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CSD Staff

Latest from CSD Staff

Guest Column: Wyoming’s Mental Health Crisis Deserves an Honest Conversation

Former Speaker of the House Albert Sommers writes, "After the Wyoming Freedom Caucus’s actions over the last 3 years of voting against nearly every effort to support mental health solutions, I was dumbfounded to read Cassie Craven’s opinion piece, 'It's Time For Elementary School Counselors In Wyoming.'"

CSD StaffApril 14, 2025

Guest Column: Maybe The Freedom Caucus Should Read The Good Samaritan

Guest Columnist Gail Symons writes: “You can’t claim to ‘protect life’ while voting against suicide prevention. Or say you value families while blocking hospice funding. And you certainly can’t promote ‘truth’ while spreading falsehoods about your colleagues and state institutions.”

CSD StaffApril 13, 2025

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, and Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray

Guest Column: Wyoming Deserves Common-Sense Election Integrity

Guest columnists Harriet Hageman and Chuck Gray write, “Passage of the SAVE Act in the Senate is critical to ensure that every state requires proof of United States citizenship to vote, thereby preserving the integrity and security of our elections. Common sense, and the people of Wyoming, demand no less.”

CSD StaffApril 10, 2025

Guest Column: Drafters of Legal Letter Chose Political Advocacy Rather Than Non-Partisanship

Guest columnist Ray Hunkins writes, "After the banner headline, 'The Rule of Law Matter,' the letter disappoints. In tone and substance, it is a political screed that assigns blame, but not to all who are guilty of intemperate remarks. Progressives get a pass."

CSD StaffApril 07, 2025

Guest Column: You Bet I Signed That Letter In Defense Of The Judiciary

Guest Columnist Susan Stubson writes: "Are there bad judges? No question. But the way to get rid of them is not to inflame the electorate with evidence-free claims and make threats to judges’ personal safety. There are mechanisms already in place to weed out rogues from within."

CSD StaffApril 04, 2025

Guest Column: The US — And Wyoming — Can Easily Fall Behind China With AI

Cheyenne attorney and former state GOP chairman writes, “If China continues to innovate at the pace they’re currently moving, and we allow infrastructure challenges to hold us back, they will win the AI race.”

CSD StaffApril 02, 2025

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction was in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, March 20, 2025, to attend President Donald Trump's signing of an executive order to eliminate the Department of Education.

Guest Column: Trump Is Right — It’s Time To Trust Parents And Local Communities

Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder writes, “I fully support President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the federal Department of Education. … This is not about eliminating education — it’s about improving it.”

CSD StaffMarch 25, 2025

Guest Column: Gun Free Zones Do Not Work

Former US Attorney Kip Crofts writes, "Have you ever heard of a case where a person who woke up prepared to go to a school and use his gun to kill people, has been deterred upon getting there and seeing a sign that says, 'Gun Free Zone.' So he turns away and goes for a latte’ instead?"

CSD StaffMarch 23, 2025

Guest Column: Wyoming Needs To Fund Schools - But Also Remember Why They're There

Guest columnist Gail Symons writes: When World War II broke out, boys accelerated their high school graduations then left to join the fight. People made sacrifices to provide them an excellent education, though their lives often ended in very real sacrifices."

CSD StaffMarch 23, 2025

Guest Column: Steel-Toed Boots And Freedom -- How Wyoming Workers Are Saving Themselves

Marcie Kindred, executive director of the Wyoming State AFL-CIO, writes, "A trona miner had approached me days earlier about holding a rally to protect mine safety regulations from federal funding cuts. 'Without MSHA, miners die,' he said plainly."

CSD StaffMarch 21, 2025

Guest Column: Al Simpson -- "Be Honest And Do What Is Right For The People We Represent”

Don Hardy, author of 'The Life of Senator Al Simpson,' writes, "I was 16 years old when a tall attorney looked at me and smiled. 'You don’t know it, Don, but I do: you are a salvageable human being.' That didn’t seem likely since I had just landed on a two-year district court probation."

CSD StaffMarch 20, 2025

Former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (left) and former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson (right)

Guest Column: Senator Al Simpson. A Wyoming Treasure.

Former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead writes, "During this time of division it is a great loss to lose someone like Al who didn’t view people with opposing views as enemies or with hate. Al did not shun those with opposing views, but instead, he listened."

CSD StaffMarch 19, 2025

More from our columnists

Guest Column: Wyoming Could Lead Nation With Election Integrity Reforms If Gordon Signs Bills

Secretary of State Chuck Gray writes, "Yesterday, at the White House, President Trump reiterated that proof of citizenship for registering to vote is one of the key election integrity priorities of his administration. Gov. Mark Gordon should listen to President Trump and sign HB156 into law."

CSD StaffMarch 17, 2025

Sen. Al Simpson (left), Mary Kay Hill (center), Sen. Ted Kennedy (right)

Guest Column: Al Simpson And The Press

Mary Kay Hill, Al Simpson's longtime press secretary writes, "Al had a relationship with the press. It was complicated. He experienced the highest peaks of media praise and suffered the valleys of media condemnation. He expected authenticity and he despised a double standard."

CSD StaffMarch 16, 2025

U.S. Sen. Al Simpson (left). Celia Wallace (center). Rob Wallace (right)

Rob Wallace: Al Simpson -- A Wyoming Kid Who Conquered The World

Guest columnist Rob Wallace writes of a photo in Al Simpson's room: "In the front row looking directly at Al were presidents Trump, Bush, Obama, Carter, and Clinton all laughing uncontrollably at something he had just said. It was the perfect memory of a kid from Wyoming who conquered the world."

CSD StaffMarch 14, 2025

Guest Column: Wyoming Senate Delivered Historic, Conservative Wins

Wyoming Senate President Bo Biteman writes, "We have all heard of the 'five and dime' plan, but I stand with the people of Wyoming who say 'not another dime' when it comes to growing government."

CSD StaffMarch 03, 2025

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Guest Column: The LGBT Folks Aren’t Trying To Force Their Lifestyle On Anyone

Guest columnist Tex McBride writes, "When you see the books they write in the library, or taking a cautious step into society, it isn’t because they're trying to recruit your child into the gay community. They're doing it in an effort to let your family member know they aren’t alone."

CSD StaffFebruary 26, 2025

Guest Column: SF 40 Addresses Unconstitutional Housing Mitigation Fees

Guest columnist Rebecca Bextel writes, "The Wyoming legislature needs to stop this practice now by passing SF40 before other counties are lured into financial jeopardy by following Teton County."

CSD StaffFebruary 26, 2025

Guest Column: We Have A Plan and We’re Sticking To It.

Rep. John Bear writes, "The Wyoming Freedom Caucus came to the 2025 session with a plan. We have executed that plan. Now we are waiting on our colleagues in the Senate to do the good work of the people and pass these common sense measures."

CSD StaffFebruary 23, 2025

Mandy Fabel: The Cost and Cure to Contempt

Columnist Mandy Fabel writes, "Are we even capable of open dialogue and relationships that span opinions beyond our own? I have seen the answer first-hand in my job of running Leadership Wyoming. And that answer is yes."

CSD StaffFebruary 23, 2025

Guest Column: Teton County’s Workforce Housing Regulations Are Unconstitutional

Guest columnist Austin Waisanen writes, "'Workforce housing' fees — a bad idea that drives up the cost of housing and unconstitutionally places the burden of other people’s housing on individual property owners — may soon run their course in Wyoming."

CSD StaffFebruary 20, 2025