SATURDAY, JUNE 20 , 2020 l A3 ROCKET-MINER

GREEN RIVER — The Green River Chamber of Commerce is hosting the first Flags of Honor, which is scheduled to take place July 3-5. With the support of business sponsors and individuals in the commu-nity, hundreds of flags will proudly fly at the Thomas Moran Park next to the Green River Chamber of Commerce parking lot.

People may sponsor a flag to honor and pay tribute to all military men and women, emergency first responders, and those that serve, according to a press release. In addition, one may

also sponsor a flag for an individual past or present

who is special in your life. The theme is REMEM-

BER&HONOR&HEAL.Flag sponsorships are

a donation of $35 each. Those interested may fill out a sponsorship form and donate for the sponsorship at the Green River Chamber or call 307-875-5711.

“We hope the community will come out and enjoy looking at the display of flags over the weekend of July 4th where they will be displayed for all to see at their leisure,” the release said.

Flags are limited and are a first come, first served basis. Flags will remain the prop-erty of the chamber.

GREEN RIVER CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Fly your colors at the first Flags of Honor

CHEYENNE – Unem-ployment claimants called back must accept work, the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) reminds unemployment claimants. Federal law requires that those who have been placed on a temporary layoff related to the COVID-19 pandemic must return to work if called back.

Not returning to work when there is available work could be considered a “refusal of work” and could potentially disqualify claimants from receiving unemployment insurance benefits.

DWS advises that claim-ants called back to work should not cancel their unemployment claims but instead leave their claim open and do not file a weekly payment. Howev-er, claimants called back but only working reduced hours may continue to file a weekly request for payment, though they must report all gross earnings for

the week to possibly receive a partial benefit.

Those receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PEUC) 13-week extension of Unemployment Insur-ance benefits must also be registered in Wyomin-gAtWork.org and must be actively seeking employ-ment. PEUC benefits are an extension of regular Unemployment Insurance, and the law requires those claimants to complete job searches weekly.

The CARES Act specif-ically provides for serious legal consequences for fraudulent cases. Individu-als are responsible for pay-ing back benefits deemed as overpayments due to ineligibility.

Businesses may report employees who have refused to return to work by reporting fraud at the wyomingworkforce.org webpage by clicking on the “report fraud” button.

Unemployment claimants called back must accept work to remain eligible for benefits

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A new survey of bankers in rural parts of 10 Plains and Western states suggests the economy remains weak in those areas as the coronavirus outbreak continues to affect the region.

The overall economic index for the region more than doubled to 37.9 in June from May’s 12.5, but it remained at a weak level. Any score below 50 suggests a shrinking economy, while a score above 50 suggests a growing econ-omy, survey organizers say.

Creighton University economist Ernie Goss, who over-sees the survey, said crop prices remain low, and more than one-third of the bankers survey expect that to be a significant challenge over the next year. Only 3% of bank-ers reported economic growth in their areas.

The bankers’ outlook for the economy remains negative, but the confidence index improved in June to 43.8 from May’s 22.1.

“Weak agriculture commodity prices, and layoffs have decimated economic confidence among bankers,” Goss said.

But job growth exceeded layoffs in rural areas as more businesses reopened. The hiring index jumped to 51.5 in June from May’s 17.1, but employment remains well below what it was before the coronavirus outbreak began.

Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minne-sota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.

Bankers say economy remains weak in rural parts of 10 states

By JOHN RABY

Associated Press

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A union represent-ing U.S. coal miners asked a court Tuesday to force the federal government to take unspecified measures to protect them from the coro-navirus.

The petition asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for an expedited order against the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. It was filed by the United Mine Workers and the United Steelworkers unions.

If MSHA fails to issue an emergency temporary stan-dard for infectious diseases that would be legally bind-ing on all mine operators, it would put the lives and health of tens of thousands of miners in “grave danger,” the petition said.

“The situation confronting miners is urgent,” the petition said. “Miners have largely been designated as ‘essential’ workers and thus are cur-rently working at mine sites across the country. Further, as government-imposed stay-at-home orders are lifted and demand for mine-produced resources increases, more miners will return to work at pre-pandemic levels.”

A U.S. Department of Labor spokeswoman said the agency is confident it will prevail in the court action.

The petition said mine ventilation regulations are not designed to prevent the spread of a virus. UMW Pres-ident Cecil Roberts said in a statement that social distanc-ing measures are meaningless in underground coal mines, where air is circulated over long distances.

“Working in a mine is very different from working in any other workplace,” Roberts

said.UMW spokesman Phil

Smith said there have been 10 known cases of union mem-bers who have contracted the virus, with no fatalities. The majority of U.S. coal is pro-duced at nonunion mines.

While MSHA continues to perform mandatory inspec-tions and serious accident investigations, the agency has suspended some on-site mine visits and other safety and fatality initiatives under President Donald Trump’s national emergency declara-tion.

MSHA inspectors are not trained to recognized or ad-dress conditions that pose an imminent danger as a result of COVID-19, the petition said. The UMW wrote letters

to MSHA in March and May raising the potential issue of the virus in mines but the agency refused to act, it said.

“It’s time for our federal agencies to start taking their responsibilities to work-ers seriously,” said United Steelworkers’ International President Tom Conway. “We needed an emergency tempo-rary standard for infectious diseases at the beginning of the pandemic, and we still need one now.”

For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms that clear up in a couple of weeks. Older adults and people with existing health problems are at higher risk of more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

Coal union seeks order protecting miners from coronavirus

CHEYENNE (AP) — A federal mag-istrate judge in Wyoming has ordered two women from Pennsylvania to spend two days in jail for leaving a boardwalk and damaging a thermal area in Yellow-stone National Park.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Mark Carman also ordered 31-year-old Tara

Davoli and 30-year-old Sarah Piotrowski of Philadelphia to pay a $350 fine, about $107 each in restitution and banned them from the park for two years.

Prosecutors say the women illegally left the boardwalk in the park’s Midway Geyser Basin on June 11. Witnesses tried to stop them, but prosecutors say

they damaged orange bacterial mats at Opal Pool.

The women pleaded guilty during a hearing on Tuesday. They represented themselves.

Phone messages left for Davoli and Pi-otrowski were not immediately returned on Thursday.

2 women get jail time for damaging Yellowstone Park thermal area

Prosecutors say two women illegally left the boardwalk in Yellowstone National Park’s Geyser Basin and damaged orange bacterial mats at

Opal Pool.

ROCK SPRINGS — More shopping choices are now available for the approx-imately 13,000 Wyoming families receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nu-trition Assistance Program (SNAP), according to the Wyoming Department of Family Services.

Wyoming SNAP re-cipients may now use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards for online food purchases from Walmart and Amazon.

The added option comes at a critical time as Wyo-ming residents are affected by the COVID-19 pandem-ic.

“SNAP recipients can now order healthy food online from the safety of their homes,” said Corrine Livers, Economic Security Programs administrator for DFS. “This option supports Wyoming’s efforts to pro-

mote social distancing to help keep all Wyomingites safe.”

The update was autho-rized by the Food and Nutritional Services of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Livers noted per SNAP federal regulations, any delivery fees will need to be paid by means other than an EBT card.

To check SNAP eligibil-ity, visit https://dfs.wyo.gov/assistance-programs. To apply, download an application and submit it to a local DFS office.

Wyoming SNAP recipients granted more options