By AP

UNDERWOOD, N.D. – A project in the coal country of North
Dakota will use dryers to refine lignite, and reduce pollution.

Great American Energy is putting $20 million into a plant intended to enhance coal mined near Underwood, North Dakota.

Construction is under way.

Officials hope to make the refined coal available in 2009.

Spokesman David Farnsworth says eight coal dryers, powered by waste heat from a power plant, will be in a building.

Lovell, Wy – A white-tailed deer killed by a hunter west
of Lovell has tested positive for chronic wasting disease.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department says it's the first
occurrence of chronic wasting disease in that area.
Chronic wasting disease is a deadly neurological disease that
occurs in elk and deer. The disease has been spreading eastward and
westward since it first appeared in southern Wyoming and in
Colorado a few decades ago.
There are no known cases of chronic wasting disease being spread

Casper, Wy – Warm weather is chilling natural gas prices in Wyoming.
Wholesale natural gas prices in Wyoming fell again this week
after several weeks of moving toward the national average.
The Wyoming Pipeline Authority reported that gas brought just 26
cents per thousand cubic feet at the hub at Opal and $1.48 at the
Cheyenne Hub.
Those figures mean that Wyoming gas sold on the daily price
index on Friday brought only 12 percent of the price at the Henry
Hub in Louisiana.

Rapid City, South Dakota – Organizations form Wyoming, Colorado and South Dakota met in Rapid City on Saturday to plan strategies for battling environmental threats caused by uranium mining.
Wyoming's Powder River Basin Resource Council is joining with Coloradoans Against Resource Destruction and South Dakota's Defenders of the Black Hills to protect areas in the adjoining states from uranium mining.

The biggest concern in northeast Wyoming, says Resource Council spokesperson Shannon Anderson, is from the Canadian-based Powertech Uranium Corporation.

Laramie, WY – For the first time since 1999, more than
3 million people have visited Yellowstone National Park in a single
year.

According to figures released this week, 3,115,572 visitors had passed through the park's gates by the end of last month. That's more than 8 percent more than last year through October.

The latest figures for October show a 4.7 decrease from the same month last year, but that comes after a busy summer. On average, from June through September this year, Yellowstone visitation was up 10.3 percent.

By Peter O'Dowd

Laramie, WY – With a red-white-and-blue cast on her broken left foot, Representative Cubin told members of the state Republican Party that 2008 would be her last in Congress.

"I look forward to being a private citizen, and a good old Wyoming Republican," Cubin says.

"I look forward to watching a new generation of Wyoming Republicans assume the mantel of leadership in our state."

When Cubin first went to Washington in 1994, she was the first woman ever elected to represent Wyoming in a federal office.

Cheyenne, Wy – Republican presidential candidate Mitt
Romney plans to make campaign stops in Gillette, Riverton and
Cheyenne on Nov. 18.
Romney plans to appear at the Flightline building at the
Gillette airport, then at Riverton Middle School later in the
afternoon. He will wrap up at Little America in Cheyenne.
Wyoming's Republicans will have one of the nation's earliest
primary season events next year. The GOP county caucuses are set
for Jan. 5, two days after the Iowa GOP caucuses and three days

By Peter O'Dowd

Laramie, Wyo. – The surging demand for energy worldwide may spread the reach of Wyoming coal further across the United States.

Steve Bobb is the vice president for coal with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad.

He says that as the global market heats up, new opportunities will arise for one of Wyoming's chief exports.

By Addie Goss

Laramie, Wyo. – A private panel this week recommended that everyone aged 65 and older request memory screenings when they go to the doctor.

The Alzheimer's Disease Screening Discussion Group was assembled by Pfizer and Eisai, two pharmaceutical companies.

They say Alzheimer's is often undiagnosed - so patients should get memory screenings even if they don't suspect problems.

But Mary Hein with Alzheimer's Wyoming is concerned that testing everyone might lead to false positives.

By AP

Cheyenne, Wyo. – Two Republican officials say Barbara Cubin
is NOT going to be running for re-election next year.

A release from Cubin's office on Friday said the congresswoman planned to make an announcement about her future at a Republican Central Committee meeting in Casper on Saturday.

Two Republican officials who requested anonymity because the congresswoman has yet to publicly reveal her plans said that Cubin is going to announce that she will not seek re-election.