Wyoming

Wyoming lawmakers earmark $15 million for I-80 Green River Tunnel repairs – WyoFile

Published

1 year ago

February 28, 2025

Wyoming lawmakers earmark million for I-80 Green River Tunnel repairs – WyoFile

CHEYENNE–The Wyoming Legislature agreed to set aside $15 million to inspect and repair I-80 tunnels near Green River after a 26-vehicle crash earlier this month killed three people and left 18 others injured.

The Feb. 14 wreck also caused extensive damage to the westbound tunnel, including charred concrete lining and destroyed lighting and other equipment. Since then, the westbound tunnel has remained closed, forcing the eastbound tunnel to accommodate two-way traffic on part of Wyoming’s busiest interstate highway.

While the speed limit has been reduced to 35 miles per hour, Rock Springs Republican Sen. Stacy Jones said “it’s a bad situation.”

“It’s just a matter of time before we have another accident in there,” Jones said on the Senate floor as the body debated the appropriation.

“It’s created a bottleneck and we need to get this money to [Wyoming Department of Transportation,] so they can expedite the inspection and repairing of the other tunnel,” she said.

Jones alongside Sens. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, and Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, successfully brought the earmarking amendment Wednesday to

House Bill 33, “Vehicles sales and use tax distribution-highway fund.”

The $15 million is expected to be reverted to the state’s rainy day savings account, since the appropriations can only be spent if WYDOT is unable to access federal dollars. Appropriating state dollars was intended to speed up the repair and inspection process.

“So it’s really not an increase in expenditure or anything because we’re using the money that was already going to be moved over,” Rep. J.T. Larson, R-Rock Springs, said on the House floor. “It was a creative way to address the situation.”

Jones’ amendment also largely reverted the bill to its original version, which will divert a portion of vehicles sales and use taxes to the state’s highway fund on an annual basis. Those dollars are to be used for the operation, maintenance, construction and reconstruction of state highways.

For several years, lawmakers have struggled to work out a funding model for WYDOT, leaving the agency in “preservation mode” with a $400 million revenue shortfall.

While HB 33 will start to lessen the squeeze on the department, Senate Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee Chairman Stephan Pappas, R-Cheyenne, said there’s still work to do.

“We will need to work out long-term funding,” Pappas said on the floor.

Driskill echoed him.

“We’re going to be coming back and looking at ways we can find a way to long-term fund our highways, but this is going to get us on the right track,” he said.

After voting for the amendment, but against the bill, Casper Republican Sen. Charles Scott said he supported the prompt funding for the tunnels but has larger concerns about diverting tax revenue that would otherwise go into the general fund to the highway fund.

More specifically, Scott said the Legislature has long resisted taxing “the operations,” such as semitrucks, “that are really tearing up the roads,” and that’s been a “mistake.”

“We need to get a more fair way of funding our highways and allocate the burden of supporting those highways a little more in accordance with groups that are benefiting from it, which I think are largely not even Wyoming citizens,” Scott said.

When the bill went back to the House for concurrence, the lower chamber voted 52-2 with three excused to send it to the governor’s desk.

The Joint Transportation Committee met Thursday to discuss potential topics for the interim, or the off-season months when lawmakers meet to craft committee bills. With the approval of the Legislature’s Management Council, highway funding will be a top priority for the committee.

In both chambers, “it was very clear that funding our roads and infrastructure was a very important topic,” WYDOT Director Darin Westby told the committee. “I’m not 100% sure the Senate was in alignment but felt that the need to keep it moving forward.”

As for the Green River tunnel inspection and repair, cleanup operations have not yet started. WYDOT previously told WyoFile a safety evaluation of the tunnel needed to be completed first.

Source link

Wyoming

Wyoming’s per capita personal income reaches fourth in the nation

Published

10 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming’s per capita personal income reaches fourth in the nation

WYOMING — The State of Wyoming Department of Administration & Information has announced that Wyoming’s per capita personal income (PCI) is now ranked fourth highest in the United States at $86,477 per 2024 data, trailing on the District of Columbia ($111,185), Connecticut ($95,067) and Massachusetts ($93,607). The number is highly affected by Teton County, where […]

Source link

Wyoming

Wyoming 3A and 4A Boys Basketball Regionals Tip Off Postseason Play

Published

22 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming 3A and 4A Boys Basketball Regionals Tip Off Postseason Play

The 2026 postseason has arrived for Wyoming High School boys’ basketball teams in Class 3A and 4A. They participate in regional tournaments from Thursday through Saturday. The regionals will be in Buffalo, Evanston, Gillette, and Lovell. Three sites will use the format: two wins qualify a team for the state tournament next week in Casper, or two losses eliminate a team. The 4A East Region has three loser-out first-round games on Thursday, followed by two days of games for seeding. The 4A East Regular Season champ draws a first-round bye and has qualified for the state tournament.

WYOPREPS 3A-4A BOYS BASKETBALL REGIONAL TOURNAMENT SCHEDULES

Except in the 4A East Regional, Friday starts with elimination games. The regional semifinals are on Friday night. The final seeds for next week’s state tournament will be determined on Saturday. The schedules below for this weekend are based on the brackets sent to WyoPreps. It is subject to change.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (3) Pinedale 58 (6) Mountain View 40

Final Score: (2) Cody 58 (7) Powell 46

Final Score: (1) Lovell 75 (8) Lyman 43

Final Score: (4) Lander 65 (5) Worland 40

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Mountain View vs. Powell, noon – loser out

Game 6: Lyman vs. Worland, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Pinedale vs. Cody, 6 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Lovell vs. Lander, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 11 a.m. – loser out

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11 a.m. – loser out (at LMS)

Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. – 3rd Place Game

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 2 p.m. – Championship Game

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (3) Douglas 85 (6) Rawlins 50

Final Score: (2) Wheatland 57 (7) Burns 40

Final Score: (5) Torrington 35 (4) Newcastle 28

Final Score: (1) Buffalo 69 (8) Glenrock 44

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Rawlins vs. Burns, noon – loser out

Game 6: Newcastle vs. Glenrock, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Douglas vs. Wheatland, 6 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Torrington vs. Buffalo, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, noon – loser out

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 11: Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 7:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (if necessary)

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game

Read More Boys Basketball News from WyoPreps

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 11 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-25-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 10 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-18-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 9 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-11-26

WyoPreps Boys Basketball Week 8 Scores 2026

WyoPreps Coaches and Media Basketball Polls 2-4-26

Nominate A Boys Basketball Player For Athlete Of The Week 2025-26

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Final Score: (NW-3) Kelly Walsh 64 (SW-2) Riverton 49

Final Score: (NW-1) Natrona County 77 (SW-4) Jackson 23

Final Score: (NW-2) Green River 50 (SW-3) Evanston 40

Final Score: (SW-1) Star Valley 62 (NW-4) Rock Springs 60 – Erickson makes a turnaround jumper at the buzzer off an offensive rebound for the Braves.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 5: Riverton vs. Jackson, noon – loser out

Game 6: Evanston vs. Rock Springs, 1:30 p.m. – loser out

Game 7: Kelly Walsh vs. Natrona County, 6:30 p.m. – semifinal

Game 8: Green River vs. Star Valley, 8 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 10: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 7, 11:30 a.m. – loser out

Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Loser Game 8, 1 p.m. – loser out

Game 11: Winner Game 10 vs. Winner Game 11, 4:30 p.m. – 3rd Place Game (at EMS)

Game 12: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 4:30 p.m. – Championship Game

THURSDAY, MARCH 5:

Game 1: (1) Sheridan = Bye

Final Score: (2) Cheyenne Central 75 (7) Cheyenne South 35 – Bison are eliminated

Final Score: (3) Thunder Basin 75 (6) Laramie 59 – Plainsmen are eliminated; Bolts qualify for state

Final Score: (4) Campbell County 59 (5) Cheyenne East 39 – loser out; Thunderbirds are eliminated; Camels qualify for state.

FRIDAY, MARCH 6:

Game 6: Cheyenne Central vs. Thunder Basin, 4:30 p.m. – semifinal

Game 5: Sheridan vs. Campbell County, 7:30 p.m. – semifinal

SATURDAY, MARCH 7:

Game 7: Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 11:30 a.m. – 3rd Place Game

Game 8: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 2:30 p.m. – Championship Game

James Johnson Winter Showcase Basketball Tournament 2026

Photos from game action at the James Johnson Winter Showcase tournament in Cheyenne.

Gallery Credit: Courtesy: Shannon Dutcher

Source link

Wyoming

Explore small streams of Wyo. with WGFD XStream Angler challenge

Published

1 day ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Explore small streams of Wyo. with WGFD XStream Angler challenge

WYOMING — The Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) is rolling out its 2026 XStream Angler challenge, open to anyone looking to fish the smaller streams of Wyoming. The XStream Angler challenge is an opportunity for anglers in the state to explore over 150 streams with instream flow water rights. According to WGFD, instream flow […]

Source link