Posted: Monday, January 5, 2009 12:00 am
UW seeks coal research proposals
LARAMIE - The University of Wyoming will formally seek proposals today on where to build a clean coal research facility.
Proposed sites must be about 35 acres in size and have space for potential expansion.
General Electric Co. and the state of Wyoming have agreed to jointly build a small-scale plant that would allow the company and the university to study the most economical ways of turning Wyoming coal into a synthetic natural gas as well as develop clean coal technologies.
The research plant is expected to cost between $100 million and $120 million. It should be an economic boon for wherever the plant is built.
The university worked with GE to develop the site criteria and will evaluate the site proposals.
Wyo celebrates Lincoln birthday
CHEYENNE - Wyoming is organizing various activities to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday.
Festivities will begin at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12 at the Capitol Rotunda. The program will include music and a performance by a Lincoln portrayer. At 10:15 a.m., activities will move to the Wyoming State Museum where officials will unveil a traveling exhibit created by a Civil War historian.
The Wyoming Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission is organizing the activities. The commission has worked for a year on activities that highlight Lincoln's contributions to America and Wyoming.
The plans are in cooperation with the Wyoming Department of State Parks and Cultural Resources, the Wyoming State Historical Society and the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund.
Prosecutors won't seek death penalty
SUNDANCE - Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against a Moorcroft woman accused of stabbing her husband to death.
Sandie Akers is charged with first-degree murder. She has pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness.
In a motion filed late last week, Crook County prosecutor Brian Wells wrote that he has decided not to pursue the death penalty.
Wells offered no explanation for his decision. The motion only said he made the determination after talking to the victim's family.
In July, Michael Akers was found dead near the front seat of the couple's motor home, his body wrapped in a tan blanket. An autopsy showed he was stabbed six times.
Man pleads guilty to sex abuse
GILLETTE - A 33-year-old Gillette man has pleaded guilty to having sex with a teenager while he was out on bail for a separate molestation case.
Ryan Renken was charged with having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He pleaded guilty late last week to second degree sexual abuse of a minor as part of a deal with prosecutors in which three other molestation charges were dropped.
Renken faces up to 20 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 17.