It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, March 4th. I’m Mac Watson.
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State Treasurer Curt Meier said Wyoming needs $6 billion for housing in the next 15 years and that doesn't count infrastructure. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that legislators considered housing legislation this year, but nothing passed.
“Housing is kind of the hot topic of this session, but nothing happened. No bills passed. You might say it was the radioactive topic of this session. It was interesting to hear from Senator Gierau from Jackson, Senator Sherwood from Laramie about how, yes, they were disappointed that nothing really passed. They were disappointed that nothing passed this session to address the housing needs in Wyoming and Gierau took it a step further. He said, ‘Do you know why Teton County has such a booming economy? Is because we've built 1,700 affordable units and even with that kind of build out of affordable housing,’ he says only 15% of the 100 employees involved in his businesses actually live in Jackson.”
After touting his office's role as the single largest supplier of revenue in the state budget, Meier pivoted to what he called the intersection of affordable housing, workforce development and capitalism — telling the Republican faithful that housing and a great economy “go arm-in-arm with, essentially, capitalism.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming legislators denied amendments Tuesday to allow districts to use money for instruction and teacher pay on other things. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that some say districts need leeway, others that the rule guards against districts “continually saying, 'Not enough, need more.’
“Teachers, paraprofessionals, other educators, their compensation and instructional money would all be in kind of its own section of the grant that the districts can pull from. And that's because there's been a controversy in the past of the legislature saying, ‘Oh, here's money for you to give all your teachers raises, raises, or to hire more teachers.’ And sometimes the money, you know, it can be pulled for other things. And so some of the really small school districts, especially are saying we have to have that flexibility. As the recalibration sits now, it would give teachers raises, and it would make it so that instructional direct to classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, money can't go for other things.”
The recalibration bill must survive one more reading in the House, an approval of House changes by the Senate, and the governor's desk to become law.
Read the full story HERE.
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This winter has certainly been record setting for little-to-no snow and warm temperatures in Wyoming as the East has been getting hammered with blizzards and record cold. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that meteorologist Don Day says, “We have never seen anything of this magnitude in modern times.”
“So, it's really been a tale of two winters. Meteorological winter was over at the beginning of March. And if you want to get an idea of just how extreme and unprecedented this winter was, between December 1 and February 28 Salt Lake City received 2.5 inches of snow over that same period. Augusta, Georgia, in the Deep South, got 3.5 inches. So we're really looking at an extreme divide between the western and eastern United States, where the West was dry and warm. In Wyoming, it was the warmest winter on record, going back 135 years in some places.”
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day says this weird winter can be chalked up to a weak La Niña, a prolonged block, and an underwater volcanic eruption that most people never heard about.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cheyenne is another step closer to landing the PRCA headquarters and museum with $15 million approved in the $9.9 billion biennial budget on Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Sen. Ogden Driskill says the funding “probably had deeper support statewide than anything I’ve seen.”
“This is the 15 million that Governor Mark Gordon had asked the legislature to approve. We knew going in this session, I'm going to liken it to a bucking bull. You know, it's an eight second ride, and nobody knows what's going to happen. The Freedom Caucus was in a cutting mood. There was just millions and millions of dollars that they wanted to get rid of in the Wyoming budget. It survived, ultimately, without any more hiccups, no more machinations,
it kind of sailed through, basically, and now I guess the ball is in the PRCA court.”
While the PRCA has voted to “seriously consider” moving to Wyoming, moving forward on the deal is contingent on having a suitable location that will not cost the association anything.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily news continues now…
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A bill elevating the penalty for dodging a legislative subpoena from a misdemeanor to a felony carrying up to one year in prison passed both chambers this week. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the bill drew sharp criticism from senators who said they handed themselves "authoritarian power.”
“It all stems from the Weston County election scandal where the clerk there defied a subpoena. Opponents of the bill said, ‘Look, that's one example. This is overkill.’ And supporters said, ‘No, we got to take this seriously. And it's actually happened before.’ In 2022 an Agricultural Committee was trying to question the Attorney General and required her presence, and she refused. And so that was brought up on the Senate floor by Senator Brian Boner, he's experienced firsthand. He was a supporter of the bill, along with most of the senators.”
HB 83 was indeed a product of the Management Audit Committee. Weston County clerk Becky Hadlock did not appear to answer her subpoena last year and was subsequently charged with failure to appear, a misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of $100 and six months in jail.
Read the full story HERE.
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A push to ban the sale of trapped wildlife fur has become an emotional powder keg in Colorado, with a vote on it expected Wednesday. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that opponents say it’s an “extremist” move by “vegans and vegetarians," while supporters call it closing a loophole.
“What they've got going on is there's a proposal on the table to ban the sale of wildlife for In other words, if trappers catch Bobcats or Pine Martens or any of those kind of things, in Colorado, they can't turn around and commercially market the first they've always been able to do that. They're talking about shutting that down. And proponents of the idea say they were to kind of help mitigate what they think is a lot of unnecessary slaughter of wild Colorado's wildlife, either through trapping or people hunting those fur bearing animals during trapping season. And of course, opponents to the idea, which includes CPW, the agency itself, is there's no evidence that trapping is any sort of an existential threat to any of Colorado's wildlife.”
Anticipating a packed house, Colorado Parks and Wildlife moved its meeting to a larger venue, the DoubleTree by Hilton in Westminster, which is a suburb of Denver. CPW is also reminding attendees to leave their weapons at home, per the hotel’s policy.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Riverton man was shot and killed in an apartment just after midnight Tuesday, according to official and witness reports. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the apartment complex’s assistant manager was on scene and told Cowboy State Daily the victim had a headshot wound.
“Assistant manager, Ernie Brown, described coming down on the scene after midnight, as Tuesday morning began, and seeing an 18-year-old man with a headshot wound in the top of his head. So he described all of this vivid detail to me. Said that the shooter was kind of breaking down, you know, shouting on the ground and the time, but then fled. As of Tuesday afternoon, the shooter was still at large. Witnesses were identifying him as another 18-year- old male.”
Cowboy State Daily reached out to the deceased man’s sister and she confirmed that it was her brother, Charlie Washington who was killed. And the sister said that she wanted the public to know that he was the light of every room he walked into.
Read the full story HERE.
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Brittany Miller lost “her entire life” when her blue horse trailer was stolen in Billings on Jan. 31. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that a month later, she’s recovered her trailer and most of the $15,000-worth of items stored inside.
“As soon as Brittany Miller realized that her trailer was stolen, she embarked on a really ambitious and determined social media campaign to get the information out there. Here's what it looks like. Here's what was stolen. And that's how bit by bit, most of her gear and the trailer itself turned up. People recognized it. She said she was very sorry for anyone who owned a blue horse trailer, because they probably got pulled over at some point between January 31 and February 7, when she found hers.”
Miller’s trailer was stolen under the cover of darkness while it was parked overnight at the Public Auction Yards. Miller tells Cowboy State Daily that The trailer was found on private property near Billings on Feb. 7. The windows and lock had been destroyed so the thieves could get her gear inside.
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 watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
