By Molly Messick

Billings, MT – A federal judge had denied an injunction sought by wildlife advocates to block the slaughter of Yellowstone bison.
Thursday's order from U.S. Judge Charles Lovell comes after
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer stepped in last month to halt the
impending shipment of hundreds of the animals to slaughter.
Citing Schweitzer's 90-day prohibition against those shipments,
Lovell wrote that there was no emergency that would necessitate
court intervention.
Many bison are infected with the disease brucellosis.

Denver, CO – A panel of federal judges will decide how a Wyoming county should configure its county commission districts in response to a voting rights challenge from American Indians.
Three judges with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver
heard arguments Thursday on Fremont County's appeal.
A group of American Indians won a court ruling last year
overturning Fremont County's system of at-large voting for county
commissioners.
The county is appealing a federal judge's rejection of its

By Bob Beck

Lander, WY – Fremont County has alerted a federal appeals court in Denver that Wyoming recently changed state law to allow counties to reconfigure voting districts.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments Thursday
on Fremont County's appeal of a federal judge's order requiring
election of county commissioners from separate voting districts.
Judge Alan B. Johnson ruled last year that at-large voting in
Fremont County diluted the votes of American Indians.
The county is appealing Johnson's rejection of its proposal to

By Bob Beck

By Molly Messick

Riverton, WY – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a Northern Arapaho man's claim that the state of Wyoming lacked authority to prosecute him for murder in his daughter's
death. Andrew John Yellowbear Jr. is serving a life sentence in state
prison in the 2004 beating death of 22-month-old Marcela Hope
Yellowbear. Both the Wyoming Supreme Court and U.S. District Judge Clarence
Brimmer of Cheyenne previously upheld Yellowbear's murder
conviction. They rejected Yellowbear's argument that the area of

By Tristan Ahtone

By Tristan Ahtone

Laramie, Wyo. – Yellowstone's winter season is coming to a close, as is the Park's temporary two-year winter use plan. The plan provides for commercially guided snowmobile and snow-coach travel into the park.