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July 16, 2019 GOSHEN COUNTY, Wyo.--During the early morning hours of July 17, an apparent collapse in a tunnel on the Ft. Laramie Canal, about one and a half miles south of Fort Laramie, caused water to back up and breach the canal bank upstream of the tunnel. Goshen Irrigation District personnel responded immeditely to water level alarms by investigating the cause. They then shut off the water supply at Whalen Dam and requested the Bureau of Reclamation reduce the flows out of Guernsey Reservoir.

June 25, 2019 MILLS, Wyo. (RELEASE)--The Wyoming Area Office of the Bureau of Reclamation in Mills, Wyo., will be lowering the water level in Guernsey Reservoir in preparation for the annual silt run.

“The silt run is an operation which provides silt-laden water to Goshen, Gering-Fort Laramie, and Pathfinder Irrigation Districts under contract with Reclamation,” said Wyoming Area Manager, Carlie Ronca.

June 24, 2019 CHEYENNE, Wyo. (RELEASE)--Governor Mark Gordon has appointed Nathaniel Hibben to be a Circuit Court Judge for the Eighth Judicial District serving Goshen County, Wyoming. Hibben’s appointment fills the vacancy left by the retirement of Judge Randal Arp.

Hibben is currently an attorney working in private practice and a Municipal Judge in the town of Torrington. He previously served as a public defender and as Deputy Goshen County Attorney. Hibben grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, received a B.S. in History from Iowa State University and graduated cum laude from Liberty University School of Law. Nathaniel, his wife Chelsea and his four children have lived in Torrington since 2009.

June 20, 2019 TORRINGTON, Wyo. (RELEASE)--Eastern Wyoming College is pleased to announce the honor rolls for the Spring 2019 semester. There were 100 students receiving recognition for achieving high scholastic grades.

The President’s Honor Roll recognizes students that are full-time (12 or more credit hours) and achieve a 4.0 grade point average.  To qualify for the Dean’s Honor Roll, students must also be full-time and achieve a grade point average of 3.5, but less than 4.0.

June 10, 2019 GOSHEN COUNTY, Wyo. (RELEASE)--Around 8:40 a.m. on June 5, 2019, Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers were dispatched to a collision involving two vehicles.  The collision took place around milepost 81.5 on US 85.

June 5, 2019 GOSHEN COUNTY, Wyo.--Area residents are invited to attend public meetings regarding the 2019 excavation season at the Hell Gap National Historic Landmark. Sessions will be held in Torrington, Wheatland and Guernsey on June 11, 19 and 20. All meetings will begin at 7 p.m.

The free programs will be presented by Marcel Kornfeld, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming, who has conducted the research excavations of the Paleoindian site for nearly a decade. Artifacts from the site, which dates back 8,000-11,000 years, will also be on display.

May 31, 2019 TORRINGTON, Wyo. (RELEASE)--Lisa Miller of Fort Laramie was recently selected as the new Chief Executive Officer of the Goshen County Economic Development Corporation.  She will fill the vacancy created from the resignation of previous CEO, Ashley Harpstreith.  Miller will assume her new duties effective June 1st. Miller brings more than 25 years of professional executive level experience in the corporate, foundation, association and government sectors including, economic development, as well as being self-employed.  She is a graduate of Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science degree in community development and public administration, and a graduate of Leadership Michigan.  

May 29th, 2019--TORRINGTON, Wyo. Stephen Evans has still not been located. Nebraska and Wyoming authorities have been searching for Colorado fugitive, Evans since Sunday, May 12th. The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Mitchell Police Department, Morrill Police Department, Scottsbluff Police Department, Gering Police Department, Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Goshen County Sheriff’s Office have been involved. The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's office received information that Evans might be staying at a residence near Henry. Evans is wanted on felony warrants out of Colorado. He may have escaped to a wooded area along the North Platte River. Officers have followed up on leads to various places and have not yet found Evans.

Scotts Bluff County Lt. Jeff Chitwood said, "We've heard he's been in and out of the area but are not sure how great that information is. I would encourage anyone who has any information on him to please call us."

May 24, 2019--TORRINGTON, Wyo. Power outages this morning were caused by a squirrel.

Electric Superintendent Dana Youtz, said “There was a dead squirrel on the west side of the Curtis Substation.”

The squirrel went up the volt line to the substation. A jumper was melted in the Curtis Substation and caused brown-out conditions. When workers arrived at the substation, they noticed that it was only at 3,600 volts, which is exactly half of what it should be. Western Area Power dropped the circuit so that the City could do repair work.
Even though the radio station is outside of city limits, we operate on city power. The outage caused the radio stations to be off the air this morning. The Curtis Substation operates over half of the city electric service and affected many areas including South Torrington, Western Sugar, Main Street, and clear out to Dinklage Feed Yard.

May 23, 2019--TORRINGTON, Wyo. (RELEASE) Goshen County School District #1 announces their participation in the Summer Food Service Program. Meals will be provided to all children ages 18 and under without charge and are the same for all children regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability, and there will be no discrimination in the course of the meal service.

May 22, 2019--TORRINGTON,Wyo. (RELEASE) As the Memorial Day holiday approaches, Goshen County Law Enforcement is reminding all drivers of the importance of seat belt use. The annual Click It or Ticket high-visibility enforcement effort runs from May 20 through June 2, 2019 and is focused on enforcing seat belt use.
Goshen County Law Enforcement will be especially active this Memorial Day weekend as officers, deputies and troopers will target those who are not buckling up.

May 20, 2019 TORRINGTON, Wyo. (RELEASE)--Eastern Wyoming College staff members have recently received multiple student loan relief scam calls from 1-800-400-7942 to personal cell phones. Voicemails left by the companies include statements such as “I believe we may have called you a while back because you qualify for a reduction in your student loans,” and “You actually have a notification on your federal student loan that you’re not in the lowest possible repayment option. This can be costing you thousands of dollars annually, and tens of thousands over the course of the loan, so it is important that you contact me as soon as possible as this is a time sensitive matter.” Callback numbers given include 844-866-1433 and 858-926-5084, but there are likely additional numbers being provided. Emails and letters are also a common form of communication from companies claiming student loan debt relief.

May 16, 2019--TORRINGTON, Wyo. Nebraska and Wyoming authorities have been searching for Coloardo fugitive, Stephen Evans since Sunday evening. The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff’s Office, Nebraska State Patrol, Mitchell Police Department, Morrill Police Department, Scottsbluff Police Department, Gering Police Department, Wyoming Highway Patrol, and Goshen County Sheriff’s Office have been involved. The Scotts Bluff County Sheriff's office received information that Evans might be staying at a residence near Henry. Evans is wanted on felony warrants out of Colorado. He may have escaped to a wooded area along the North Platte River. Officers have followed up on leads to various places and have not yet found Evans.

May 15, 2019--Goshen County residents are reminded to follow a few simple precautionary measures when there are incidents in our county or neighboring counties/states. Always ensure vehicles are locked and keys are not left inside.  Lock and secure all outbuildings and unoccupied buildings as well as homes. We encourage citizens to report immediately any suspicious people or activity to dispatch 307-532-7001. Failure to report the information immediately reduces our chances of being able to make contact with anyone. Please do not use Facebook or messenger to report any needs for our deputies, call dispatch to ensure a prompt response. All reports are followed up on to ensure the safety of our citizens.

By Brian Sherrod 

May 14, 2019--GERING, Neb. Local runners got involved by participating in a race for National Tourism Week.

Over 192 runners competed in the Summit to Summit Run/Walk around the Scotts Bluff National Monument’s Visitor Center. They ran along Summit Road to the top of the bluffs. The overall race was 7.2 miles. The first runner got to the halfway point, 3.6 miles, in about 26 minutes. The winner of the race, Joe Wilson, completed the 7.2 mile race in 42:58. Not only did he win the race, he broke the original record.

May 14, 2019--DOUGLAS, Wyo. (RELEASE) On May 9, 2019, around 1:07 p.m. a Wyoming Highway Patrol vehicle was involved in a collision around milepost 129 on Interstate 25 near Douglas, Wyoming.

May 10, 2019--Torrington Police Department arrested Mario Correa, age 39, on Friday May 3, 2019. Correa was charged with one count of Driving While Under the Influence. The arrest location was at 2208 Golf Course Rd in Torrington.

Sgt. Connelly said, "The investigation is now closed. A tree and property at the golf course were damaged. The driver sustained minor injuries and was treated at Community Hospital in Torrington. He was then taken to jail. There were no other passengers or vehicles involved."

Damage done at Cottonwood of Torrington Golf Course was cleaned up and taken care of immediately.

May 9, 2019--THS math teacher and former coach, Brian Harms, was named GCSD#1's Teacher of the Year on Friday, May 3rd. Harms said, "I put my heart and soul into teaching." For a full interview you can listen to School Talk after 5 pm this evening. You can also listen to tomorrow's newscasts for a portion of the interview.

May 7, 2019--A Goshen County Commissioners meeting was held on Tuesday, May 7th at 9:00 am. There were departmental reports from Road and Bridge, Clerk of Court, and Fire Warden. A recap of the meeting will be available in tomorrow's newscasts.

April 25, 2019--Kelly's Supermarket in Torrington changed ownership approximately two weeks ago. Kelly's will now be Fresh Foods. The new owners are Ben and Kerri Dishman. They own the Fresh Foods in Gering NE, Brush CO, and now Torrington, WY. There will be many new changes and updates made to the store in the upcoming weeks and months.

April 11, 2019--The North Platte water user meeting that was scheduled for April 11th in Torrington has been canceled. They will not reschedule the meeting but the presentation material will be available online after April 11th.

The link for the North Platte Water Users Meeting Power Point will be:  https://www.usbr.gov/gp/wyao/north_platte_water_operations.pdf