Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, September 9th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom… Brought to you by Wyoming Interventional and Vascular Associates. WIVA offers the best solution for treating tired, aching and swollen legs, at Wyoming's only IAC-accredited vein facility. With virtually no downtime and minimal risks, if you're ready for relief, see what WIVA can do for you. Schedule a consultation at Casper Medical Imaging dot net, forward slash WIVA.

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Rural hospitals across America have been closing and scaling back,crushed by the current health care economics. But in Riverton, they're fighting that trend in a big way with a new $66 million hospital project.

Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that the central Wyoming city is building a new 71,000-square-foot hospital that will offer state-of-the-art primary, acute, emergency and specialty care services, as well as 24/7 surgical and emergency capability, for a region serving about 22,000 people.

"To get to Lander from Thermopolis, it's quite a drive in the winter, and so imagine doing that in the winter. You're trying to have a baby. You got to go through this canyon, you gotta it's a snowstorm… the longer it takes to access those higher level of care that's lost brain tissue, it's lost heart tissue. It's worse health outcomes. It's part of the reason why people are dying more in rural areas than they are in metropolitan ones… And so the community just kind of banded together to build a $57 million hospital."

The $57 million for construction is only part of the total $66 million dollars allocated for the project - the balance is for operating funds while the new nonprofit, independent hospital ramps up its services.

Read the full story HERE.

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Those in western Wyoming worried about the Dollar Lake Fire making a run at the state's famous landmark Squaretop Mountain don't have to worry any longer - because it has happened.

The fire, which has grown to more than 19,000 acres and is 39% contained, made an aggressive move along the Green River toward the foot of Squaretop over the weekend and nearly straight on at Porcupine Pass. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that the flames also came within yards of the historic GP Bar Ranch and the stone house that still sits on the property.

"It was fueled by wind. It just made a big push over the weekend. But… now the firefighting team says that the fire is pretty well surrounded by natural barriers. They think it's in a good spot to kind of keep it a little bit contained or controlled… But it really ran down that West side of the river there right at Square top. If you look at the map of the fire, you can see, on Friday it was like, up here, and by Saturday, it's just like a finger or big arm is punching down."

Most of the fire's growth since Friday has been along the southeast path reaching toward Porcupine Falls in the Bridger Wilderness. Wildfire crews are focusing efforts on the southern end of the fire - but fire managers say the No. 1 priority remains keeping structures and people safe.

Read the full story HERE.

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The state of Wyoming rested its case Monday in the trial of a