UPC 63172352790 distributed through Carrs, Safeway, Pavilion and Vons stores in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming.

The Providence, R.I.-based distributor is also recalling Tabatchnic Yankee Bean Soup sold in 15-ounce cups with a "best by" date of April 5, 2014 and UPC 07126229491 sold in California.

SUGAR BEET HARVEST

Record sugar beet harvest in northern Wyoming

(Information in the following story is from: Powell Tribune - Powell, http://www.powelltribune.com)

POWELL, Wyo. (AP) — A warm fall and late rain helped boost the sugar beet crop in northern Wyoming.

The Western Sugar Cooperative announced this week that its Lovell factory district had a record harvest.

The harvest yielded 28.8 tons of beets per acre. That's above the 26-ton average seen last year as well as early predictions for this year's crop.

Randall Jobman of Western Sugar's Billings factory told the Powell Tribune (http://tinyurl.com/8358pkr ) that warmer weather and rain in September and October helped beets to continue to grow late in the season. An inch of rain fell in early October which temporarily stopped the harvest.

The last of Big Horn County's beets are expected to picked by the end of the week.

NATURAL GAS INITIATIVE

Colo., Okla., Pa., Wyo. push for natural-gas cars

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The governors of Colorado, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Wyoming are teaming up to encourage U.S. automakers to develop affordable natural-gas vehicles.

In a memorandum of understanding dated Wednesday, the governors said they intend to start replacing vehicles in their state fleets with natural-gas vehicles. Colorado alone has about 5,800 vehicles in its fleet, plus about 2,000 more within the state Department of Transportation.

The governors say their actions should help drive demand for alternative-fuel school buses, pickup trucks, vans and cars.

They say they will create a joint request for proposals for natural-gas vehicles that are comparable in price to gasoline-powered ones and hope other states will join them.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper announced the agreement at the Colorado Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition workshop in the Denver suburb of Englewood.

CONCORD COALITION-ROCKIES

Wyo. conservationist new Rockies director

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A conservationist from Wyoming is the new Rocky Mountain regional director for the Concord Coalition.

The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan group that advocates cutting the federal deficit. It announced Tuesday that Paul Hansen of Jackson, Wyo. would lead its work in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North and South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Hansen has worked for The Nature Conservancy and the Izaak Walton League of America.

In a statement, Hansen said both fiscal reform and conservation work require long-term vision and an ability to work out differences in a civil way.

Two former U.S. senators are the co-chairs of the coalition — Republican Warren Rudman of New Hampshire and Democrat Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.