AP Wyoming

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — The U.S. Capitol insurrection dominated Thursday’s debate in Wyoming among U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and her four Republican primary challengers, with Cheney pressing her Donald Trump-backed opponent on whether she agreed with the former president’s claim that widespread fraud cost him reelection. That opponent, Harriet Hageman,

MEETEETSE, Wyo. (AP) — A distress signal initially thought to be from a crashed aircraft led searchers to a backpacker who’d been mauled by a grizzly bear in a remote Wyoming wilderness, according to sheriff’s officials. No plane or helicopter had crashed but a crew preparing to search the Francs Peak area on Monday learned

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. government this week is holding its first onshore oil and natural gas drilling lease auctions since President Joe Biden took office after a federal court blocked the administration’s attempt to suspend such sales because of climate change worries. The online auctions start Wednesday and

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A Colorado man who Yellowstone National Park officials say got too close to a bison was thrown by the animal while trying to get himself and a child away from danger. The 34-year-old man from Colorado Springs was walking with his family near Giant Geyser in the Old Faithful

MEETEETSE, Wyo. (AP) — A hiker has been hospitalized after being mauled by a bear, believed to have been a grizzly, in the mountains of northwestern Wyoming, the state’s Game and Fish agency said Tuesday. The man was hiking Monday at high elevation on Francs Peak, a 13,000-foot (4,000-meter) summit southeast of Yellowstone National Park,

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A bison herd that lives almost exclusively in the northern reaches of Grand Canyon National Park won’t be targeted for lethal removal there this fall. The park used skilled volunteers selected through a highly competitive and controversial lottery last year to kill bison, part of a

WAPITI, Wyo. (AP) — Yellowstone National Park partially reopens 9 days after flooding forced 10,000 to evacuate and wiped out roads, bridges.

By MATTHEW BROWN and AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (AP) — Throngs of tourists gleefully watched the legendary Old Faithful geyser shoot towering bursts of steaming water while others got stuck in “bison jams” on picturesque valley roads as visitors returned Wednesday for the partial reopening of Yellowstone National Park after destructive

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Firefighter groups are applauding the Biden administration’s steps to raise pay but warn that the temporary wage hikes won’t be enough to combat staffing problems, as federal agencies compete with local fire departments and big box stores in a tight labor market. “It’s an effort

By MATTHEW BROWN and BRITTANY PETERSON Associated Press FROMBERG, Mont. (AP) — With Yellowstone National Park pushing to reopen to tourists more quickly than anticipated after record floods pounded southern Montana, some of those hardest hit in the disaster live far from the famous park’s limelight and are leaning heavily on one another to pull

By DAVID A. LIEB and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press The price of a foot of water pipe in Tucson, Arizona: up 19%. The cost of a ton of asphalt in a small Massachusetts town: up 37%. The estimate to build a new airport terminal in Des Moines, Iowa: 69% higher, with a several year delay.

RED LODGE, Mont. (AP) — Yellowstone official says park has evacuated all visitors except a small group of backpackers following massive flooding.

By AMY BETH HANSON Associated Press HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Massive floodwaters ravaged Yellowstone National Park and nearby communities Monday, washing out roads and bridges, cutting off electricity and forcing visitors to evacuate parts of the iconic park at the height of summer tourist season. All entrances to Yellowstone were closed due to the deluge,

GRESHAM, Ore. (AP) — Federal law enforcement is investigating a fire that broke out on Friday morning at an anti-abortion center in a suburb east of Portland. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said on Twitter that they considered the fire at a First Image Pregnancy Resource Center in Gresham to be “suspicious

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST and SAM METZ Associated Press After the arrest of more than two dozen members of a white supremacist group near a northern Idaho pride event, including one identified as its founder, LGBTQ advocates said Sunday that polarization and a fraught political climate are putting their community increasingly at risk. The 31 Patriot

By MARTHA BELLISLE Associated Press Authorities arrested 31 members of the white supremacist group Patriot Front near an Idaho pride event Saturday after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck with riot gear. The men were standing inside the truck wearing khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former Los Angeles Dodgers player Steve Sax has issued a statement saying that his 33-year-old son who had always dreamed of being a pilot was among five U.S. Marines killed during a training flight crash earlier this week in the California desert. Capt. John J. Sax was among the aircrew of

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Hog Park Reservoir is expected to be 100% full soon, the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities predicted Friday. Among the six BOPU reservoirs, this one may fill up on or around Sunday. The agency had some cautions for people in the area of this body of water, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Marine Corps on Friday identified five people who died when their Osprey tiltrotor aircraft crashed during training in the California desert. Killed were two pilots: Capt. Nicholas P. Losapio, 31, of Rockingham, New Hampshire and Capt. John J. Sax, 33, of Placer, California. Also killed

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — A woman accused of intentionally providing wrong information in the search for a missing Irish hiker in Grand Teton National Park has been banned from the park and ordered to pay restitution. Heather Mycoskie, 40, must stay out of the park in northeastern Wyoming for five years and pay $17,600 under

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A masked woman in a hooded shirt set a fire at a planned abortion clinic in Wyoming, according to newly released police video, and federal authorities have offered a $5,000 reward for tips leading to her arrest. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives offered the reward Wednesday. The

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and KEVIN FREKING Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The nine members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection are on diverging political paths as they prepare for public hearings that could become a defining moment in their careers. Working in private rooms in a Capitol office building, the

By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Most every Republican lawmaker expressed outrage in the days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Some even blamed then-President Donald Trump. But the larger GOP narrative shifted in the weeks and months that followed. Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, who had

By LISA MASCARO AP Congressional Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Liz Cheney has been thinking lately about her great-great-grandfather, a man who fought for the Union in the Civil War, as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection prepares to launch a prime-time hearing of its work. The Wyoming congresswoman, a

By FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Wide-ranging bipartisan legislation unveiled Tuesday would regulate cryptocurrencies and other digital assets following a series of high-profile busts and failures. It’s unclear, though, whether the bill proposed by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., can clear Congress, especially at a time of heightened partisanship ahead

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A wildlife agency that lost key court rulings over its denial of petitions to protect Yellowstone National Park bison will undertake a comprehensive study over whether the animals should be covered under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday. The decision follows a federal court ruling

By LISA RATHKE Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Colorado man pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court in Vermont to kidnapping a man who was later found shot to death in a snowbank in 2018 in what prosecutors allege is a murder-for-hire case stemming from a financial dispute. Federal prosecutors say they believe

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — A bison gored a 25-year-old woman in Yellowstone National Park. The bison was walking near a boardwalk at Black Sand Basin, just north of Old Faithful, when the woman approached it on Monday, according to a park statement. She got within 10 feet (3 meters) before the animal gored

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A man wanted in a fatal shooting in Nebraska was shot and killed by police in Wyoming on Saturday, the Cheyenne Police Department said. Members of the Cheyenne Police-Laramie County Joint SWAT Team opened fire on Davin Darayle Saunders around midday after going to a home where they had located him.

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — When organizers earlier this year settled on a summer opening for a new women’s health clinic in Wyoming, they felt upbeat about their plans even as they knew they would face opposition to what will be the only such clinic to offer abortions in the state.

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge has given U.S. wildlife officials 18 months to decide if wolverines should be protected under the Endangered Species Act, following years of dispute over how much risk climate change and other threats pose to the rare and elusive predators. The order from U.S.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. land managers Thursday said they’ve given final permission for a 416-mile transmission line that would connect wind farms in eastern Wyoming with customers in Utah and elsewhere across the West. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management said it has notified Portland-based PacifiCorp it can proceed with its Energy Gateway South

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney said Wednesday that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and planned to work through minor symptoms she said she was experiencing. The Wyoming Republican’s diagnosis comes amid a nationwide surge in new coronavirus cases and reports of positive tests from Cheney’s congressional colleagues, including North Carolina Democrat

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — An abortion clinic set to open next month in conservative Wyoming was damaged in a fire early Wednesday that police believe was deliberately set — possibly by someone seen running away from the building carrying what appeared to be a gas can and a bag. The

By PATRICK WHITTLE Associated Press LEEDS, Maine (AP) — The ripple effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been devastating for families of all kinds — including those who have seen their prospective adoptions put on hold. Ukraine was once one of the U.S.’s most frequent partners on international adoptions, but the war changed all

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republicans are coming out swinging against Wall Street’s growing efforts to consider factors like long-term environmental risk in investment decisions, the latest indication that the GOP is willing to damage its relationship with big business to score culture war points. Many are targeting a concept

By COLLEEN SLEVIN Associated Press DENVER (AP) — U.S. government lawyers on Wednesday asked the appeals court overseeing four western and two midwestern states to recognize that the First Amendment guarantee of free speech gives people the right to film police as they do their work in public — a decision that would allow officers

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press RENO, Nev. (AP) — A federal judge has ruled the Trump administration acted illegally in 2020 when it withdrew an earlier proposal to list as threatened a hen-sized bird found only in the high desert along the California-Nevada line. It’s the latest development in the on-again, off-again protection of the

By TOM KRISHER and HOPE YEN Associated Press DETROIT (AP) — Nearly 43,000 people were killed on U.S. roads last year, the highest number in 16 years as Americans returned to the roads after the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay at home. The 10.5% jump over 2020 numbers was the largest percentage increase since

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis apologized Monday after getting booed and heckled for remarks she made on sexual identity during a University of Wyoming graduation speech. A first-term Republican from deep-red Wyoming, Lummis said in Saturday’s speech in Laramie that human rights are derived from God but

The Associated Press The 2021-2022 ski season was record-breaking in the total number of skier visits to resorts around the country, the National Ski Areas Association announced Friday. The national figure of 61 million skier visits was up 3.5% from the previous season, according to the trade group based in Colorado. “This record visitation signals

By BRIAN SLODYSKO and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Erin Houchin braced for the worst when a mysterious group started buying television ads last month in her highly competitive southern Indiana congressional race. Houchin assumed she would face a negative blitz, like the one that crushed her in 2016 when she ran for

By BRIAN SLODYSKO and FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Erin Houchin braced for the worst when a mysterious, well-financed group started buying television ads last month in her highly competitive southern Indiana congressional race. Houchin assumed she would face a negative blitz, like the one that crushed her in 2016 when she ran

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a defamation lawsuit over online harassment filed against actor Alec Baldwin by the family of a Marine who was killed in Afghanistan, saying the Wyoming court did not have jurisdiction over the case. An attorney for the family said the case would be refiled elsewhere, the

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A massive drought-starved reservoir on the Colorado River has become so depleted that Las Vegas now is pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead where other states downstream don’t have access. The Southern Nevada Water Authority announced this week that its Low Lake Level Pumping Station is operational, and released photos

By ARNIE STAPLETON AP Pro Football Writer Former University of Wyoming star linebacker Chad Muma was 13 years old when he was diagnosed as diabetic. The first thing he did was search “NFL players with diabetes.” The seventh-grader from Lone Tree, Colorado, was both relieved and delighted when the name of a Denver Broncos player

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials have agreed to craft a new habitat plan for the snow-loving Canada lynx that could include more land in Colorado and other western states where the rare animals would be protected, according to a legal agreement made public Tuesday. The U.S. Fish and

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Heavy snow and strong gusty winds will whip up blizzard conditions for parts of several states this weekend, including the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana, according to forecasters. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning from overnight Friday through Sunday. Portions of northeastern Wyoming and northwestern South Dakota, including the

By MEAD GRUVER Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Ideas for reducing greenhouse gas in the atmosphere are getting a funding boost from famed entrepreneur Elon Musk. The Tesla electric vehicle and SpaceX rocket company developer is bankrolling a $100 million XPRIZE competition for the most promising ways to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide by grabbing

By BRITTANY PETERSON Associated Press TWIN BRIDGES, Calif. (AP) — As wildfires intensify across the West, researchers are studying how scorched trees could lead to a faster snowmelt and end up disrupting water supplies. Without a tree canopy, snow is exposed to more sunlight. Specks of carbon from burnt trees also darken snow and make

By WILSON RING Associated Press BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A Las Vegas man has pleaded not guilty to a federal kidnapping charge in the 2018 abduction of a man later found shot to death in Vermont. Aron Lee Ethridge entered the plea during a brief court appearance Wednesday in federal court in Burlington. He was

GILROY, Calif. (AP) — A victim of the serial murderer dubbed the Happy Face Killer has been identified nearly 30 years after her body was left near a California highway. The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office says genetic genealogy was used to match DNA to Patricia Skiple of Colton, Oregon. She was found dead in

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Interior Department is moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and gas drilling leases under President Joe Biden, but will sharply increase royalty rates for companies that extract oil. Friday’s announcement comes as federal officials weigh efforts to fight climate change against

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A highly contagious form of avian influenza has been found in two Idaho chicken flocks, prompting state agriculture officials to warn bird owners to take extra protections when interacting with their flocks. The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced Friday that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly called bird flu, was detected

BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Forty-nine Yellowstone National Park bison were shipped to slaughter, killed by hunters or captured for relocation this winter —- well short of officials’ goal to remove 600 to 900 of the animals. The park has about 5,000 bison, also known as buffalo. The herds are culled annually under a federal-state agreement

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Month by month, more of the roughly 40 million Americans who get help buying groceries through the federal food stamp program are seeing their benefits plunge. The reductions come even as the nation struggles with the biggest increase in food costs in decades. The payments

By KEVIN McGILL Associated Press NEW ORLEANS (AP) — An effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to account for potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for pollution-generating industries has survived another court challenge. A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Thursday refused to reconsider its recent ruling reviving the so-called cost

By FELICIA FONSECA Associated Press FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Federal officials say it may be necessary to reduce water deliveries to Colorado River users to prevent the shutdown of a huge dam on the Arizona-Utah border. Glen Canyon Dam supplies hydropower to some 5 million customers across the U.S. West. Officials had hoped snowmelt would

By SAM METZ Associated Press Congresswoman Liz Cheney’s campaign says the third-term Wyoming Republican has raised almost $3 million in campaign contributions over the first three months of the midterm election year. Her haul continues a record-breaking fundraising streak as Cheney attempts to defend her seat against Trump-backed challenger Harriet Hageman. Cheney’s criticism of Trump

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia’s U.S. senators are among a dozen asking President Joe Biden to consult with officials state by state on the possible impact of recommendations of the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission. The group includes West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin and Republic Shelley Moore Capito.

By WILSON RING Associated Press A Colorado man has been charged with kidnapping a Vermont man whose body was found in a snowbank by the side of a road in the town of Barnet. Federal court documents say Jerry Banks, of Fort Garland, Colorado, was arrested Wednesday in Yellowstone, Wyoming. FBI investigators used cell phone

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer Three-time Olympian Resi Stiegler will make a comeback to the ski racing scene this weekend at the World Pro Ski Tour championships in Taos, New Mexico. Stiegler retired a year ago and had a daughter eight weeks ago. She has big expectations. With lucrative prize money, the field is

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A subsidiary of one of the largest U.S. wind energy companies has been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay over $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed at its wind farms in eight states. NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy

By MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A federal appeals court says U.S. officials improperly downplayed the climate change effects from burning coal when they approved a large expansion at an underground Montana mine that would release an estimated 190 million tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court

BUFFALO, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon is seeking re-election. Gordon, a Republican, made the announcement Monday in Buffalo. Gordon’s first term included managing the COVID-19 pandemic and a loss of state revenue due to a decline in oil and gas production that led to deep budget cuts. He angered many Wyoming residents with

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — State patrol officials say a man convicted of killing his wife in Minnesota in 1999 has died following a law enforcement pursuit from Wyoming to Colorado. Troopers began chasing 66-year-old Craig Licari on Highway 85 out of Cheyenne Thursday when he drove over road spikes placed by the Colorado State Patrol and

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — NorthWestern Energy is reducing the amount of water it releases from Hebgen Dam into the Madison River for nearly three weeks now in order to store additional water in the reservoir for use this summer. The utility must balance the use of water to allow for recreation at Hebgen Reservoir and

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — As Yellowstone National Park celebrates its 150th anniversary year, the park’s fundraising arm is seeking $1,500 donations in exchange for an annual entry pass that can be used by carloads of the donor’s descendants to visit the park in 150 years. Yellowstone Forever will use the money raised through the sale

By MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press A debate is playing out across the country as the Treasury Department begins reallocating some of the $46.5 billion in rental assistance from places slow to spend to others that are running out of funds. Larger states are getting hundreds of millions extra. Native American tribes are also receiving tens

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Strong criticism has led Grand Teton National Park to reverse its plan to require portrait photographers to have a permit to take wedding pictures during the upcoming tourist season. The park announced the plan earlier this year, saying wedding photographers taking pictures six designated wedding sites obtain permits and remit at