It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, April 17th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Wyoming Community Gas. The Choice Gas selection period ends on Wednesday April 23rd – This is your opportunity to select your Natural Gas Provider for the coming year. For more information, visit Wyoming Community Gas dot ORG.”
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The Wyoming Supreme Court has taken under advisement the question of whether abortion is health care, and whether having abortions is a fundamental right in the state.
The justices of the state’s highest court during a Tuesday hearing heard lively arguments on both sides of the issue. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the arguments revolved around the November decision of Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens, who ruled that abortion is health care, and that it is a fundamental right under the Wyoming Constitution.
“That portion of the Constitution contains wording like the legislature can regulate health care as is reasonable and necessary for the people's welfare and so that language does not match the language that courts use when they're reviewing and weighing a fundamental right. So the state's attorney, Jay Jerde, was like, clearly it's not a fundamental right… the pro choice coalition came back and said, Well, it's unconstitutional on so many fronts.”
The justices have taken all the arguments under advisement and are reviewing the case, as well as the law and the Constitution, and will file a written order and decision at a later date.
Read the full story HERE.
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Rocky Mountain Power is implementing another double-digit rate increase, adding an additional $14 to an average residential customer’s bill.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the 10.2% rate increase, approved Tuesday by the Wyoming Public Service Commission, will draw an additional $85.5 million from consumers and is the latest in a string of double-digit rate increases.
“The rate increases, there doesn't appear to be any end in sight… in talking with Thor Nelson, who is WYAC’s attorney, these increases aren't something that can legally be avoided. These are costs that the company has legitimately incurred to provide the service. And you know, because they're a quasi public entity regulated by the state, there's lots of laws about that, about letting them recover just compensation, so covering their cost and making sure that the return is suitable, you know, something that's going to be enough to justify the continued existence of the company, because they can't go out of business. Everybody's relying on them to provide power.”
With this increase, Rocky Mountain Power has already caught up to and exceeded the almost 30% rate hike it had sought in 2023 but was partially denied.
Read the full story HERE.
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After six days of testimony from Steven Marler’s former adopted and foster children claiming multiple sex assaults, he gets his turn.
The defense for the Casper man started presenting its case Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that Marler’s defense team called into question the validity of the claims against him.
“There were two people that testified. One of them was an expert from Colorado who talked about foster parenting and foster children, and how foster children inherently, because they're taken out of their home, want to control things because they've lost all control of their life. So she said they tend to be manipulative, and, you know, they they need special parenting. And in the later on, there was a social worker that worked with the… oldest adopted daughter in the mother home, and she had become a mentor to her because the oldest daughter was sent to the Wyoming cowboy challenge, and she testified for the defense that she received a phone call from that daughter about sexual assaults that she had had with the defendant… and the defense is trying to prove and they said that in their opening statement that the children wanted to get out of the home, and they were using these sexual allegations as a means to get out of the home.”
The defense Tuesday asked Judge Kerri Johnson to acquit their client of 11 of the 20 sexual abuse of a minor charges against their client. The prosecution agreed to drop one charge, and the judge dismissed it.
Read the full story HERE.
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After originally saying “a few” international students had their visas revoked, the University of Wyoming clarified on Wednesday that the number is between six to 10 students.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson spoke to a spokesperson for the university, Chad Baldwin, who did not have any information about what reasons were given for the revocations, what countries the students are from, or if they are still on campus.
“This is happening a lot all throughout the country and these visas are being revoked for a variety of reasons, ranging from students not meeting their full requirements as far as course load or not re enrolling fast enough, and things like that, all the way from, you know, criminal offenses that range from arrest to extremely minor confusion convictions, even as low as a speeding ticket. So it's still a total guessing game as far as what's led to this occurring at UW, but there are some clues that we can maybe draw from. UW still hasn't really spoken out directly on the topic, beyond saying the school supports their international students, and they're trying to kind of provide as much information as possible.”
The school has provided guidance to employees on potential Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) visits, telling staff to not interfere, but also to ask for ICE agents’ credentials and reject any subpoenas or warrants on behalf of anybody else.
Read the full story HERE.
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Authorities say the death of a woman Saturday in a tanker explosion north of Wright was accidental, although the exact origin of the explosion is still under investigation.
47-year-old Denice Downing died at the scene of the explosion of a tanker carrying hydrochloric acid. Campbell County Coroner Paul Wallem told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland that Downing died of head and chest trauma.
“Her death is deemed accidental, but sheriffs’ investigators are still, you know, probing the origin of the explosion. There's two prevailing theories, one that the hydrochloric acid reacted with the tanker itself, like some aluminum component, or there was some sort of residue in the tank that it reacted with, so it has been sent off for testing.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been investigating the scene alongside the sheriff’s office.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming continues to stand out as a significant player in the mining of rare earths now supplied mostly by China. At the same time, a retooled uranium mill in Utah owned by a company with operations stretching from Wyoming to Madagascar, aspires to become a leader in the domestic milling of a rare earth ore. And Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the company, Energy Fuels Resources, plans to import that ore initially from Africa, Australia and South America.
“The conversation around rare earth in Wyoming has been all about creating a source for the ore. You know, by mining in Wyoming, a company that has operations in uranium and some rare earth in Wyoming energy, fuels, they've taken a different tact in that they've developed a processing facility in Utah where they plan to import or from outside the country as a way to get around this grip that China has on the rare earth industry overall. And so it was an interesting wrinkle in this evolving story about how the United States is trying to catch up with the production, the mining and the refinement, the processing of rare earth ore into rare earth elements, which are then used in all kinds of high tech, technology and manufacturing.”
While the Energy Fuels mill in Utah could service domestic clients while also milling imported ore, companies like Wyoming Rare USA are looking to both mine and mill in one general location.
Read the full story HERE.
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The White House plans to soon ask Congress to pull back more than $1 billion in public broadcasting funding, a move that could eliminate nearly all federal support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund National Public Radio, or NPR, and PBS.
Ruby Calvert is a Riverton resident and chair of the national CPB board. She told Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson that although these public media organizations may not be flawless, pulling their funding would decimate public broadcasting, particularly in rural America where public media stations have fewer resources.
“She believes that some of the perspectives of Republicans in the Trump administration, that these organizations are inherently biased, is flawed and inaccurate. She does not believe that to be the case for the most part, and she believes that they're being unfairly targeted. She pointed out specifically that it'd be a huge hit to rural stations like the ones in Wyoming… Also spoke to Christina Kuzmych, the general manager of Wyoming public media… She said they receive about $400,000 a year in funding, which makes up about 13% of their overall budget, so they would have to make serious cuts.”
Wyoming’s Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis were noncommittal when asked by Cowboy State Daily last month if they would support a House bill that would cut all federal funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. However, Representative Harriet Hageman said this week that she would support such a bill.
Read the full story HERE.
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Even after finally identifying the remains of a John Doe found near a refinery in Cheyenne in 2023, authorities still have a mystery on their hands.
The man, who has been identified as 61-year-old Neal D. Samson, was discovered by workers at the Sinclair refinery in November 2023. But Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the Laramie County Coroner has released few details about how he was identified.
“Typically, if you have a name, you can do a search, a background check, search on social media, check the missing person databases. I did all that, and I could not find any, any presence of him anywhere. So I do not know this man is a mystery as to who he was, why he was in Cheyenne, and it's also unclear how he was identified. They did have the Laramie County Coroner used was very proactive in identifying him. They used forensic artistic renderings, and I had checked in with her a couple months ago to see if she had any leads on those and she said, Not yet, but we're trying other methods, and we have a lead. I don't know what those methods were or what that lead was, and hopefully I will have more information in coming days, but I do not this is all I know at this time.”
It’s unclear if the images led to the discovery of the man’s name or if other forensic methods were used in the identification. The coroner’s office did not respond to a request for additional information about methodology or whether Samson’s family played a role in identifying him.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
