CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming is getting some snow from the northern fringe of a powerful winter storm moving across Colorado. The snow is expected to linger over southeastern Wyoming on Friday. The National Weather Service says the snow will be moderate at times. However, winds could gust up to 35 mph and produce blowing snow from the southern Laramie Range to Sidney, Neb. Cheyenne got 4 inches of snow overnight. A Snotel site at the Sand Creek Reservoir in Converse County recorded 18 inches of snow. … Read entire article »

GRAND TETON NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — Grand Teton National Park reports a decline in collisions involving wildlife and vehicles last year compared to the year before. Park officials say 103 animals were hit or killed in the park by vehicles in 2011, down from 162 animals in 2010. Park Superintendent Mary Gibson Scott says the reduction is welcome news. She says the park staff has tried for years to reduce accidents through a public awareness campaign. The park in November permanently reduced the speed limit to 45 mph on the highway that runs from Grand Teton’s southern boundary to its eastern boundary beyond Moran Junction. The park also erected warning signs. … Read entire article »

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Grand Teton National Park officials say director Quentin Tarantino plans on shooting some scenes for his latest film in Jackson Hole within the next couple of weeks. Park spokeswoman Jackie Skaggs says the National Park Service issued a permit to Tarantino’s production company last week. A publicist with the project has said a brief part of “Django (Jango) Unchained” that calls for snow would be filmed in the Jackson area. The film is about a bounty-hunting slave. Most of the filming by the director of “Pulp Fiction” and “Kill Bill” will be taking place in New Orleans. Skaggs declined to tell the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/xflaz3 ) what location the production company had been scouting or applied to use within the park. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming workplace safety regulators are seeking $13,500 in fines against a Glenrock company for an oil facility explosion that killed three workers northeast of Casper. The Wyoming Workers’ Safety and Compensation Division released the citations Thursday. They allege seven violations by Wild West Construction in Glenrock, including that the company failed to adequately instruct employees how to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions. The explosion happened Aug. 29. The citations say flammable substances flowed from an oil storage tank through a pipe being connected by the workers. Wild West Construction had no listed phone number and could not be reached for comment. Tulsa, Okla.-based Samson Resources and Double D Welding and Fabrication in Mills also have received safety citations for the explosion. Proposed fines against all three companies exceed $48,000. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A group planning to nominate an independent presidential candidate online has submitted petitions to the Wyoming secretary of state for a spot on the state’s November ballot. Americans Elect says it submitted more than 8,000 signatures on Thursday, which it says is more than double the number required. The secretary of state must validate the signatures before the group gets on the ballot. The group plans to choose its nominee in an online convention in June. Americans Elect says it has been certified for the ballots of 16 states, including Colorado and Utah. It says it’s gathering signatures or has finished gathering them in nearly 20 others, including Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and South Dakota. The group says it hopes to be on all 50 states’ ballots. … Read entire article »

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A convicted killer who left Mississippi after being pardoned by ex-Gov. Haley Barbour may fight attempts to force him to return from Wyoming. Joseph Ozment’s attorney says he will defend his client’s freedom if Ozment wants to stay in Wyoming. Ozment worked as a trusty at the Governor’s Mansion before his pardon. He’d dropped out of sight by the time Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood obtained a judge’s order requiring Ozment and four others to check in daily with corrections officials and attend court hearings. Hood is challenging the pardons in a civil case rooted in state constitutional issues. The state Supreme Court has taken over the case. Ozment was served with a summons on Sunday in Laramie, Wyo., to appear for court hearings. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A Cheyenne woman has pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor charge alleging mistreatment of her nephew, an autistic man authorities say was left locked in a basement room covered in his own waste. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports (http://bit.ly/zp4iEU ) that 64-year-old Marcia Morris faces a charge of reckless abuse, neglect or abandonment of a vulnerable adult. Documents filed in Laramie County Circuit court allege Morris failed to provide proper nutritional and hygienic care to her 22-year-old nephew. Cheyenne Police officers responding to a disturbance call in November found the man, wearing a diaper and shorts, locked in a filthy basement at Morris’ home. … Read entire article »

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — A federal judge has upheld the federal government’s determination that sage grouse in the West deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act, but that other species have higher priority. Judge B. Lynn Winmill on Thursday granted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s request to rule against two environmental groups in their lawsuit seeking increased protections for the bird. Western Watersheds Project and WildEarth Guardians had sued in 2010. Jon Marvel, executive director of the Idaho-based Western Watershed Project, says Friday he is still reviewing the ruling and had no immediate comment. Wyoming and other western states have been concerned that granting full federal protections for sage grouse could have hindered energy development. … Read entire article »

DENVER (AP) — The federal government’s new plan for oil shale development on public lands would make almost half a million acres in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado available for research on how to commercially produce oil from oil shale. The George W. Bush administration had made almost 2 million acres available, but federal officials took a new look after conservation groups filed a lawsuit alleging the government hadn’t fully reviewed potential environmental impacts first. A draft environmental impact statement released Friday says the preferred plan now is to make 35,308 acres in Colorado; 252,181 acres in Utah; and 174,476 acres in Wyoming available for research. Also, 91,045 acres in eastern Utah would be available for activities related to tar sands. The public has until May 4 to comment on the proposal. … Read entire article »

POWELL, Wyo. (AP) — Donors upset that a military veterans’ club at a Wyoming college was asked to do community service to obtain student senate funding have given more than $1,000 to the vets’ group. The Northwest Trail newspaper reported Thursday (http://bit.ly/AqF1vt ) that Northwest College students, staff and faculty made the donations to the campus Veteran’s Group after the club requested $400 to fund lunches. The student senate approved the $400 but told the club that senate rules require community service work — angering some faculty, staff and students. Cynthia Garhart, an adviser to the vets’ group, had asked the student senate in December to waive the requirement, noting club members already have served their country. … Read entire article »