The contractor building a 40-plus mile pipeline north of Powell has broken several utility lines, prompting concern by Northwest Rural Water District, the potable water provider the contractor is building the line for.

An unusual number of utility lines are being damaged, said Dossie Overfield, Northwest manager.

Powell is at risk of losing its Tree City USA recognition if a nasty little insect arrives.

The emerald ash borer, which kills ash trees, is devastating Boulder, Colo., after having devastated urban forests across the Midwest. Experts believe it’s a matter of time before it arrives in Wyoming. The Powell City Council discussed that during its Sept. 2 meeting.

Eight Powell High School Lady Panthers qualified for 3A state right off the bat at their first swim meet Friday in Lander.

Head coach Luke Robertson is stoked.

“It’s always exciting to see the kids qualify,” Robertson said.

‘Solitary’ cougars may be more amicable to other mountain lions than once thought 

Mountain lions, it’s long been thought, are solitary predators that spend their lives avoiding each other.

Not so fast.

Maybe mountain lions aren’t so antisocial after all.

A “retired” anthropologist and archaeologist still digs the career he didn’t really relinquish following his official retirement, and he is finding a slew of artifacts in the hills.

Larry Todd, 60, from Meeteetse, didn’t head to Florida, but instead to the mountains of northwestern Wyoming, where he examines archeological clues left behind hundreds and thousands of years ago by Wyoming’s first documented occupants.

Powell girls claimed second at state last year; 10 from that team return 

Although the head coach can’t predict the team’s prospects this early in the season, the Powell High School girls swimming and diving team’s future looks bright.

The girls commence the season at 4 p.m. Friday in Lander. The next meet will be 2 p.m. the following Friday in Cody.

It’s a nice community stroll designed to shed light on a painful problem.

The second annual Out of the Darkness Suicide Awareness Walk will be held Saturday, Sept. 6, in Cody.

Rain or shine, The Nature Conservancy’s three-day Wild West River Fest in Cody celebrated the Shoshone River’s conservation right on the river.

In the Stinking Water Sprint and Slalom Saturday, 27 kayakers raced the river from the Hayden Arch Bridge to the Belfry Bridge.

Dan Laursen unseated Dave Blevins for the Republican nomination for House District 25 Tuesday night.

Laursen received 1,062 votes, or 54.5 percent, while Blevins received 869 votes, or 44.6 percent. The .9 percent represents write-in votes. Under- and over-votes are not counted.

Some city kids turned over a new leaf in the Big Horn Basin conservation field this summer.

Five interns and two mentors from The Nature Conservancy’s LEAF — Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future — worked at Heart Mountain and two other locations in the Basin last month. The Tribune caught up with the tireless youngsters at the Conservancy’s Heart Mountain Ranch on July 28.