By AP

Casper, WY – A financial firm predicts Natrona County will add more jobs and see its population grow next year.

Woods and Poole Economics is a Washington D.C.-based financial firm. It predicts that Natrona County will add 720 new jobs in 2010 and see its population grow by 730 people.

The firm predicts Natrona County will emerge from the current recession with an increase of nearly 3 percent in gross regional product.

By AP

Cheyenne, WY – The Wyoming Department of Health says there are no confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu in the state.

The United States has declared a public health emergency in response to the recent swine flu outbreak centered in Mexico.

Dr. Tracy Murphy is state epidemiologist with the Wyoming Department of Health. He says that while there are no cases of the swine flu in the state yet, it's realistic to expect it will turn up here in low levels.

By Addie Goss

Laramie, WY – Governor Dave Freudenthal has declared tomorrow "Equal Pay Day" to draw attention to the wage gap between Wyoming men and women. Teresa De Groh chairs the Wyoming Council on Women's Issues. She says the Governor picked April 28th for a reason.

"The day symbolizes how far into the year a woman has to work to earn as much as a man earned the previous year," De Groh said.

By Addie Goss

Laramie, WY – Governor Freudenthal is trying to bring down the number of Wyoming workers killed or injured on the job. Gary Hartman is a senior advisor to the Governor. He says they've created a task force with Wyoming employers in oil and gas, mining, construction and other industries. They're also bringing in national experts on workplace safety.

Jackson, Wy – A day after U-S Senator John Barrasso attacked the Obama administration on a number of fronts, state Democrats are striking back. Barrasso was very critical of President Obama's release of documents detailing CIA interrogation techniques and said he was offended by a variety of things the administration has been doing including putting the country in Debt. But State Democratic Chairwoman Leslie Peterson says Barrasso's comments miss some facts. "Senator Barrasso ignores the fact that Obama's leadership has resulted in lower taxes for 95% of Americans.

Lander, Wy – Climate change, bark beetle infestation and wolves all are mentioned in a proposed new management plan for the Shoshone National Forest.
The forest management plan is being revised for the first time
since 1986.
This is just the latest draft of the proposed new management
plan. Several public meetings are being held in communities around
the national forest to discuss the proposal.
Previous forest plans were drafted as several alternative
proposals, from which one plan was chosen. This time, only one

Casper, Wy – Natural gas production in Wyoming set a new record in 2008, while oil production in the state declined slightly from the previous year.
Preliminary figures from the state Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission show Wyoming gas fields produced about 2.4 trillion
cubic feet last year. That is up from nearly 2.3 trillion cubic
feet in 2007.
Oil production in 2008 is estimated at 52.9 million barrels,
down from about 54 million in 2007.
Thomas Doll of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission says last

By Bob Beck

Pinedale, Wy – It appears that air pollution wasn't as
bad this past winter in southwest Wyoming.
The state Department of Environmental Quality says preliminary
data from monitors in the area show that ozone did not exceed
federal pollution standards for any eight-hour time period.
Scientists believe the ozone in southwest Wyoming is caused by a
combination of pollution emitted from natural gas fields and
certain meteorological conditions.
Area residents have long advocated slowing down the drilling to
improve the air.

Cheyenne, Wy – Several state construction projects are on hold while the state government braces for declining revenue. The Legislature approved $58 million worth of projects in the
current budget. State construction manager Rich Cathcart told state
legislators Wednesday those projects are on hold.
The frozen projects include new state laboratories in Cheyenne
and design work on an office building near the state Capitol.
Cathcart also says many construction companies are bidding on
the state projects that are going forward, and that's helping to