Latest Wyoming news, sports, business and entertainment
DECAPITATED BODY
Park County getting help from FBI in investigation
CODY, Wyo. (AP) - The Park County Sheriff's Office is reaching out to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies as it seeks to identify a man whose decapitated body was found last week in a rural area northwest of Powell.
Sheriff Scott Steward said yesterday that his agency has called on police departments in Wyoming and Montana as well as on the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, the FBI, INTERPOL and the U.S. Border Patrol.
A hunter found the man's dismembered body on Jan. 9. A pathologist estimates he died two days before.
Steward says his department is aware of rumors that the crime was drug-related but says there are not enough facts to support any conclusions yet. He says the investigation focuses on identifying the victim and possible suspects.
INTERNET CRIME
Wyo. AG seeks money to keep 7 investigators
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - Wyoming Attorney General Peter Michael says the state's Division of Criminal Investigation is in danger of losing seven task force officers who focus on drug offenses and Internet crimes against children.
Michael told a Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee on Tuesday that lawmakers need to appropriate $1.16 million to save the jobs.
Michael says that six of the positions originally were on the chopping block during a round of state budget cuts in 2009. But grants funded through federal stimulus let the state dodge the cuts and create a position to investigate crimes against children. The grants expired last year, and no other federal funds are available.
The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports that Gov. Matt Mead is recommending approval of the $1.16 million request for the 2015-16 budget.
HITCHING POST FIRE
Hitching Post owners, insurance co. settle suit
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - An insurance company has reached a confidential settlement agreement with the company that owns Cheyenne's Hitching Post Inn.
The landmark hotel's main lodge was destroyed by an arson fire a few years ago.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Freudenthal of Cheyenne this week approved a request from National Surety Corporation and CJM Hospitality Inc. to halt action in the lawsuit until October to give them time to settle.
Ajay Jariwala, a New Mexico hotelier, was a principal in CJM. Jariwala pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit arson in connection with the fire and was sentenced to serve six years in prison. He's now appealing that conviction.
National Surety had sued CJM claiming it incurred substantial costs in investigating a fraudulent $13-million claim from the company.
MOOSE-WILSON ROAD
Grand Teton taking comment on Moose-Wilson Road
JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Grand Teton National Park officials are getting lots of opinions as they study the future of the Moose-Wilson Road.
Teton County commissioners want a bicycle path to be built along the 7-mile road. But the Jackson Hole Daily reports park officials are concerned that quick, silent cyclists could trigger an attack by the increasing number of grizzly bears there.
At a three-hour public meeting Tuesday, some people said they were more concerned about trying to ride their bikes with the increasing number of cars.
Chuck Harris suggested closing the road to cars and running a shuttle from Teton Village to the Laurance Rockefeller Preserve instead. That would leave Teton Village without vehicle access to the park.
The park is accepting public comment through Feb. 6.
SOLDIER KILLED
Wyo. soldier killed in crash joined Guard as teen
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - A Wyoming soldier killed in Afghanistan loved flying so much he enlisted in the National Guard in high school and worked part-time to pay for his pilot's license.
Twenty-seven-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Andrew McAdams was killed when a reconnaissance aircraft crashed in Afghanistan on Friday.
He graduated from Cheyenne's East High School in 2004. The Casper Star-Tribune reported that he doubled up on classes so he could skip senior year and begin his flying career.
English teacher Sonja Turner remembers him as "precociously mature." He was able to fly around the country because he was a Guard member. She recalled that once he was stuck on the West Coast for days without any money.
He leaves a wife and three-month-old daughter. His mother, father and brother live in Cheyenne.
UW MAGAZINE
UW produces natural resource magazine
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - The University of Wyoming is publishing a new magazine dedicated to solving natural resource challenges in the West.
The first issue of Western Confluence magazine is now available and focuses on sustainable rangelands. It is a new publication from UW's Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources.
The magazine will have two issues a year and will focus on new research and creative solutions to natural resource issues.
The Western Confluence magazine content can be accessed at its website at http://www.westernconfluence.org .