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Older Wyomingites Dance, Write to Keep Winter Blues at Bay As winter's cold and dark days settle in, AARP Wyoming has launched a series of fitness, writing and other creative classes to help people connect and have fun. AARP Wyoming's Associate State Director of Community Outreach Jennifer Baier said after surveying its 80,000 members, it was clear that fitness classes were a big priority. She said people have been signing up for stretch, strength and balance, chair and restorative yoga, Tai Chi and line-dance classes. ...(Read More)

New Voter Maps Advance in Wyoming Legislature The Wyoming Legislature is getting closer to finalizing new voter district maps. The new 62-31 Plan, which would add one new Senate and two new House districts, cleared its first reading in the House on Wednesday. Jenn Lowe, executive director of the Equality State Policy Center, said how maps are drawn will determine which laws will pass and which programs will receive -- or not receive -- funding for the next 10 years. ...(Read More)

Groups Promise Lawsuit Against EPA Over Lack of Air-Pollution Enforcement Environmental groups filed a notice of intent this week to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), over the agency's failure to enforce the Regional Haze Rule under the Clean Air Act. The rule aims to protect national parks and wilderness areas in Wyoming and across the nation from air pollution reducing visibility. Rob Joyce, energy organizer for the Wyoming chapter of the Sierra Club, said pressing the EPA to do its job will also help limit the number of days people with respiratory problems have to stay inside. ...(Read More)

Yellowstone Wolf Kills in MT, WY Pose Economic Risks New Montana hunting regulations could have a direct effect on Wyoming businesses relying on visitors to Yellowstone National Park. At least 21 of the nearly two dozen Yellowstone wolves killed this hunting season happened in Montana, just outside the park. Brooke Shifrin, wildlife conservation coordinator for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, pointed to the most recent data showing the economic impacts at stake for hotels, restaurants and other businesses in Wyoming's gateway communities. ...(Read More)

WY Panel to Deliver New Voter District Maps to Legislature Advocates for Wyoming's Latino communities welcomed the latest voter redistricting maps advanced last week. The 62-31 plan, which is expected to be presented to lawmakers in the upcoming session, would add three new state legislative districts, two for the House and one for the Senate. Antonio Serrano, chairman and co-founder of the group Juntos, said more Latinos are building homes, businesses and raising families in south Cheyenne, and they want to have a say in how things run. ...(Read More)

Report: 6th Mass Extinction Event Likely Already Under Way New research suggests Earth's Sixth Mass Extinction event, on par with the one that ended the age of dinosaurs, already is under way. Noah Greenwald, endangered species director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said the recent findings add to a growing pile of troubling news, including projections more than a million species are likely to be lost in coming decades due to human activity. Greenwald emphasized it is a problem because species make up ecosystems, and ecosystems provide critical services for people. ...(Read More)

Teton County Poised to Set National Standard for Wildlife Cohabitation Wildlife advocates see Teton County's upcoming revised Lands Development Regulation on feeding wildlife as an opportunity to set a national standard for how communities and wildlife can peacefully co-exist and thrive. Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, said the lion's share of economic activity in the county is linked to income from people who travel from across the world to see wildlife in their historic habitats. "People are coming to this area to see things like bears and wolves, to see our national parks," Combs observed. "...(Read More)

Remembering Japanese Americans' Internment at Heart Mountain Heart Mountain was an internment camp in northwest Wyoming where Japanese Americans were relocated against their will during World War II. It was the subject of a recent PBS TV special, and will also be featured in the Alliance for Historic Wyoming's new Placed-Based Stories project. Dakota Russell, executive director of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, said while the camp closed at war's end, many families who had lost everything they owned after relocation decided to stay in Wyoming. ...(Read More)

ADL CEO: A Year Later, American Democracy Not Guaranteed It has been a year since demonstrators stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to change the official outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and new data suggests threats of political violence are on the rise. Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League said people in Wyoming and across the U.S. ...(Read More)

Wyoming Defies U.S. Supreme Court Over Crow Tribal Hunting Rights Wyoming will appeal a recent district court decision affirming Crow tribal hunting rights granted under treaties signed in the 19th century, rights recently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dan Lewerenz, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said tribal leaders were very clear about maintaining hunting rights before they agreed to move into a reservation on just a portion of lands they had occupied for centuries. ...(Read More)

How to Protect Your Wallet from Holiday Scammers As Wyomingites rush to complete their holiday shopping lists, criminals are seizing upon new online opportunities to separate consumers from their money. Almost half of adults recently surveyed believe companies and customer-support numbers that appear as ads at the top of an online search can be trusted. Tom Lacock, associate state director for AARP Wyoming, said many are carefully constructed traps. ...(Read More)

Wyoming Could Face Multiple Years of Snowless Winters CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wyoming and other western states are projected to see multiple years in a row without any snow as soon as 35 years out if efforts to rein in fossil-fuel emissions fail to meet global targets, according to a new report. Almost 75% of water use in western states comes from snowpack. ...(Read More)

Holiday Poses Challenges for Foster Youths Aging Out of System CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Young people in Wyoming who have not been adopted officially age out of the foster-care system when they turn 18, joining 24,000 young adults nationally facing the same situation. They are expected to find a job and a place to live, among other challenges, without a safety net that typically comes with a forever family. ...(Read More)

Historic Downtowns Offer Gifts Immune to COVID Supply Chain LARAMIE, Wyo. -- Wyoming shoppers choosing to buy gifts at local mom-and-pop stores this holiday season can sample cookies with Mrs. Claus and refuel at Santa's Saloon, and kids can send letters to the jolly old elf via Pony Express riders. ...(Read More)

Suit Filed Over Plan to Poison Thunder Basin Prairie Dogs CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Wildlife advocates are taking the U.S. Forest Service to court over a plan to eliminate prairie dogs from the Thunder Basin National Grassland. ...(Read More)

Conservatives Call for Oil and Gas Reforms on Public Lands CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The Build Back Better Act making its way through Congress includes reforms for oil and gas production on public lands first introduced by the Reagan administration. Dave Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship, said the measure includes common-sense solutions for so-called orphan wells, sites where companies have walked away from their obligation to clean up after production. ...(Read More)

AARP Members Call on Congress to Rein In Big Pharma CHEYENNE, Wyo. - After the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill late Friday, AARP is calling on lawmakers to pass the Build Back Better Act, which among other provisions would clear the way for Medicare to negotiate lower prices with drug makers. ...(Read More)

Poll: WY Lawmakers Out of Sync with Majority of Voters on Medicaid CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Advocates for expanding Medicaid are regrouping after Wyoming lawmakers voted against an expansion bill during last week's special session. R.J. ...(Read More)

Study: Clean-Energy Transition More Gain than Pain CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- New research shows a rapid energy transition away from fossil fuels would save more than $5 trillion compared with continuing business as usual, and that is without accounting for the massive costs of more extreme weather events and pollution brought on by climate change. Sam Butler-Sloss, research associate for Carbon Tracker, a U.K.-based think tank, said solutions to climate change have often been framed as burdensome and painful. ...(Read More)

Survey: Voters Want Methane Rules to Include Smaller Wells CASPER, Wyo. - A strong majority of voters across party lines say they want national rules similar to those passed in Wyoming to reduce methane pollution from oil and gas production, according to a new national poll. Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory and legislative affairs for the Environmental Defense Fund, the group behind the survey, said nearly two-thirds of voters support stronger methane rules if they lead to jobs in the methane mitigation industry. ...(Read More)