CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – Both men involved in the rape of a Casper woman last year who was targeted for the attack through a fraudulent Internet advertisement have been sentenced to serve 60 years to life in prison.      District Judge David Park sentenced 27-year-old Ty Oliver McDowell, of Bar Nunn, on Tuesday. McDowell broke into the victim’s home and attacked her last December.      Park on Monday imposed an identical 60-years-to-life sentence on the victim’s former boyfriend, 28-year-old Jebidiah James Stipe of Twentynine Palms, Calif.      Prosecutors say McDowell had responded to an advertisement Stipe posted on the Internet site Craigslist pretending to be the victim and seeking a man to carry out a “rape fantasy.” … Read entire article »

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – A former Natrona County reserve deputy will serve five years in prison for secretly videotaping people at a rented Evansville home.      Natrona County District Judge Thomas Sullins sentenced 65-year-old Alan Brooks on Tuesday.      Brooks pleaded guilty in April to seven felonies, including intercepting electronic communications and voyeurism.      Authorities arrested Brooks last December after a renter discovered holes in the ceiling of a rental house and then found cameras and recording equipment in the attic.      Authorities later found hundreds VHS recordings, including one showing the renter and her boyfriend having sex and another showing her showering.      Brooks had served as a reserve deputy for more than 20 years before his arrest.      —      Information from: Casper Star-Tribune – Casper, http://www.trib.com … Read entire article »

Cheyenne – Stepped-up law enforcement activities by Troopers of the Wyoming Highway Patrol will be conducted during the national “Operation C.A.R.E.” (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) enforcement mobilization beginning this week. “Operation C.A.R.E.” is a combined effort by State Police, Highway Patrols and State Patrol law enforcement agencies to reduce the number of crashes during the holiday period.  Troopers will be participating in saturation patrols in their respective areas of operation.  These saturation patrols will take place on roadways throughout the holiday period. Troopers and Staff will be out patrolling and working overtime during the holiday period.  … Read entire article »

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) – Federal agents have killed two wolf packs after the animals attacked livestock near Kemmerer and Cody.      The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says 16 wolves, including 10 pups, were killed last week. The packs were suspected of killing three calves near Cody and a lamb northwest of Kemmerer.      Mike Jimenez, the service’s wolf coordinator for Wyoming, says wolves have been a chronic problem in those areas in the past.      Defenders of Wildlife criticized the action, saying killing the wolves won’t solve the problem and non-lethal methods should be used to discourage depredations.      Jimenez says the killings won’t hurt the population of Wyoming wolves that live outside Yellowstone National Park. The population outside the park grew 26 percent last year to more than 200.      —      Information from: Jackson Hole News And Guide, http://www.jhnewsandguide.com … Read entire article »

MOOSE, Wyo. (AP) – Grand Teton National Park officials say the weather is warming up and drying out and people need to be cautious about their campfires.      Authorities extinguished at least 10 unattended or abandoned campfires in Grand Teton and in neighboring Bridger-Teton National Forest last Sunday alone.      Park officials say any one of those campfires easily could have started a wildfire.      The Fourth of July is coming up, but fireworks are prohibited throughout most of the region: in Grand Teton, the Bridger-Teton and Teton County. … Read entire article »

POWELL, Wyo. (AP) – Windsor Energy plans to begin a new effort in July to clean up underground contamination from a 2006 gas well blowout near Clark.      Windsor and government agencies held a meeting last week to explain the cleanup process to Clark residents.      An engineering firm overseeing the cleanup will test three different techniques over the next year to figure out the best way to treat the contaminated deep bedrock aquifer.      Crosby Well 25-3 blew out in August 2006 when a drilling mishap caused the well’s cement casing to rupture. The well vented an estimated 4 million cubic feet of natural gas into the air.      Contaminated soil at the surface was removed within months of the spill, but cleaning contamination underground has been more difficult.      The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality is taking written comments on the cleanup plan … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – A state team has released new recommendations for preserving sage grouse in Wyoming, including adding more land that’s designated as protected habitat for the birds.      Gov. Dave Freudenthal formed the Sage Grouse Implementation Team in 2007 as part of Wyoming’s effort to stave off a federal decision to list the birds as a threatened or endangered species. In March, he asked the team for an updated assessment.      The new recommendations released Tuesday add 300,000 acres of “core population area” in Wyoming. The core areas now cover about a quarter of the state and include about 83 percent of the grouse population in the state. The new core area maps are scheduled to be posted on the Wyoming Game and Fish Department website on Wednesday. … Read entire article »

POWELL, Wyo. (AP) – Park County officials have identified the man killed in a northwest Wyoming cabin fire as a 21-year-old from Pocatello, Idaho.      Park County Sheriff Scott Steward says the victim of last Wednesday’s fire was Dairik Bollinger.      The cabin in the Crandall area, northwest of Cody, was fully engulfed by the time firefighters arrived. Another man staying in the cabin was able to escape.      Steward says the fire remains under investigation. He says officials believe it began when embers from the cabin’s wood stove escaped the stove’s open door and set the floor on fire.      —      Information from: Powell Tribune – Powell, http://www.powelltribune.com … Read entire article »

FARGO, N.D. (AP) – Supporters of a high-speed broadband network that can connect researchers among a dozen northern tier states say the system is in good shape despite university budget cutbacks.      The Northern Tier Network was established in 2003 to help improve Internet capability in states that lagged behind the rest of the country in broadband coverage.      Bonnie Neas (NEE’-uhs), North Dakota’s network representative, says research dollars created through the system have boosted many universities that are hurting for money.      Neas says the network will also benefit from a federal proposal to connect regional networks.      The Northern Tier Network includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington and Alaska. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – The daughter of a hiker killed by a grizzly bear shortly after the animal awoke from tranquilizers says researchers may have taken down signs warning passers-by of their work near Yellowstone National Park.      The 430-pound grizzly killed 70-year-old Erwin Frank Evert, of Park Ridge, Ill., June 17.      Mara Domingue (MAH’-rah doh-MAIN’), says her father hiked in the area in the days before the attack and said afterward he saw signs warning of the research.      A sheriff’s deputy who recovered Evert’s body reported seeing no signs. Domingue says she suspects researchers removed the signs as they left, leading her father to think there was no longer any danger.      Research leader Chuck Schwartz says the mauling circumstances are being investigated. … Read entire article »