LOCAL NEWS

St. Patrick’s Day well-wishers will celebrate this weekend with friendly pinches, bangers n’ mash and green beer. Sadly, all this celebration often leads to dangerous driving behavior when party-goers head home. Nationwide in 2016, 60 people were killed in drunk-driving crashes over the St. Patrick’s Day holiday period. Cody Police Chief Chuck Baker says that…

There’s a new superintendent at Bighorn Canyon. Mike Tranel, a 33-year veteran of the National Park Service, has been named superintendent of Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. He also has been named group superintendent of the eastern Montana-Wyoming Group of parks. Tranel, who grew up on Wyoming and Montana ranches not far from Bighorn Canyon,…

Hundreds of Cody students yesterday took part in a nationwide movement, walking out of their school buildings at 10 a.m. on a day that marked exactly one month since a gunman killed 17 people at a high school in Florida. Standing silently, students at Cody High School held pictures of the victims of the shooting,…

The Commissioners of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department gathered in Cody yesterday for a statewide meeting, getting a chance to meet with residents at an open house at the Holiday Inn. The open house was filled with families, many of whom were enticed by the chance to win one of four lifetime licenses offered…

Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead has signed a bill into law that expands the length of time wrongfully convicted people have to introduce exonerating evidence. In Wyoming, people convicted of crimes had a two-year window in which they could present non-DNA evidence in an effort to have their conviction overturned. The Casper Star-Tribune reports that after…

A federal judge says lawsuits from environmentalists and American Indians who want to restore protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears can move forward. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen on Tuesday denied a request by the Interior Department to put the lawsuits on hold. Attorneys for the agency had argued they needed time to review last year’s…

Pickleballers are looking to move their game outdoors. Dozens of players take over the gym at the Paul Stock Aquatics and Recreation Center every weekday morning, but John Parsons, representing the Pickleball Club, approached the Cody City Council at their work session yesterday with a proposal to resurface and remodel a lesser-used tennis court in…

Wyoming will seek an agreement with U.S. Interior Department and National Park Service officials about collecting a fee at Yellowstone National Park to fund wildlife conservation efforts in the states surrounding the park. Gov. Matt Mead on Monday signed a joint resolution passed by the state Legislature earlier calling for discussions about the fees. Proponents…

The first grizzly bears have emerged from hibernation in Yellowstone. Last Tuesday, March 6, Park staff observed an 11-year-old male grizzly bear wearing a radio collar in the west-central part of the park. On Wednesday, March 7, employees reported seeing a grizzly bear in the east-central part of the park. Biologists say that male grizzlies…

A bill that would create an escape hatch from the Affordable Care Act has been introduced in the United States Senate. Last week, Wyoming Senator John Barrasso introduced the Improving Choices in Health Care Coverage Act, which expands access to short-term, limited-duration health plans. In an interview with KODI on Wednesday, Barrasso said that the…