In Other News ...
Major developments in two federal lawsuits involving UW, a new pop culture exhibit in the works, and a UW Cowboys preview. The top news stories from Albany County as of Sept. 6, 2023.
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.
A Christian preacher suing the University of Wyoming for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights has been allowed to return to the student union. The U.S. District Court of Wyoming granted Todd Schmidt a preliminary injunction, meaning he can return to and table once more in a main student thoroughfare while his case is ongoing. Schmidt was banned from tabling in the union for one year after he displayed a banner denying the validity of transgender identities while naming a specific trans student. UW banned him for “discrimination and harassment” for targeting the specific student, but not for the wider anti-trans message. The court granted the preliminary injunction because Schmidt demonstrated a “likelihood of success” in his initial filings. UW announced it could drop its defense of the ban, and drop the ban itself, in the wake of this injunction.
Reading status: Open access
The U.S. District Court of Wyoming dismissed a separate lawsuit also out of UW that sought to remove a transgender woman from a UW sorority chapter. Six members of that chapter sued the national Kappa Kappa Gamma organization alleging that it broke its own bylaws by admitting a transgender student. The court threw out the lawsuit, arguing it could not dictate the membership policies of private organizations such as KKG. The lawsuit had garnered national attention.
Reading status: Open access
Artemis Langford, the transgender student at the heart of both the UW preacher lawsuit and the UW sorority lawsuit, shared her side of the story with WyoFile in a tell-all feature. Langford recounts her childhood and the process of coming out as trans. She also reflects on being thrust into the national spotlight and how it has radically altered her life and sense of safety.
Reading status: Open access
Both lawsuits involving Artemis Langford saw repeated instances of “misgendering” — referring to someone with pronouns other than those they identify with. In both cases, the plaintiffs launching the lawsuits used he/him pronouns to refer to Langford. The defendants, as well as the court itself in its rulings, used she/her pronouns. Wyoming Public Radio spoke with legal scholar Chan Tov McNamarah, who has argued for years that misgendering in legal filings ought to be considered lawyerly misconduct. The Wyoming Bar Association does not mention “misgendering” in its rules of professional conduct.
Reading/Listening status: Open access
Albany County District Court Judge Misha Westby ruled that Wyoming state statutes do not allow the release of personnel records to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission. POST had been seeking psychological evaluations and other personnel records for Derek Colling, a former Albany County Sheriff’s deputy who shot and killed an unarmed man in 2018. POST is considering decertifying Colling, which would prohibit him from working in law enforcement again. Both Colling and the sheriff’s office fought the release of the personnel records to POST; Westby ultimately ruled in their favor and against POST’s subpoena.
Reading status: Open access
The City of Laramie will soon have a Police Advisory Board, a new body unanimously approved by the Laramie City Council, reports Wyoming Public Radio. The board is not an oversight board and will have very limited ability to review incidents involving use-of-force, but it’s intended to serve as a conduit between the chief of police and the citizenry. Civilians can bring complaints to the board while the chief can explain why the police do what they do.
Reading/Listening status: Open access
UW Professor Cecilia Aragón joined the Albany County School Board, filling a vacancy left by Mary Alice Bruce’s resignation last month. Aragón joins the board at a time when it is mulling severe budget cuts. She brings extensive experience from educational, nonprofit and community-oriented work.
Reading status: Open access
University of Wyoming law students are helping immigrants move toward legal permanent residency and citizenship. Wyoming Public Radio highlighted a recent event hosted by UW’s Civil Legal Services Clinic in Cheyenne.
Reading/Listening status: Open access
The Albany County Conservancy filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court of Wyoming related to a wind farm transmission line in northern Albany County. Wyoming Public Radio reports the Bureau of Land Management approved part of a transmission line that would connect the imminent Rock Creek Wind Farm to a local substation. The Conservancy alleges that the BLM didn’t hold a public comment period before issuing its approval and that the transmission line threatens nearby wildlife; the BLM’s own environmental assessment says impact to that wildlife would be minor or negligible.
Reading status: Open access
A Laramie teenager arrested in 2021 after refusing to wear a mask at school is once again suing the Albany County School District. This time, Grace Smith is alleging the school district violated her First Amendment right to free speech and overstepped its authority. Smith’s first lawsuit — filed not long after her arrest and with the help of parents across the state objecting to mask mandates in their own local school districts — was full of conspiracy theories and medical misinformation. The U.S. District Court of Wyoming dismissed that earlier lawsuit, calling it a “confused jumble” that was “repetitive, verbose and argumentative.”
Reading status: Open access
EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited the University of Wyoming’s Laramie campus last month, Wyoming Public Radio reports. During a roundtable with UW faculty and later on a tour with Governor Mark Gordon, Regan and the day’s other participants discussed the balance between energy production and environmentalism, heard about ongoing research projects and considered initiatives drawn up by the Biden Administration.
Reading status: Open access
A trio of UW students are preparing a pop culture exhibit for the American Heritage Center. The Casper-Star Tribune reports the exhibit will focus on Stan Lee, the creative mind behind Spider-Man and other classic superheroes. Lee donated some 200 boxes worth of his belongings to the AHC after forming a close relationship with a former curator. The exhibit is scheduled to open next spring.
Reading status: Casper-Star Tribune or Laramie Boomerang paywall
Wyoming Public Radio previewed this year’s UW Cowboys Football season. WPR’s Will Walkey spoke with Casper Star-Tribune sports reporter Ryan Thorburn about the team’s long-serving coach and this year’s cast of characters.
Reading/Listening status: Open access
This publication’s editor and this article’s author, Jeff Victor, wrote a personal essay tying his kidney donation five years ago to both his atheism and his commitment to humanist ideals. The essay was published under the Laramie Reporter’s “Editorials” page. As a personal note to readers, this writer would like to thank his audience for the warm welcome this unorthodox editorial received. This writer was especially moved by the various Christian friends who reached out to say they appreciated the article and the nuance with which it was written. Discussing religion and ethics is often frowned upon, but maybe only because we often do so indelicately. Perhaps there is room for more frank discussion of these matters, offered in good faith and cheerfully delivered with vulnerable emotionality.
Reading status: Open access