Laramie, Wy – The community-owned Powell Mercantile store ended its fourth year of operation in the black and recorded its best financial performance.
The store opened in July of 2002 in downtown Powell. It has since become a model for other stores in small communities in the region.
The Powell Merc recorded a 2006 net profit of nearly 32-thousand dollars on record sales that were up eleven percent from 2005.
The Merc has never borrowed money. It is now planning to nearly double its floor space with expansion into a nearby building.

Gillette, Wy – A man convicted last week of murder in the
shooting death of 16-year-old Gillette boy has been spared the
death penalty.
The jury that convicted Christopher Hicks today (Thursday) said
it was unable to agree unanimously on the death penalty.
The 20-year-old Hicks was found guilty of first-degree murder
and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the November
shooting death of 16-year-old Bryce Chavers.
The jury had acquitted Hicks of first-degree murder in the

Cheyenne, Wy – Wyoming wildlife officials are upset about the escape of more than 100 domesticated elk from a hunting reserve in Idaho just 10 miles from Yellowstone. The escaped elk are red deer elk, which is a different subspecies from the Rocky Mountain elk in the wild. Wyoming Game and Fish Department's director Terry Cleveland says he has two major concerns: first, the fugitive elk may have diseases such as tuberculosis or chronic wasting disease that could be spread to the wild herds. Second, they could breed with wild elk and create a hybrid animal.

By AP

By AP

Laramie, Wy – Governor Freudenthal's re-election campaign continues to enjoy a substantial fund-raising advantage over Republican challenger Ray Hunkins.
Freudenthal reports he's raised just over 830-thousand dollars from the start of his campaign through the third week of August.
Hunkins reports that he's raised over 276-thousand dollars, including 85-thousand in loans from Hunkins himself.
Freudenthal says the number of people who have contributed money to his campaign indicates to him that for the most part people think Wyoming is on the right track.

By Elsa Heidorn

Laramie, Wy – As double digit population growth continues to swell Campbell County's homes apartments hotels and motels so it goes with the county hospital. Campbell County Memorial Hospital noted record emergency room visits and baby deliveries in its most recent end-of-the-fiscal-year report. Interim C-E-O Andy Fitzgerald says the hospital is trying to cope with the influx of patients. It has just received funding to upgrade its M-R-I machine with a breast coil.

Laramie, Wy – Microbes are going to work cleaning up the site of a gas well blowout last month. It happened a few miles west of Clark in the Big Horn Basin.
The blowout contaminated the well site with drilling fluid and gas condensate.
Vacuum trucks removed about ten barrels of gas condensate from the surface. Now company officials hope to clean up the rest with a product called Micro-Blaze.

Laramie, Wy – A lack of workers is forcing a number of hoteliers, restaurant owners and managers and fast-food establishments in the Sheridan area to go out of the country to find employees.
Larry Storo Junior owns two McDonald's restaurants. Over the years he has hired 45 employees from other countries - primarily Russia and other Eastern Bloc countries.
He says he tries to hire local workers but it's getting harder to find local residents, even among high school students.