Welcome to the Laramie Reporter’s “In Other News” segment, a biweekly rundown of the top news stories from Laramie and Albany County as reported by local, state and national media. Subscribe to our newsletter to get this rundown in your inbox every other week.
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The Albany County Commissioners approved aquifer protection plans during a lively meeting Nov. 2. The zoning amendments seek to limit development on the land above the Casper Aquifer — Laramie’s main source of drinking water — and thereby decrease the possibility of contamination. It’s been a hot-button issue in Albany County for years, and opponents of the strengthened amendments say there is not enough science backing the new protections. One commissioner stormed out of the meeting before the vote was called.
Reading status: Open access
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Albany County’s delegation to the State Legislature submitted its redistricting proposal to the Legislative Service Office. The proposal will dramatically alter the boundaries of House Districts 14, 45 and 46 within Laramie — and completely alter the location of House District 13. The proposal also seeks to reclaim Rock River, an Albany County town currently represented by a non-Albany County representative and senator pair. The Albany County delegation had previously said that a united proposal such as this one — unanimously agreed to by local lawmakers — would probably be honored by the legislature at large. But now, other districts are likely to make “incursions” into Albany County, seeking to make up for population lost during the 2020 Census.
Reading status: Open access
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Former LHS student Grace Smith and several Wyoming parents are suing nearly everyone (outside of law enforcement) who enforced masking policies in school districts across the state. The lawsuit takes aim at Governor Mark Gordon, public health officers, school board members and superintendents, alleging that they have exaggerated the threat posed by COVID-19 to exert more government control over the population. The Laramie Reporter presented a deep dive into the conspiratorial lawsuit, examining what it says about the anti-mask and anti-vaccine movement in Wyoming — and how people come to believe scientific misinformation.
Reading status: Open access
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The Albany County School Board extended its mask mandate to Dec. 17, the final day of school before winter break. The decision means that students will be required to mask through 2021, but several school board members discussed the possibility of relaxing or eliminating that mask requirement when students return in January. The argument: by then, parents will have had ample time to vaccinate their children and for those vaccines to take full effect. Tomorrow, the board will interview five candidates for a vacant seat and choose, from among those five, one person to join them.
Reading status: Open access
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The University of Wyoming has slowed down reorganization plans that were forcefully denounced by faculty. The reorganization would merge colleges and create new schools, but these plans have been delayed to 2022 or 2023, allowing time for the greater deliberation faculty have been demanding. UW administration will still present reorganization plans to the Board of Trustees this week, including the elimination of four graduate degree programs and a reorganization of the College of Education. A massive budget cut is also in the works and will eventually reduce expenditures by more than $13 million and eliminate 20-25 vacant faculty positions.
Reading status: Open access
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A team of UW students working on carbon capture has won $100,000 to continue developing their proposal. The Laramie Boomerang reports the students are designing a sensor that can detect carbon dioxide in soil “to the sub-parts per million level.” The money comes from the XPrize Foundation, which seeks to develop carbon capture technologies and bring them to market.
Reading status: Laramie Boomerang paywall
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After years of searching, a retired UW journalism professor found the boulder he was looking for. WyoFile reports Conrad Smith set out to find the real-life location immortalized in an 1842 sketch by cartographer Charles Preuss. That sketch was the first image of the Rocky Mountains published in a government expedition report — but the actual location depicted within remained a mystery. Smith spent thousands of hours, countless hikes and even some chartered plane rides in pursuit of the location. Smith’s search is the subject of a documentary film.
Reading status: Open access