Wyoming
Northern Wyoming Wildfire Spreads To 5,000-Plus Acres, Forces…
A fire in northern Wyoming that exploded Wednesday to more than 5,000 acres has displaced about 10 families and shut down Interstate 90 between Buffalo and Gillette, an emergency management coordinator said.
The fire started around 11 a.m. or noon Wednesday south of Buffalo near Crook Road, Johnson County Emergency Management Coordinator Jimmy Cataline told Cowboy State Daily in an afternoon phone call.
That’s a rural area with a mini-community of between 10 and 15 houses around Deer Trail, plus farm, ranch and public lands, Cataline added.
High winds whipped up the flames across the dry fields. Pushing northeast, the fire grew rapidly and crossed over Interstate 90 toward Deer Creek.
Evacuate
Authorities gave evacuation orders, with Johnson County Sheriff’s deputies, Buffalo police officers and Bureau of Land Management rangers visiting homes door-to-door to deliver the message.
A shelter is now open at the Bomber Mountain Civic Center in downtown Buffalo, Cataline said.
As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, no one had taken refuge there. Cataline said some locals have been offering to help with food, water or other accommodations. Animals are welcome at the animal shelter and livestock or other pets are also welcome at the Johnson County fairgrounds, he said.
“I don’t have numbers on how many people have been evacuated because nobody’s come here,” said Cataline of the shelter.
Because the fire has crossed Interstate 90 (at around mile marker 72), the Wyoming Highway Patrol has closed the interstate between Buffalo and Gillette temporarily.
Cataline said personnel are diverting traffic up an old state highway that connected Sheridan and Gillette before the interstate and “up some smaller backroads.”
Johnson County Fire, Powder River Fire, Buffalo Fire, Story Fire and BLM Fire all are responding to fight the blaze, he said.
“The coordinated team effort going on among all those groups, and how quick to action they were is exceptional,” Cataline said. “The fire hasn’t slowed down and neither have they.”
Firefighters hope for the wind to die down this evening, and with a chance of rain.
“We’re all doing a rain dance now,” said the emergency coordinator.
Cataline said he does not yet know the fire’s cause, though some are blaming lightning.
Johnson County Fire Control could not be reached immediately Wednesday.
Forecast Not Encouraging
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said Wednesday’s forecast isn’t encouraging. The wind should abate a little after dark, but the region will be warm and breezy again starting Thursday.
“There are showers and thunderstorms out there, but they’re more to the east – the South Dakota border, more towards Newcastle, Sundance – those areas,” said Day.
Chances of rain in Buffalo are low.
Day said he didn’t have exact lightning data at his fingertips, nor could he pinpoint the fire’s cause, but there was lightning activity in the area around the time the fire started.
Contact Clair McFarland at clair@cowboystatedaily.com
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
-
Georgia31 seconds agoGeorgia sample ballot for the 2026 primary elections shows every race to vote on this year
-
Hawaii6 minutes ago20 years in the making: County purchases Honolulu Landing property – West Hawaii Today
-
Idaho13 minutes agoMeet the candidates in Idaho’s biggest legislative primaries
-
Indiana24 minutes agoIndiana law enforcement takes up donations for Special Olympics
-
Iowa31 minutes agoIowa City Community Band readies for the summer | Music Column
-
Kansas37 minutes agoSW Kansas wildfires prompt evacuations, school closure, road closures
-
Kentucky43 minutes agoFormer Kentucky education commissioner to leave California superintendent job
-
Louisiana49 minutes agoOil donors cling to Cassidy in Louisiana primary