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Volunteers tally Cheyenne’s homeless population
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
A small team of volunteers set out to count as many people experiencing homelessness as they could manage. Equipped with snack bags and fresh toiletries, volunteers approached people they suspected to be homeless and asked: “Where are you sleeping tonight?” The count, mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, occurs on a single night in January and gives key insights into the nation’s unhoused population. This year, unseasonably warm weather pulled some people into more visible locations in Cheyenne, like local parks, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. Read the full story.
Retired Casper judge reflects on 40 years in courts, youth diversion programs
Oil City News
Former colleagues and courtroom adversaries of retired Circuit Court Judge Brian Christensen celebrated his enduring impact on the state justice system by forging reforms to connect defendants, particularly juveniles, to community resources. A Kelly Walsh High School graduate, Christensen spent 29 years as a prosecutor and 10 years on the bench in circuit court. Going to jail has a devastating impact on a juvenile’s development, Christensen told Oil City News. “Once we send a kid out of the community, you’ve lost them.” Read the full story.
Weston County hospital expands security planning among violence concerns
News Letter Journal
Weston County Health Services is expanding staff training, visitor controls and long-term security planning after a series of incidents involving agitated patients in the emergency department and a December workplace altercation at Weston County Manor that escalated to a threat involving a gun, hospital leaders said. Hospital officials emphasized that no recent incidents have resulted in injuries to patients or members of the public and that most incidents involved patients or family members during periods of high stress, not random acts of violence, the News Letter Journal reports. Read the full story.