With major abortion decisions looming, 9th District Court Judge Melissa Owens has issued some timely orders.  The latest allows plaintiffs who are challenging Wyoming’s abortion bans — including women, health care providers and an aid group — to use eight expert witnesses to support their case.  The expert witnesses’ testimony was scientifically valid, relevant and necessary to address key claims in the case, according to Owens’ Thursday order.  “Expert testimony may be admissible even if shaky,” wrote the Teton County-based judge. “It may provide only a ‘scintilla’ of suppor ..read more

Wyoming’s track record helped secure the largest federal grant in a new program that will see mule deer and pronghorn wildlife-crossings built along a 30-mile stretch of Highway 189 south of Kemmerer. The $24.3 million federal grant to Wyoming was the largest made from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s first tranche of $109 million for a novel Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program. Wyoming will use the money to fund the bulk of the $37 million construction project that will involve fencing 30 miles of the highway, building six or so new underpasses and a wildlife bridge for skittish antelo ..read more

Layla the husky and Leonard the Kelpie went nuts. Marti Halverson’s two domestic dogs were alarmed by the wild feline padding across the Salt River Range mountainside where they live a few Wednesdays ago.  “I looked out the front door, and there he was, walking in my driveway,” the former state representative recalled of the sighting. “Then he walked up to my front door, then around the deck.”  Halverson reached for her iPhone. The focus of her attention and subject of a few photos was a mountain lion, clearly a young one.  Layla and Leonard wouldn’t go out again that day una ..read more

Wyoming officials on Thursday postponed the sale of a coveted square-mile property within the borders of Grand Teton National Park, delaying a public auction that generated widespread publicity and equally widespread outrage. The State Board of Land Commissioners — the governor, secretary of state, treasurer, auditor and superintendent of public instruction — met Thursday afternoon to decide whether to OK an auction proposed by the Wyoming Office of State Land and Investments. Not long into the deliberations, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder made a motion to tabl ..read more

Wyoming will not participate in the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant program, deciding instead to turn down $3 million and an opportunity to apply for more funding from the $4.6 billion federal effort. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Gov. Mark Gordon said, insisted on revising the state’s draft “Cowboy State Pollution Reduction Plan” application and removing flexibility for how the state could spend federal dollars from future Climate Pollution Reduction Grant awards. “For Wyoming, this amounts to a classic bait-and-switch,” Gordon said in a prepared statement this week ..read more

Fresh grizzly bear bloodlines are expected to arrive in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem this summer, adding genetic diversity to a population of animals that’s been isolated for a century. The infusion of genetics will come from the North Continental Divide Ecosystem, and it will roll down the highway in the form of a slumbering grizzly or two.  Why truck in grizzly bears to a population last estimated at nearly 1,000 animals?  Montana and Wyoming — which have hashed out an agreement — are translocating bears as part of the effort to convince the federal government that they’re ..read more

LANDER—Jan Siebersma has delivered thousands of babies during his three-plus decades in obstetrics. He’s seen it all: twins and breech babies, marathon labors, emergency cesarean sections, even the rare en caul delivery when the infant emerges in the intact amniotic sac.  Working in Fremont County for the past 15 years has kept him busy. The New Hampshire-sized county is home to nearly 40,000 people and several towns, but as of 2016, Lander is the only one with a hospital that delivers babies. As recently as 2021 Siebersma provided care alongside another OB and two midwives at the Land ..read more

Despite sharing the common goal of addressing climate change, Gov. Mark Gordon has blasted the Biden administration’s plan to slash methane emissions in the oil and natural gas industry. The administration earned accolades on both the world stage and across the country when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced its final “methane rule” during the 28th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Dubai this past weekend — a move that will not only help abate the growing climate crisis, but will potentially save the industry billions of dollars by selling the fuel instead of ..read more

There’s a 640-acre parcel of magnificent, state-owned public land in Wyoming that’s set for auction unless the state changes its mind. Opinion Simply put, this small inholding, known as the “Kelly Parcel,” should never be privatized — never. It is one of the most awe-inspiring and important pieces of open space remaining in America. Within Grand Teton National Park, its borders include the National Elk Refuge and Bridger-Teton National Forest. Its value was appraised in 2022 at $62.4 million. However, the director of the Office of State Lands and Investment just recommended a starting bid o ..read more

Wyoming lawmakers are ready to propose legislation to sell the state’s 640-acre school trust parcel in Grand Teton National Park directly to the federal government, perhaps with a $100-million price tag. Such a measure would provide an alternative to the controversial auction proposed by the Office of State Lands and Investments that could see the property developed into 18 luxury homesites. A direct sales bill could accomplish the twin aims of raising money for schools while preserving an invaluable national treasure. First, however, the State Board of Land Commissioners — a panel composed ..read more