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December 11th, 2015

Bob Beck

Listen to the full show here.

Wyo. Lawmakers Send Power Over Education To State

It took Congress eight years and countless hours of listening to angry teachers and parents, but No Child Left Behind is soon to be a thing of the past. Matt Laslo reports from Washington that Congress and the White House agreed to scrap the hated Bush-era law.

 

What Does A New Federal Education Law Mean For Wyoming?

President Obama signed that legislation—replacing ‘No Child Left Behind’—this week. It’s called the ‘Every Student Succeeds Act.’ In Wyoming, Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow is praising the federal education overhaul. She spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Aaron Schrank about what the new law means for the state.

Making Energy From Waste: The Other Natural Gas

It takes a lot of energy to produce the food we eat, but technologies are improving to give some of that energy back to us after we’re finished with it. As part of Inside Energy and Harvest Public Media’s Feasting on fuel project, Dan Boyce tells us about the potential fuel we are literally flushing down our toilets.

Wyomingites Urged To Sign Up For Health Insurance

Tuesday is an important date for those hoping to sign up for health insurance. Enrollment has been underway since November for those who purchase health care coverage through the federal marketplace via the website HealthCare.gov. Kevin Counihan oversees that effort and he joins us to explain why Tuesday is so important.

Legislators Grow More Concerned About School Costs

The legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee has wrapped up its first week of budget hearings.  The committee heard from the governor early in the week and has started reviewing agency budgets. The governor wants to eventually divert money going into the state’s permanent mineral trust fund in an effort to keep the state budget where it is. Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck reports that lawmakers have mixed thoughts on that idea, but they are more concerned that the governor has not given more thought to a major budget threat. 

Carbon Management More Pressing Than Ever But As Challenging As Always

Wyoming has long considered itself a leader in carbon management... how to capture and store carbon. And with the world's attention focused on the climate talks in Paris, the question of how to keep carbon out of the atmosphere has never been more pertinent. 

Kipp Coddington is the new head of the University of Wyoming's Carbon Management Institute, and he sat down with Wyoming Public Radio's Stephanie Joyce to talk about the future of carbon storage technologies.

Powerplant Emissions Can Put The Fizz In Your Soda (And Maybe Much More)

Carbon dioxide emissions have a pretty bad rap these days. The Paris Climate summit brought together delegations from all over the world in an effort to cut carbon emissions and avoid catastrophic global warming. But right now the dirtiest fuel - coal -- still supplies nearly 40% of the electricity in the U.S. and in even more in many developing countries. The good news is this gas isn’t ALWAYS destructive. CO2 can actually be turned into a building block to make all sorts of products that we use every day. Our Inside Energy reporter Leigh Paterson has more on the furious race to capture carbon in the fight against climate change.

New Initiative Gives Counties The Decision Whether To Designate Wilderness

Imagine buying a house but, when you go to move in, the whole family bickers about who should get which bedroom, how to arrange the furniture, whether to landscape or not. And since no one can decide, you just...let the house sit empty. That's kind of what happened back in the early 90's with 45 pieces of land around Wyoming designated as Wilderness Study Areas. The studying was complete 25 years ago, but since then, no one’s been able to agree whether to officially make them wilderness, or let them be used for other purposes. Wyoming Public Radio's Melodie Edwards reports on a new strategy called the Wyoming Public Lands Initiative that’s built on a novel concept...quit waiting for Congress to act and let the locals decide.

Nuclear Tourism: A Wyoming Missile Site Could Be Your Next Vacation Destination

Some call Cheyenne’s  F.E. Warren Air Force base the  “base that won the cold war.” That’s because, since the 1940s, it’s been home to nuclear missiles meant to deter enemies abroad. And for twenty years the base was the sole site of the Peacekeeper missile: the most advanced nuclear missile ever built by the U.S. Those weapons were decommissioned a decade ago, but now one former missile alert facility here is coming back to life: as a tourist attraction. Wyoming Public Radio’s Miles Bryan reports.

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.
Dan Boyce moved to the Inside Energy team at Rocky Mountain PBS in 2014, after five years of television and radio reporting in his home state of Montana. In his most recent role as Montana Public Radio’s Capitol Bureau Chief, Dan produced daily stories on state politics and government.
Email: lpaterson@insideenergy.org; leighpaterson@rmpbs.org
Based on Capitol Hill, Matt Laslo is a reporter who has been covering campaigns and every aspect of federal policy since 2006. While he has filed stories for NPR and more than 40 of its affiliates, he has also written for Rolling Stone, The Atlantic, Campaigns and Elections Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, The Guardian, The Omaha World-Herald, VICE News and Washingtonian Magazine.
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.