Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Sorted by date Results 226 - 250 of 1324
The first day of school for many local students is Wednesday, August 23. Yes, it’s that time of year again for parents to get their children ready to head back to school. After purchasing new clothes, supplies, pencils, notebooks, and all the usual gear, students and their families prepare their hearts for the next level of education. The kids get to reconnect with their friends, make new ones, and meet new teachers. It’s an exciting time and can be stressful. If we can encourage the students that these new experiences can have great rew...
Scams are out there targeting children and teens. To help keep them safe, have a talk with your children and these and other possible dangers or scams. Artificial Intelligence (AI) – what are the kids learning? AI uses enormous data sets to determine patterns and provide answers to questions. You may be asking where those data sets come from and what is in them. The data sets are sold by companies that collect information from all over the internet as well as information that is sold to them by companies. Yep, that’s right – your perso...
by Nikki Eining CSW-PIP, QMHP Here it is, August. Summer has flown by and already there is Halloween candy roaming the shelves of Walmart. For most of us, August also brings the normal adjustment of transitioning back to the school year. It is normal for this to look differently for everyone, especially depending upon the age of your child. You may find yourself stressing to find the school supplies list, supporting your youth through two a day practices for athletic season or looking forward to getting back to the routine of the school year....
Ours is to question. Ink-stained wretches at weekly newspapers like this one, were at one time content to put out the best newspaper they muster, once a week. If something really big happened, like downtown burning to the ground, they’d put out a special edition, usually called an “Extra.” Our big city cousins, often faced with a cross-town rival, would do the same but for the most part, people who wanted to know the latest news, turned to their favorite radio station at the top of the hour. In the 1990s that all began to change with the spread...
by Bryan Golden Do you conquer problems or do they conquer you? It’s attitude that determines whether you are a victor or a victim. Your age, education, financial status, or social standing don’t matter. There are victors and victims from every background. Victors are not special. They are not better than others. Victors know “they can” whereas victims are convinced “they can’t.” Whether you are a victor or victim is up to you. However, victims argue this is not the case. They claim they have no control over their circumstances. They believe...
The Hot Springs County Fair has been going on this week and there is still plenty of opportunity to fill the bleachers at some of the final events. Thursday, August 3 the day kicks off with the swine show beginning at 8 a.m. The breeding beef show will be at 4 p.m. and the beef show will start at 6 p.m., both in the multi-purpose building. While you are there, sample the delicious offerings at the Chili Cook off hosted buy the FFA Alumni. On Friday, the 4-H and FFA Round Robin Showmanship will begin at 10 a.m. At 1 p.m., the parade of champions...
From NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Health, submitted by Jennifer Cheney, Community Prevention Specialist Community is not just a group of people; it is a feeling. It is a feeling of being connected to others, accepted for who you are, and supported by others. At its heart, community is all about connection. As social creatures, community is essential for human beings to thrive. In times of distress, being able to lean on a community can be an essential aspect of self-care. Community is important for so many reasons – it provides us with a...
by Dean Ridings, America’s Newspapers It’s no secret that recent years have been tough on small businesses and on newspapers. A bipartisan bill, the Community News & Small Business Support Act, that has been introduced in Congress would offer relief to both newspapers and local businesses. For too many newspapers, help can’t come soon enough. Economic challenges have resulted in too many communities seeing their local newspapers being forced to lay off staff, cut back on publication days or — worse yet — close. On average, two newspaper...
by Zac Taylor That small town with long streets phrase? It resonated July 3 at the Wyoming Veterans Memorial Park in Cody, as everyone there was able to walk right up to their state’s top leadership, in Cheyenne and Washington, D.C., to shake a hand and chat. For most of the politicians, elections are not yet breathing down their necks. It was simply a chance for people to look their political leaders in the face and talk. No surprise, I’d say that’s still the best way to communicate, especially when it’s people you may disagree with. And, yes,...
Beware clicking on the wrong Google link: A Powell business reported that an employee googled Amazon and click on the first link in the list. Unfortunately, it was a sponsored ad, not Amazon. The result was that a large screen, supposedly from “Microsoft Defender Security Notification,” appeared on the monitor, stating that “Access to this PC has been blocked for security reasons,” with a number to call Microsoft Windows Support. The ad is a scam, the notification is a scam, and the phone number is a scam. Fortunately the employee did not cal...
Scammers are targeting us all and they seem to be coming at us from every which way. There are lottery scams, package delivery scams, open enrollment for benefits scams, utility delinquency scams, identity theft scams and the list goes on and on. Several years ago, scammers primarily targeted senior citizens who they believed were the most vulnerable. They have advanced their scams to a point where each and every one of us is vulnerable. Their tactics have improved to a point where they are tricking people of every age and every walk of life....
by Bryan Golden Building mental and emotional walls is a common occurrence. We are used to living with physical walls so this progression is an easy transition. Furthermore, it’s a conditioned response that we learn from others as well as a result of our own experiences. There are a variety of reasons people build these virtual walls. They want to keep undesirable things out. They have a desire to prevent loss. They don’t want someone to leave. Walls may create a feeling of security. They offer a sense of protection. Walls are constructed as a...
The fourth annual WyoGives virtual event, hosted by the Wyoming Nonprofit Network, will commence at midnight on Wednesday, July 12th, and will unfold over an exhilarating 24-hour period. With over 300 nonprofits participating, some of them local, this year’s event promises to be the most impactful yet. Through the website platform at WyoGives.org, individuals can easily contribute to their favorite causes and organizations. The website allows donors to search for nonprofits based on cause, location, or name. Each participating nonprofit has a...
by Slim Randles Doc smiled and felt really good inside when he heard the familiar bird song. “Hey there, Wheezer,” he said, “happy nesting!” For some reason, this mourning dove with the speech impediment comes around to Doc’s back yard every spring, and Doc thinks that’s just all right. If ol’ Wheez didn’t have that distinctive voice, Doc would never know if this bird favored his yard or was just another bird looking for a home. Let’s face it, Wheezer looks just like every other dove in town. But he was back and flirting with a good-looking la...
This issue of the Independent Record has three full pages of public notices. Here is some information about why you should take the time to read them. An important premise found in federal, state, and local governments is that information about government activities must be publicized for people to make well-informed decisions. Public notices provide this sort of transparency and accessibility to citizens who want to know more about government actions. Public notices provides the opportunity for the public to influence governing bodies and...
by Marissia Schaefer, CNP Many of us have likely been educated on how to be healthier, which includes the foods we should consume, and the exercise we should complete on a daily basis, so we can achieve being ‘healthy.’ This information is important to know, but have you ever been educated about the risks that your current diet and habits of daily living impose on your health? An ‘unhealthy’ diet that is filled with excessive amounts of sugars, fast foods, fatty and processed foods, as well as alcohol can increase your risk of acquiring high ch...
Self-measured blood pressure monitoring kits are now available for checkout at the library in Thermopolis. The kits are offered through a collaborative pilot project involving the Wyoming Center on Aging (WyCOA) at the University of Wyoming, the Wyoming Department of Health’s Chronic Disease Prevention Program and the Hot Springs County Library. The kits, available in both English and Spanish, include an automated home blood pressure cuff; blood pressure logbooks; educational materials from the American Heart Association; information on what b...
Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families and communities. There are many factors that contribute to suicide. It impacts people of all ages and backgrounds. Suicide is a leading cause of death in the United States. Reports state it was responsible for over 48,000 deaths in 2021. The same year, an estimated 12.3 million adults seriously thought about suicide, 3.5 million made a plan and 1.7 million attempted suicide. U.S. suicide rates are the highest they’ve been since World War I...
by Curstie Konold, MPH, CSW, QMHP Marrying a farm kid has shown me the immense amount of pride in being part of the Ag community. It is prevalent that the agricultural profession, while rewarding, is challenging. Running big dollar operations that are both physically and mentally demanding creates some serious strain on our mental health. Whether it’s a co-op employee spraying chemicals or spreading fertilizer for 70+ hours a week or a farmer during planting or harvest, the demand never truly stops. In my practice I talk a lot about focusing o...
The article to the right appeared on the front page of the June 24, 1993, Independent Record. Now, 30 years later, Hot Springs County School Board meetings are being videoed and can be viewed live or afterward by anyone who has the time and wants to watch them. Part of the reason the 1993 school board voted to limit use of video cameras during board meetings was because “the policy encourages members of the public and the board to talk without being worried about how they will look on videotape.” In 2023, many argue that people should be awa...
Tourist season has officially begun, here and around Wyoming. Nearly as soon as Yellowstone National Park (YNP) opened, reports began rolling in of encounters between visitors and the park’s buffalo. We are seeing some of this type of activity in our very own Hot Springs State Park (HSSP). Videos have circulated of a man wandering around among the herd and of people out of their vehicles taking pictures of the animals in close proximity. Signs, as seen to the right, are posted as your enter the HSSP buffalo pasture. Anyone who has been to Y...
by Bryan Golden Do you have problems, adversity, and obstacles in your life? If you said yes, then you are like everyone else. Even the most successful people are faced with challenges. What varies is how each person responds to their problems. Running away from problems is not only futile, it leads to a false sense of security. The erroneous premise is that your problems can be left behind by utilizing one or more strategies. The reality is, problems follow you until they are resolved. People attempt to run away in numerous ways. Although the...
Some of you may remember jamming out to School’s Out by Alice Cooper to celebrate the end of a school year and the long anticipated start of summer break. Most students, of any age, look forward to summer break like adults look forward to retirement. As community members, it is important we remember children will be out and about more often now than they have been, at all hours of the day. Be sure to watch for them playing, riding their bikes and walking/running to and fro. It is a great time for parents to give their children a reminder c...
On Monday, May 29, Memorial Day programs will be held at Monument Hill Cemetery, Riverside Cemetery and Park Street Bridge. The program at Monument Hill will begin at 11 a.m. and then they will travel to Riverside and then to the bridge. Memorial Day has its roots in Decoration Day, which dates back to the Civil War, when citizens placed flowers on the graves of those who had been killed in battle. After World War I, it came to be observed in honor of those who had died in all U.S. wars, and its name was changed. Memorial Day became an...
In last week’s Thermopolis Independent Record’s “On the record” section, there was a call regarding a profane flag flying but the deputy determined that it can remain up due to First Amendment protections. While the United States Constitution protects our freedom of speech, there are limits on obscene speech. The Wyoming Constitution also guarantees Wyomingites the right to free speech. However, obscenity is an exception. Wyoming Statute, WY Stat § 6-4-301, states “Obscene’ is material which the average person would find: (A) Applying contempor...
