Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
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The week of December 31st, 2023 was another fairly quiet one as we ushered in 2024. Here are a few Cowboy State news items for your perusal:
On Tuesday, January 2nd, the Star Valley Independent republished an interesting story about an ongoing study by Wyoming Game and Fish biologists to determine what role predators and scavengers may play in the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). This particular study involves feeding captive bobcats CWD infected meat, not with the aim of giving them the disease (as no cross-species infection of carnivores has to date been observed) but rather to determine what becomes of the disease carrying prions once they are digested and redeposited on the landscape. So far the results of the study seem promising and hint that perhaps bobcats and other scavengers might actually be helping to reduce the spread of CWD. Read the full story here.
[Photo Credit: outdoorsman/Shutterstock.com.] Also this past week Cowboy State Daily reported on the ongoing efforts of a father and son team to save and restore the historic Opal Mercantile building in Opal Wyoming. The Opal Mercantile, established in 1892, first served the surrounding community as a general store but also enjoyed other colorful incarnations over time as a post office, stage station, bar, hotel, and even as a brothel. Today it houses the Opal Ammunition Company and the father and son team who first saved the structure now have even more plans for revival of the property. Read all about it here.
The Opal Mercantile while still vacant. [Photo courtesy of Jacob Barlow.] In this January 5th article, the Riverton Ranger provides a rundown of recently awarded Wyoming Department of Transportation road construction contracts (to the tune of $36 million) for 2024.
Locally, Idaho-based H-K Contractors Inc. received a contract of nearly $1.8 million to completed various chip seal, traffic control, and other projects within Lincoln and Sublette counties.
Lastly, this week Wyoming’s lone Congresswoman, Harriet Hageman, announced she will seek re-election. Yup, it’s an election year ya’ll—look for more coverage of local candidates here on Close to Home 307 as the year progresses.
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and have a great week!
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