Laramie, Wy – State Superintendent Jim McBride announced changes in the statewide student assessment test that he says will
make the exam more reliable and less disruptive to schools.
The 2008 version of the Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students will be shorter and taken just once in the spring.
This year's test was done twice at many schools -- once in February and again in March or April.
Many teachers and students complained the test was too long and
cut into classroom instruction time.

Laramie, Wy – A couple of University of Wyoming professors have a unique investment tip. Buy wine. Finance Professors Lee Sanning, Sherrill Shaffer and former graduate student Jo Sharratt wrote a paper showing that wine can provide a high rate of return. Sanning says they found this result with red Bordeaux wines and he says if someone is looking for a high rate of return they should look to a class of wine he calls investment grade.
Sanning says an investor would have to hold onto wines for over five years to make it profitable as an investment.

Laramie, Wy – Some county commissioners in Wyoming want state lawmakers to give counties more oversight of rural property being subdivided and sold off.
Land development companies have been buying ranches and selling hundreds of 35-plus-acre parcels without having to get approval from county planning boards and county commissions.
County planning departments and commissions can oversee the subdividing of smaller parcels, which helps with coordinating services such as police and fire, land use, school bus routes, addresses, water and sewer and other utilities.

Washington D-C – Republican Senators Craig Thomas and Mike
Enzi both voted against a war spending bill that majority Democrats
pushed through Congress with a troop withdrawal deadline.
The 51-46 vote today (Thursday) in the U-S Senate was largely
along party lines, with all but two Republicans voting against it.
The House approved the measure yesterday (Wednesday).
Enzi says the action is an attempt to micro manage the war by
using arbitrary time lines. He also says the bill is laden with pet

Gillette, Wy – Coal-bed methane industry representatives
are asking federal regulators to loosen wildlife restrictions in
Wyoming's Powder River Basin.
During breeding periods for sage grouse, eagles and other
wildlife, the federal Bureau of Land Management imposes monthslong
shut-downs of coal-bed methane work to prevent disturbance of the
birds' nests and mating grounds.
Researchers from the University of Montana say sage grouse
populations in the Powder River Basin have suffered a sharp decline

Jackson, Wy – A man pleaded guilty in Jackson yesterday
(Wednesday) to having sex with a 13-year-old girl, the fourth
guilty plea in the case in which prosecutors allege the girl was
forced into prostitution.
Juan Luna pleaded guilty to one charge of third-degree sexual
assault. Four other charges were dismissed.
The 37-year-old Luna acknowledged having sex with the girl in
March 2004, when he was 34 and she was 13. He could be sentenced to
up to 15 years in prison and fined ten-thousand-dollars.

By AP

By AP

Gillette, WY – Electricity customers in Gillette will be
paying higher rates because increasing power costs. The Gillette City Council directed the city Utilities Director to draft an ordinance to raise the city's electricity rates by four percent. The rate increase would make up for increased prices charged by energy suppliers. It is estimated that the increase to a typical user will be about two dollars a month.

By AP

By AP