Casper bank changes hands

Platte Valley Financial Service Companies, Inc., has acquired the Bank of Wyoming's Casper operation, according to a press release.

Ron Wright has been named president of the bank and all the current staff will be retained.

Platte Valley Financial Service Companies, Inc. of Scottsbluff, Neb., has assets totaling about $548 million. It's other subsidiaries include banks in Torrington, Wheatland and Cheyenne.

Hall of fame inducts Spence

Famed Wyoming lawyer Gerry Spence, 80, was recently inducted into The Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame.

Spence has never lost a criminal defense trial and has not lost a civil trial in 40 years, according to a press release.

Also selected for the award were attorneys Bobby Lee Cook, Morris Dees, Fred Levin and Stanley Preiser.

The Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame is the highest national honor for civil plaintiff and criminal defense trial lawyers in America.

Shoshone water rates best

The Shoshone Utilities Organization in Fort Washakie won the "best tasting drinking water in Wyoming" contest at the annual Wyoming Association of Rural Water Systems Technical Conference and Industry Trade Show in Casper.

This year's winner will represent Wyoming at a national contest later this month at the National Water Rally in Washington, D.C. Last year, Grand Targhee Resort represented the state at the national event.

Group honors political consultant

Wyoming political consultant Joe Milczewski has been named Republican "Rookie of the Year" by a national political consulting trade group.

Milczewski was honored by the American Association of Political Consultants for breaking on to the national political scene in a memorable way and is considered a rising star in national politics."

Milczewski was campaign manager in 2008 for U.S. Sen. John Barrasso.

Milczewski runs his own public affairs and political consulting firm in Cheyenne called Big Creek Communications.

Wyoming.com marks milestone

Wyoming.com is celebrating its 15-year anniversary this month, according to a press release.

As part of the celebration, Wyoming.com will hold an open house at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The Riverton-based company provides communications services to about 20,000 customers.

Publication touts hotel

The Elk Mountain Hotel in Elk Mountain is included on a "stay list" published in the April issue of National Geographic Traveler, a press release indicates.

The list includes 129 properties in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.

Center tabs interim head

Virginia Wright has been named as interim administrator of the Wyoming Life Resource Center in Lander.

The center, formerly known as the Wyoming State Training School, provides programs for people with disabilities and specialized medical and therapeutic needs.

Casper foreclosures rise

Foreclosure rates in Casper increased in February over the same period last year, according to First American CoreLogic.

The rate of foreclosures among outstanding mortgage loans was 1.6 percent in February, an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to a year earlier.

The mortgage delinquency rate also increased. According to First American CoreLogic's preview data for February, 3 percent of mortgage loans were 90 days or more delinquent, compared to 2.1 percent for the same period last year.

Foreclosure data for First American CoreLogic is based on the actual number of active mortgage loans rather than the total number of households in a given area, a press release states.

New cars garner tax benefits

Taxpayers who buy a new passenger vehicle this year may be entitled to deduct state and local sales and excise taxes paid on the purchase on their 2009 tax returns next year, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

The deduction is limited to the state and local sales and excise taxes paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price of a qualified new car, light truck, motor home or motorcycle.

The amount of the deduction is phased out for taxpayers whose modified adjusted gross income is between $125,000 and $135,000 for individual filers and between $250,000 and $260,000 for joint filers.

To qualify for the deduction, the vehicle must be purchased after Feb. 16 and before Jan. 1.

Double Eagle agrees on merger

Casper-based Double Eagle Petroleum {M3{M3has entered into a merger agreement with Petrosearch Energy Corporation{M3{M3.

Double Eagle Petroleum's current major development activities are in its Atlantic Rim coal-bed methane play and in the Pinedale Anticline.

Following the merger, Double Eagle will continue to be listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. Richard Dole will continue as chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer of Double Eagle, a press release states.

WYDOT awards contracts

Contracts totaling more than $18.2 million for 11 highway projects were awarded by the Wyoming Transportation Commission during its March meeting in Cheyenne.

Cheyenne's Reiman Corp. won the largest contract with its low bid of $6.6 million for reconstruction of U.S. Highway 310 through Cowley.

Reiman also will complete repairs and rehabilitation work on the Wyoming 22 bridge over the Snake River west of Jackson and two other bridges under a $1.6 million contract.

Chip sealing to preserve the pavement on 173 miles of highways in Big Horn, Fremont, Natrona, Park and Washakie counties will be completed under a $5.6 million contract awarded to Riverside Contracting of Missoula, Mont.

Casper's McMurry Ready-Mix won a $1.6 million contract for reclamation of a section of the Antelope Coal Mine Road near the Converse-Campbell county line.

Highways around the state will get new epoxy paint pavement markings under an $891,000 contract awarded to Streamline Markings of Billings, Mont.

Gillette's DRM Inc. will replace the Kara Creek Road Bridge over Inyan Kara Creek about seven miles north of Interstate 90's Inyan Kara Interchange under a $501,000 contract.

Torrington's Scott & Son Inc. won a $417,000 contract to replace the deteriorating timber bridge on Bear Creek Road about 20 miles west of LaGrange.

A traffic signal will be installed at the intersection of Brundage Lane and Sugarland Drive in Sheridan under a $346,000 contract awarded to Modern Electric Co. of Casper.

Deteriorating concrete slabs will be repaired on highways in the Kemmerer and Diamondville areas under a $233,000 contract awarded to J Wright Development of Riverton, Utah.

A 10-foot-wide concrete bicycle and pedestrian path will be built along the I-25 service road in Wheatland between Mariposa Parkway and Cemetery Road under a $168,000 contract awarded to Simon Contractors of Cheyenne.

Utilities strike power deal

Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power Company, a subsidiary of Black Hills Corp., has agreed to buy an additional 30 megawatts of wind energy from Duke Energy through a 20-year purchase power agreement.

Cheyenne Light will purchase electricity generated at Duke Energy's Silver Sage wind site, where construction is set to begin this spring and full commercial operation is expected in late 2009.

Silver Sage will be adjacent to Duke Energy's Happy Jack wind farm located west of Cheyenne.

Sheridan hospital delays plans

The chief executive officer of Sheridan Memorial Hospital says plans for a new outpatient surgical center are on indefinite hold.

The center would cost nearly $6 million.

Hospital CEO Mike McCafferty says the hospital can't afford to ignore the downturn in the economy and uncertainty involving health care reform.

In a recent memo to hospital employees and medical staff, McCafferty said architectural drawings and other preparations for the surgical center will be completed. That way, the hospital can move quickly on the surgical center once conditions become more favorable.

Hospital board members expressed support for the decision to put the project on hold.

Downtown living focus of event

An upcoming workshop in Sheridan will provide insight for anyone who has ever wondered about upstairs living in Wyoming's downtowns.

"Living Upstairs in Wyoming," presented by the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, Wyoming Arts Council and Wyoming Main Street, will examine the reuse of the upper floors of downtown commercial buildings as residences.

The free workshop will be held at the Best Western Sheridan Center, May 11-12 and is open to anyone interested in getting upstairs residential space back in use.

Big Horn nurse featured

Roseanne Gentry, 55, a registered nurse from Big Horn who earns $68,500 annually, is featured in today's PARADE magazine as part of an annual "what people earn" salary report.

The report finds wide disparities in earnings, according to a press release.

Jackson chamber gives award

Chris and Jeff Warburton of Bar T Five/Double H Bar have received the Western Hospitality Award from the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, according to a press release.

The Warburtons run National Elk Refuge sleigh rides in the winter and the Bar T Five covered wagon cookout in the summer.