Open Spaces

Healthcare Roundup, the Yucca Foundation, and more...

By Caitlin Tan,

Chris Clements, Hannah Habermann, Jordan Uplinger, Kamila Kudelska , Maggie Mullen, Nicky Ouellet, Rachel Cohen, Tennessee Jane Watson

Published February 27, 2026 at 6:52 PM MST

A small ramshackle cabin made out of wood sits in an exhibit in an art museum. The cabin is well-lit, but the surrounding space is made to look like night.

Stories

Open Spaces

Energy bills roundup: Cloud seeding, ‘energy dominance’ fund, carbon capture, EVs

Caitlin Tan, Kamila Kudelska

A slew of energy- and climate-related bills are before Wyoming lawmakers this year. Many aim to support fossil fuels.
Open Spaces

Cheyenne Roundup: Bridging the Wyoming House and Senate’s $170M budget gap

Chris Clements, Maggie Mullen, Jordan Uplinger, Tennessee Jane Watson, Nicky Ouellet

Wyoming lawmakers are working to agree on the state's budget for the next two years. And they’re still plowing through a lot of other bills – and the continuing reverberations of “Checkgate.” WyoFile's Maggie Mullen and Wyoming Public Radio's Chris Clements break down week three of the budget session.
Open Spaces

Artists resurrect mysterious desert workshop and trailer for UW exhibit

Hannah Habermann

“Where the Heck is Yucca Fountain?” is now on display at the University of Wyoming Art Museum. It explores the intersection of art and archive.
Open Spaces

For Mountain West homeowners, insurance is taking a bigger bite of the budget

Rachel Cohen

Wildfires are a top concern across the region. But certain parts also fall within "hail alley" — the part of the country that sees the most hailstorms. It's driving up insurance costs in unexpected places.

Listen to the Full Show

Open Spaces: Podcast

Healthcare Roundup, the Yucca Foundation, and more...

Wyoming Public Media

On Today's show, we dive into this week's Cheyenne Roundup, which dives into campaign check questions and budget updates. We look at climate bills and energy news from the Wyoming legislature. And we try to find out, where the heck is Yukka Foundation? Those stories and more.

Open Spaces

Caitlin Tan

Leave a tip: ctan@uwyo.edu<br/>Caitlin Tan is the Energy and Natural Resources reporter based in Sublette County, Wyoming. Since graduating from the University of Wyoming in 2017, she’s reported on salmon in Alaska, folkways in Appalachia and helped produce 'All Things Considered' in Washington D.C. She formerly co-hosted the podcast ‘Inside Appalachia.' You can typically find her outside in the mountains with her two dogs.

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Chris Clements

Leave a tip: cclemen7@uwyo.edu
Chris Clements is a state government reporter for Wyoming Public Media based in Laramie. He came to WPM from KSJD Radio in Cortez, Colorado, where he reported on Indigenous affairs, drought, and local politics in the Four Corners region. Before that, he graduated with a degree in English (Creative Writing) from Arizona State University. Chris's news stories have been featured on NPR's Weekend Edition and hourly newscasts, as well as on WBUR's Here & Now and National Native News.

This position is partially funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the Wyoming State Government Collaboration.

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Hannah Habermann

Hannah Habermann is the rural and tribal reporter for Wyoming Public Radio. She has a degree in Environmental Studies and Non-Fiction Writing from Middlebury College and was the co-creator of the podcast Yonder Lies: Unpacking the Myths of Jackson Hole. Hannah also received the Pattie Layser Greater Yellowstone Creative Writing & Journalism Fellowship from the Wyoming Arts Council in 2021 and has taught backpacking and climbing courses throughout the West.

Have a question or a tip? Reach out to hhaberm2@uwyo.edu. Thank you!

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Jordan Uplinger

Leave a tip: cuplinge@uwyo.edu
Jordan Uplinger was born in NJ but has traveled since 2013 for academic study and work in Oklahoma, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. He gained experience in a multitude of areas, including general aviation, video editing, and political science. In 2021, Jordan's travels brought him to find work with the Wyoming Conservation Corps as a member of Americorps. After a season with WCC, Jordan continued his Americorps service with the local non-profit, Feeding Laramie Valley. His deep interest in the national discourse on class, identity, American politics and the state of material conditions globally has led him to his internship and eventual employment with Wyoming Public Radio.

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Kamila Kudelska

Leave a tip: kkudelsk@uwyo.edu
Kamila has worked for public radio stations in California, New York, France and Poland. Originally from New York City, she loves exploring new places. Kamila received her master in journalism from Columbia University. She has won a regional Murrow award for her reporting on mental health and firearm owners. During her time leading the Wyoming Public Media newsroom, reporters have won multiple PMJA, Murrow and Top of the Rockies Excellence in Journalism Awards. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring the surrounding areas with her two pups and husband.

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Maggie Mullen

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.

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Nicky Ouellet

Leave a tip: nouelle1@uwyo.edu
Nicky has reported and edited for public radio stations in Montana and produced episodes for NPR's The Indicator podcast and Apple News In Conversation. Her award-winning series, SubSurface, dug into the economic, environmental and social impacts of a potential invasion of freshwater mussels in Montana's waterbodies. She traded New Hampshire's relatively short but rugged White Mountains for the Rockies over a decade ago. The skiing here is much better.

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Rachel Cohen

Rachel Cohen joined Boise State Public Radio in 2019 as a Report for America corps member. She is the station's Twin Falls-based reporter, covering the Magic Valley and the Wood River Valley.

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Tennessee Jane Watson

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.

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