In Other News ...
Lawmakers reflect on the session, UW launches climate change grants and Western AF gets a national shoutout. The top news stories from Laramie and Albany County as of March 29, 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.
During the 2023 General Session of the Wyoming Legislature, lawmakers passed a new “draconian” law banning trans girls and women from high school sports, appropriated significant funds to the University of Wyoming, and continued the push to outlaw abortion. Albany County lawmakers went to Cheyenne with various goals. The Laramie Reporter caught up with its local legislators and examined how they spent their time during the session.
Sen. Chris Rothfuss (SD-9) focused on digital asset policy and supporting students and teachers, all while pushing back on what he labels “bad bills” — policy crafted around national issues and harmful to Wyoming.
Sen. Dan Furphy (SD-10) fought unsuccessfully to make insurance companies pay for hearing aids, pushed for better benefits for military and state troopers, and supported Medicaid for Moms while seeking to restrict abortion.
Rep. Ken Chestek (HD-13) spent his freshman session learning the ropes of the Wyoming Legislature. He brought a bill aiming to limit allowable train lengths; it died the same day as the East Palestine, Ohio derailment.
Rep. Trey Sherwood (HD-14) helped secure $10 million for affordable housing grants. She also advocated, unsuccessfully, for a bill that would have empowered communities to identify and address abandoned buildings.
Rep. Karlee Provenza (HD-45) said she went to Cheyenne to fight the fascist creep. The House Minority Whip worked with Democrats and Republicans to push back on various “anti-democratic” bills. The results were mixed.
Rep. Ocean Andrew (HD-46) endorsed several bills addressing K-12 public schools, charter schools and homeschooling. He also signed onto efforts to restrict abortion, undo rental regulations and prohibit red flag laws.
Reading status: Open access
Albany County officials and Feeding Laramie Valley are working to resolve the nonprofit’s ARPA spending issues. Last year, the county awarded Feeding Laramie Valley $102,000 from its pool of American Rescue Plan Act funding to recoup pandemic- and inflation-related expenses. Earlier this month, the county accused the nonprofit of spending some of that money outside the allowable time frame, reporting inaccurate totals and failing to provide receipts for $44,000 of expenditures. Feeding Laramie Valley admits it spent money outside the proper time frame; its director said the contract was confusing and contradictory about what that time frame was. Receipts for the $44,000 in question might have been provided on time, but the county now says they were submitted inappropriately and in a disorganized fashion that has been difficult to sift through. The county has instructed the nonprofit to reallocate or return the money that was inappropriately spent and is expecting the issue to be resolved soon. Feeding Laramie Valley’s director said while money was spent outside the proper time frame, that money was spent on food, which was distributed free of charge to hundreds of Albany County residents.
Reading status: Open access
The Albany County School Board set policy on a number of important issues during its meeting this month. The board decided that snow days could be counted as virtual learning days — eliminating the need to add extra days onto the end of the school year. This policy faced initial pushback when some saw it as an attack on the concept of snow days. The board also modified its policies surrounding the teaching of controversial issues and how the district will handle library book challenges. The specific language of these latter two policies was certainly influenced by the results of the 2022 election, during which voters thwarted an attempted right-wing takeover of the school board.
Reading status: Open access
Clean-up efforts at Laramie’s old cement factory are ramping up once more. The Laramie Boomerang reports the EPA and Wyoming DEQ hosted a public forum this month to give a brief history of what is officially known as the Nedlog property and to discuss recent efforts to reclaim and clean the site. The factory’s toxic materials poisoned residents in the 1980s and while reclamation efforts have been undertaken since then, more work is needed. Those efforts were put on pause during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Reading status: Laramie Boomerang paywall
The University of Wyoming has launched a grant program to help local communities adapt to a changing climate. Wyoming Public Media reports UW’s “Adapting to Climate Change in Wyoming” program will award $30,000 across four small grants to underserved communities. Climate change is intensifying or increasing wildfires, drought, heat waves and flooding throughout the west. Proposal applications are due March 31.
Reading/listening status: Open access
Wyoming Public Media explored the relationship between the University of Wyoming and the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences in Nepal. The lab’s founder Bsant Giri earned his PhD at UW. He told Wyoming Public Media’s Ivy Engel the lab develops point-of-need technology, and that he founded it in 2014 using old UW equipment.
Reading/listening status: Open access
The University of Wyoming is also looking inward, examining how it can take advantage of rapidly emerging artificial intelligence technologies. Wyoming Public Media reports the rise of popular AI apps such as ChatGPT, Otter.ai and DALL-E 2 led the university to task a group of researchers and administrators with outlining a path forward. That group presented recommendations to the president, which the president could now seek to implement. The recommendations focus on living alongside AI, using it to enhance education or research and policing its worst potential uses. The recommendations do not seek to ban AI from campus.
Reading status: Open access
Alta Journal, a quarterly magazine, highlighted the Laramie-based YouTube channel Western AF. The channel is run by photographer (and Mayor) Brian Harrington and fellow videographer Mike Vanata. It seeks to popularize the Americana genre and has produced music videos for artists such as Willi Carlisle, Sierra Ferrell and Colter Wall. The quarterly also published a playlist.
Reading status: Open access