Lawmakers Ponder More Cuts Versus Taxes
Wyoming lawmakers are addressing a revenue shortfall that could reach 600 million dollars by 2018, by making some budget cuts and using some of the nearly 2 billion dollars they have in savings. But things could get worse very soon, especially since the state is losing a major source of income for school construction. Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck reports that lawmakers will have to find a way to make up for declining revenue.
"Senseless Exposures": How Money And Federal Rules Endanger Oilfield Workers
The oilfield is notoriously dangerous. But even there, it is unusual for a healthy 21 year old to drop dead on an oil well pad. Yet that’s exactly what happened to Dustin Bergsing. Inside Energy’s Emily Guerin has the story of the journalist who teamed up with a doctor to help solve the mystery of Dustin’s death and that of at least 8 other oil workers.
Northern Arapaho Seek Healing For Historic Boarding School Traumas
For more than a century, the remains of hundreds of kids from the nation’s tribes have been buried in a grave at the country’s first Indian Boarding School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Many likely died of disease but for others, the causes are still unknown. Tens of thousands of Native kids were sent to Carlisle and other boarding schools, often against their will. Physical and mental abuse inflicted on them there has had lasting impacts on tribal communities. But Wyoming’s Northern Arapaho tribe is now calling on a law that allows tribes to reclaim their ancestors’ remains in hopes that a reburial of the children who died there could offer some healing. Wyoming Public Radio’s Melodie Edwards reports.
Today's Remaining Native American Boarding Schools Are A Far Cry From Their History
A century ago, children were stolen from their parents and taken to federal boarding schools, where they were abused and stripped of their tribal cultures. In the past several decades, most of those schools were closed or handed over to tribes—as the U.S. shifted away from its policy of forced assimilation. But the Bureau of Indian Education still runs four off-reservation boarding schools around the country. But they look much different today—and as Wyoming Public Radio’s Aaron Schrank reports, they remain a popular destination for students from Wyoming’s Wind River Reservation.
Wage Theft Claims Surge As Oil Prices Fall
Continuing low oil prices have left tens of thousands of oil workers out of a job. Now, a growing number of them are turning to the courts, saying they weren’t paid fairly when times were good. Inside Energy’s Dan Boyce has the story.
With Industry In Turmoil, Energy Players Meet In Houston
The energy industry is in turmoil. Coal and oil prices are way down, there are big changes to environmental regulations in the works, and more and more renewables are coming online. Some of the biggest players in the industry met at a conference in Houston this week to weigh in on what it all means. Inside Energy reporter Jordan Wirfs-Brock was at IHS CERAWeek. She spoke to Wyoming Public Radio’s Stephanie Joyce from the conference about the biggest issues on the table for the energy industry.
Education Not Incarceration: Fremont County Pioneers Juvenile Detention Alternative Program
About a decade ago Wyoming jailed kids who committed crimes at rates higher than almost anywhere else in the country. In the last few years the state has taken steps to reduce the number of juveniles in detention. A program in Fremont County has helped lead that effort. Since 2013 many kids there that would have gone to jail now go to a program called the Wyo10 Day Reporting Center. Wyoming Public Radio’s Miles Bryan reports