State parks to recognize 'Every Kid in a Park' program

SHERIDAN — For the seventh year, Wyoming State Parks is partnering with state and federal partners in celebration of a program instituted in 2016 during the National Park Service’s 100th year anniversary. As part of this effort, Wyo Parks will sponsor and promote “Every Kid in a Park.”

The “Every Kid in a Park” program provides every fourth-grader nationwide the opportunity to obtain a pass granting the student and their family free admission to more than 2,000 federally managed lands including national parks, monuments, forests, wildlife refuges and more.

Fourth-graders, as well as parents and educators, can obtain passes by visiting the program’s website at everykidoutdoors.gov.

As a complement to the federal program, Wyo Parks will honor the “Every Kid in a Park” passes through Aug. 31. Passes are good for free entrance/day use at any Wyoming state parks, historic sites or recreation areas.

For more information, contact Wyo Parks headquarters at 307-777-6323.

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Burlington Coat Factory may be coming to Cheyenne

CHEYENNE — If you like to buy coats and other clothes at discounted prices and don't want to have to drive to Fort Collins, Colorado, you may soon be in luck.

The retail chain formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory has plans to open a location at 1840 Dell Range Blvd., next to Hobby Lobby. Now often referred to as just Burlington, the national retailer does not appear to have any stores in Wyoming, representatives told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in recent days. They said its closest store appears to be the current location in Fort Collins.

A Cheyenne city official also confirmed to the WTE what the online records showed.

"The former Kmart building redevelopment continues with renovations to the west façade related to the Burlington in the southwest corner and retail TBD in the northwest corner" of the property at 1840 Dell Range Blvd., according to a May 2 letter to the city. Among other plans, some parking (or at least some kinds of parking spaces) may be added, along with landscaped islands in the parking lot.

For the record, a Burlington outside public relations representative declined to comment or to confirm whether and when Cheyenne shoppers would get a new inexpensive place to shop for apparel.

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Gillette woman, former CCH consultant, ordered to prison and $172K restitution

GILLETTE — A Gillette woman and former Campbell County Health public relations consultant, Alexa Kinney, was sentenced to nearly three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution for federal charges related to defrauding multiple victims and making false claims to the Internal Revenue Service.

She was sentenced Thursday in Casper before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson.

Kinney was arrested in October on charges related to fraudulent investment opportunities, unauthorized use of a credit card and making false claims to the IRS over the course of a roughly one-year span from 2019 through early 2020.

She was given three 33-month sentences to run concurrently, along with three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay $172,400 in restitution. 

An IRS investigation found that Kinney persuaded a Cheyenne woman in August 2019 to give her $165,000 on the promise it would be invested and mature to $280,000 within a couple of months, according to court documents. She never invested the money.

“Kinney took the inheritance of one of her victims and spent it on personal expenses within five weeks that included past lawyer fees, hotel stays, spa treatments and paying past victims of other schemes,” said Supervisory Special Agent James Marcy of the IRS Criminal Investigations Denver Field Office.

In March 2019, Kinney conned a man she met on a dating app out of about $6,200 after first promising him legal services, then using his credit card for her own personal use, according to court documents.

In April 2020, she had applied for a $1,200 Economic Impact payment, or stimulus check, but had not filed a 2019 tax form, claiming to have made less than the required $12,200 income.