Wyoming News & Current Events | Public News Service

Shoppers in Wyoming's historic downtowns can have cookies at Santa's Saloon and kids can deliver letters to Santa via Pony Express. (Visit Cheyenne)

Historic Downtowns Offer Gifts Immune to COVID Supply Chain

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Wyoming shoppers choosing to buy gifts at local mom-and-pop stores this holiday season can sample cookies with Mrs. Claus and refuel …

Black-footed ferrets rely exclusively on prairie dogs for prey and on prairie-dog burrows for shelter. (Adobe Stock)

Suit Filed Over Plan to Poison Thunder Basin Prairie Dogs

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wildlife advocates are taking the U.S. Forest Service to court over a plan to eliminate prairie dogs from the Thunder Basin …

Between 2010 and 2019, taxpayers lost out on $12.4 billion in revenue from drilling on public lands. (Adobe Stock)

Conservatives Call for Oil and Gas Reforms on Public Lands

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The Build Back Better Act making its way through Congress includes reforms for oil and gas production on public lands first …

Americans pay at least three times more than residents of other developed nations for the exact same prescription drugs. (Adobe Stock)

AARP Members Call on Congress to Rein In Big Pharma

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill late Friday, AARP is calling on lawmakers to pass …

According to a recent poll, 65% of Wyoming voters say they want their state legislator to support Medicaid expansion. (Adobe Stock)

Poll: WY Lawmakers Out of Sync with Majority of Voters on Medicaid

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Advocates for expanding Medicaid are regrouping after Wyoming lawmakers voted against an expansion bill during last week's special …

Fossil fuels kill more than 8 million people per year as the result of pollution, research shows. (Adobe Stock)<br /> — Fossil fuels kill more than 8 million people per year as the result of pollution, research shows. (Adobe Stock)

Study: Clean-Energy Transition More Gain than Pain

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- New research shows a rapid energy transition away from fossil fuels would save more than $5 trillion compared with continuing …

In a new poll, 71% of all registered voters support strengthening rules to reduce oil and gas methane pollution, including 73% of Independents and 50% of Republicans. (Adobe Stock)

Survey: Voters Want Methane Rules to Include Smaller Wells

CASPER, Wyo. - A strong majority of voters across party lines say they want national rules similar to those passed in Wyoming to reduce methane …

Wyoming's new voter districts are expected to impact how the state addresses falling fossil-fuel revenues, Medicaid expansion, and how local school boards shape public education. (Adobe Stock)

Wyoming Voters Urged to Give Feedback on New Voter District Maps

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- As Wyoming lawmakers sort through new 2020 census numbers to update voting districts, watchdog groups are encouraging all residents …

The most recent major renovations to Cheyenne's Union Pacific Depot were completed in 2006. The building now ishome to the Cheyenne Depot Museum. (Adobe Stock)

Saving More of Wyoming’s Older Buildings Could Boost Local Economies

RIVERTON, Wyo. - Community and economic-development leaders are gathering in Riverton this week for the 2021 Wyoming Working Together Conference…

Wyoming consistently has ranked among states with the highest youth confinement rates in the nation. (Adobe Stock)

Report: COVID Funds Could Help Close School-to-Prison Pipeline

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Federal school funding in response to the global pandemic, totaling nearly $190 billion, could help districts in Wyoming and across …

Pronghorn migrate hundreds of miles across the West's grasslands each year. (ichard Wright,Danita Delimont/Adobe Stock)

Flourishing, Open Grasslands Support Pronghorn, Other Wildlife

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Millions of pronghorn used to roam the West freely. But impediments like road and fences, as well as a changing climate, threaten …

Run the Red begins in the former gold mining community of South Pass City and takes runners through the northern Red Desert - a maze of buttes, canyons, badlands, wilderness study areas and miles of open country. (Adobe Stock)

Runners Celebrate Wyoming Public Lands Day in Red Desert

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. -- This weekend, athletes from across the nation gathered in South Pass City to Run the Red, a series of marathons through the Red …

The Bridger-Teton National Forest occupies the traditional lands of the Shoshone-Bannock, Eastern Shoshone and Cheyenne people. (Adobe Stock)

Federal Court Rules Against Elk Feedgrounds

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A federal court agreed with conservationists this week, ordering winter feeding of elk on the Bridger-Teton National Forest …

Social Security lifts more than one million U.S. children out of poverty, along with some 26,000 elderly residents in Wyoming. (Adobe Stock)

Economists Challenge Warnings of Social Security's Demise

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Social Security, the program credited with lifting 15 million older residents in Wyoming and across the U.S. out of poverty…

During late summer and fall, bears eat and drink nearly nonstop in preparation for winter hibernation, a process known as hyperphagia. (Adobe Stock)

Safety Tips Offered for Pre-Hibernation Bear Sightings

JACKSON, Wyo. - Bears throughout Wyoming, including celebrated Grizzly 399 and her four adolescent cubs, are becoming increasingly active in search …

The Bridger-Teton National Forest is home to 1.3 million acres of wilderness and thousands of miles of free-flowing rivers. (Adobe Stock)

Report: Migration Key to Conserving Big Game in Bridger-Teton Forest

JACKSON, Wyo. -- A report published today focuses on data-driven efforts to conserve big-game migration in Wyoming's Bridger-Teton National Forest…

This summer's unprecedented heat waves, droughts, fires and severe storms are occurring now, where global temperatures have only risen 1.2 degrees Celsius. Scientists project that average temperatures will rise by 2 degrees Celsius in the next two decades. (Adobe Stock)

Wyoming Business Leaders Urge Feds to Take Action on Climate

LANDER, Wyo. - Less than a decade remains to avoid potentially catastrophic impacts of a warming planet, according to the latest scientific reports…

New state electoral district maps can impact how local public schools operate through school board elections. (Adobe Stock)

Watchdog Groups Work to Prevent Gerrymandered New Voting Districts

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Now that 2020 census numbers are in, groups in Wyoming are working to help voters keep an eye on lawmakers as they draw new voting-…

Sage grouse already are endangered in Wyoming and other states, and the proliferation of fences is seen by wildlife experts as one more barrier to their recovery. (Stan/Adobe Stock)

Fences Change Movement Patterns for Western Wildlife

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wildlife is being fenced in across the West, and researchers are now mapping these lines to understand how they affect animals…

Most Wyoming residents who would gain health coverage under Medicaid expansion are employed, and all earn below 138% of the federal poverty level - about $1,500 a month for an individual or $3,000 a month for a family of four. (Adobe Stock)

Health Professionals Urge Lawmakers to Expand Medicaid

RIVERTON, Wyo. -- Wyoming medical professionals are urging state lawmakers to act before it's too late to take advantage of a pandemic-related …

Advertising curtains, such as this one inside Kearney Community Hall, are common in community halls as stage backdrops, and were used to raise funds through local businesses paying to have ads. (Andrea Graham/Alliance for Historic Wyoming)

Historic Community Halls Open Doors for Tour, Potlucks, Pie Auctions

BUFFALO, Wyo. -- The doors of five historic community halls across Johnson and Sheridan counties were opened this past weekend for 15 people curious …

Social Security reduces your payment if you start collecting benefits before your full retirement age, currently 66 and 2 months, and is gradually rising to 67 for people born in 1960 or later. (Adobe Stock)

Money Milestones Series Aims to Beef Up Wyomingites’ Financial Skills

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- AARP Wyoming is gearing up for a series of Webinars and Telephone Town Halls to help residents of all ages get their financial …

Chronic wasting disease spreads through prions, which, unlike bacterial and viral infections, don't die with infected animals. Prions persist in the soil, and can be transmitted to animals through plants growing in infected areas. (Adobe Stock)

WY Game and Fish Moving Ahead on Elk Feedground Planning

JACKSON, Wyo. -- Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is expected to be a hot topic next week when the Wyoming Game and Fish Department kicks off phase two …

Raising women's hourly wages to match those of Wyoming men would add $153 million in labor income in a single year, a report says. (Adobe Stock)

Report Cites Economic Power of Wyoming Women

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Women left the workforce during the pandemic at higher rates than men, and a new report suggests full economic recovery won't be …

Wyoming lawmakers recently allocated $1.2 million for a legal fund to sue states that block coal exports or retire coal-fired power plants. (Adobe Stock)

SCOTUS Coal Decision Prompts Calls for WY to Invest in Transition, Jobs

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - After Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon's legal strategy to export Powder River Basin coal to Asian markets was shot down by the U.S…

Yellowstone National Park has a new mobile app with live updates to the status of lodges, campgrounds, roads and geyser predictions when in cell service. (Adobe Stock)

Tips for Yellowstone During a Crowded Summer

CANYON VILLAGE, Wyo. - Yellowstone National Park is experiencing record numbers of visitors this summer, and park officials are offering tips to help …

Nearly one in three Wyoming adults with children reported feeling down, depressed or hopeless in March. (Adobe Stock)

Report: Wyoming Still Far Behind on Children's Health Care

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Wyoming ranks 45th nationally for child health, and an estimated 15,000 Wyoming kids do not have health insurance, according to The …

A new Gallup survey shows more than 60% of Americans say they know "a little bit" or "nothing at all" about Juneteenth, the date that celebrates the end of slavery in the United States. (DoDEA.edu)

Juneteenth Declared National Holiday, Amidst Progress, Upheaval

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Juneteenth National Independence Day is now an official holiday, after President Joe Biden signed a bill Thursday, approved by both …

Accessing health insurance has been a major barrier for small businesses during COVID-19. (Adobe Stock)

Consumers, Employers and Small Businesses Say Health Reform Needed

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Consumers, employers, and small business owners in Wyoming and across the U.S. agree that it's time to go big on health care reform…

Mental health advocates are urging lawmakers to tap federal grants the state is currently leaving on the table to help mitigate the impact of budget cuts for mental and substance abuse care. (Adobe Stock)

WY Mental-Health Centers Face Budget Cuts During Record Demand

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Budget cuts to the Wyoming Department of Health are causing reductions in mental-health and substance-abuse services, with bigger …

Women make up half of Wyoming's population, but just 18% of the state's legislators. (Charlie Riedel)

Wyoming Legislators to Tackle Election Redistricting

CASPER, Wyo. - Wyoming lawmakers are beginning the process of redrawing boundaries for state legislative districts today, which will determine which …

A recent national survey from the Surgo Foundation found that Wyoming has the third-highest proportion of COVID-19 skeptics in the nation. (van3ssa/Pixabay)

Wyoming Behind Most States in COVID Vaccine Distribution

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Wyoming ranks among the bottom of states for COVID vaccination rates, and state health officials are encouraging all eligible …

Wyoming is home to many wildlife-killing contests, including the Wyoming Best of the Best and other privately-run events. (Project Coyote)

Billboard Campaign Aims to End Wildlife-Killing Contests in Wyoming

CODY, Wyo. -- Drivers traveling from Cody to Yellowstone National Park will see a large billboard featuring a wolf and a call to action to end a …

Wyoming has the second lowest-tax rates for a family of four in the nation. (Ken Lund/Flickr)

Study: Wyoming Has Capacity to Raise Taxes

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- As Wyoming lawmakers grapple with mounting budget deficits due to lost oil, gas and coal revenues, a new report by the Wyoming …

Children in states that expanded their Medicaid programs are almost twice as likely to have health coverage than children in the 12 non-expansion states, including Wyoming. (Depositphotos)

WY Medicaid Expansion Could Advance in Joint Revenue Committee

RIVERTON, Wyo. -- Wyoming lawmakers are giving Medicaid expansion a second look at today's Joint Revenue Committee meeting in Riverton, after …

A majority of women are breadwinners in their families. (Pixabay)

Survey: Moms Want More Than Breakfast in Bed This Mother’s Day

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- As Mother's Day draws near, a new survey conducted by the Institute for Women's Policy Research offers a clearer picture of what …

The number of animal-vehicle collisions has doubled in the past 15 years. (Heather Paul/Flickr)

Wildlife and Roadways Summit to Address Big Game-Auto Collisions

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- State agencies, wildlife biologists and conservation groups are convening a virtual summit to continue work aimed at reducing the …

During the Trump administration, oil and gas companies acquired more than 7,000 federal drilling permits and stockpiled more than 13 million acres of oil and gas leases on public lands. (Nicholas A. Tonelli/Flickr)

Legal Battle Expands Over Oil/Gas Lease Pause

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- A legal battle is unfolding over the Biden administration's pause on oil and gas lease sales on public lands. Wyoming and industry …

The Safe Drinking Water Act prohibits the injection of oil and gas wastewater into potential drinking water supplies. (Rawpixel/Pxhere)

Conservation Groups Challenge Aethon Wastewater Waiver

SHOSHONI, Wyo. -- Conservation groups are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to reject Aethon Energy's plans to inject up to 30,000 barrels …

Nearly one in three adults say they or someone they know has been asked to purchase a gift card as payment in scams, a common method employed by criminals to steal money. (BFIShadow/Flickr)

Scammers Target Seniors by Posing as Clergy

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- AARP's Fraud Watch Network is warning Wyoming residents about a new take on an age-old scam targeting older Americans across the …

Before hunting and trapping brought grizzlies to the brink of extinction in the early 20th century, tens of thousands roamed across western states. (Neal Herbert/NPS)

Critics Warn Delisting Grizzly Could Impact Tourism Revenue

JACKSON, Wyo. -- Grizzly bears are slowly recovering in segments of their historic Northern Rockies habitat, but still need protections, according to …

States that expanded Medicaid coverage have seen improved rates for colorectal, prostate and cervical cancer screenings compared with non-expansion states. (Pixabay)

Advocates: Medicaid Expansion Would Benefit Cancer Patients

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The Wyoming Senate has until Wednesday to advance the Medical Treatment Opportunity Act, which cleared the House last week…

Every dollar paid out to retirees in Wyoming creates an estimated $1.12 in economic activity. (Pixabay)

Closing Wage Gap Would Boost Retirement Security for WY Women

LARAMIE, Wyo. - Women in Wyoming earn just 70 cents for every dollar a man makes, and that wage gap plays a deciding role in how and when women can …

Wyoming ranks second nationally behind Texas for its rate of uninsured children at 10.6%. (World Bank/Flickr)

Report: Lower Rates of Uninsured Kids Linked to Medicaid Expansion

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- As Wyoming lawmakers consider a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage, a new Georgetown University Center for Children and Families …

More than 150 people die each year and 290,000 are injured in wildlife-vehicle collisions nationwide. (Don DeBold/Flickr)<br /> — More than 150 people die each year and 290,000 are injured in wildlife-vehicle collisions nationwide. (Don DeBold/Flickr)

Deer Migration Study Could Help Reduce Vehicle Collisions

EVANSTON, Wyo. -- The Wyoming Game and Fish department is gearing up to put GPS radio collars on some 50 Uinta mule deer in southwestern Wyoming…

States dependent on tourism and energy production revenues have been disproportionately impacted by economic fallout from COVID-19. (Roger Sylvia/Wikimedia Commons)

Report: COVID Stimulus Could Soften Wyoming Budget Shortfall

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming and other states facing steep budget shortfalls could bounce back as early as next year if the federal government invests …

AARP's most recent survey found that 90% of adults age 65 and older want to stay in their<br />homes and communities as they age. (A Place for Mom) — AARP's most recent survey found that 90% of adults age 65 and older want to stay in their
homes and communities as they age. (A Place for Mom)

Senior Home-Care Cuts Could Expand State Budget Shortfalls

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- When Wyoming lawmakers reconvene in early March, advocates for people age fifty and older are hoping to convince them to preserve a …

If House Bill 11 becomes law, oil and gas producers would be able to claim severance-tax exemptions when prices are low, and high. (Arek Socha/Pixabay)

Critics Warn: Cutting Oil/Gas Tax Won't Increase Production

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming lawmakers are considering a bill that would cut severance taxes paid by oil and gas companies from 6% to 3%. Proponents …

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