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Lawmakers to debate marijuana legalization
Supporters of a sweeping bill to legalize and regulate marijuana anticipate a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Friday, where they hope to dispel myths and stereotypes held by resistant...
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Week 52: The pandemic in Wyoming from March 6-12
As Wyoming marked the one-year anniversary of the pandemic’s arrival in the state Thursday, more than 108,000 residents had received their first COVID-19 vaccine shot while active cases had dropped...
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Legislature ends week two divided on budget, philosophy
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Legislature wrapped up its business Friday afternoon with a record-breaking storm on the horizon and another brewing under the Capitol roof: a battle between a House and Senate...
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Feds will pay Wyo to expand Medicaid. Will lawmakers take the bait?
CHEYENNE – For 18 months, Maggie McAllister had health insurance. Following a 2011 divorce, she secured affordable coverage for herself and her young son through Medicaid. Little did she know, she...
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Marijuana regulation bill heads to House floor
Members of the House Judiciary Committee want the entire Wyoming House to debate a bill that would legalize marijuana for adult personal use and establish a regulated retail market, voting 6-3 Friday...
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Legislature takes aim at foundation of Wyo’s abortion law
CHEYENNE — Reproductive rights advocates worry two bills among a slate of abortion-related measures working their way through the Legislature could erode the foundation of state law regulating the...
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What a tangled web Wyo senator weaves to preserve 2nd Amendment
To a far-right state senator who wants to knock off a suddenly unpopular Wyoming Republican congresswoman next year, sponsoring a bill called the Second Amendment Preservation Act probably seemed like...
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How COVID spending affects our fiscal health
In the last four years the federal government has both cut government revenue and dramatically increased spending. It’s an unsettling combination, the precise long-term results of which will be debated...
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Grant advances stalled plans for 280-foot-high dam
Wyoming’s efforts to build a 280-foot-high dam above the Little Snake River near the border of Colorado are “picking … back up,” after backers received a $1.2 million federal grant, the director of the...
View ArticleCarbon capture and the SCALE Act? Don’t hold your breath.
U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney recently joined a handful of other Congress members to advance the “Storing CO2 and Lowering Emissions Act.” Gov. Mark Gordon followed quickly with a letter to Congress offering...
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Gun bills playing outsized role in already gun-friendly Wyo politics
CHEYENNE — Sen. John Kolb, a freshman Republican from Rock Springs, had something to say. It was just the second week of session, and his Senate Judiciary Committee was already hearing its fourth bill...
View ArticleWith help of federal relief, legislature finds budget consensus
CHEYENNE – Don Richards, budget and fiscal administrator for the Legislative Services Office, can only recall two instances in the history of Wyoming legislative sessions — in 2000 and 2013 — in which...
View ArticleMedicaid expansion: What a long, strange trip it’s been
After I spent nearly two hours on hold, a woman with the Health Marketplace finally came on the line. It was December 2013, and enrollment for the first year of the Affordable Care Act’s health...
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Bill to reduce Dem participation on Management Council nears passage
CHEYENNE – After four years of attempts, state lawmakers are close to passing legislation that would reduce Democratic representation on the powerful and traditionally non-partisan legislative...
View ArticleBison whisperer
The key to working successfully with bison — iconic members of the bovidae family that can weigh up to 2,000 pounds — is simple, says rancher Dylan Handrich. “Generally it’s a matter of respect,”...
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In the 2021 Legislature, major fights have mostly fizzled out
CHEYENNE – Early in the 2021 Legislative Session, Wyoming seemed positioned for a pivotal year in its state history. Under the 66th Wyoming Legislature, proposed cuts to government to the tune of...
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As police reform hits national stage, Wyo lawmakers kill two measures
CHEYENNE – As a restless nation took to the streets for police reform in 2020, then-statehouse-candidate Karlee Provenza — a Laramie Democrat — traveled the streets of Wyoming’s third-largest city on a...
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Lawmakers weighing study of public lands transfer in 2021
CHEYENNE – On the final Friday of the 2021 Legislative Session, members of the Joint Agriculture Committee met to map out goals for the coming months. There was talk of state forest health, concerns...
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Elk feedground bill won’t hamper Game and Fish power
I write to share a different perspective on many of the views expressed in WyoFile’s March 30 story, Legislature strips Game and Fish of elk feedground closure power. I have been a hunter and a...
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Lawmakers failed, again, to address Wyo’s most pressing needs
It seems like only yesterday that state lawmakers were at the Capitol in Cheyenne, working their magic the way only they can do. But they left last Wednesday, and when I look back on it all, what...
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