City leaders in Washington say one of the busiest corners of their town has turned into an eyesore: a parking lot overflowing with trash, furniture, and old tires directly across from Washington High School.

Now, frustration is growing as the city waits for a court hearing before it can force a cleanup. Business owners say enough is enough.

“We’re doing everything we can legally do. We just can’t go on the property and start moving stuff,” said Washington Mayor JoJo Burgess.

Burgess says the spot at 308 Jefferson Avenue has turned into a junkyard that they can’t legally touch.

“I hate it whenever I hear people say, ‘Why are you letting him be there?’ We’re not letting him be there. If we were letting him be there, he would have a permit that says, ‘OK, you can be there.’ He doesn’t have that.”

The business, Hauling and That, moved in this summer. But by August, the mess had gotten out of control, and so had the complaints.

The city filed 10 citations against the property owner and the business owner, ranging from nuisance vehicles to unapproved solid-waste collection. Those citations also come with a daily fine.

“He’s calling me, telling me, ‘Will you work with me?’ No, I’m not going to work with you. I need you to get into compliance with what we say the rules are here in the city,” Mayor Burgess said.

“It’s definitely not a good look. We take a lot of pride in our shop, and having that across the street is definitely not good,” said Johnny Interval, owner of Barbiere. “It’s right across the street from the school. It’s just a bad look for the city in general, you know what I mean?”

The mayor says the mess stems from the owner never securing the proper permits or zoning approvals, something the city says it warned him about early on.

As the community watched the trash pile grow, the safety concern also grew.

“I’d hate for a kid to go get into that mess and find something and get hurt,” Mayor Burgess said. “That’s why we issued the citations. That’s why we’re going in front of the magistrate.”

A hearing is set for Nov. 25.

If the judge rules against the business owner, the fines could escalate quickly, and the city could eventually be permitted to step in and remove the debris.

Casper, WY — November 17, 2025 — Homax Oil Sales, Inc. announces the opening of its newest HX Station, a modern Conoco-branded convenience store, deli, liquor store, and fueling center located at 519 S. Poplar Street in Casper’s revitalized Old Yellowstone District. The new facility continues Homax’s longstanding commitment to Wyoming’s fuel and retail industry with an emphasis on quality, service, and local investment. 

Operating from the Poplar Street corridor since 1978, Homax Oil Sales has been a quality provider of energy and retail services throughout Wyoming and the Rockies for nearly five decades. The new HX Station replaces the former Stop-N-Go store that served the neighborhood for over 30 years. This redevelopment was completed in coordination with the City of Casper’s recent infrastructure and streetscape improvements along Midwest Avenue in the Old Yellowstone District. 

The new store features high-quality Conoco fuels, a full-service deli, and an expanded package liquor department, as well as a fresh, open interior design with bright lighting and modern fixtures. Customers can enjoy made-to-order food options, including craft pizza, smash burgers, and fresh-brewed coffee, to name a few. 

HX Station Grand Re-Opening – Thursday, November 20, 2025 

Join us from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the all-new HX Station – Conoco, located on Poplar Street in Casper’s Old Yellowstone District. 

• Fuel up and save: Enjoy 50¢ off per gallon for three days, November 20-22, exclusively through Conoco’s Fuel Forward® App. 
  • New users can stack in-app bonuses to save up to 70¢ per gallon during the event, and continue saving up to 15¢ per gallon every day thereafter. 
  • Learn more: conoco.com/mobile-app.
• HX Deli & HX Liquor specials: All-day offerings and product sampling from 7–9 a.m., 11 a.m.–1 p.m., and 4–6 p.m. 
• Giveaways & promos: Special prizes and offers throughout the day. 

About Homax Oil Sales, Inc. Founded in Casper in 1978, Homax Oil Sales, Inc. supplies fuel, lubricants, chemicals, commercial fueling, and convenience retail services throughout Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region. The company remains locally owned and operated, and continues to invest in modern facilities that serve residential, industrial, retail, and commercial customers across the Rocky Mountains. www.homaxoil.com

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It’s Election Day in California, where a ballot initiative will make a huge impact on next year’s battle for the U.S. House majority whether it passes or fails.

California voters are deciding whether to pass a ballot proposition which would dramatically alter the state’s congressional districts, putting the left-leaning state front-and-center in the high-stakes political fight over redistricting that pits President Donald Trump and the GOP against the Democrats.

California state lawmakers this summer approved a special proposition on the November ballot to obtain voter approval to temporarily sidetrack the state’s nonpartisan redistricting commission and return the power to draw the congressional maps to the Democrat-dominated legislature. Early voting by mail in the contest has been underway for a month.

LIVE UPDATES: ELECTION DAY 2025

The effort in California, which could create five more Democratic-leaning congressional districts, aims to counter the passage in the reliable red state of Texas of a new map that aims to create up to five right-leaning House seats. Failure to approve what’s known as Proposition 50 would be a stinging setback for Democrats.

OBAMA ENDORSES NEWSOM CALIFORNIA REDISTRICTING PROP 50

Two-term Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender, is spearheading the push to pass the proposition.

“If we lose here, we are going to have total Republican control in the House, the Senate and the White House for at least two more years,” Newsom emphasized in a recent fundraising appeal to supporters. “If we win here, we can put a check on Trump for his final two years.”

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The push by Trump and Republicans for a rare mid-decade redistricting is part of a broad effort by the GOP to pad its razor-thin House majority to keep control of the chamber in the 2026 midterms, when the party in power traditionally faces political headwinds and loses seats.

Trump and his political team are aiming to prevent what happened during his first term in the White House, when Democrats reclaimed the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections.

Missouri last month joined Texas as the second GOP-controlled state to pass congressional redistricting ahead of next year’s elections. The new map in Missouri is likely to give the GOP another right-leaning seat.

And North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature also passed a new map, which is likely to score another congressional seat for the GOP. Republican-controlled Indiana is on deck, with a special legislative session getting underway this week.

But unlike those states, California voters need to weigh in before giving redistricting power back to the legislature in Sacramento.

“Heaven help us if we lose,” Newsom said in a fundraising pitch. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats.”

FIVE KEY 2025 RACES TO WATCH

Proponents and opponents of Proposition 50 raised hundreds of millions of dollars in fundraising, with much of the money being dished out to pay for a deluge of ads on both sides.

One of the two main groups countering Newsom and the Democrats labeled their effort “Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab.”

Getting into the fight was former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was the last Republican governor of California.

During his tenure as governor, Schwarzenegger had a starring role in the passage of constitutional amendments in California in 2008 and 2010 that took the power to draw state legislative and congressional districts away from politicians and placed it in the hands of an independent commission.

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA VOTERS WEIGH IN ON PROP 50 REDISTRICTING FIGHT

“That’s what they want to do is take us backwards — this is why it is important for you to vote no on Prop 50,” Schwarzenegger said in an ad against Proposition 50. “Democracy — we’ve got to protect it, and we’ve got to go and fight for it.”

But as Election Day neared in California, the Yes forces had dramatically outraised the No forces, and public opinion polling indicated majority support for the proposition.

Even before Trump initiated his redistricting push, Ohio was under court order to redraw its maps. That could boost Republicans in a one-time battleground state that now leans right.

Republicans in GOP-dominated Florida are also mulling congressional redistricting. And Democrats in heavily blue Maryland are weighing a redistricting push, while the Democrat-controlled legislature in Virginia is already pushing redistricting.

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Other states considering altering their maps are Democrat-dominated Illinois and red states Kansas and Nebraska.

Meanwhile, Democrats could possibly pick up a seat in Republican-dominated Utah, due to a new, more competitive map, mandated by a judge.