Wyoming Lawmakers Spar With Obama On Middle Class Agenda
Republicans now control the gavels on Capitol Hill, but last week they were given a stark reminder of how limited their power is here in the nation’s capital when President Obama delivered his State of the Union address where he touted recent economic gains.
From 'Fiscal Apocalypse' To 'Meh' : Oil States Respond To Price Slide
The budgets of oil states are going to be hard hit by the recent slide in oil prices. Measured in dollars, Texas is the clear loser, but in terms of actual on-the-ground impacts, it isn't quite so simple. In the country’s number two oil-producing state, North Dakota, falling prices have barely caused a ripple, while in Alaska (ranked fourth), lawmakers are calling it a “fiscal apocalypse.” In Wyoming (ranked eighth), reaction has been subdued, but that may not last.
Wyoming Hosts First Wastewater-Powered Data Center In U.S.
The experimental Microsoft Data Plant in Cheyenne, Wyoming is the first data center in the country to be powered solely by the wastewater treatment plant next door. Or more specifically, off of the methane that is emitted when what goes down our toilets and sinks is processed.
INSIDE ENERGY: In North Dakota, Oilfield Spill Problems Worsen
The pipeline that burst earlier this month and spewed oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana made headlines. But just across the border in North Dakota another pipeline was quietly leaking a potentially more disastrous substance: wastewater from oil wells.
Opponents Discuss Their Opposition To Medicaid Expansion
For the last few years Wyoming has considered taking advantage of part of the Federal Affordable Care Act which pays states to expand Medicaid services to the so called working poor. While states have some up-front costs, the federal government pays for 100 initially and 90 percent after that. In Wyoming it would pay for close to 18,000 additional low income people to get health care coverage. Despite the federal money, lawmakers have consistently refused to adopt expansion. Why? The answer is varied.
Wyoming has long had issues with substance abuse. Alcoholism has always been a problem here, and in the 1990s and early 2000s methamphetamine took hold across the state. But one drug you didn’t hear much about was heroin. That is changing. Easy access to prescription pain pills in recent years has helped make heroin a small but growing problem in Wyoming.
Obama's Immigration Orders Will Impact Jackson Workers
Last November, President Obama announced a major executive action on immigration—a plan that would offer temporary legal status and deportation relief to millions of immigrants who live in the country without documents. That’s big news for residents of Jackson. In the past few decades, the town’s Latino immigrant population has skyrocketed from basically zero—to about 30 percent of the community. As Wyoming Public Radio’s Aaron Schrank reports, these changes to immigration law could bring new opportunities to Jackson’s working class immigrants—and the employers who hire them.
More Native American Women Taking On Breadwinner Role
1 in 4 Native Americans lives under the poverty level--it’s the worst poverty rates in the U.S. of any racial group. But one group is improving its economic outlook on the reservation: Native women. They’re taking managerial jobs and pursuing higher education more than ever before and are often the primary family breadwinners. In fact, at the Wind River Casino--the largest employer in Fremont County--the female workforce is now almost 60 percent.
Rephotography Book Shows What's Changed, What's Stayed The Same In Wyoming
A new book chronicles changes in Wyoming over the past century. Historian and photographer Michael Amundson has retaken hundreds of photos from the early 20th century. His photos, shot in 1987-88 (while he was a student at the University of Wyoming) and again in 2007-08 are studies of pictures taken by Joseph E Stimson, a commercial photographer for the state and various railroads. The book is called “Wyoming Revisted: Rephotographing the Scenes of Joseph E. Stimson.” Amundson spoke with Wyoming Public Radio’s Micah Schweizer.
