Around 1891 western author Owen Wister began to create his most famous character. He created a Southern-born ranch hand who was hardened to the West, yet genteel. The character also voiced Wister’s conservative blue-blooded values. This character came to be known as The Virginian.

Laramie’s mechanical genius Elmer Lovejoy designed and built Wyoming’s first automobile in 1895. It was a steam-propelled carriage that carried four people comfortably. It could be driven up to eight miles an hour. Lovejoy’s “horseless carriage” predated Henry Ford’s automobile by several years.

School staff in Wyoming can now carry concealed weapons, on a district by district basis. A bill passed during the 2017 state legislative session gave school boards the power to decide if guns should be a part of security protocol. So far two communities, Cody and Evanston, have taken advantage of the new law. But in Evanston people like Sheila McGuire are pushing back.

As previously reported the state of Wyoming is trying to figure out what to do about issues related to prison overcrowding and public safety. Marc Pelka is the Deputy Director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center who is helping the state find ways to deal with offenders earlier in life and find ways to keep recently released inmates from violating parole or probation.

He was in Cheyenne this week as part of a conference dealing with these topics and others. Pelka’s project is called Justice Reinvestment, he explains it to Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck.