MENINGITIS VACCINATIONS

Wyo. lawmaker tries again on meningitis shots

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming lawmaker is trying again to vaccinate college students against meningitis.

Last year, Sen. Bill Landen’s proposal failed largely because it would cost $335,000 a year. This time the Casper Republican is proposing that students pay for the shots themselves.

Students would have to get the shot within 30 days of entering the University of Wyoming or any of the state’s seen community colleges.

That shot costs $125 at UW’s clinic. Students there already have to pay about $127 for vaccinations.

Two-thirds of lawmakers gathering for the new budget session would have to agree before the bill could be considered.

JACKSON-MOOSE

Moose move into developed areas around Jackson

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — People in Jackson Hole are keeping an eye out for moose, which have been moving into developed areas.

The animals have been spotted in some subdivisions and in town near the Snow King Resort.

Wyoming Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gocke says the animals get stressed out this time of the winter and they can be dangerous. He said people shouldn’t feed them and should make sure bird feeders aren’t accessible to them.

Victoria Hess said that she gathered some children into cars after they got between a mother and her calf.

She said the animals reunited and the children got home safely.

WYOMING COAL

Coal from Powder River Basin headed overseas

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — A recently signed deal and another in negotiation will allow some Powder River Basin coal to be shipped to overseas customers through the Gulf Coast and possibly East Coast ports.

St. Louis-based Arch Coal, which owns a number of Powder River Basin coal mines, has signed a deal with Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP to ship coal from the company’s mines to customers in Europe and elsewhere from the Gulf Coast. The announcement came in Arch’s annual report released Friday.

Arch also is negotiating a deal to ship coal from Kinder Morgan’s East Coast facilities.

Kinder Morgan is expected to spend $140 million to upgrade its Gulf Coast facilities to allow its deep-water terminal in Houston to ship 10 million tons of coal per year.