Storytelling is deep in our DNA, and it’s at the core of an upcoming Juneteenth event called In Our Own Words – Spoken Word & Songs at the University of Wyoming (UW) Neltje Center in Banner. The evening is put on in partnership with the Sheridan-based nonprofit SAGE Community Arts.

Three artists will share words and songs on June 19, starting at 5 p.m., with a community supper as a space for conversation and connection.

Laramie-based writer Lena Newlin is one of the evening’s featured artists.

“ I worked for 22 years in public health and then decided to, after COVID, shift away to exploring more of my own personal family history, which is related to Japanese-American incarceration,” she said. “I had family incarcerated at Heart Mountain during World War II. I left behind my public health career and decided to really focus on writing about some of my family stories.”

Newlin is a fourth-generation Wyomingite and comes from a long line of railroaders, coal miners, teachers and adventurers. She’s currently pursuing a PhD in public humanities at UW, where she’s expanding her storytelling chops to include poetry and photography.

“ I think the arts is always a great way to build community,” said Newlin. “Different people have different skills and different talents, and different mediums of art will resonate with different people.”

The writer pointed to two Wyoming-based projects that are doing stand-out work in sharing the stories of the state and its people: Restorying the West and Women Shaping the West: Stories of Wyoming.

“ Those are two more public-facing opportunities to see what other great work people are doing and who lives here. Who are our neighbors?” said Newlin.

The Juneteenth storytelling event is part of a larger six-week exhibition titled Different but SAME at SAGE Community Arts, which is the brainchild of Northern Arapaho and Chicano artist Robert Martinez.

For Newlin, the goal of the broader exhibition is to create opportunities for people to connect.

“ The era that we're currently living in, it feels like we're receiving messages from politicians and from the media about how divided we are and how different we are,” she said. “But the reality is, if you sit down and talk to somebody, if you make a connection with somebody, you realize how similar we are and how much we have in common.”

On Friday night, Newlin will be joined by poet Christopher D. Sims and musician J Shogren.

Sims’ writing and performance practice is influenced by hip-hop traditions and spoken word lineage. He’s also is the author of multiple poetry collections, including “If Black Lives Mattered” and “The Art of Being Black: A Black Man’s Truth in Poems.”

Shogren lives in Centennial and makes music that blends roots-inspired sounds, Americana twang and layered narrative songwriting. He’s performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C and on the popular YouTube channel Western AF.

“This program reflects the heart of Different but SAME,” said the Director of the UW Neltje Center, Beth Venn, in a press release. “Each of these artists brings a distinct voice and practice to the stage. Together, they create a space where difference is not only present, but essential to understanding what we share.”

The event is free and open to the public, with advance registration required.

U.S. states are passing policies to address mental health struggles among new moms, but some states in the Mountain West are falling behind.

Wyoming, for instance, was tied for last place nationwide in a recent report card from the Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health.

The Cowboy State got a D-, which is well below the national average of C.

Caitlin Murphy, a research consultant at the policy center, said the state received a low grade because it lacks specialty therapists, screening, treatment options, paid leave and childcare.

“A lot of times mental health gets forgotten because there is so much to address related to maternity care more generally in the U.S.,” Murphy said.

Rural areas in Wyoming, and elsewhere, are struggling to keep hospital delivery units open and keep them staffed with OB-GYNs. The state is making some efforts to address those issues, but Murphy said the mental health component should be addressed separately.

“ It has its own specific barriers,” she said. “It has its own specific training. It has its own specific policies that have real levers that states can take.”

Murphy said one in five moms experience mental health disorders, such as postpartum depression or anxiety, and more than half of those disorders go undiagnosed.

She said states can make a first step toward helping those moms by creating a specific task force, then focusing on increasing the number of psychiatrists and therapists with maternal mental health training.

Having a sufficient number of trained psychiatrists is one area where Wyoming is doing well.

Murphy said states could also follow Colorado and Utah’s lead, which got a C+ and C respectively. They’ve invested in treatment facilities and screening programs.

In other Mountain West states, Arizona received a C, Idaho and New Mexico got a D+, and Nevada was given a D grade.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.

A new survey from United Today, Stronger Tomorrow (UTST) found artificial intelligence (AI) and transparency in government as big issues facing rural communities. UTST conducted local conversations across nine western states, including Wyoming. The survey is presented as a reflection of rural Americans and their feelings toward the country turning 250.

For Wyoming, UTST conducted an online conversation featuring Shoshoni resident Micki Herbert, National Forest Foundation Program Coordinator and Laramie City Councilor Jim Fried and Principal of Arapahoe High Charter School in Fremont County Katie Law. For the small group of Wyomingites, AI, communications in politics and a lack of a social safety net were major concerns. UTST Tanner Ewalt hosted the meeting and noted that these are political topics that they heard from numerous other rural communities.

Ewalt said Wyoming had the most interviews out of any other state involved in the survey. Those leader interviews were done with elected officials, health care workers, members of law enforcement, faith leaders, business leaders and more.

Corruption and a movement toward authoritarianism were major concerns that UTST found across the West. Even more talked about was AI and data centers.

“The thing that everybody wants to talk about right now,” said Ewalt, “AI.”

That included Fried, who spoke primarily about the concerns around potential data center development in Albany County.

 ”People are passionate about how we decide to develop. And so that's led to a lot of conversations,” said Fried.

There are no known plans to build data centers in Albany County, but Laramie locals have tried to organize and prevent development from starting. Laramie’s I-80 neighbors in Cheyenne failed to pass a moratorium on data center development as the state’s capital continues to grow into a data center hub.

Fried said he's been hearing from people at coffee shops, on trails, and during council meetings about numerous issues, however, Laramie locals were spurred into action when the city council talked about the possibility of data center development down the line.

“ [That meeting] started spurring conversations,” said Fried. “And so we have a work session coming up with city staff, our planning department, [and] hopefully members of our county commission, to talk about the future of data center development. And that was really driven by people being passionate and engaged at a local level and bringing those issues up.”

Herbert mentioned transparency and accountability. She said she feels a lack of communication from elected leaders to Wyomingites creates an environment where some politicians move quickly and make decisions before people can react.

“ When was the last time that any of you received a phone call, an email, or a mailing discussing what the important issues are that [lawmakers are] working on?” said Herbert. “Or perhaps even inviting you and letting you know where any of these meetings are to express your views?”

Herbert also said she’s reached out to U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) to address issues of transparency but was never satisfied with the responses she received.

Law spoke on the dangers of not having safety nets in rural communities where individuals can be in a socially or economically vulnerable position without any options. Given her work with kids, she said she’s seen numerous different young people struggle to navigate social hardships and mental health challenges without a safety net of services to assist them.

 ”When people think about Wyoming, they picture [this] Old West, neighbors helping neighbors, communities coming together in times of need,” said Law. “For many of us who grew up in Wyoming, that wasn't really a stereotype. It was a reality. Unfortunately, just over the years, I've seen that culture become increasingly polarized. Too often, we have these issues that are no longer that shared understanding. And these decisions are being made about people and families based on assumptions of families, schools, communities, and what they should look like rather than what they actually look like.”

In one instance, Law spoke about a student who passed away after abuse and multiple mental health crises.

 ”The tragedy of the situation was not that people didn't care, it's that every part of the system in which we were working with was stretched beyond its capacity,” said Law. “Mental health providers had these huge waiting lists. Social services are overwhelmed with their caseloads. A lot of the treatment facilities are so far away, they're not physically accessible to some of us in rural Wyoming and there's no backup system.”

When asked by Wyoming Public Radio what the material result of these local engagements was, Ewalt said these conversations did not necessarily lead to organized action, but were a step in that direction.

“ People like the systems of our government, they don't love that it has become so disconnected from the actual needs of people on the ground,” said Ewalt. “Talking to folks about the issues doesn't move them to organizing, but showing them that they have agency does…. [and] for a state like Wyoming, that is the most effective thing anybody who's concerned about any issue can do is find the people who have agency over those decisions and talk to them. Jim [Fried] is a normal guy who will have a normal conversation with you about whatever it is here in Laramie, and I know that's true across our state.”

The other states involved in the survey were Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.

The state attorney general, on behalf of Gov. Mark Gordon, is filing a lawsuit against the state Board of Equalization. In 2024, the Wyoming Legislature passed a 4% tax cap. It prevents a single-family home from getting slapped with an annual property tax increase higher than 4%. That’s even if the value of the same real estate went up in market value.

The state Board of Equalization is responsible for the equalized valuation on all property in Wyoming’s counties. The board expressed concern that the 4% tax cap law could lead to unequal assessments and that could conflict with the Wyoming Constitution, which requires property to be valued uniformly.

In a report released by the Board of Equalization, a panel concluded that Wyoming’s "departure from full value and equal assessment…is so pervasive” that the only ways to align the cap with state constitutional law would be the “immediate suspension of the caps” and to issue individual evaluations for properties.

“This legal action, if successful, will prevent confusion and disruption to residential property owners and counties who are in the midst of winding up the property assessment determinations,” said Gordon in a press release.

Confusion and heavy workloads were a topic of discussion when the Joint Interim Revenue Committee last met. County assessors described taxpayers asking how new laws may impact their taxes, and assessors working overtime to keep up with paperwork.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.

It is believed that they were seminomadic. They followed the bighorn sheep as they migrated from high elevations in the summer, back down to lower valleys in the winter. The Sheepeaters were a pre-equestrian culture. Their dogs served as pack animals. They used bows and stone-pointed arrows to hunt.

The two Wyoming regions the Sheepeaters called home were the Wind River Mountains and the area occupied today by Yellowstone National Park. Sheepeaters were reluctant to engage with outsiders and fur traders and trappers fabricated fantastical legends about them.

Beginning in 1948, Swedish anthropologist Ake Hultkrantz documented Sheepeaters’ religious practices. His sources were descendants of the band.

See the Ake Hultkrantz papers at UW’s American Heritage Center. for more information.

Friday July 3

3pm- The Making of U.S.- This year, America will celebrate her 250th birthday — marking the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776. In “The Making of U.S.”, we take a deep dive into some of the things that make America, America, giving you a Civics class refresher. We’ll break down topics like the war for independence, the Constitution, and how our representative Democracy is run. (repeats Sunday July 5^th at 12pm)

6pm Mountain Time Podcast Hour-WPM Photo Exhibit. Hear from photographers celebrating Wyoming’s History and America’s 250^th Anniversary.

Saturday July 4
9am How to 250- is a one-hour special from the Radiotopia history podcast This Day, marking 250 years since the Declaration of Independence. Host Jody Avirgan traces key stories that brought us to this moment, with a look back at the 1976 bicentennial and advice for listeners on how to celebrate America 250. Featuring historians Kellie Carter Jackson and Nicole Hemmer, plus reflections from legendary filmmaker Ken Burns.
11am BuffaloGrass- Celebrate the 4th with Kelli Trujillo featuring the best in bluegrass, folk and western music.

2pm American Routes-4th of July with American Folklife Center We celebrate our nation’s 250th year with a live concert in honor of the American Folklife Center’s 50-year legacy at the Library of Congress.  We’ll hear New Orleans jazz from trumpeter Kermit Ruffins and his Barbeque Swingers, Afro-Creole Louisiana acapella Juré, a mix of French and Native American songs from the band Bogue Chitto and Cajun music from accordionist and singer Bruce Daigrepont.May the Fourth be with us, on American Routes!

7pm Grand Teton Music Festival- Patriotic Pops Live- Festival favorite Capathia Jenkins returns to celebrate the Fourth of July with the Festival Orchestra in this festive Jackson Hole tradition. Conductor Donato Cabrera makes his GTMF debut, leading a program of patriotic & American music including Copland, Sousa, John Williams and more.

Hammock camping has brought together one Casper couple and launched an international brand. Oil City News reports Cal Fenton grew up camping, but as he got older, sleeping on the ground was starting to give him aches and pains. So, he designed a portable freestanding hammock. When he met Kristen Zook, he found a partner in life and in business. Now, YOBO designs and ships freestanding hammocks and other camping gear around the world.

A University of Wyoming professor’s book is asking people to rethink the criminal justice and jailing system. The Sheridan Press reports Dan Fetsco wrote “Cutting Life Short: A second look at life sentences in Wyoming.” Using his own experiences and the stories of incarcerated people, Fetsco challenges beliefs and assumptions about punishment and rehabilitation in the American justice system

America’s Minutes-Stories of America 250 - Carey's
90 Second stories of the Revolution, the Founding, and Wyoming’s place in the American story.

A federally-funded program designed to save residents money on their energy projects is finally getting off the ground, after being delayed last summer. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said they needed to conduct a review of the program before depositing the funds. Now, Wyoming residents will soon be able to apply for rebates.

It’s called the Home Energy Rebates Program, which includes the Home Owner Managing Energy Savings Rebates (HOMES) and the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Program (HEEHR). The program uses federal dollars to pay for home energy projects in any state that applies, saving residents money on their energy bills. The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) earmarked $8.8 billion for the endeavor. In Wyoming, $69 million of that is managed by the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA), and helps cover expenses like heat pump installations, electrical wiring, and insulation.

“Really this program is designed to help all Wyoming residents improve their household energy efficiency, simply so they can consume less energy and save money on their monthly utility bills,” said Patrick Millin, State Energy Program Manager at the WEA.

Wyoming has some of the lowest energy costs in the country. Residents pay almost 14¢ per kWh compared to the almost 19¢ kWh national average. But dry conditions this year have forced water use to increase and energy costs to rise, especially for farmers and ranchers. In fact, 98.4% of the state is currently experiencing drought conditions.

The state’s largest electrical source, Rocky Mountain Power, has also proposed raising rates this year. They say the increase stems from high operational costs, inflation, and new capital projects. About 150,000 customers could see an 8.8% increase in their monthly electricity bills, which averages out to about $2 extra to the base rate payment.

For low and moderate income families, Millin says the program could be a lifesaver. Household incomes that fall below 150% of the Area Median Income (AMI) are eligible to apply. Those between 80-150% AMI could be reimbursed for up to 80% of their expenses, and for those below 80%, they could be completely compensated.

“All of those kinds of measures that are designed to lower the amount of energy that the household is using, those energy use reductions will result in cost savings for that household,” Millin said.

This is the first time the program will be put into action after getting delayed last year. The $69 million award was conditional, meaning it was dependent on IRA funds. But when Pres. Donald Trump was inaugurated, he paused their distribution. The DOE, responsible for delegating the funds, told Wyoming Public Radio in 2025 that, “a future modification is required to lift conditions on the awards.” The money was scheduled to hit the WEA account in March, 2025, but it’s been on hold since January.

“It was a simple review to make sure that the program aligned with current DOE priorities,” Millin said. “It’s still a little bit of a waiting game and we don’t have a firm date on when rebates will be available here in Wyoming, but we’re looking forward to working with DOE on their process.”

For now, the agency promised to deposit the money in the WEA account, as it already has with multiple states. So far, all but South Dakota have applied.

Millin says the program’s website still needs to be built, and the WEA will be hosting public inquiry sessions soon. In the meantime, he says residents can get updated about the project’s timeline through their Stay Connected newsletter.