Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
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For the week of March 9th, 2025, here are a your Around the 307 news briefs:
At the beginning of the week we learned that Rocky Mountain Power (RMP) is at it again with a proposed 14.7% increase in Wyoming customer rates. For the typical residential customer the increase would be about $17 per month. At a public hearing before the Wyoming Public Service Commission on Tuesday March 11th RMP noted its proposed double-digit rate hike will aim to have large power users (like data centers) pay more so that residential customers won’t have to pay as much. Read more about the hearing and RMP’s proposal in these stories from Your Wyoming Link and the Laramie Boomerang.
Here we go folks! On Thursday, March 13th Cowboy State Daily published this story advising us that the first Ursus arctos horribilis of the season have been confirmed as being out and about in Yellowstone National Park (YNP)! Interestingly, grizzly bears typically emerge sooner in YNP than they do in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP). In GTNP the first grizzlies typically don’t make an appearance until the end of the month or in early April. Regardless, now that these big bears are emerging from hibernation and are no doubt more than a little hangry, be on your toes if you’re out recreating in and around the parks and be sure to carry bear-spray. Better to be safe than sorry—right?
And to finish off the week, starting just before 4am on Friday, March 14th, those with a clear view of the Wyoming sky were treated to the spectacle of a full lunar eclipse and Blood Worm Moon. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) “during a lunar eclipse, the Moon appears red or orange because any sunlight that's not blocked by our planet is filtered through a thick slice of Earth’s atmosphere on its way to the lunar surface. It’s as if all the world’s sunrises and sunsets are projected onto the Moon.” Pretty nifty. Of course, it was overcast and snowy where I was, so I’ll just have to enjoy the photos and videos folks have been sharing online like this compilation from TimeandDate.com via Space.com. Enjoy!
That’s all for today folks! Thanks for reading and have a great week!
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