Rebecca Martinez

Wyoming collected more sales and use taxes this year than last. The state brought in almost 28 million dollars more by the end of November. That’s almost a 10-percent increase over the same period in 2010.

Wyoming Senior Economist Jim Robinson says Natrona leads all Wyoming counties in increased sales and use tax collections.

This week's heavy snow in western Wyoming will allow Yellowstone National Park to transition completely to over-snow travel Saturday morning.

Yellowstone’s “snow season” officially started December 15, when park roads were only open to guided rubber-track snow coaches. Until this week, however, there wasn’t enough snow for snow mobiles to travel over the roads. 

Park spokesman Dan Hottle says that’s changed, so now commercially guided snow coaches and snowmobiles will have access to most major roads through the park, though some parts remain dicey.

Police are searching for a man who robbed a Laramie bank at gunpoint Wednesday afternoon.

A bearded man wearing a black cowboy hat and wielding a chrome or silver-colored pistol robbed the First National Bank on Grand Avenue before leaving on foot.

Laramie Police Commander Mitchell Cushman said it was a low-key robbery. No one was injured, and some people in the bank didn’t even realize it was happening.

Cushman says that’s not the work of a nervous amateur.

Low gas prices since Thanksgiving means Americans feel better about traveling this holiday season, and Wyoming has some of the lowest gas prices in the region.

Wyoming’s in a dry spell. The Natural Resources Conservation Service says the state’s river basins are at 80-percent of their average rainfall. Wyoming Tourism has expressed concern about the lack of snowfall near Jackson during the holiday travel season.

But the state’s luck is about to change, according the National Weather Service.

Meteorologist Charles Baker says a strong La Niña climate pattern meant many Wyoming basins received an excess of snow last year.

Anchor ice has been wreaking havoc on some Jackson residents and businesses this week. Also called frazil ice, it’s a rare phenomenon in which the river freezes from the bed up, so flowing water spills out from the sides of the waterway.

Teton County Emergency Management Coordinator Rich Ochs says Jackson’s Flat Creek is one of the few places in the country with prime conditions for anchor ice to form, winter after winter. Ochs says this year has been particularly tough because of the constant freezing temperatures.

TheBullying is on the rise in Wyoming middle and high schools, according to a new report by the Wyoming Department of Education.

2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey allows students to anonymously share their experiences regarding a host of health risk behaviors including sex, intentional and unintentional injury, unhealthy diet and exercise, and the use of tobacco, alcohol and drugs.

Senate Republicans have elected U-S Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming to become G-O-P policy committee chairman.

The policy committee chair is the fourth most senior position in the Republican Party, and Barrasso says he’s honored to be chosen.

On his website, he says he intends to work with Republicans as they brainstorm ways to create jobs, cut spending, develop energy resources and protect the country.

The U.S. Geological Survey has published a study examining the current and projected carbon storage in the Great Plains region, including Northeastern Wyoming.

Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas in Earth’s atmosphere. The study found that the region to be a “carbon sink,” meaning the trees, grasses and soils absorb more carbon dioxide than the area emits into the atmosphere. For now. Jonathan Smith of the U-S-G-S says that could change if people are not careful.

The Wildlife Conservation Society is releasing reports from its research about wolverines in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The first article will run in the Journal of Wildlife Management this spring, and the reports are meant to guide management practices for the species.

Wildlife Conservation Society wolverine researcher Bob Inman says little was known about wolverines before this research, but the animals are pretty cool.

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With soaring lamb and wool prices, raising sheep has recently become more lucrative than ever for Wyoming ranchers. Even with the payoff, raising sheep is a tough job, and poses the same challenges it has for thousands of years… And the number of sheep ranchers in Wyoming has been on the decline for years. Wyoming Public Radio’s Rebecca Martinez reports.

When Governor Mead announced his biennial budget proposal this week, it didn’t include the 50-million-dollars in state matching funds the U-W Foundation requests, and often receives, year after year to incentivize major private donations.

U-W Foundation President Ben Blalock says he will petition the Legislature to approve the request for matching funds, which are an important fundraising tool for the university.

The Wyoming Health Department will work with public health offices and family planning clinics to offer free HIV testing statewide.

Buffalo High School will receive a $40,000 grant from Devon Energy. The money will go to purchase a mobile lab to offer hands-on plumbing, H-VAC and electrical experience for the school’s industrial arts program.

Principal Chad Bourgeois says the training simulators, paired with guidance from local technical professionals, will provide and edge for students. For example: a 17 year old who wants to be an electrician.

Wyoming Superintendent Cindy Hill asked the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees to reconsider raising its admission standards so as not to exclude Wyoming high school students who struggle with their test scores.

Under the new guidelines, in order to be assured admission admitted, students would need three-point-oh G-P-As and an A-C-T score of 21. They would also have to take additional foreign language classes in high school. Students who don’t meet certain standards would be admitted, on condition of participating in a ‘Synergy Program’ to bring them up to speed.

Authorities believe a head-on crash that killed five people near Lander last week wasn't an accident but a suicide that resulted in the deaths of four others.

Seventeen year-old Mathew Denton was driving a Chevy Suburban northbound on Wyoming 789, when it crossed into oncoming traffic and collided with a Dodge caravan carrying four occupants.

Investigators found that Denton had been driving 97 miles per hour, and there was no evidence of brake marks from his vehicle or an attempt to avoid the collision, according to a Wyoming Highway Patrol statement.

Wyoming’s proposed wolf management plan, which could remove wolves from federal protections, continues to draw ire from conservationists. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted the state’s only public informational meeting about the plan in Riverton Tuesday night.

Daryle Murphy of the Sierra Club’s Wyoming chapter called it a “wolf killing plan, not a management plan.” He’s talking about the plan Gov. Matt Mead and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar agreed to this summer.

The Wyoming Department of Game and Fish wants hunters to properly dispose of animal carcasses in landfills and not in the wild.

A Wyoming man was bitten by a weak, old grizzly bear while hunting near Cody last week.

Denny Hammer of the local Game and Fish office says the bear was unable to hunt and had dragged discarded carcasses to a dense area of willows where it made a day bed. The hunter surprised it when he passed, and the bear bit his leg. The man remained hospitalized for two days. Hammer says Game and Fish trapped and euthanized the bear.

A Buffalo High School football coach who resigned after distributing offensive handouts to his players will stay on as a guidance counselor.

Head Coach Pat Lynch, who led the team to two state football championships, was placed on administrative leave after handing out “hurt feelings reports” to his players this fall.

The forms enabled players to report problems, but also asked why they were reporting the offense. The options included “I am a queer,” and “I am a little bitch.” The form offered “a blanky” and P-M-S medication as consolation.

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A listing of today's stories

Listen to the whole show

A listing of today's stories:

A Buffalo High School football coach who resigned after distributing offensive handouts to his players will stay on as a guidance counselor.

Head Coach Pat Lynch, who led the team to two state football championships, was placed on administrative leave after handing out “hurt feelings reports” to his players this fall.

The forms enabled players to report problems, but also asked why they were reporting the offense. The options included “I am a queer,” and “I am a little bitch.” The form offered “a blanky” and P-M-S medication as consolation.

The Bureau of Land Management wants public input about how to reclaim land in the Pinedale Anticline that has been disrupted by energy development projects.

Next month, the BLM’s Pinedale Anticline Working Group – or PAWG –will discuss developers’ plans for improving air quality in the area by their March deadline. Members will also brainstorm for ways to reclaim disrupted mule deer habitat in the area.

Shane DeForest is the Pinedale Field Manager for the BLM. He says there’s a lot to consider in land restoration, including plant species, size and location.

Teton County lawmakers are balking at a cost-of-living adjustment the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Education Committee has initially approved for school districts across the state.

As cold weather sends farmers markets into hibernation, there's one that's picking back up after a summer lull. The Triple Crown Commodities Cooperative serves four counties in Southeastern Wyoming without needing a city block to set up in. This farmers market allows farmers to sell local products to customers online. Wyoming Public Radio's Rebecca Martinez has more

Wells drilled in the Wyoming part of the Niobrara Shale are producing less than half the amount of oil that wells in Colorado are producing. That’s according to Wyoming Oil and Gas Supervisor Tom Doll, who discussed the matter with lawmakers late last week.  However, Bruce Hinchey of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming isn’t discouraged. He said the eastern Wyoming drilling site has a lot of potential –they just have to figure out exactly how to tap into it.  “It’s not a play where you just go out and punch a hole and you’ve got a big oil well.

 For those of you planning a road trip this Labor Day weekend, here's a reminder to buckle up and mind the speed limit.
 Sgt. Stephen Townsend of the Wyoming Highway Patrol says troopers will be out in full-force until Tuesday.

"Yeah with the increased folks out on the road, it's just to make sure everyone has a safe weekend. We want to reduce injuries out on the highway and, most importantly, save lives."

Townsend says all troopers, with limited exceptions, will be required to work this weekend.