politics

After Tour Of Yellowstone, Illinois Representative Proposes Legislation To Ban Plastic Water Bottles

By • Sep 9, 2019
CC0 / Public Domain

This weekend six lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives' Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition took a two-day climate change tour of Yellowstone National Park. The tour resulted with three of the representatives proposing legislation to ban non-reusable plastic water bottles in national parks.

Congressional Watchdog Says Interior Department Broke The Law

By • Sep 6, 2019

A congressional watchdog agency has decided that the Interior Department broke the law by using entrance fees to keep national parks open during the government shutdown this past winter. 

Wyoming Considering Nuclear Waste Storage, While Yucca Mountain Sits Dormant

By • Sep 4, 2019

Lawmakers in our region are meeting Thursday to discuss the potential economic windfalls from nuclear waste storage. It's the first meeting of Wyoming's Spent Fuel Rods Subcommittee, which was created earlier this year.

Addressing Female Genital Mutilation In the Mountain West

By • Sep 4, 2019

Warning: This story talks explicitly about female anatomy and traumatizing procedures.

A district court judge ruled last year that a federal law banning female genital mutilation was unconstitutional. He said it’s up to the states to make laws about this cultural practice. While we don’t know how many people undergo the procedure in the Mountain West, many hope to amplify the conversation as some states pass laws and others don’t.

New BLM Chief Is Latest Interior Official Caught Up In Controversies

By • Sep 3, 2019

The newly-minted head of the Bureau of Land Management is defending himself after attracting the ire of environmental groups. They are concerned about potential conflicts of interest and his views on public lands. 

Japan Trade Deal To Help Mountain West Farmers

By • Aug 28, 2019

A new trade deal with Japan could soon help out dairymen, cattlemen, corn and wheat farmers, among many others.


Former Grand Staircase-Escalante Lands Opened To Potential Drilling, Mining

By • Aug 26, 2019

Public lands that used to be a part of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah will lose many of their environmental protections, according to a final federal government management plan released Friday.

Wind River Voters Carefully Watching The Native American Presidential Forum

By • Aug 20, 2019
Frank Lemere Native American Presidential Forum

Nine Democratic Presidential hopefuls and one independent candidate are gathered in Sioux City, Iowa for the Frank Lemere Native American Presidential Forum. Many Native voters are watching closely from the Wind River Reservation.

Tribal Leaders Discuss Climate Change With U.S. Senator

By • Aug 16, 2019
Savannah Maher

The Wind River Inter-Tribal Council welcomed U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse to the Reservation on Wednesday to discuss global climate change.

Wyoming Delegation Favors Moving BLM Out West

By • Aug 9, 2019
U.S. Bureau of Land Management logo
U.S. Bureau of Land Management

The Trump administration is trying to relocate the bulk of the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management from Washington to Colorado, which is getting cheers from Wyoming lawmakers. But Democrats view the move as problematic and a way to gut the agency.

U.S. Climate Crisis Committee Comes To Colorado For Answers

By • Aug 2, 2019

For the first time ever, a congressional committee held a field hearing on the climate crisis. And it happened this week right here in the Mountain West — in Boulder, Colorado. 

Barrasso Pushes To Get Wyoming Natural Gas Sold Overseas

By • Aug 2, 2019
A gas flare, used to burn off flammable gas -- on Highway 59 from Gillette
Cooper McKim / Wyoming Public Radio

House Democrats are taking aim at an issue Wyoming Senator John Barrasso seems to have spent the most time on in the past few years: Exporting American, well - Wyoming energy - abroad.

First Congressional Field Hearing On Climate Crisis To Be Held In Mountain West

By • Aug 1, 2019

For the first time ever, a congressional committee will hold a field hearing on the climate crisis, and it's happening in Boulder, Colorado, Thursday, August 1.

2nd Democratic Debate - Live Analysis Of Both Nights

By NPR • Jul 31, 2019
Angela Hsieh/NPR

It's the second and final of the July Democratic debates. The second set of 10 candidates is making their case as to why they should be the next president of the United States. Follow NPR's live coverage for real-time fact checks and analysis of their remarks.

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Norman Mineta: Experience At Heart Mountain Shaped His Career

By • Jul 29, 2019
Kamila Kudelska

This past weekend was the annual pilgrimage to Heart Mountain. This year's events included a screening of the new documentary Norman Mineta and His Legacy: An American Story.

State Auditor's Transparency Website Goes Live

By • Jul 26, 2019
Kristi Racines

Wyoming State Auditor Kristi Racines has launched a new website detailing how Wyoming spends most of its money. The website, WyOpen.gov, went live earlier this month.

LIVE: Mueller Testifies Before Congress

By NPR • Jul 24, 2019
Angela Hsieh/NPR

Former special counsel Robert Mueller is appearing in two separate hearings before the House judiciary and intelligence committees. Though Mueller has said his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is his testimony, lawmakers have insisted that he testify in person. Watch the proceedings live.

Wyoming Lawmakers Offer Explanations For Low Revenues And High Debt

By • Jul 19, 2019
AgnosticPreachersKid licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

The nation's treasury secretary initially thought lawmakers wouldn't have to raise the debt ceiling until October or November, but White House officials have moved that deadline to early September. That's because projected federal revenues are way down, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a wonky think tank that tries to avoid the partisan tit-for-tat that's come to mark contemporary politics.

Rep. Andi Clifford Talks Indigenous Representation At Town Hall

By • Jul 15, 2019
Andi Clifford

Riverton Representative Andi Clifford held a town hall meeting at the Lander Public Library on Saturday. She spoke to a crowd of around 30 people, many of them Lander residents, about the challenges of being a Northern Arapaho woman in the Wyoming State Legislature.

Wyoming Lawmakers Consider Allowing Tribal IDs For Voter Registration

By • Jul 3, 2019
WyoFile/Flickr Creative Commons

The Wyoming State Legislature’s Select Committee on Tribal Relations is considering whether tribal ID cards can be used as proof of identity for state voter registration.

City Administrator Debate Continues In Sheridan

By • Jul 1, 2019
Catherine Wheeler

Sheridan City Councilman Aaron Linden said the debate on city management isn't a new issue in town.

The conversation comes down to one question: Should a city administrator handle day-to-day operations so the mayor can focus on the bigger picture?

Utah And Colorado Efforts To End Gerrymandering Unfazed By Supreme Court Ruling

By • Jun 28, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision Thursday that states and federal lawmakers, not courts, are responsible for ending political gerrymandering.

State Auditor To Launch Transparency Website

By • Jun 18, 2019
Kristi Racines

State Auditor Kristi Racines and her office are preparing for the launch of a website that will provide easy access to state financial data. The site will include data from 2016 to 2018 when it goes live, and eventually be updated quarterly.

Trump To Eliminate Hundreds Of Advisory Committees

By • Jun 18, 2019

The Trump administration on Friday ordered agencies to eliminate at least one-third of their advisory committees, a move that has government watchdogs and science advocacy groups concerned.

AARP Is Hoping For Long Term Care Solutions

By • Jun 7, 2019
Public Domain

Next week the Wyoming legislature will begin to address a growing and expensive problem in Wyoming known as long term care. Medicaid costs in Wyoming are a growing concern and a lot of that is because it's used to pay for nursing home care.

Sam Shumway is the Director of AARP Wyoming says the lack of available long term care is another problem. He tells Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck that they want to present some solutions to lawmakers.

Nation's First Female-Majority Legislature Adjourns

By • Jun 6, 2019

This week marks the 100th anniversary of Congress passing the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. Now, a century later, the nation's first female-majority legislature has wrapped up their work in Carson City, Nevada.

Sheridan City Council Will Continue To Consider Changes To City Administrator Position

By • Jun 5, 2019
Bob Beck

The Sheridan City Council defeated a proposed charter ordinance at Monday's meeting that would have repealed the law establishing the city administrator position. The vote was 5-2; only Council President Clinton Beaver and Sheridan Mayor Roger Miller voted in support of repealing the existing law.

Lawmakers Look At Medicaid As Source Of Special Education Funding

By • Jun 5, 2019
Screen shot from Wyoming PBS live stream

Wyoming is the only state not using Medicaid to cover special education services in schools, and that could be costing the state money.

Judiciary Committee Addressing Issues With Firearm Background Check System

By • Jun 5, 2019
Federal Bureau of Investigation / Wikimedia Commons

The Wyoming Legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee is considering addressing issues with the state's inability to share mental health information with federal government as part of compliance in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Legislature's Judiciary Committee Considering Child Sexual Abuse Laws

By • Jun 5, 2019
Catherine Wheeler

The Wyoming Legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee wants to gather more information on childhood sexual abuse crimes in the state.

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