The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
The Voice of the Community Since 1909, Serving Moorcroft and Pine Haven, Wyoming
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CHEYENNE — Gov. Mark Gordon addressed a range of issues, primarily K-12 education funding and the state’s long-term fiscal outlook, during a media briefing Thursday afternoon, a day after the Wyoming Legislature adjourned from its 2021 general session. The discussion, which marked Gordon’s first general press conference since late last year, also came a day after Wyoming lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on a K-12 education funding bill, with the House and the Senate reaching an impasse over various issues regarding where to cut withi...
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 – State lawmakers, during a meeting Friday, narrowly advanced a measure to increase excise taxes on cigarettes and moist tobacco snuff, marking one of the only revenue-raising measures to be advanced by a legislative committee during interim meetings this year. The bill, if approved by the Legislature during its regular session next year, would raise the tax on cigarette packs from 60 cents to 84 cents, keeping with inflation since the last time a cigarette tax increase was passed in the state in 2003. It would also increase the tax o...
CHEYENNE – With only a few weeks remaining until Election Day, the candidates vying to be Wyoming’s sole delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives discussed their visions for a country hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic during a debate Thursday night in Torrington. The debate, which was hosted by WyomingPBS and Wyoming Public Radio at Eastern Wyoming College, featured incumbent Republican Liz Cheney, Democratic challenger Lynnette Grey Bull and Constitution Party candidate Jeff Haggit. The discussion offered the first opportunity for the...
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 — Oil prices worldwide suffered a major hit over the weekend, reaching a four-year low in the United States, and the rapid changes in the global economy could have major implications for Wyoming. U.S. oil prices were down by as much as 34% on Monday, largely due to two factors: a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, and dropping demand as the coronavirus continues to spread globally. The effects of the rising supply and dropping demand of oil could be felt in Wyoming, where oil extraction is a linchpin of the state’s eco...
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 — After a bill banning child marriages narrowly failed in the Legislature last year, a Laramie representative has introduced a similar bill that would effectively prevent any child in Wyoming under the age of 18 from getting married. Wyoming law sets the legal age for marriage at 16, though a child younger than that can still get married if given approval by a parent or guardian and approved by a judge. House Bill 67, introduced by Rep. Charles Pelkey, D-Laramie, would move that age limit to 18 in nearly every scenario. While last year...
CHEYENNE — A quarterly economic report released this week shows Wyoming saw an increase in overall sales this year, while Laramie County continued to see stable growth in its economy. Yet the report also provided an indication of the struggles Wyoming will face as its revenue from mineral taxes dwindles. The report, published by the state’s Economic Analysis Division, indicates the state has continued to rebound from the economic downturn of 2015 and 2016, Wyoming Chief Economist Wenlin Liu said. “During the downturn, the state lost almos...
CHEYENNE – Despite objections from Gov. Mark Gordon, lawmakers on the Joint Appropriations Committee approved a bill Thursday that would raise the salaries of the governor and the other four elected state officials beginning after the 2022 general election. The bill would raise the governor’s salary from $105,000 to $150,000, while the other four officials – secretary of state, state auditor, state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction – would see their salaries jump from $92,000 to $120,000. The bill’s approval, which marks the...
CHEYENNE – A group of landowners in eastern Laramie County filed a federal lawsuit last week against Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, arguing the oil and gas company violated antitrust and monopoly regulations by creating a noncompetitive market for minerals in the area. The lawsuit, filed Nov. 25 in U.S. District Court of Wyoming, states Anadarko has developed a monopoly over oil and gas production in eastern Laramie County by obtaining an excessive number of drilling permits and raising royalty rates on mineral leases. Anadarko, which was a...
CHEYENNE — Medicaid expansion could be back up for debate in the Wyoming Legislature’s 2020 session, as lawmakers will consider a bill to expand the program during a Joint Revenue Interim Committee meeting in just over a week. Though initially divisive after the federal adoption of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, 36 states have either fully expanded or are in the process of expanding Medicaid to uninsured people whose incomes are at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level. Three neighboring states – Idaho, Nebraska and Utah – app...
