Free Republic

Grasshopper infestations have taken on mythic tones here on the arid prairie of northeastern Wyoming — they blanket highways, eat T-shirts off clotheslines and devour nearly every scrap of vegetation on ranches and farms. The myth may come closer to reality this summer than at any time in decades in several states in the West and the Plains. > "When they're really thick, people say they'll eat T-shirts on a line," he said as he recalled a time in the mid-1980s when the grasshoppers were so thick that you couldn't put your hand on the shady side of a fence...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Some members of the Wyoming Legislature want to instill "cowboy ethics" in state law, lest lawmakers and citizens forget the state's western roots. The code would stress the importance of living with courage, keeping promises, finishing what you start and saying more by talking less. Based on the "Code of the West" outlined in a 2004 book called "Cowboy Ethics" by James Owen, a retired Wall Street investor from Texas, Senate File 51 galloped through the Wyoming Senate last week and on Monday lassoed unanimous approval from the House Minerals Committee.....

CASPER, Wyo. - Authorities say a Casper woman was assaulted at her front door, raped at knifepoint in her living room and left bound on the floor, and they say one of the men charged in the brutal attack claimed that he thought it was invited. Two men are accused in the crime. One is charged with carrying out the rape. The other, the woman's ex-boyfriend, stands accused of posing as the victim online and claiming she harbored a rape fantasy and wanted to be assaulted.......

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Yellowstone National Park is shaking again, but jitters seem few so far. Over eight days, more than 1,270 mostly tiny earthquakes have struck between Old Faithful and West Yellowstone. The strongest dozen or so have ranged between magnitudes 3.0 and 3.8. That's strong enough to feel - barely. The vast majority have been too weak to be felt even nearby. Likewise, online chatter about an imminent volcanic eruption in Yellowstone hasn't really picked up compared with the attention that a similar quake swarm drew just over a year ago. "Perhaps we have done a better job in...

WYOMING ELECTION CENTRAL If we are going to make a difference in the upcoming election, we need to KNOW the candidates. Please post the names of ALL your Congressional candidates on this thread along with any and all information available. We need names, positions, platforms, news articles, statements, pictures. We need to separate the RINOS from the Conservatives, and most of all, we need to get the liberals of either party OUT!We can do this if you help. I have started this thread. All you have to do is contribute a little time and a little research. Help us...

ALTA, Wyo. » Frito the llama defied his name and didn't get eaten. Lou Centrella seemed sure that was Frito's fate after a mountain lion killed another of his llamas on Sunday. Frito was nowhere to be found after the attack on the other llama, named Grayson. On Monday, the cougar returned to the Centrellas' yard in western Wyoming to feed on the llama it had killed. Concerned the big cat may have acquired a taste for llama, Centrella shot it.....

Regulations: The Clean Water Act is being rewritten to give a government bureaucracy the power to regulate every body of water from the Mississippi River to a rain-flooded field. The first casualty may be American coal. With all the concern for the harm that cap-and-trade and regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant might do to the American economy and free markets, the Environmental Protection Agency is doing quite enough damage with an existing law on the books — the Clean Water Act. Congress plans to revise it to make it an even more powerful bludgeon against industry, energy producers and...

At the close of a year justly described as a "Docket-buster" -- 27 appointments on these shores... even more close at hand -- no shortage of new high-hats have had to travel some to reach their new assignments. Yet of them all, none's been called on to undergo a greater change of scenery than Bishop Fernando Isern of Pueblo, who's had to trade Miami's warm sun for a Southern Colorado so frigid that, on his ordination yesterday (photos), the news reported closures due to bursting pipes. The first Cuban exile to lead an American diocese since 1994, the 50...

The likelihood of outrage seems inevitable this year in college football: The BCS controversy, which even President Obama has issued proclamations about, seems ready to explode, since six undefeated teams - two from minor conferences - survive with only three games left in the season. Two conferences, Mountain West and Western Athletic (WAC) are excluded from automatic participation in the BCS, and must compete for one of two wildcard teams, and both still have undefeated teams. But should a team which has gone undefeated and unchallenged take a slot from Alabama or Florida, which are likely to also go undefeated......

Forty years ago, BYU and Wyoming met at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie, Wyo., for a football game that turned out to be much more than a game. It was October, 1969 -- a turbulent time in American history, with demonstrations and protests abounding around the country, sparked by the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War. So when 14 black Wyoming football players decided to wear black armbands for the game against BYU -- to protest what they considered to be "racist practices" of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which owns and operates BYU -- and...

Almost 20% of West Virginians eligible to vote are either dead or have moved. Five States with the Most Dead People Eligible to Vote: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Washington, West Virginia, Wyoming. FUN TIME IN ACORN TOWN: DEAD PEOPLE RULE! Are you lonely when you go to the polling place? Want some company? Perhaps, you'd like to take along a dead "friend" to vote with you. That's a scenario that's becoming more possible across the United States. A combination of old voter registration lists that still contain the names of dead voters and voters who have moved, new "Motor Voter" legislation,...

<p>Need some FReeper help! The Tea Party Express is coming to Wyoming & Colorado on Wednesday for a series of tea party rallies and we're working hard in the short time that remains to get the word out and build up the sizes of the crowds.</p>

After what could be the first grizzly bear attack on a human in the Upper Green, a 46-year-old sheepherder was life-flighted to Idaho Falls early Monday morning after being seriously mauled. The grizzly began its rampage in the early hours in a sheep herd grazing near Forest Road 617, at the eastern edge of the Gros Ventre Wilderness near Tosi Creek. The herd is tended by Marcello Tejeda, of Rock Springs, and Jorge Mesa, both of whom were awakened by what they thought was a black bear in the sheep, according to their employer, rancher Mary Thoman of Fontenelle. Monday,...

The Associated Press must have thought that it had quite a story on its hands when it published "Protest brews over Cheney center at Univ. of Wyo." After all, it had Dearth Cheney, protesters, a university and a petition drive to keep the evil VP at bay. It was all the makings of a good story of "controversy" of the Bush/Cheney years. Apreantly the era of hope-n-change has not quite depleted the APs desire to rehash the Bush years. As it happens, the Cheney family is donating $3.2 million to the University of Wyoming for the new Cheney International Center...

In a last effort to give the Senate a bipartisan health care bill, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee circulated a comprehensive proposal on Sunday to overhaul the health care system and proposed a new fee on insurance companies to help pay for coverage of the uninsured. ... The proposal by Mr. Baucus does not include a public option, or a government-run insurance plan, to compete with private insurers, as many Democrats want. ... It remains to be seen how Mr. Baucus’s plan might mesh with any proposals Mr. Obama lays out as he tries to pump up support...

State agents are investigating a Saturday incident in which a 76-year-old man driving a tractor in Glenrock was tasered by police after allegedly failing to obey their orders. The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will look into whether anyone connected to the incident committed a crime, said Special Agent Tim Hill. The incident happened at Glenrock's annual Deer Creek Days event. Glenrock police said the man, who was operating an antique tractor, failed to obey directions in a parade, Hill said. At some point afterward, police subdued and tasered the man. During the incident, the man's tractor apparently ran into...

Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal today transmitted the following memorandum and proposed resolution on state sovereignty to the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council. MEMORANDUM To: Management Council Members From: Dave Freudenthal, Governor Date: July 28, 2009 Re: Sovereignty Resolution As you know, individual states have been adopting Sovereignty Resolutions over the past few years. Such resolutions have been considered by the Wyoming Legislature over the years as well. Representative Illoway is working on one for this session. The attached version expands slightly on the versions currently circulating. The resolution includes a list of specific federal laws and a reference to the idea...

Jerry Ruth saw the grizzly for just a fraction of a second before it was on him. Within seconds, the 275-pound animal had crushed the Wyoming man's jaw when it bit him in the face, fractured his rib and punctured his lung and left deep bite wounds in his calf and scratches across his back. Ruth grabbed for the .41-caliber magnum revolver he was carrying in a hip holster and relied on his training and experience as a police officer to save his life. He fired three times, saving three bullets in case his first shots failed. Ruth said he...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture again has excluded national forests in Wyoming from receiving federal economic stimulus program money. The federal agency on Tuesday announced nearly $275 million in new federal funds for improvements to U.S. Forest Service trails and facilities in 32 states. It included none for Wyoming.

A crew from the Weather Channel, as part of the VORTEX2 tornado study, caught the full life cycle of a tornado in Wyoming the other day -- including an incredible look inside tornado as its top leaned down toward the camera. Can anyone get a screencap of the tornado about 1:45 in? Amazing stuff.