No on hurt when chair catches fire

The Red Cross of Laramie is assisting one person after a fire broke out in a home on North Pine Street early Saturday morning.

Laramie Fire Department received a call of the fire around 4:45 a.m. An upholstered chair within the house caught fire, and the flames did not extend to the structure of the house, said LFD Shift Commander Kevin Lam.

Inappropriately discarded smoking materials is the suspected cause of the fire. The occupant of the home self-evacuated, and a neighbor knocked down most of the flames with a fire extinguisher before the Fire Department arrived, Lam said.

While there were no direct injuries from the fire, the occupant sought medical care out of caution. There was significant smoke damage to the home which required cleanup, Lam said.

Governor, law enforcement urge fentanyl awareness

With statewide events drawing a large number of visitors in the coming weeks, Gov. Mark Gordon and state leaders are reminding the public about the dangers of fentanyl, a narcotic that is becoming increasingly prevalent across the country, including Wyoming.

Emergency responders are seeing a troubling increase in fentanyl overdoses around the state, and fentanyl seizures by law enforcement have been rising steadily over the past two years, according to a news release. Even small doses of the powerful opioid can be lethal. Fentanyl has shown up in Wyoming in both powder or a pill form, and it may be used to contaminate other illicit drugs without the user knowing.

Data from the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation and Wyoming Department of Health show the increasing presence of fentanyl in Wyoming. In 2019, Wyoming had 17 reported synthetic opioid-involved overdose deaths among residents. In 2021, that number jumped to 42, and 17 deaths have been recorded in the first few months of 2022, according to the Wyoming Department of Health.

Lummis-backed bill would raise pilot retirement age

Commercial pilots would be able to retire two years later than currently allowed, under a new piece of legislation that’s backed by one of Wyoming’s U.S. senators. However, based on the results of queries by the Wyoming Tribune Eagle to an industry association and a pilots’ group, there may not be a lot of ready-made support for this approach, at least among some stakeholders.

The Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act would raise the mandatory retirement age to 67. It’s meant to “address national pilot shortages impacting rural air service in Wyoming,” said the office of Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. “Cancellations and delays are plaguing rural air service in Wyoming due to a lack of pilots,” she tweeted.

In a news release Tuesday announcing the bill she is co-sponsoring, the lawmaker said she “constantly hear(s) from constituents” about these complaints. She added, “Raising the mandatory retirement age to allow pilots to fly for an additional two years would mitigate some of these shortages.”

In 2007, the age was raised from 60 to 65.

Cheney applauds bill expanding telehealth

Reps. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., applauded the House passage of their Advancing Telehealth Beyond COVID-19 Act of 2021, which would extend through Dec. 31, 2024, critical telehealth policies implemented during the pandemic to make it easier for individuals to access remote care and other emerging health care technologies.

After being debated on the floor earlier Wednesday, the bill, H.R. 4040, passed with broad bipartisan support by a vote of 416-12.

Cheney first introduced legislation that would expand telehealth services in June 2020 and was joined in introducing bipartisan legislation to accomplish this by Dingell last year.

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