WALMART CRASH

No-one hurt in Wal-Mart crash

By KVOW/KTAK News Director Leslie Stratmoen

RIVERTON, Wyo. – Saturday morning’s incident at the local Wal-Mart where a teen-aged drunk driver crashed a car through the store’s outer wall has left some folks reeling. They still can’t believe the car traveled nearly 300 feet, all the way back to the electronics’ department, and didn’t hurt anyone.

Even the driver, identified by authorities only as a 17-year-old male from Ethete, walked away from the crash. In fact, he tried to flee, according to the Riverton police report, but was apprehended outside the south side garden center.

The store was open for business at the time the incident happened – just after 4 in the morning.

The teen had just stolen the Chevy Cobalt from the College Hill Apartment’s area, according to the report, after it had been left running by its owner. The teen crashed into the store after trying to make an abrupt turn into the parking lot off Webbwood Road. His blood alcohol content was over twice the legal driving limit of .08.

The teen-aged driver is in jail facing two felony counts of property destruction, because the damage from the crash was estimated at $100,000. He’s also been charged with four misdemeanor counts of drunk driving, reckless endangerment, hit and run and reckless driving.

GAS PRICES

Local gas prices still running high

By KVOW/KTAK News Director Leslie Stratmoen

RIVERTON, Wyo. – Local gas prices are still running high – from $2.97-$2.99 a gallon, which is a little above the $2.95 average for the state. That’s a rise of a little over 1 cent a gallon in the past week, according to the online gas tracking site – WyomingGasPrices.com. Prices in Wyoming Sunday, according to its figures, are still much lower than the national average, which was $3.34.

The national average has increased 11.8 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 25.3 cents per gallon higher than this time a year ago. Prices for Wyoming were 12.8 cents per gallon higher yesterday than the same day a year ago and are 20.8 cents per gallon lower than a month ago.

Analyst Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy.Com – that’s WyomingGasPrices.com’s parent company — says oil prices have fallen slightly because tensions in Iran last week cooled a bit. He says he expects gasoline prices to move very little in the next week and actually fall in some areas of the United States.

As of Sunday in Wyoming, the lowest price for a gallon of gas in the state could be found at the Gasamat in Cheyenne — $2.61. The Sinclair in Rawlins recorded the highest price point — $3.45.

Prices in Riverton and Lander are running about the same and remain under the $3 mark.

WYOMING REDISTRICTING

Legislative committee approves redistricting

By KVOW/KTAK News Director Leslie Stratmoen

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The lines have been drawn to create new voting districts across the state and if endorsed would leave one eastern Wyoming state senator out of a job.

On Thursday, the Wyoming Legislature’s election committee approved unanimously a redistricting plan that puts the residence of Sen. Curt Meier, a Goshen county Republican, into a district represented by Sen. Wayne Johnson, who’s a Republican from Laramie County.

The committee voted to allow Meier to serve out the two years remaining in his term.  However, Meier says he may propose to amend the plan in the legislative session that starts next month.

The redistricting is in response to population changes reflected in the latest census.

From information provided by The Associated Press

WYOMING TUITION

State universtity seeks 2-year tuition hike

By The Associated Press

LARAMIE, Wyo. — It looks like tuition at the state’s only four-year college is on the rise. Officials at the University of Wyoming plan to ask trustees in March to approve tuition rates for a two-year period.

UW Main Building

At a meeting Friday, Doug Vinzant who’s the school’s vice president of administration told trustees that adopting a two-year planned tuition program would provide certainty for students.

Currently, annual full-time undergraduate tuition and fees are $4,125 for residents and $12,855 for non-residents.

Vinzant says increases will likely be based on what the university receives in appropriations from the Legislature.

Gov. Matt Mead has recommended providing the university with less than what it requested for faculty salaries and boosting the university’s library collections, prompting school officials to look at raising tuition.

Vinzant says that since 2000, tuition has increased 3.9 percent per year on average, or about $130.

PEOPLE-TARANTINO

Tarantino to film part of next movie in Wyoming

By The Associated Press

JACKSON, Wyo. — Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino plans to shoot part of his next movie in Wyoming.

A publicist for “Django (Jango) Unchained” told the local newspaper that a brief part of the movie requiring snow will be filmed in the Jackson area.

Jamie Foxx will star in the film, along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. It’s a remake of a spaghetti western about a slave who becomes a bounty hunter and sets out to rescue his wife from the owner of a plantation.

Most of the movie will be filmed in New Orleans starting next month. Details about the filming in Wyoming have not yet been released.