Airplane had crossed wiring

A United Airlines A320 plane that skidded off the runway at the Jackson airport in February had crossed wiring its main landing gear, a spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday.

Investigators have not concluded what the cause was and are continuing to look into the incident, NTSB spokesman Peter Knutson said.

United Airlines confirmed the finding and said three Airbus A320s in all were found to have the faulty landing-gear wiring, which is believed to caused wheels to lock.

On Feb. 25, a United flight with 125 people aboard slid off the runway after landing at the Jackson Hole Airport, ending up in three feet of snow. No one was seriously hurt, although one passenger sprained a wrist while trying to open an emergency exit.

Four months earlier, a United A320 briefly veered off a runway at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, taking out some runway lights and causing two minor injuries. United said the third miswired plane was not involved in an accident.

Interior names area for Thomas

The U.S. Department of the Interior has named an area of public land in northern Wyoming after the late Sen. Craig Thomas.

The "Craig Thomas Little Mountain Special Management Area" consists of about 69,200 acres in Big Horn County.

The Bureau of Land Management's Cody office oversees the land, which includes the Little Mountain Area of Critical Environmental Concern and a portion of the West Slope Special Recreation Management Area.

It's surrounded by public lands, including the Bighorn National Forest, the Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark, the Yellowtail Reservoir and Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.

Thomas, a Cody native, died last June at age 74 after a fight with leukemia.

Former miner faces theft counts

GILLETTE - A 62-year-old Gillette man has been accused of taking more than 5,000 items with a combined value of $91,600 from a northeast Wyoming coal mine where he had worked.

Campbell County prosecutors have charged the man with six counts of concealing stolen property. Each offense is punishable with up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Police say items taken from the Caballo mine include gloves, gas cans, wrenches, batteries, portable multi-band radios, dust clothes, sockets, tape, heaters, pitchforks, rakes and three cases of toilet paper.

Court documents say the items range in value from $1.05 to $2,135. The man worked at the mine from 1994 to 2006.

Razing occurred without consultation

CHEYENNE - A house in a historic district in Cheyenne was torn down without the required approval from a local preservation board.

The city of Cheyenne mistakenly granted the demolition permit without the Cheyenne Historic Preservation Board reviewing the plan first.

Assistant chief building official Dick Mason blamed a lack of training for the error.

Mason says the building department plans to train all its employees to watch out for such cases so it doesn't happen again.