Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
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CHEYENNE — Despite losing many people to out-of-state opportunities, Wyoming’s population grew by roughly 2.3% from 2010 to 2020, marking the slowest growth rate in the state since the 1980s, according to preliminary data released Monday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The initial 2020 Census data shows Wyoming with a residential population of 576,851, meaning the state will remain the least-populated nationwide. In the 2010 Census, the state was reported as having 563,626 residents. Wyoming’s population has grown in each decennial U.S. Censu...
CHEYENNE — After clearing the House in a historic vote last week, a bill authorizing the expansion of Medicaid coverage to an estimated 24,000 residents in Wyoming was defeated by a Senate committee Wednesday morning. House Bill 162, which had gone further in the legislative process than any prior Medicaid expansion proposal, would have directed state officials to pursue a plan to expand Medicaid coverage to Wyoming residents whose income is at or below 138% of the federal poverty level. Under the bill sponsored by Rep. John Romero-Martinez, R...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming House of Representatives rejected legislation Wednesday that would have required the state’s K-12 public schools to provide suicide prevention training programs to students. House Bill 62, which was advanced by an interim committee late last year with the backing of several high school students who testified, would have expanded the Jason Flatt Act, which requires teachers to undergo two hours of suicide education and prevention training each year, to also provide age-appropriate suicide prevention programs to stu...
CHEYENNE — A legislative committee advanced a bill Thursday that would make not wearing a seat belt a primary offense in Wyoming, meaning law enforcement officers could pull a driver over solely for not being buckled up. The proposal, which will now head to the full Legislature for consideration, was promoted by state highway officials as a way to reduce the number of crash-related deaths in Wyoming, which had 147 deaths from car crashes in 2019. Of those deaths, 39% were not wearing their seat belts, Wyoming Department of Transportation D...
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature’s House Revenue Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would increase the state’s tobacco tax by 24 cents per pack of cigarettes, a proposal that would mark the first tax hike on cigarettes and other tobacco products since 2003. If approved by the full Legislature later this year, the bill would raise the tax on cigarette packs from 60 cents to 84 cents per pack, and it would increase the tax on moist tobacco snuff from 60 cents to 72 cents per ounce. During the meeting, the legislation, which was expec...
CHEYENNE — After state lawmakers decided last month to delay most of the 2021 general session beyond January due to COVID-19 concerns, plans for the 66th Wyoming Legislature are still up in the air, with a couple main options being considered by legislative leadership. Lawmakers on the Management Council, which includes chamber leaders from both parties, decided during a meeting last month to postpone the session, as legislative staff raised concerns about the challenging logistics of holding a standard, in-person session starting in J...
CHEYENNE – With just a few weeks remaining until Election Day, the pair of candidates vying to become Wyoming’s next U.S. senator discussed their approaches to the federal COVID-19 response, health care reform and several other issues during a debate Thursday night in Torrington. The event, which was hosted by WyomingPBS and Wyoming Public Radio at Eastern Wyoming College, featured Republican Cynthia Lummis, who previously served as the state’s delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2009 to 2017, and Democrat Merav Ben-David, a zoo...
CHEYENNE – Wyoming State Public Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist reiterated the need for students to wear masks in schools and then faced criticism from a couple lawmakers on the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic during a virtual meeting Thursday. In recent weeks, Wyoming public schools have reopened with some precautions in place – specifically, social distancing and, whenever that isn’t possible, wearing masks. Multiple lawmakers on the Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee told Harrist that they’ve heard...
CHEYENNE – With Wyoming bracing for its largest revenue decline in state history, lawmakers rejected every tax-raising proposal on their agenda during a committee meeting Tuesday. Due to long-term declines in its energy industries and the economic downturn brought by COVID-19, Wyoming has been projected to see its revenue drop by $1.5 billion total over the next two years. In response, Gov. Mark Gordon has already directed state agencies to cut 10% of their budgets, which totals about $250 million. On the other side of the state’s fiscal pol...
CHEYENNE — Lawmakers advanced legislation Friday aiming to boost the state’s meat processing facilities and provide more financial relief to agriculture industries. But the ultimate call on whether to stand up such programs will be left to Gov. Mark Gordon. The bills approved Friday by the Joint Agriculture, State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee would appropriate $80 million of the state’s federal stimulus money – which must be spent by the end of the year – specifically for farming and ranching businesses across the state. Th...
CHEYENNE — Just a few months removed from a Supreme Court decision forced by heavy caseloads and understaffing for the agency, the Wyoming Public Defender’s office could soon be thrust into another constitutional crisis, thanks to the 10% budget cut announced last week. Last year, State Public Defender Diane Lozano warned the Legislature that her office had been overburdened by heavy caseloads and struggles to retain attorneys. The issue entered the spotlight in May 2019, when Lozano said her office could no longer accept misdemeanor cases in...
CHEYENNE — For the first time in Wyoming history, voters will be choosing from only female candidates in the state’s two federal races in November. Tuesday’s primary election also confirmed Wyoming will have its first female delegate in the U.S. Senate, as former Congresswoman Cynthia Lummis and University of Wyoming ecology professor Merav Ben-David will face off in the Nov. 3 general election. On the Republican side, Lummis was declared the victor of her party’s primary by the Associated Press about an hour and a half after polls closed...
CHEYENNE — Lunch in classrooms, widespread hand sanitizer stations and face coverings are just a few of the features Wyoming students can expect to see if the state’s schools return to in-person instruction this fall. The Wyoming Department of Education’s initial framework to reopen K-12 schools, which was released Wednesday afternoon, requires districts to prepare for three possibilities: fully open facilities, fully closed facilities and a hybrid model somewhere in between. If buildings are open to students, procedures for social distancing a...
CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Legislature’s first special session since 2004 ended Saturday night with three bills headed to the desk of Gov. Mark Gordon for his consideration, as lawmakers wrapped up their initial attempts to respond to issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The main task of the special session was to set up programs and timeframes for the spending of $1.25 billion Wyoming received through the federal CARES act. Though Gordon has the ultimate authority to spend the money, the approved legislation provides a broad outline of whe...
CHEYENNE – With the end of the financial turbulence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic nowhere in sight, Wyoming business owners and their employees could soon gain a boost. When the Wyoming Legislature meets in a mixed format for its special session starting Friday, lawmakers will consider at least four bills. One of those, which was largely crafted last week by the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee, aims to help businesses through state-run programs that resemble the federal Paycheck Protection Program. The l...
CHEYENNE – With some statewide public health orders being eased at the end of the week, Gov. Mark Gordon asked the public Wednesday to be careful as the state’s economy begins to reopen. The three updated statewide orders, set to take effect Friday, allow some dine-in services at restaurants and bars. But in a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Gordon emphasized social distancing and other public health measures will still be in place. “This is truly an exciting time for Wyoming, but it’s also one that is a cautionary time for Wyoming...
CHEYENNE – In the first weeks of the coronavirus closures, the share of women filing unemployment claims in Wyoming skyrocketed to levels far above historical norms, suggesting women face unique struggles in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. After Gov. Mark Gordon announced a statewide public health emergency March 13, women made up 51.5% of new unemployment claims in Wyoming in the following three weeks, according to data from the state Department of Workforce Services. For perspective, women in Wyoming made up 25.4% of initial claims in t...
CHEYENNE – Wyoming will not be making a complete shift to mail-in voting for its August primary, but state election officials, anticipating a jump in absentee voting amid the COVID-19 pandemic, are preparing to ensure voters have a wide range of options to participate in the process. While states with elections slated for April and May have delayed theirs until later this summer, Wyoming’s primary will continue as scheduled Aug. 18, largely as a result of it falling later in the year. The primary also will not be held entirely via mail-in votin...
CHEYENNE – A large crowd of protesters gathered at the front steps of the Wyoming State Capitol on Monday to demand a full reopening of businesses, schools and other industries that have temporarily closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The rally, one of several that have taken place across the country during the past week, drew more than 100 people. Though a statewide public health order has banned gatherings of 10 or more people, the leaders of the rally obtained an expedited permit from city officials Monday morning to allow them to p...
CHEYENNE — It remains to be seen whether the state will decide to buy roughly 1 million surface acres and 4 million mineral acres in southern Wyoming, but the process is now in place for the state to begin exploring such a purchase. On the final day of this year’s budget session Thursday, lawmakers gave approval to a bill authorizing the state to explore purchasing the land from Occidental Petroleum Corporation. Gov. Mark Gordon announced the state’s interest in the land in a news conference with legislative leadership Feb. 17. Since then,...
By Tom Coulter CHEYENNE — A 5% lodging sales tax proposal won final approval from the Senate on Friday afternoon, marking passage of the only tax measure aimed at putting a small dent in the roughly $200 million revenue deficit facing the state in the next few years. If signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon, who has stated his support for such a proposal, House Bill 134 would implement an additional 5% sales tax on in-state lodging services. Three-fifths of that tax revenue would go to an account to promote tourism in the state, while the r...
By Tom Coulter Wyoming Tribune Eagle Via Wyoming News Exchange CHEYENNE – Wyoming could soon join the other 49 states that charge Medicaid for special education services if legislation moving through the Capitol becomes law, and Laramie County School District 1 has emerged as the district to get the program off the ground. The state has historically reimbursed school districts for 100% of the costs associated with special education services like speech therapy and mental health counseling, though that changed in 2018 when the Legislature e...
CHEYENNE – Gov. Mark Gordon gave his second State of the State address Monday morning, offering proposals to protect Wyoming’s energy industries and emphasizing the state’s need to find long-term ways to fund its education system. Gordon’s speech in the House chamber of the Capitol marked the beginning of the 65th Wyoming Legislature’s budget session, which will last until mid-March. With the state facing a structural revenue deficit projected to grow in coming years, Gordon said his budget aims to start a serious conversation about the state...
CHEYENNE — A Republican state lawmaker has introduced a resolution that would encourage the Wyoming Department of Education to offer voluntary gun and hunting safety classes in the state’s high schools. If passed during the legislative session that begins next week, Senate Joint Resolution 1 would urge the Game and Fish Commission to collaborate with the Department of Education to create the safety classes as a physical education elective. Sen. Ogden Driskill, R-Devils Tower, the main sponsor of the legislation, said the classes would help mit...
CHEYENNE – State legislators on the Joint Education Interim Committee turned down a bill Thursday that would have let college students receive more Hathaway Scholarship money if they reached certain GPA benchmarks. The bill, which failed by a 8-5 vote during the committee’s meeting in Cheyenne, would have given students the ability to boost their scholarship funding if the student maintains a 3.75 GPA for two consecutive semesters. The Hathaway Scholarship program can be used at the University of Wyoming or any community college in the state. T...