Wyoming spends significantly more on education than most states. The national average is around $12,000 per student each year, while Wyoming spends over $19,000. But Wyoming’s funding deficit has caused policy makers to question what exactly the state is paying for, and if the high price tag is required to provide a quality education. 

On Tuesday, legislators on the Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration met for the first time with APA Consulting — a firm contracted to help re-evaluate the state’s educational program and funding model.

We’ve all heard of Southern Gothic. In Dauphin, Jason Burge keeps the South in his voice and brings the Gothic out West, where he teams up with Northerner Ray Mitchell for gruff songs with sweet harmonies and singing guitar leads.

Here's a tune from their album, Prodigal Songs for the End of Days.

This week, a group of veterans will ascend Wyoming’s highest mountain, Gannett Peak in the Wind River Range in central Wyoming. 

The climb is part of a project called Summit for Soldiers and the idea is to help get vets who’ve suffered combat trauma into the outdoors to help them recover.

The group’s founder Mike Fairman said as many as 8,000 vets a year commit suicide, and not long ago he was nearly one of those statistics.

Last week, the Riverton Ranger reported that councilors from both tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation signed a memorandum of understanding to help them manage their shared programs.

It’s the first time they'll manage them together since the Northern Arapaho disbanded the joint business council back in 2014.

Since the Joint Business Council was dissolved three years ago, the Northern Arapaho, the Eastern Shoshone, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs have been wrangling in the courts over how to move forward. The new MOU is an attempt to resolve those conflicts.

S.J. Tucker and Leslie Hudson live on 7/25/17 during Wyoming Sounds.

Visitors to the Jackson area left at least ten campfires burning over the weekend.

Two of the fires had been built illegally inside Teton National Park, and two were south of Jackson, according to Fire Prevention Officer Lesley Williams. She said the rest of the unattended campfires were discovered west of the park near Shadow Mountain where there aren’t many natural sources of water to douse the flames.  Williams recommended packing extra water on camping trips, and checking to make sure the fire is really extinguished.