by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Soda ash giant WE Soda has cut 48 jobs from its southwest Wyoming trona operations, including 32 salaried management positions and 16 contract positions, the company said Monday. The move follows the trona operator’s purchase of competitor Genesis Alkali on Feb. 28. “Post-acquisition, consolidations were needed for some salaried management positions to […]
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Posted inPolitics
Barrasso, Lummis vote to allow selling federal land to fund Trump budget
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile In a battle over taxes and access to Wyoming’s wide open spaces, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis voted against a measure that would have blocked the government from selling public land to help fund the federal budget. Wyoming’s two Republican senators voted Friday evening against a budget amendment […]
Posted inGovernment
Trump tariffs expected to hit Wyoming consumers, small businesses
by Rebecca Huntington, WyoFile Bakery owner Ben Ellis spent more than two years researching the ideal machine to mix and separate 400 pounds of dough before ordering heavy-duty equipment in November from the Czech Republic. “This design works incredibly well with our bakery, it’s tight and efficient in a way that we haven’t been able to […]
Posted inHealth
Lawmakers didn’t fill Wyoming’s ‘unacceptable’ maternity gaps this session. They’ll likely try again.
by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile Four Wyoming birthing facilities have closed over the last dozen years — ending options for mothers to deliver babies in Riverton, Kemmerer, Rawlins and Evanston. With 11 of the state’s 23 counties lacking a practicing OB-GYN as of last year, even accessing prenatal care can be difficult. The state’s maternal care gaps […]
Posted inEnergy
PacifiCorp throws lifeline to one Wyoming power plant, confirms end of coal at another
By Dustin Bleizeffer Wyoming’s largest electric utility has thrown a temporary lifeline to the Dave Johnston coal-fired power plant near Glenrock while solidifying plans to stop burning coal at the Naughton power plant near Kemmerer by the end of this year. The move is welcomed news in Converse County, according to Commission Chairman Jim Willox, noting the Dave […]
Posted inCourt
Latest Wyoming abortion law challenge gets a hearing — and a new judge
by Joshua Wolfson, WyoFile Nearly five weeks ago, lawyers representing Wyoming’s abortion providers sought an emergency court hearing to temporarily halt new restrictions that have effectively shut down Wyoming’s only abortion clinic. That hearing has finally been set for next week. And when it happens, a new judge will oversee matters — the third jurist assigned […]
Posted inEnergy
Coal layoffs leave Wyoming community grappling with good, bad of energy transition
by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile KEMMERER—Linda Slovernick’s husband works at the Kemmerer coal mine that recently laid off 28 workers. Though he survived the cut, her husband is “the breadwinner of the household,” Slovernick told WyoFile, leaving her worried about the possibility of more layoffs. After living in Kemmerer for decades, the couple’s home is almost paid off […]
Posted inLatest News
Simpson’s soaring sendoff: ‘God bless you, lovable, curious, hilarious Al’
by Katie Klingsporn, WyoFile Since former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson died on March 14 at 93, admiration and remembrances have poured in from politicians, dignitaries and prominent figures around the country. On Monday morning in the small sanctuary of Christ Episcopal Church in Cody, it was time for the people closest to Simpson — his children, grandchildren […]
Posted inStatewide
In Sen. Al Simpson’s final visit to the Wyoming Capitol, mourners find their own ways to say goodbye
By Andrew Graham When Al Simpson walked into the Wyoming State Capitol on Jan. 12, 1965 as a newly elected Park County representative, he began a political run that carried him into the halls of national power and the immortality of the history books. On Thursday, he entered the statehouse for the final time. A […]
Posted inEducation
Wyoming to appeal ruling on education funding
By Katie Klingsporn Wyoming will appeal the February court decision that found the state unconstitutionally underfunded public schools, according to a Wednesday filing. The notice of appeal filed in Laramie District Court asks the Wyoming Supreme Court to review the case anew. The appeal comes a month after Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher ruled the Wyoming Legislature has […]
Posted inWyoming
Paleontological pee stop: Fossil Butte is more than just a Wyoming rest area
By Dustin Bleizeffer For about half the travelers who stop in, Fossil Butte National Monument is merely a rest area on a lonely stretch of U.S. Highway 30 about 9 miles west of Kemmerer. Many make a beeline to the restrooms and are stunned to discover a Smithsonian-quality museum packed with thousands of stone slabs embedded […]
Posted inOutdoors
As corner crossing opens 3M acres to public, advocates urge caution
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile As access advocates celebrated a court decision guaranteeing access to 3 million acres of public land in Wyoming and five other states, they asked for caution, common sense and respect when corner crossing. Hunters, hikers and others who corner cross need to understand the entirety of the recent decision by the […]
Posted inAnimals
Grizzlies killed record high number of cattle in Wyoming, 2024 data shows
by Mike Koshmrl, WyoFile Every year is a conflict-prone year for the scores of cattle and grizzly bears that mix annually on Union Pass, but Coke Landers was especially glad to put 2024 behind him. The run-ins started shortly after the historic Green River Drift delivered many thousands of cattle to the national forest to fatten up over the summer. […]
Posted inCourt
Wyoming abortion defenders file lawsuit seeking to block new laws for third time
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile Wyoming doctors and abortion providers seeking to stop two new anti-abortion laws from going into effect refiled their case in a Natrona County court this week after being dismissed by a Teton County judge. The state’s only abortion clinic, Wellspring, in Casper, has not taken in new patients since Gov. Mark Gordon […]
Posted inGovernment
More than $100 million at stake for Wyoming in Trump’s fed grants freeze
by Dustin Bleizeffer, WyoFile Food Bank of Wyoming recently learned it will not receive $535,000 that was promised in a 2023 grant — one of the many casualties of President Donald Trump’s elimination and freeze of congressionally approved, Biden-era federal programs. The elimination of the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement — a grant aimed at feeding the […]
Posted inStatewide
Kemmerer balks at immigration jail as private prisons eye southwest Wyoming, again
by Andrew Graham, WyoFile The private prison industry has again come knocking in southwestern Wyoming, pitching the for-profit detention of immigrants as a potential boon for the region’s transitioning economy. But unlike during President Donald Trump’s first term, this time the corporations don’t seem to be finding a foothold. Last week, a company called Sabot Consulting […]
Posted inCourt
Judge dismisses suit against Wyoming’s new anti-abortion laws
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile The same Teton County judge who tossed Wyoming’s two abortion bans last year dismissed on Friday a separate lawsuit filed in Jackson that sought to block two new Wyoming abortion laws, saying the case belonged in Natrona County, home to the affected Wellspring Health Access clinic. Ruling from the bench […]
Posted inWyoming
‘Overwhelming’ demand for child care grants demonstrates keen need in Wyoming
By Katie Klingsporn When the Childcare Interagency Working Group launched grants in January offering up to $10,000 to child care providers in Wyoming, it expected high interest. The response was overwhelming. Nearly 50 applicants submitted in the first month alone. The volume was so high it prompted the working group to adjust the program timeline. The […]
Posted inWyoming
Kemmerer coal mine lays off 28 workers
By Dustin Bleizeffer The owner of the Kemmerer coal mine laid off 28 workers on Friday, according to a Kemmerer Operations, LLC press statement. The job losses, which amount to roughly 13% of the mine’s workforce, followed months of rumors of possible cuts in the southwest Wyoming energy town. “The workforce reduction is part of its […]
Posted inWyoming
Crowd jeers Hageman at tense Laramie town hall; she calls them ‘hysterical’
By Maggie Mullen LARAMIE, Wyo. — Wyoming’s U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman provided no new details regarding the Trump administration’s mass layoffs of federal workers during a Wednesday night town hall. Her constituents, however, made one thing clear — they want answers. And many of them are angry. More than 500 people squeezed into the auditorium of […]
Posted inOutdoors
Strange wildlife encounters of the western Wyoming ranch kind
By Mike Koshmrl The first out-of-the-ordinary sighting came last October as Cat Urbigkit herded sheep. A swift fox appeared amid the brush. The longtime Sublette County writer and rancher had seen the species once before, but this marked the first such sighting near her home in Big Sandy country south of Pinedale along the western flank […]
Posted inOutdoors
Corner-crossing decision: Congressional act overrides Wyoming trespass laws
by Angus M. Thuermer Jr., WyoFile A ruling by a federal appeals court in a widely watched corner-crossing case cements the principle that a congressional act preempts a state’s power to impose and enforce its own trespass laws. A three-judge panel at the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals adopted that “preemption” argument made by the […]
Posted inState Government
Lawmakers fund Wyoming’s wildfire recovery work via grants and loans
by Maggie Mullen, WyoFile After a historic wildfire season, Wyoming lawmakers spent much of the 2025 general session debating whether to fund recovery efforts via loans or grants. Ultimately, the Legislature decided to do both. Senate File 152, “Wildfire management-amendments,” designates roughly $49 million in grants for various special districts to restore grasses and habitats, and to prevent invasive […]