By Bob Beck

By AP

Cheyenne, Wy – A state commission has ruled that future
elementary schools built in Wyoming must follow a handful of set
designs.
The Wyoming School Facilities Committee yesterday (Tuesday)
adopted a policy requiring the use of five or six prototypical
school designs.
Officials say that using the same designs for schools built
around the state is intended to make construction more simple and
cost-effective.
James "Bubba" Shivler is commission director. He says the new
policy will save time on school construction.

Sheridan, Wy – A million dollar donation from Sheridan's Whitney Benefits will allow Sheridan College to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing. The College will partner with the University of Wyoming to offer the degree. Sheridan College's Dean of Nursing Trudy Munsick says it should help address some health care needs in northeast Wyoming, but more importantly, it will aide area students, who are site bound. She says it is something they have been trying to get for a number of years.

Laramie, Wy – This Holiday season, retailers in Cody are hoping to see a continuation of the strong sales they saw in the summer. The Cody Country Chamber of Commerce says about a third of their members had better than expected sales over the summer and they want to hang on to that trend. But stores in nearby Billings, Montana can chip away at holiday business especially because Montana has no sales tax. So Christine Houze of the chamber says she promotes the strong points of shopping in Cody, "In Cody, we really do emphasize the customer service aspect.

Laramie, Wy – A partially decomposed body found washed
up on an island in Lake Superior has been identified as a Laramie woman who went overboard last month.
Maggie Handrich was fishing with three others on October sixth when their boat capsized after encountering motor problems. Her remains were found November 12th on Montreal Island in Ontario by a
kayaker.
Forensics experts used dental records to I-D the body.
Still missing from the accident are her husband, Eldon Handrich, and father-in-law, Willard Handrich.

Laramie, Wy – A federal judge in Idaho has denied a request by a helicopter skiing company to expand its operations. The company wanted to expand in a wilderness study area.
The U-S District Judge sided with environmentalists. He said the U-S Forest Service violated the 1984 Wyoming Wilderness Act in allowing a Jackson-based company to fly more skiers into the Palisades Wilderness Study area on the Wyoming-Idaho line.

Laramie, Wy – A long-standing national park advocate is calling for a ten-year, 800-million dollar commitment from the federal government to fix up the parks. The National Parks Conservation Association hopes that this effort would have the parks in shape for the National Park Service hundred-year anniversary celebration. A spokesman for the group, Ron Tipton, says Yellowstone is high on their list of priorities. "It's under-funded by about 40 or 50 percent. And that's for all kinds of purposes.

Laramie, Wy – An interim legislative committee is working on a bill that would create a fund to help develop affordable housing.
A subcommittee of the Joint Interim Committee on Minerals, Business and Economic Development met yesterday (Monday) via teleconference.
Lawmakers gave preliminary approval to the bill, which might eventually create a 30-million-dollar fund to help build the infrastructure necessary for affordable housing.

Laramie, Wy – Big Horn Basin may set up a regional landfill. This means communities in the area may ship garbage to a site near Cody in the future.
The Superintendent of Park County's Landfill says a new focus on lined landfills and regional waste management plans could reduce the total number of landfill sites.
He says preliminary plans call for phasing out major solid waste operations in Powell, Meeteetse and Clark, and trucking the waste to the Cody landfill.