Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
Continuing the Crook County News Since 1884
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CHEYENNE — Two bills headed to the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session, sponsored by a Republican legislator, aim to restrict transgender people’s access to female-only spaces and collegiate sports teams. Rep. Martha Lawley, R-Worland, said it’s time for the Wyoming Legislature to create “uniformity” across the Equality State when it comes to transgender policy. In an op ed sent out by email Monday announcing the bills, Lawley said Wyoming once led the nation in equal opportunity when it became the first state to grant women the right to...
CHEYENNE — Wyoming’s legislative and executive branches are investigating the growing issue of maternity health care deserts, and conversation on Friday indicated the situation may require another year of study. Five Wyoming counties — Crook, Weston, Niobrara, Big Horn and Sublette — have been classified as maternity deserts by the March of Dimes, said Franz Fuchs, senior policy analyst for the Wyoming Department of Health, during the Legislature’s Joint Labor, Health and Social Services Committee meeting in April. He added that seven mor...
CHEYENNE — An AI-generated candidate has filed to run for Cheyenne mayor, and county officials are investigating whether VIC, an acronym for Virtual Integrated Citizen, can appear on the ballot. Under Wyoming law, only registered voters can run for local or statewide elected office. But can a person file an artificial intelligence as a candidate? That’s the question Laramie County officials are trying to answer. Cheyenne resident and registered voter Victor Miller put VIC on the mayoral candidate form, listing a house and email address, but...
CHEYENNE — University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel recommended closing the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion on Friday, following a decision by the state Legislature to defund the office effective July 1. Duties and personnel from the ODEI will be reassigned to other university entities, Seidel said, with the assistance of a new vice provost position in the Office of the Provost. UW spokesman Chad Baldwin told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle the university doesn’t “anticipate any layoffs, but the ODEI staff positions have been...
CHEYENNE — Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, R-Lingle, announced on Tuesday that a public hearing on Feb. 13 would be an official meeting of the Legislature, but legislative leaders clarified they were never notified of the hearing. Steinmetz said in Tuesday’s news release that the Legislature’s Joint Agriculture State and Public Lands and Water Resources Committee would hold an “Oversight Hearing...on the Environmental Impact of ‘Net-Zero’ and ‘Carbon Negative’ Policies,” as well as the Annual Forest Health Briefing on Feb. 13 upon adjournment. Howe...
CHEYENNE - In advance of the upcoming budget session, the Wyoming Legislature's wallet to appropriate funds for budget requests is expected to shrink by $13.3 million. An updated Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) report informed members of the Legislature's Joint Appropriations Committee they had $37.3 million in discretionary funds to spend this year. The CREG report is a forecast of the state's total revenue and assets. It includes estimates of Wyoming's mineral prices and production,...
CHEYENNE — State lawmakers advanced a bill draft on Monday that aims to ban all hemp-products containing any psychoactive properties, including delta-8, without providing a distinction between “synthetic” and “naturally occurring” properties. Members of the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee were divided in their opinions of the bill. Some members said the draft was a necessary step toward protecting youth, while others hesitated over the bill’s broad language. Committee co-Chairman Rep. Art Washut, R- Casper, said the bill was “not read...
CHEYENNE — Will potential voters be required to live in Wyoming for at least 30 days in order to vote? Do people need to register as a PAC if they spend more than $1000 in an election? After some heavy deliberation Thursday, members of the Legislature’s Joint Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee advanced bill drafts that could create significant changes to existing Wyoming election laws. 30-day residency requirement Legislators forwarded a bill to next year’s budget session that, as written, would add a 30-day resid...
CHEYENNE — Members of the Joint Revenue Committee moved to draft legislation during their Monday meeting that would amend the state constitution and implement an acquisition value property tax system in Wyoming. An acquisition value property tax system assesses a property at its market value from the time the property was purchased, with limited annual tax increases until the property is resold, according to the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Acquisition value is defined under HB 100 as “the purchase price paid for the acquisition of pro...
CHEYENNE — Wyoming state legislators criticized an initiative to reduce property taxation for homeowners by 50%, arguing the bill’s passage would ultimately strip state funding for public schools. The proposed initiative, formally dubbed the “People’s Initiative to Limit Property Tax in Wyoming through a Homeowner’s Property Exemption,” was conditionally certified by Secretary of State Chuck Gray at the end of last month. Spearheaded by Brent Bien, a former Wyoming governor candidate, alongside committee applicants Cheryl Aguiar and Richard...
CHEYENNE — Officials from the Wyoming Military Department advised legislators against restarting the Wyoming Cowboy Challenge Academy until sufficient staffing for the residential program for at-risk youth is secured. Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, the state’s adjutant general, stressed to the Joint Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee that a restart of the program isn’t possible until the staffing issue is resolved. “What I would offer — and I would tell the governor of Wyoming the same thing — until we are able to solve the s...
