It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, July 2nd. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days. Ten days of rodeo thrills, Xtreme Bulls, live concerts, carnival rides, western heritage, and unforgettable cowboy spirit in Cheyenne, Wyoming! Don’t miss the 129th Daddy of ‘Em all July 18-27th.
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A transgender woman flagrantly violated a newly implemented Wyoming law Tuesday, which restricts people to the restroom corresponding to their birth sex in public buildings. And… nothing happened.
27-year-old Rihanna Kelver, and Kelver’s former English teacher, Nikki Bondurant, announced to a Wyoming Highway Patrol officer stationed at a desk near the restroom that Kelver would be entering the restroom and checked to make sure no one else was in there. Kelver then entered and exited the restroom, with no consequences.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Matthew Christian reports that the consequences would, actually, be the responsibility of the state government.
“There's no penalty for a person who, quote, unquote, violates the law, but there are penalties for governmental entities that don't enforce the law, and they can be sued. I if you're in a restroom and a transgender person walks in there and you are uncomfortable, then you can sue the governmental entity and say, Hey, I was uncomfortable. This violated my rights to privacy. So it's really more against the government.”
In the case of Kelver’s protest, Bondurant’s efforts to clear the bathroom beforehand removed potential plaintiffs, which therefore removed the law’s enforcement mechanism.
Read the full story HERE.
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The University of Pennsylvania vowed Tuesday to erase top swimming records set by transgender swimmer Lia Thomas three years ago, and apologize to female athletes that were displaced by Thomas.
The announcement surfaced on the same day Wyoming’s new ban on transgender athletes participating in women’s collegiate sports competitions took effect. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to State Senator Wendy Schuler, who said Tuesday’s decision by the University of Pennsylvania marks, quote, “a great victory for our women and girls.”
“She's always said that she's motivated by her own memories of being a female athlete before Title Nine… and feeling that title nine was this special safeguard for women, because it promised their ability to do sports without discrimination. And so Schuler, who's… largely responsible for the sporting the cross sex sporting bands we have now, said it's just such a relief. Whereas Sarah Burlingame, who's executive director of Wyoming Equality, she said, this should remind us of Stalin that you know, not only is the Trump administration doing these things, but demanding apologies and fealty along the way.”
Also on Tuesday, Schuler’s bill to expand the sports law to the collegiate level for Wyoming athletes took effect as law.
Read the full story HERE.
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The operator of a pair of Midwest power plants wants $22 million from BNSF Railway, claiming the power plants couldn’t get their full orders of Wyoming coal.
Recently filed documents in a dispute between BNSF Railway and Evergy, an electric utility operating in Kansas and Missouri, reveal a play-by-play for not getting Wyoming coal to power plants during a critical period in 2022.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the dispute highlights the ongoing importance of Wyoming coal to America's power grid, and the complex logistics required to move millions of tons of it out of the state.
“What you had in 2022 was a real surge in demand for Wyoming coal. Travis Deti with the Wyoming Mining Association recalled how natural gas prices went up and so a cheaper alternative was to purchase Wyoming coal for these power plants, but the train capacity just wasn't there. And so this wasn't something that only affected this one utility in Kansas and in Kansas and Missouri. You know, it was industry wide in Wyoming, and had their attention that whole year in 2022.”
Deeti said things have improved, but a lesson from 2022 remains. The industry lost out on 30 million tons of production, and the state lost out on around $60 million worth of revenue.
Read the full story HERE.
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Professional storm chaser Bryce Shelton was waiting for “the perfect opportunity” to propose to his girlfriend and fellow professional storm chaser, Paige Berdomas. After 18 weeks of waiting, that opportunity arrived in the form of an EF-3 tornado that touched down near Clear Lake, South Dakota, on Saturday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the moment was captured in a dramatic photo, which was the plan.
“They both described it as the perfect storm. It was a tornado categorized as an EF3 - that means it was moving at up to 165 miles per hour, and it left a path of destruction across South Dakota and Minnesota. But these two storm chasers had been online friends for a while. They had been chasing storms together for a year, and Blake decided this was the perfect time to propose, so as he asks Paige, his girlfriend, to step outside to watch this tornado as it formed, he got down on one knee and he proposed, she accepted.”
Fortunately, Shelton and Berdomas are professionals, so they were able to keep themselves safe, during the storm that changed their lives.
Read the full story HERE.
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A mandate to keep males out of women’s bathrooms in government buildings, a lifting of most government gun-free zones, and a requirement to prove U.S. citizenship and state residency when registering to vote were among the 106 new Wyoming laws that activated Tuesday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland highlighted just a few of the more prominent laws that took effect on July 1st.
“Some of the big ones that people have been really chattering about. Is the repeal of most gun free zones on government campuses. Now that also affects schools… And then the bathroom ban… there's the the voter integrity measures, where to register to vote, you have to show proof of US citizenship and 30 days Wyoming residency… and then there's there's measures to have authorities investigate land sales close to critical infrastructure, like the air force base, power plants...if you're a business and you work with a lawyer, it might be good just to say, hey, what's some that directly affect my business that I need to worry about right now? If you're an individual, you can go on to wyoleg.gov.”
When the Wyoming Legislature passes new laws in February or March, it will commonly have them activate July 1 of that year to give residents and those impacted by the new laws a chance to prepare for the change.
Read the full story HERE.
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Hot Springs County residents aren’t happy about deep cuts to the county’s budget, including to two beloved programs – 4-H and the county extension office.
County commissioners argued that they have no choice but to slash $2.1 million from the county budget. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that commissioners are claiming that the cuts are needed in the face of lagging oil and gas revenue in the county’s coffers, as well as a 25% cut in property taxes.
“For a lot of these kids in those rural ag communities, 4-H is it. I mean, that's their big thing, that's what they do, that's their outlet. That's the activity they're involved in. So, you know, obviously the commissioners are are catching a lot of heat for that… a lot of residents of that county are saying, No way. We don't like this… and you know that's to be expected in these rural communities. 4h really is a big deal. The extension office is a big deal.”
Among other cutbacks, Tatum Jordan, administrative assistant for the extension office, was laid off. And a roughly $7,600 line item — money used to fund travel and other expenses for 4-H events — could also be slashed.
Read the full story HERE.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright will join Wyoming's congressional delegation and Gov. Mark Gordon on July 11 for the groundbreaking of what Ramaco Resources believes is the largest “unconventional” rare earth deposit discovered in the U.S., located at the company's Brook Mine in Ranchester.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the high-profile attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony underscores the project's national significance.
“On July 11, Energy Secretary Chris Wright will be joined by Wyoming's entire Washington delegation, Governor Gordon and others, at the facility there in Ranchester to show off the Brook Mine and the beginning of this process, where they hope they're able to take the ore out of the ground right there and then process it into these really in-demand rare earth oxides that can then help replace the dependence that really high tech industries depend on it coming from China.”
The mine is expected to produce about 1,240 tons of rare earth and critical mineral oxides annually at steady state, generating an estimated $378 million in annual revenue by 2029.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming lawmaker has zeroed in on a plan to reduce the size of state government.
Sheridan Representative Ken Pendergraft said at a recent Joint Appropriations Committee meeting that he’d begin reducing the state’s budget by eliminating the Wyoming Business Council.
Pendergraft told Cowboy State Daily’s Matthew Christian on Tuesday that economic development shouldn’t be the government’s responsibility.
“He provided two reasons for this. First of all, he doesn't think economic development should be under the purview of the government. He's very opposed to that. He believes economic development should be left to the free market… Mr. Pendergraft’s other reason is that basically, what the Business Council is doing isn't working. He says the state's GDP has gone down since 2015 and that it just it's not working for the state.”
Wyoming Business Council CEO Josh Dorrell said he shares Pendergraft’s concerns about government intervention in the economy. However, he added that no markets are truly free markets anymore.
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.
