The Billings Gazette from Billings, Montana • 1

Myx a a Tommy's return Pittsburgh quarterback Tommy Maddox has recovered from a serious injury just in time. Sports 10 TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2003 The Source WYOMING EDITION Today's briefing Wyoming Despite surplus, Wyoming agenda long The session kicks off with a Democratic governor for the first time in eight years, and a budget surplus projected at around $200 rnulioa Money please "As always we have many requests for that money," said Rep. Colin Simpson, R-Cody. Even though there's a surplus "we have to be careful what we do." Education, the single largest recipient of state funding, is sure to dominate much of the discussion. Sea Hank Coe, R-Cody, may find himself at the center of many of those debates.

After two years as Senate president, Coe said he is headed "back to the trenches" this session. He grinned or maybe it was a cringe when he mentioned that he'd been appointed chair of the Senate Education Committee. "I want you to know it's going to be a challenge," Coe said during a lunchtime presentation to the Cody Club on Monday. The committee is likely to be faced with bills about student testing, vocational education, school finances and at-risk students, Coe said. New school construction is also expected to be a major issue.

Hunters may also find themselves By MIKE STARK Gazette Wyoming Bureau CODY, Wyo. Although Wyoming is one of the few states in the nation with a budget surplus this year, there will be plenty to debate when the 57th Legislature convenes next week in Cheyenne. Park County lawmakers on Monday offered a preview of the agenda for the session, which will include proposals for funding new schools and prisons, increases in hunting fees, and a sales tax in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks to pay for wolf management. paying more when this legislative session is over. The Game and Fish Department is proposing a 20 percent increase in fees for residents and nonresidents, Coe said.

More key bills Other bills this session, according to Coe, would abolish the state's aeronautics commission, create a Cabinet-level position for tourism, raise property taxes to pay for schools, create new laws for telemarketers, make it illegal to drive and talk on a cellular phone, raise taxes Please see Agenda, 8A WOLf KILLED: Wolf No. 2 was a steady force among wolves in Yellowstone National Park since arriving from Canada on Jan. 12, 1995. Last year though, No. 2 was kicked out of the pack.

He was found dead New Year's Eve, ripped and ravaged by members of the Geode pack. 1C LICENSE IN UMBO: A Jackson cardiologist whose license was temporarily suspended for physically and verbally abusing patients can get it back if she undergoes counseling, the Wyoming Board of Medicine said. 1C TEAM PROPOSED: The city of Riverton could be home to a new regional hazardous materials response team under a federal program in development the past 12 years. 1C Montana MOVING ON: Some weeks, Lisa Marie Stahl writes about routine Hutterite happenings. After five years, Stahl will quit writing her biweekly newspaper column to be baptized and get married.

1C TOP HONOR: Ed Kemmick, community affairs reporter and columnist for The Billings Gazette, has been named Journalist of the Year by The Suburban Newspapers of America. The Suburban Newspapers of America has a membership that includes about 2,000 newspapers. 1C OPEN MEETINGS: Meetings the state commissioner of higher education holds with top University System officials must be open to the public a Helena judge has ruled. 5C GOVERNOR INSTALLED It yV Vv vx t. I rm rpv 7 Chief Justice William U.

Hill, right, administers the oath of office to Wyoming Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal, left, as Freudenthal's wife, Nancy, holds a Bible Friday. Associated Press were elected to second terms. Blankenship won his first term and replaced Judy Catchpole, who, like Geringer, was limited to eight years in office. NBC-TV reporter Pete Williams served as master of ceremonies.

Freudenthal chose to have his inauguration in the auditorium of the Emerson Building, four blocks Please see Governor, 8A Associated Press Wyoming Democratic Gov. Dave Freudenthal walks hand and hand with his wife, Nancy, as they arrive for his inauguration in Cheyenne, Monday. More than 1,200 people attended the ceremony, the largest crowd to witness an inauguration ever in the state. President to detail tax plan Bush to propose ending dividend taxes for shareholders WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush will ask Congress to give unemployed Americans up to $3,000 to pay for their job searches and reward them for finding work as part of an economic revival package that will also cut taxes for 92 million people, the White House said BUSH Monday. Democrats offered a rival plan and accused Bush of favoring the rich Unfair taxation "The president really is investing $600 billion on an old, old Republican theory of trickle down economics," said Rep.

George Miller, D-Calif. "We're saying no. Give it to the people who need it" With both parties jockeying for political gain. Democratic lawmakers unveiled their economic stimulus package one day before the president travels to Chicago to outline his plans. The Democratic plan would give all workers a refundable income tax rebate of up to $300 per person or $600 per working and offer business tax breaks.

The White House said 92 million taxpayers would get an average tax cut of $1,083 this year under Bush's plan a $600 billion mix of accelerated income tax cuts, child tax credits, business investment incentives, help for the unemployed and the centerpiece proposal to eliminate taxes on corporate dividends. "The critics haven't seen the plan," Bush said after a Cabinet meeting. "This is a plan that provides tax relief to the working citizens. It's a plan that is a very fair plan. It's a plan that recognizes when somebody has more of their own money, they're likely to spend it, which creates more jobs." Market reacts Word of the Bush's plans to eliminate taxes on stock dividends helped spur the Dow to an increase of more than 170 points.

In a rare note of agreement, both the White House and Democratic congressional leaders pledged to extend unemployment benefits. Democrats, however, criticized Bush for not prodding GOP lawmakers to extend the benefits last year. After tackling that issue, Bush wants Congress to create "reemployment accounts" of up to $3,000 that could be used by states in a variety of ways including rewarding bonuses to people who quickly leave unemployment rolls. Under the two-year, $3.6 billion plan, people who have exhausted their unemployment insurance or are likely to do so would be able to draw from the accounts to pay for child care, job training, transportation, moving costs and other expenses of finding a job, senior White House officials said. fti ULU i on i Wyoming Chief Justice William Hill before an overflow crowd of about 1,200 at the Emerson State Office Building in Cheyenne.

The state's four other elected officials also were sworn in Secretary of State Joe Meyer, Treasurer Cynthia Lummis, Auditor Max Maxfield and Superintendent of Public Instruction Trent Blankenship. Lummis, Maxfield and Meyer Find out more at billingsgazette.com For up-to-date streamflow on any Montana river segment, follow the link on tiiis page in the LocalState section. On the portion of the river below the mouth of the Bighorn, the current spring forecast calls for flows of 47 to 60 percent of average. Snowpack for the portion of the Yellowstone that flows by Billings won't break into the ranks of the lowest three, but it's only 69 percent of average, or 92 percent of last year's. Spring streamflow forecast for our portion of the river is 60 to 72 percent of average.

Statewide, snowpack is 63 percent of Please see Snowpack, 8A -1 ri 5 elected Wyoming officials sworn in by chief justice CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) Gov. Dave Freudenthal was sworn in Monday as Wyoming's 31st governor, reverting the chief executive's office to Democratic control for the first time in eight years. "I am humbled and I am honored to be your employee and to be your governor," he told Wyoming residents. During a 20-minute speech, Freudenthal vowed that the state would have a better relationship with its local governments than the federal government has with the state.

He also said that Wyoming must reduce its reliance on the minerals industry and diversify its economy. Freudenthal, 52, took over from Jim Geringer, who was limited by law to two terms. Freudenthal was sworn in by NO-GO OPTION: U.N. inspectors have yet to turn up any sign of prohibited weapons in Iraq, complicating the Bush administration's task of justifying an armed invasion. 2A BRAIN SURGERY: Doctors are creating ways to fix brains from the inside, no drilling required, and using magnets as a guide to let them go into deeper, trickier areas than ever imagined to treat aneurysms, strokes and other serious brain ailments.

3A World High-level delegations from South Korea and Japan brought their concerns over North Korea's nuclear program to the Bush administration and were assured the United States would work with them on the crisis. 5A BUMPY ALLIANCE: The alliance has been tentative from the start -denounced by Islamic conservatives, questioned even by moderates, and rife with deep disagreements. Pakistan and the United States make curious companions, as events of recent days have underscored. 5A Weather Is it winter? 56 Low 27 Lots of sunshine with near-record high temperatures will be possible. 8C Index 38 Opinion Classified 4A Comics 30 Sports ID Deaths 6C Technology IB Heloise 40 TV 40 Markets 6A-7A Wyoming 1C 2003 The Billings Gazette, a Lee Newspaper, 117th year.

No. 249 Get news updates online at 1 nwniiittj ii i i Montana's snowpack water content comes up short again By LORN A THACKERAY Of The Gazette Staff Water content in Lower Yellowstone River Basin snowpack ranks as the third-lowest on record. But the really bad news is that the worst and second-worst years on the portion of the river east of Hardin were 2000 and 200L "So far this year, it's about tied with last year (2002)," said Roy Kaiser, water supply specialist for the Natural Resource Conservation Service. And that's not good. Monday Kaiser released the first monthly streamflow forecast that will be issued from January to May.

The forecast uses snowpack data to estimate river flows in the critical spring runoff period between April 1 and July 3L LARRY MAYERGazette Staff Falling water levels have stranded blocks of ice along the banks of the Yellowstone River near Coulson Park..