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January 18th, 2019

Bob Beck

Listen to the full show here.

Lawmakers Intervene In Teton County School Debate

A private school with some notable political ties has gotten into a fight with Teton County over whether it can build a new campus to accommodate a growing population. The Jackson Hole Classical Academy teaches a back-to-basics curriculum with a slight religious bent. After repeatedly being denied a chance to build its school to a scale that school officials say is needed, the fight has come to Cheyenne and legislators are involved. Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck reports.

Does Justifying Use Of Lethal Force Mean It's The Best Option?

Last week a grand jury decided not to indict Albany County Sheriff's officer Derek Colling. In November he shot and killed 39-year-old Laramie resident Robbie Ramirez. The jurors found the officer’s use of lethal force was justified. But that doesn’t mean the officer didn’t have other options. Wyoming Public Radio’s Tennessee Watson reports.

Slippery Slope: Do We Need All This High-Tech Ski Gear?

Wearing flannel, sporting beards and donning beanies, many of the workers at the DPS ski factory in Salt Lake City look like ski bums warming up between runs at the local resort. But they are hard at work crafting some of the most advanced skis in the world.

Slippery Slope: The Ski Industry Goes To Washington

The ski industry is an important economic driver in our region, but it's facing a lot of changes. Climate change, for one, is transforming ski resort leaders into activists and lobbyists.

Weak Uranium Markets Spark Improbable Solution: Acid

For the first time in the U.S., a uranium mine may soon be able to use an acid-based solution to commercially recover its resource. And the site is right here in Wyoming. It comes as a last resort for a company suffering under weak uranium prices. Wyoming Public Radio’s Cooper McKim reports.

Recycling Still Worthwhile In Wyoming Despite China's New Rules

The United States’ recycling is piling up in China, and now China says they don’t want it anymore. It’s also becoming more expensive to collect and ship recycling from very small towns. But as Wyoming Public Radio’s London Homer-Wambeam reports, the shift in the recycling landscape may actually be better for the environment.

Sikhs Turn To Trucking By The Thousands To Keep The Faith

The trucking industry desperately needs more drivers. Right now, there’s a record shortage. However, over the last couple of years, one demographic has been gravitating towards the industry by the thousands--Indian-American Sikhs. Wyoming Public Radio’s Maggie Mullen has more. 

New Company Brings Live Opera To Wyoming

A new company is bringing live opera to Wyoming. After studying and performing in Las Vegas and New York City, Daniel Quintana now lives in Casper. He and his wife, Emily Quintana, have created Opera Wyoming. Daniel Quintana spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Erin Jones.

The Rural Wyoming Tradition Of Bates Hole Birding

The Bates Hole Christmas Count is one of the last rural bird counts in the nation. Citizen scientists spend part of the holidays counting birds to help inform trends in bird population. Bird counts like this one have been happening for the last 119 years. Wyoming Public Radio’s Taylar Stagner tagged along to see what keeps bird enthusiasts flocking to Bates Hole.

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.
Before Wyoming, Cooper McKim has reported for NPR stations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and South Carolina. He's reported breaking news segments and features for several national NPR news programs. Cooper is the host of the limited podcast series Carbon Valley. Cooper studied Environmental Policy and Music. He's an avid jazz piano player, backpacker, and podcast listener.
Erin Jones is Wyoming Public Radio's cultural affairs producer, as well as the host and senior producer of HumaNature. She began her audio career as an intern in the Wyoming Public Radio newsroom, and has reported on issues ranging from wild horse euthanization programs to the future of liberal arts in universities. Her audio work has been featured on WHYY Philadelphia’s The Pulse and the podcast Out There.
London is a senior at the University of Wyoming studying Film Theory and Media Production. He grew up listening to Wyoming Public Radio, and has always had a fascination with unique human interest stories.
Maggie Mullen is Wyoming Public Radio's regional reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau. Her work has aired on NPR, Marketplace, Science Friday, and Here and Now. She was awarded a 2019 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her story on the Black 14.
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.
Taylar Dawn Stagner is a central Wyoming rural and tribal reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. She has degrees in American Studies, a discipline that interrogates the history and culture of America. She was a Native American Journalist Association Fellow in 2019, and won an Edward R. Murrow Award for her Modern West podcast episode about drag queens in rural spaces in 2021. Stagner is Arapaho and Shoshone.
Tennessee -- despite what the name might make you think -- was born and raised in the Northeast. She most recently called Vermont home. For the last 15 years she's been making radio -- as a youth radio educator, documentary producer, and now reporter. Her work has aired on Reveal, The Heart, LatinoUSA, Across Women's Lives from PRI, and American RadioWorks. One of her ongoing creative projects is co-producing Wage/Working (a jukebox-based oral history project about workers and income inequality). When she's not reporting, Tennessee likes to go on exploratory running adventures with her mutt Murray.