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May 30th, 2014

Stephanie Joyce

New Greenhouse Gas Regulations Target Power Plants

Dramatic sea level rise... extreme weather... famine... drought. Those are just a few of the DIRE consequences scientists predict if we continue pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at current rates. POWER plants are among the largest emitters. On June 2, the Obama administration is scheduled to release new rules regulating carbon emissions from power plants. Utilities and trade groups are warning those rules will have some dire consequences of their own. Wyoming Public Radio’s Stephanie Joyce reports.

Texas Coal Plant May Be Environmental Game Changer

New EPA rules aimed at cutting carbon emissions are expected to be unveiled June 2nd. Coal generates nearly half of this country’s electricityand is the largest source of air pollution. The new rules are expected to spur the use of clean coal technology. At least that’s the hope of both the coal industry and some environmental groups. Marfa Public Radio’s Lorne Matalon has this report forInside Energy on a clean coal project in west Texas---one of two in the country.

Superintendent Hill On Distance Learning And Graduation Rates

After some legal wrangling, State Superintendent Cindy Hill is back in charge of Wyoming Education.  As the school year wraps up, Superintendent Hill joins us to discuss a number of topics.  The first deals with distance…or online education.  She recently attended a graduation of students who graduated from a virtual school. Hill embraces various uses of technology in the classroom.

Wyoming Seniors Say ‘So Long’ To High School

Graduation season is here. Commencement ceremonies around the state mark the start of a new chapter for many of Wyoming’s high school seniors. Wyoming Public Radio’s Aaron Schrank caught up the class of 2014 to see how they feel about the big day—and the future.

Xanterra Changes Will Impact Cody Tourism

Yellowstone National Park lost two hundred cabins this spring. They were part of the park’s largest lodging complex. No, it’s not in the Old Faithful area, nor Mammoth. Penny Preston reports it’s in Canyon Village, where the park’s biggest hotel once stood.

Shift to Carbon Use Marks New Frontier In Fight Against Climate Change

The Obama administration wants states to cutback on carbon emissions, but doing that has always been a thorny problem. While carbon is a byproduct of almost everything we do, capturing and storing it is expensive. For years, the goal has been to figure out how to make that process cheaper, but more recent efforts take a different approach, with the focus shifting from storing carbon to using it.

Climate Change Effects On Wyoming Agriculture

In the next half century, scientists are predicting more extreme weather for Wyoming with bigger winter storms and hotter, dryer summers.  That’s according to the latest National Climate Assessment out this month. Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers are skeptical about climate change, but some of them have been forced to adjust their methods of production.

Wyoming’s Bike Friendly Rating Has Dropped

Wyoming’s ranking as a bike friendly state continues to drop. The state ranks 36th after ranking 33rd last year and 11th in 2010.  The loss of stature has concerned that Director of Wyoming Pathways…Tim Young.  He’s been speaking with the Wyoming Department of Transportation about the issue.  He joins us to discuss the report.

Wyoming Stories: The Prison Warden They Called “Dad”

In 1967, Rawlins resident Duane Shillinger was hired by the Wyoming State Penitentiary as a counselor. Later, through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up serving as warden for seventeen years. In this story, he remembers the transition from the 19th century facility to the current one, and the relationships he formed with inmates.

Bob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
Adrian Shirk is a writer and editor raised in Portland, Oregon. She holds a BFA in Writing for Publication, Performance, and Media from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, and is a co-founder of The Corresponding Society, and its associated journal Correspondence. Her work has appeared in Wilder Quarterly, The Airship, Packet, Owl Eye Review, and 7Stops Magazine. She's currently an MFA candidate in creative nonfiction at the University of Wyoming. Left to her own devices, she writes about American religion, architecture, geography, the remains of fallen cities, and family ancestry.