byCJ Baker, WyoFile After years wooing the cryptocurrency and digital asset industry, Wyomings efforts were rewarded last month by one of the biggest players in the space. Kraken a multi-billion-dollar crypto company with over 2,200 employees and 15 million customers around the globe announced it had officially moved its headquarters to Cheyenne. Wyoming may feel […]
Wyofile
Posted inWyoming Game and Fish Department
Outcry causes Wyoming to back off plan to curb landowner tag advantages
byMike Koshmrl, WyoFile A week from now, the appointed officials who oversee Wyomings wildlife are devoting an extraordinary seven hours to a single agenda item. The topic is proposed changes to the states system of awarding special hunting tags to landowners. Its a system that causes some problems. Specifically, in some hunt areas, almost all the licenses available are gobbled […]
Posted inWyoming
Extension denial leaves Wyoming ranch owner a week to convince SCOTUS to hear corner crossing case
byAngus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile Elk Mountain Ranch owner Fred Eshelman will have to convince four of the U.S. Supreme Courts nine justices to take up his appeal of a lower courts decision that corner crossing is not trespassing. His attorneys have until July 16 to file their reasons why a ruling by the 10th Circuit […]
Posted inBusiness
Gravel operator digs in with another lawsuit to open Casper Mountain
byDustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile The developer of a controversial gravel pit at the base of Casper Mountain wants a judge to review the states recent decision to deny several lease renewals. Casper-based Prism Logistics filed a petition for judicial review Monday in the 7th District Court in Natrona County, claiming the states denial was contrary to law because […]
Posted inWyoming
Conservative Wyoming couldnt stomach Republican public land sale
byAngus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile Although Donald Trump won Wyoming by a wider margin than any other state in the 2024 presidential election, Equality State residents broke sharply from his party as Republicans sought to sell off 2-3 million acres of public land in the West. Across a state that often supports and promotes conservative […]
Posted inWyoming
Fremont County library flap, a symptom of broader property tax pains, angers patrons
ByKatie Klingsporn Belt tightening was the mandate in Fremont County this spring in response to a multi-million-dollar drop in tax revenue. Commissioners, the bearer of bad news, asked county departments to contemplate 10% budget cuts with measures like leaving open positions vacant, raising fees or eliminating costs. So when news broke that the library system […]
Posted inCommunity
The art of the fly: Angler relishes the meditation and creation of tying
ByDustin Bleizeffer Fish love bugs and small aquatic critters. Anglers like Blake Jackson love to trick them. Its not just the exhilarating strike and tugs, or landing the big one. Its not just being away, on the water, stalking the seam. Theres another side of the equation. Back home, or at work the Ugly Bug Fly […]
Posted inWyoming
Summers here get your cowboy hats on
ByAngus M. Thuermer Jr. Youve got your Tom Mix, your gambler, your cattleman. Theres the derby, the cool hand Luke, the Mountie. Before you put a feather in it, you need to pick or fashion an appropriate brim, crown, crease and dent to define your Western persona. The options are endless, sometimes reflecting regional climates. […]
Posted inWyoming
Trumps DOJ sides with Gray in voter registration lawsuit
ByMaggie Mullen As a federal court prepares to make a key ruling on a lawsuit challenging Wyomings new voter registration law, the U.S. Department of Justice weighed in Tuesday, filing a statement of interest in the case. This court should maintain the long-held position that preventing voter fraud and safeguarding voter confidence are legitimate state […]
Posted inEnergy
Feds speed up review for Natrium nuclear power plant in Wyoming
byDustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Wyoming may see its first commercial nuclear power plant a few months sooner than anticipated, but still sometime in 2030, according to the developer, TerraPower. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission notified the Belleview, Washington-based company Tuesday that its trimming seven months from an ongoing environmental review and safety evaluation of the proposed advanced, liquid-sodium-cooled […]
Posted inWyoming Game and Fish Department
Protecting the Path of the Pronghorn draws support, but must again overcome industry resistance
byMike Koshmrl, WyoFile When it comes to designating Wyomings first migration corridor in over six years, retired sage grouse biologist Tom Christiansen puts it bluntly. If not now, when? Christiansen wrote in a comment letter to his former employer, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. If we fail to designate the Sublette Antelope Corridor, what is […]
Posted inGovernment
Medicaid, insurance cuts in Big, Beautiful Bill will harm Wyoming, health care advocates warn
byKatie Klingsporn, WyoFile At least 12,000 Wyoming residents are projected to lose health coverage if President Donald Trumps Big, Beautiful Bill is signed into law, health care advocates say. The voluminous bill inched closer to passage Tuesday when it cleared the Senate by a single vote cast by Vice President J.D. Vance. Wyomings two Republican […]
Posted inCourt
Gray asks court to toss case challenging Wyomings new voter registration law
byMaggie Mullen, WyoFile Attorneys for Secretary of State Chuck Gray asked a federal court Friday to dismiss a lawsuit against Wyomings new voter registration law, arguing in two filings that the complaint does not sufficiently demonstrate how the new requirements could harm potential voters. Once the law goes into effect Tuesday, proof of state residency […]
Posted inWyoming
Western public land sale axed from Senate budget bill
byAngus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile Utah Sen. Mike Lee withdrew his land-sale provision from the Senate reconciliation budget bill Saturday evening. I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families not to China, not to Blackrock, and not to any foreign interest, Lee […]
Posted inEducation
Declining federal funds, late notice extinguish Ms. Paulas preschool magic
ByKatie Klingsporn At the head of a classroom in Lander, Paula Vincelette held up a small plastic pig and asked a dozen preschoolers to help the pig build a house with bricks. The students-turned-builders intently mimed the construction of small imaginary homes on the carpet in front of them. As Vincelette continued with the story […]
Posted inOutdoors
Laramies Windy Windy gets very windy
ByAndrew Graham Amid a dramatic summer storm that brought hail and thunderstorm warnings, a tornado touched down June 17 outside Laramie and was on the ground for around five minutes, according to Albany County Emergency Services. The tornado ran 1.6 miles and its maximum wind speed reached an estimated 105 mph, according to the National […]
Posted inHealth
Births fall in Wyoming hospitals as lawmakers study maternity care gaps
byKatie Klingsporn, WyoFile Births continue to fall in many Wyoming hospitals as lawmakers seek remedies for widening gaps in maternity care across the state. Hospitals in Casper, Cheyenne, Rock Springs, Cody, Douglas and Lander are seeing declining deliveries, data from the Legislative Service Office shows. Four other hospitals in Riverton, Kemmerer, Rawlins and most […]
Posted inWyoming
As Wyoming protests, public land sell-off just getting started
byAngus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile In the face of a backlash, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee has revamped his public land sell-off measure to target only Bureau of Land Management holdings while also declaring, were just getting started. A reconciliation budget proposal revised by Lees Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee targets BLM land within […]
Posted inWyoming
Trumps ag boss is cutting 3.3M roadless acres from 9 national forests in Wyoming
byMike Koshmrl, WyoFile The Trump administration is ending an environmental protection policy that opens up nearly 59 million acres of federal land in the United States a Wyoming-sized expanse to roadbuilding and timber harvest. U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday she was rescinding the heavily litigated 2001 Roadless Rule. The pronouncement […]
Posted inEnergy
Wyoming oil positioned to weather Middle East conflict, analysts say
byDustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile The global oil markets reaction to rising conflict in the Middle East has been subdued, so far, as supplies remain flush and shipping routes mostly uninterrupted. That could change, however, if Iran makes good on a threat to shut off the Strait of Hormuz, according to energy analysts. The key petrol shipping […]
Posted inWyoming
High-profile attorneys flock to lawsuit challenging Wyomings new voter registration law
byMaggie Mullen, WyoFile A federal lawsuit challenging Wyomings new voter registration law has drawn high-powered attorneys from across the country to the case, including several from a firm President Donald Trump hired to keep his name on the 2024 ballot. California-based Dhillon Law Group and Colorados Gessler Blue are representing Secretary of State Chuck Gray, […]
Posted inHealth
Will a new Wyoming law protect providers or limit abortions? It depends on which lawyer you ask.
byJoshua Wolfson, WyoFile The same group of abortion rights advocates whose legal challenges have stymied past attempts to stop or limit abortion in Wyoming is seeking to block part of another new law. That statute, which goes into effect July 1, codifies what is already a long-standing medical practice: that providers can legally prescribe U.S. […]
Posted inEnergy
New federal estimates could open more of southwest Wyoming to oil and gas
byDustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile The U.S. Bureau of Land Managements effort to remove barriers to energy development within the 3.6 million-acre Rock Springs Resource Management Plan area will include revised estimates of oil and natural gas reserves, according to the agency. We previously determined the potential for fluid mineral development to be low, especially for the […]