Leadership drops “critical infrastructure” as committee topic
The Legislature’s Management Council voted Thursday not to take up “critical infrastructure” protection as a topic for committee study in the months before the next legislative session. The Management...
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ENDOW focuses on foundation first, building second
“If you avoid difficult things, great things will avoid you.” — G. Brimhall, former president of Brigham Young University Last year, Gov. Matt Mead asked me to do a difficult thing — join the...
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ENDOW’s missing piece
On New Year’s Eve, the executive council of Governor Mead’s Economically Needed Diversity Options for Wyoming committee released its first report on its deliberations. Early last year, the governor...
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Pete Simpson Forum: Economic diversification
Economic diversification: A partisan campaign slogan? A slap at the mineral industry? A code word for inaction? Whatever the definition, we know the plea for “economic diversification” has spun around...
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Analysis: Friess chooses national issues for governor’s race announcement
Jackson based GOP megadonor Foster Friess announced his candidacy for governor Friday following a wide-ranging and seemingly unscripted speech at the Wyoming Republican Party Convention. In more than...
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Citizen board refuses to charge public records fee, for now
Despite pressure from state officials, a citizen advisory board of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality refused last week to endorse an agency initiative to charge fees for some public...
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College dumps transgender protections after GOP, community pressure
Eastern Wyoming College’s board of trustees abandoned proposed policies protecting transgender employees and student athletes from discrimination Tuesday after an estimated 120-190 people showed up to...
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About professors, professing and Dr. Beth Williams
We think Beth died quickly. At least, I hope she did. She and her husband Tom were returning from a trip one icy December night in 2004. They were probably tired, keen to return to their home on...
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Criminal justice reform gets a shot in the arm
Wyoming is taking another shot at comprehensive criminal justice reform, this time with a program backed by the U.S. Department of Justice. In Worland last week, lawmakers on the Joint Judiciary...
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Tribes meet Wyoming resistance to Yellowstone name changes
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names could decide this summer to change two names in Yellowstone National Park that Native Americans say memorialize a racist and a murderer. Hayden Valley and Mount Doane...
View ArticleLGBTQ-policy foe cites legislative authority, community values
Proposed transgender protection policies conflict with “the overwhelming main stream majority of Goshen County and Wyoming Citizens,” Rep. Cheri Steinmetz (R-Lingle) wrote to the Eastern Wyoming...
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Born behind bars: Wyoming’s approach to pregnancy in prison
Currently, the births take place in Torrington’s Community Hospital. Mothers are moved from a prison vehicle to their sequestered room. These rooms are sterile and uncharacteristically silent for...
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Records quest for 800 Wyo. agencies drives open records review
Lawmakers are eyeing changes to public records law after a national group dedicated to government transparency flooded 800 Wyoming agencies with records requests last spring. Openthebooks.com, a...
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Study: Without tax reform economic diversification hurts state
Under Wyoming’s current tax structure, economic diversification will worsen the state’s fiscal woes, not solve them, an economic study conducted for the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee...
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Will Tim Conant’s death make Yellowstone guide work safer?
Yellowstone National Park will permit kayak outfitter OARS West to operate in the park again this summer, a year after one of its guides drowned. Yellowstone has approved OARS West’s permit to guide...
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Wyoming Press Association stands down in open-records fight
Rules allowing state agencies to charge for public records received a surprising endorsement last month from the Wyoming Press Association, a traditional advocate for transparency that had previously...
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Mead: Change tax code to meet diversification
Lawmakers should change Wyoming’s tax code to capture revenue from future economic diversification, Gov. Matt Mead said Thursday. Mead made the remarks in response to the release of a study...
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Psych., drug treatment gaps drive Wyoming’s prison problem
Gaps in Wyoming’s mental health and substance abuse treatment systems are contributing to the state’s prison overcrowding problem say experts who participated in a criminal justice reform forum in...
View ArticleWyoming shouldn’t put a price tag on civic engagement
The Wyoming Department of Administration and Information has misinterpreted a 2014 state law in order to pressure agencies to charge citizens exorbitant fees to access public records. This...
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Public records dispute may land state in court
They’ve paid thousands in fees and waited for months, but two transparency advocacy groups still don’t have the public records they requested. Now they’re threatening to sue the Wyoming State Auditor —...
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