Wyoming
Service Spotty At Wyoming’s Only International Airport Since Death Of…
CASPER — The death of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in Casper two months ago continues to complicate the Casper/Natrona County International Airport’s international service and trade zone opportunities.
Longtime agent John “Dale” Leatham, who provided customs services for 48 years in Wyoming, died in May. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service has not yet filled his position.
In the meantime, people and businesses who had normally used Casper as a destination for international travel or trade has had spotty service.
Since his death, customs clearances have been slowed at the state’s only international airport and a federal foreign trade zone application remains on hold.
The federal agency has been sending customs agents from Denver to fill in, but those fill-in agents have been sporadic, according to Airport Director Glenn Januska.
Januska said there has been a significant decrease in the number of aircraft cleared at the airport, but it’s hard to measure the number of planes that might have chosen to clear in Casper if service was fully operational. Under Leatham, the airport would clear nearly 500 airplanes a year.
“The customs office in Denver has been trying to send customs officers up to Casper when they can, understanding that they still have roles and functions in Denver,” Januska said. “So, we’ve had some coverage for the operation here, but certainly not to the extent that we had when Dale was here.”
A Financial Hit
From a revenue standpoint, the impact of reduced international landings translates to a loss of some money for private companies who sell aviation fuel at the airport.
Typically, an international flight arrives with fuel gauges depleted. The airport, which has a 30-cent fee associated with each gallon of aviation fuel sold, also is losing revenue from any flight that bypasses Casper for another entry point.
Januska said it’s impossible to know how many international planes have bypassed the airport, and not all flights choose to get fuel. The fuel fee also is not broken down between international or national flights, so providing a dollar amount in terms of impact is difficult.
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A map in the customs office has pins showing where flights have originated from over the years. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) -
Dale Leatham holds some 50-caliber machine gun shells he found on airport property – the site of a World War II Army Air Corps base. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Foreign Trade Zone
At Advance Casper, President and CEO Justin Farley said the loss of Leatham has slowed, but not stopped, plans for a foreign trade zone opportunity at the airport.
“We are going to lease a space out there and designate it a foreign trade zone for an international company that is looking to move here,” he said. “We had met with Dale, with this company, and we have been on pause since then.”
Farley said his understanding is that U.S. Customs is reviewing the trade zone application and that the process is still active, but questions remain as to who will fill Leatham’s position permanently and when.
“We’d like to know who is going to be there and gauge what their interest in their involvement in our (foreign trade zone area),” he said. “Dale was super unique and a fan of this company. (His loss) was tragic for his family and our community.”
Farley said the expectation is that a customs officer will still tour the company by the end of September or October to ensure that the foreign trade zone area would meet the requirements for additional security.
Advance Casper is moving forward based on its understanding that there will be a new permanent customs agent at some point.
Under the arrangement, Advance Casper would take care of the paperwork and reporting necessary for the foreign trade zone to operate and also provide some of the transportation required.
“Our hope is we prove that model out where Casper would be a great logistics hub,” Farley said.
He said in addition to Advance Casper’s work on behalf of the international company, another Casper company has its own separate application pending for a foreign trade zone.
“We are moving forward from the standpoint that these are active applications, and we absolutely need a customs agent,” he said. “In addition to all the people that (Leatham) cleared and used our airport for that purpose, we felt that as a community that it was super important to keep (the foreign trade zone) so they wouldn’t drag their feet and say everything will have to go through Billings (Montana) or Colorado, which we view as a real risk.”
A New Agent
Januska said U.S. Customs is aware of the importance of putting an officer in place.
His last email from the agency more than a month ago informed him that the task of selecting an agent belongs to the agency’s human resources. There is no firm timeline.
The customs official told Januska that the selection would likely happen within the month.
Once a candidate was selected, Januska estimated it would take another month before the officer moved to the region, which would put the new officer in position in mid-to-late September.
“We knew going into this that it was not going to be a quick process,” Januska said.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@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.”
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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
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