by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile LARAMIE—A March ruling by a federal appeals court in a widely watched corner-crossing case determined that private landowners cannot bar access to public lands with fences, trespass actions or other methods. Hunters, recreators and public lands advocates celebrated the ruling and its implications for the states within the 10th Circuit — Wyoming, Colorado, New […]
Wyofile
Posted inWyoming
BLM Wyoming director on leave after probe finds ethics violations
By Katie Klingsporn Wyoming’s Bureau of Land Management state director has been placed on administrative leave after a federal investigation found he violated ethics regulations. Andrew Archuleta accepted a gift of dinner and drinks, misused his assistant’s time when he asked her to make travel arrangements for his girlfriend and drove his girlfriend to and from […]
Posted inEnergy
Newcastle oil refinery restarts operations after it ‘went boom’ in February
By Dustin Bleizeffer and Tennessee Watson The Wyoming Refinery in Newcastle has resumed operations months after an apparent explosion in February forced the facility to remain idle for repairs. The refinery shut down following the Feb. 12 incident, which refinery owner Par Pacific of Houston called an “operational upset.” The company would not provide details of what happened […]
Posted inPolitics
Animated elderly woman behind police incident at Hageman town hall in Wheatland, report shows
By Andrew Graham Following a March town hall in Wheatland, an elderly woman approached Rep. Harriet Hageman and spoke in an “aggressive manner” with her hands close to the representative’s face, a Wheatland Police Department report released to WyoFile this week shows. One of Hageman’s staff members moved between the elderly woman and the lawmaker, and […]
Posted inOutdoors
Waxy, furry, tiny signs of spring
By Tennessee Watson Tired of winter and desperate for spring color, artist Sadie Clarendon went hunting recently for April flowers on public land near Laramie. “This year I saw buttercups on April 6 and then the pasque flowers on April 13,” Clarendon said. “I like the ones that come out first because they have these biological […]
Posted inState Politics
Legal fight over Gillette librarian’s firing expands as Wyoming lawmakers weigh action
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile A former library official is pushing back against the political forces that ended her decades-long career in the Campbell County Public Library system, bringing her second of two federal lawsuits this month, accusing local government and an activist family of discrimination and wrongful termination. The Campbell County Public Library System Board of […]
Posted inState Politics
Hot Springs County GOP sues Wyoming Republican Party for allegedly ‘interfering’ in local elections
by Maggie Mullen, WyoFile Newly elected leaders for the Hot Springs County GOP are asking a district court judge “to prevent the Wyoming Republican Party from interfering in local county Republican Party elections,” a lawsuit filed Monday states. The case comes after Brian Shuck, an attorney for the state GOP, advised several county parties in March to disregard […]
Posted inState Politics
Hageman quietly resumes in-person town halls
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile Less than a month after canceling in-person town halls due to safety concerns, Rep. Harriet Hageman has restarted the process, albeit somewhat quietly and with restrictions on who can attend. Hageman has scheduled a town hall for Thursday in Buffalo and another for the following day in Dayton. She circulated invites for […]
Posted inNational Park
Despite DOGE at Interior, Yellowstone staffing ‘higher than last year’
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile Five days into the Trump administration’s DOGE takeover of the Department of Interior’s policy, management and budget, Yellowstone National Park staffing is “higher than last year,” an Interior Department spokesperson in Washington, D.C. said Monday. Yellowstone Park confirmed the increase. “Going into this year, we should have a total of […]
Posted inWyoming
LaPrele Dam is down, and the canals it once filled are dry
by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile A rare northerly wind whipped dust off the road and threatened to pull the hard hat from Casey Darr’s head. Still, the LaPrele Creek irrigator trudged up a dirt road lined with concrete-busting and earth-moving equipment toward the pinchpoint of granite canyon walls he’s known since childhood. Just a few months ago, […]
Posted inWyoming
Report: Wildlife Refuge System ‘at risk’ with no units fully resourced amid DOGE uncertainty
By Mike Koshmrl The nation’s 573 national wildlife refuges are at risk and not a single refuge has the resources it requires, according to a recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inventory. Put together, the National Wildlife Refuge System encompasses 96 million acres, an area larger than Montana, and includes everything from the Arctic National Wildlife […]
Posted inOutdoors
Forest-dwelling raptor, aka ‘flying mountain lion,’ goes for groceries in the city
By Mike Koshmrl Bryan Bedrosian’s best guess is that the bird was out on the hunt. One thing for certain is that the northern goshawk, perched in a Pinedale aspen, wasn’t in its standard habitat. Goshawks, the largest of North America’s three accipiters — acrobatic bird-eating specialists — typically dwell in the forest. Yet this hawk, […]
Posted inLatest News
He fought professionally. Now, he battles stigma of suicide through art
A teammate’s death catalyzes a former MMA fighter to take on the silence around suicide through art. Gerald Lovato’s work is on display Thursday at the University of Wyoming Art Museum.
Posted inSchools
Records show University of Wyoming officials omitted conflict of interest concerns in public response
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile University of Wyoming officials omitted notable internal findings from their official public response to the demotion of a well-liked dean and the ensuing public outrage earlier this month, newly-released records show. When the Board of Trustees demoted Dean Cameron Wright, they said it was because of poor performance towards the state’s goal […]
Posted inEnergy
Wyoming OKs Rocky Mountain Power rate hike, tapping customers for another $85.5 million
by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Thousands of Rocky Mountain Power residential customers will see their monthly electric bills jump by about $14 beginning in June. The Wyoming Public Service Commission approved the rate hike Tuesday, the latest in a series of increases by a company that has pointed to fossil fuel market volatility, skyrocketing insurance for wildfire liability and […]
Posted inState Politics
In dispute over local elections, Wyoming Republican Party attorney says law, court ruling don’t apply
by Maggie Mullen, WyoFile Legal counsel for the Wyoming GOP advised county parties to disregard state statute and a Wyoming Supreme Court ruling when considering who should be allowed to vote in local party elections, according to a letter obtained by WyoFile. Instead, the attorney advised county Republicans to follow a contested party bylaw since the […]
Posted inGovernment
Called on to defend the rule of law, Wyoming’s delegation says judges, not Trump, are the problem
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile The judiciary holds too much power and Congress should curb its authority, Wyoming’s federal delegation argued in response to Equality State lawyers and retired judges who called on them to defend “American Rule of Law” from attacks by President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk. In an April 11 letter, […]
Posted inBusiness
Trump’s ag boss declares 113M-acre logging ‘emergency.’ Will it keep Wyoming’s timber industry alive?
by Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile HULETT—Jim Neiman says that the best-case scenario for his family’s timber mill at the base of the Bear Lodge Mountains is that it doesn’t shutter. The Crook County sawmill in 2022 shrunk to one shift to survive hard economic times and a dearth of available timber. Three years later, there are what appear to […]
Posted inschools
Second major donor ‘reevaluates’ support for University of Wyoming
By Andrew Graham A second major donor to the University of Wyoming told WyoFile he will reconsider giving to the school out of consternation over the demotion of the engineering college’s dean. On April 2, the day the university announced Dean Cameron Wright’s demotion, engineer and inventor Alan “Gene” Humphrey wrote the trustees and UW President […]
Posted inSports
With freestyler Kauf, Wyoming celebrates another world ski champion
By Angus M. Thuermer Jr. When Jaelin Kauf zipped through moguls and jumps to win two world freestyle skiing titles this winter, she was far from the cowbells, gluhwein, chocolate and other slopeside paraphernalia that speckles historic European ski venues. She skidded to a stop March 1 at the bottom of Kazakhstan’s Shymbulak Mountain Resort, a central […]
Posted inPeople
After five years archiving Wyoming history, library specialist fired in latest DOGE cuts
by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile History jobs aren’t easy to come by. So when a position for a digital archivist opened at the University of Wyoming in 2020, Rachael Laing uprooted their life near Chicago for small-town Laramie. Laing, who has a master’s degree in history, has spent the last five years undertaking a project to digitize […]
Posted inBusiness
Shock of Trump tariffs has Wyoming businesses worried
Wyoming businesses whipsawed by Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs and the global market’s reaction face tough conditions. But a three-month pause on one round of hefty tariffs brings some relief.
Posted inCourt
Casper abortion clinic remains in limbo as judge mulls temporary halt to new regulations
by Joshua Wolfson, WyoFile The five-week pause on abortions at Wellspring Health Access will continue for now. A judge heard arguments Tuesday on whether to temporarily halt enforcement of new state regulations that forced the Casper clinic to stop providing abortions in late February. But at the hearing’s conclusion, state Judge Thomas Campbell said he would […]