By Kristin Espeland

By Bob Beck

Laramie, Wy – Republican gubernatorial candidate Ray Hunkins continues to attack Governor Dave Freudenthal's handling of Wyoming's methamphetamine problem.
Hunkins said in Casper Friday that Freudenthal has failed to boost numbers of state troopers to combat transportation of the drug.
But, it is the Republican controlled legislature that failed to pay for all the troopers Freudenthal asked for.
Hunkins also says Freudenthal has spent more than 35 million
dollars and three years addressing the state's meth problem. But

Laramie, Wy – A tragic accident Friday on the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park, where three people drowned when their raft overturned.
Ten people have been rescued, including the boatman from park concessionaire Grand Teton Lodge Company.
It happened at about 11-o-clock this morning, and area search-and-rescue teams were immediately dispatched. By the time they arrived, one person had become caught in a log jam. Attempts to revive two others were unsuccessful.

By AP

Laramie, Wy – Communities across the state are in line to get millions more dollars for business and infrastructure development. The board of the Business Council approved spending 13 million dollars on various projects across the state that either directly help existing companies or could attract new business to Wyoming.
Shawn Reese works for the Business Council. He says one of the winning projects is in Jackson, it would cost 800 thousand dollars and help the high tech company Square One expand and hopefully hire eight more people, with salaries above $60,000 per year.

Laramie, Wy – The Democrats will have a candidate in the race for state superintendent of public instruction this year.
Michelle Hoffman filed to run. She's the current superintendent of Fremont County School District 14. That's the district that includes the Wyoming Indian school system, where Hoffman spent five years as principal of Wyoming Indian Middle School.

Laramie, Wy – Federal fire forecasters say the potential
for wildfires is rising on the rangelands across the West due to an unusually thick blanket of grasses that are drying out quickly.
Their new fire forecast released today says 18 months of wetter-than-normal weather across much of the region has spurred growth of vegetation on the desert plains.
That means there's more to burn than usual.
Wildland fire forecaster Tom Wordell with the Forest Service says the entire West will be warmer than normal this summer.

Laramie, Wy – The Wyoming Mining Association says there was an 11 percent increase in mining jobs between 2003 and 2005. And a spokesperson for the company Arch Coal, Greg Schaeffer, says his company has just expanded, even reopening a mine. Schaeffer says for the most part they have been able to find enough workers. Though they've struggled finding electricians, mechanics and welders, but he notes that's something all companies in Wyoming face.

Laramie, Wy – Despite a booming economy and a low
unemployment rate, people still go hungry in Wyoming.
That's why a coalition of government officials, hunger-relief agencies and faith-based organizations gathered Wednesday on the steps of the Capitol in Cheyenne.
Diane DeLozier is director of the Wyoming Food Bank of the Rockies. She says some 53-thousand people in Wyoming live at or near the poverty level in Wyoming -- that's about ten percent of the state's population.