Collapsing energy prices and the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to cost Wyoming up to $1.5 billion in revenues through June 2022, preliminary estimates released Tuesday show, setting the stage for steep budget cuts, new taxes, or a mix of both.   In a preliminary report delivered Tuesday to members of the Legislature’s Joint Revenue Committee, Read More…

A New Jersey-based company that sells caller ID spoofing services and the state of North Dakota are asking a federal judge to decide the fate of North Dakota’s new anti-spoofing law. Attorneys for both sides have filed motions in U.S. District Court asking the judge to decide the case based on their arguments, rather than Read More…

Three pieces of legislation providing relief from coronavirus impacts for businesses and renters in Wyoming were approved by the Legislature during its two-day special session. During the session, which ended Saturday, legislators approved bills authorizing Gov. Mark Gordon to spend $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds and specifying how some of the money will Read More…

Idaho’s May 19 primary election will be the state’s first all-absentee-ballot election, a move to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Idaho Press partnered with the League of Women Voters to conduct candidate surveys for local races. Find their answers in the links below or do a ballot search using your home address at vote411.org. Tuesday, Read More…

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Before the coronavirus pandemic the state of South Dakota appeared to be able to afford to pay for historic new unemployment claims caused by an economic downturn, according to reports from the Federal Reserve in Minneapolis and the U.S. Department of Labor. But the state has reached historic new unemployment Read More…

A legal battle between the state of Idaho and a transgender inmate seeking to undergo gender- confirmation surgery may be headed to the nation’s highest court. Gov. Brad Little announced Thursday that Idaho has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s ruling requiring the state to pay for inmate Adree Edmo’s Read More…

BOISE, Idaho — Two civil rights groups that filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new Idaho law banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports have asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent the law from taking effect July 1.   The American Civil Liberties Union and Legal Voice filed the request Thursday. READ FULL Read More…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming House District 45 Representative Charles Pelkey, who also serves as the Minority Whip said today in a Facebook post that Governor Gordon is “suddenly under a lot of pressure to “reopen” the economy no matter what the recommendations from health officials might be.” Gordon’s first of three orders was placed in mid-March in response Read More…

A meeting between protesters demanding an end to restrictions on businesses in Wyoming and Gov. Mark Gordon on Monday was by turns confrontational and civil as the protesters shouted chants at the Republican and later thanked him for his time. Gordon appeared unexpectedly at Cheyenne’s Rally for the Choice to Work, engaging the 50 or Read More…

North Dakota’s per capita rate of testing remains among the top 10 in the nation, while its rate of positives is hovering around 3.2 percent or so. State traffic statistics in some areas are down 53 percent as well. Meanwhile, eight states have both high testing rates and a low rate of positives, North Dakota Read More…

North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party has set its ticket for governor and lieutenant governor.   Hours before the candidate filing deadline on Monday, Dickinson/Killdeer veterinarian and former Killdeer School Board member Shelley Lenz — who has been campaigning for governor the past two months —  announced former state Rep. Ben Vig as her running mate.   Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum asked President Donald Trump on Sunday, March 29, to declare a major disaster for the state in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the illness caused by coronavirus.   If granted by Trump, the declaration would clear the path for North Dakota to receive federal aid based on Read More…

GRAND FORKS — North Dakotans can breathe a sigh of relief: this year’s campaign almost certainly won’t be the political storm that brought a tsunami of spending to the state in 2018, when GOP Sen. Kevin Cramer ousted Democrat Heidi Heitkamp from a nationally coveted seat.   But the stakes are still high for legislative Read More…

Gov. Mark Gordon announced the creation of five task forces designed to tackle the effects of the spreading coronavirus in a press conference in which he chastised Wyomingites who rushed to hoard supplies in recent days. “Think about actions and exercise common sense,” the governor said Monday in his fourth coronavirus news conference in the Read More…

BOISE, Idaho — A bill allowing only biological women to play women’s high school and college sports in Idaho is now one step closer to becoming law.   On Monday, House Bill 500 was sent out of committee to the Senate floor for amendments.   Critics of the bill say it is trans-phobic to prevent Read More…

The Wyoming Senate on Monday gave initial approval to a bill that could eventually lead to doing away with the twice-a-year time changes in the state. But House Bill 44 was also significantly changed from its original form. Senators adopted an amendment proposed by Sen. Ogden Driskill [R-Devils Tower] that would change the requirement in the House Bill that Wyoming would Read More…

A bill to prevent transgender people from changing their sex on their birth certificates is advancing in the Idaho State Legislature, flouncing a federal court order implemented two years ago that prevents such restrictions. H.B.509 argues that maintaining birth records with the sex a child was assigned at birth will provide more accurate documentation and maintain statistics that can Read More…

MANDAN, ND – Sgt. Wade Kadrmas with the North Dakota Highway Patrol says a tooper pulled over Kirsten Baesler on I-94 after observing erratic driving around 9: 45 p.m. Wednesday night. The trooper smelled alcohol and observed behavior consistent with alcohol consumption while talking to Baesler during the stop. Baesler was arrested for driving under the Read More…

Two Republican newcomers are competing with a top member of North Dakota’s Legislature for their district party’s endorsements for two House seats. Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, told the Tribune on Wednesday that he plans to run for another term. Rep. Vernon Laning, R-Bismarck, said he’s not seeking a third term and plans to enjoy retirement, Read More…

South Dakota lawmakers rejected a bill on Wednesday that would have removed a common reason used by married couples seeking divorces, which would have made it more difficult to divorce. Rep. Tony Randolph, R-Rapid City, introduced legislation to remove “irreconcilable differences” as a legal reason for couples to get divorced. Irreconcilable differences is one of Read More…

CHEYENNE — Wyoming may be a frontier state, but it sure loves its fences. More than a century ago, Wyoming built its stock with fences, its forebears reining in the wild, open spaces with apportioned grazing lands and property lines all neatly demarcated within the otherwise craggy and rugged state’s clean, rectangular border.   But Read More…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Legislators from both the Wyoming House of Representatives and the Senate came together on the morning of Monday, Feb. 17 to discuss one of the most important issues hitting Native American communities. “This is an epidemic,” Laramie County Sen. Affie Ellis told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday morning. She was at Read More…

CHEYENNE — For the second straight year, the Wyoming House of Representatives voted down a bill to restrict child marriages in Wyoming, even after the addition of several provisions intended to loosen the bill. The final vote was 31-28. Reps. Tyler Lindholm, R-Sundance; David Miller, R-Riverton; Jim Blackburn, R-Cheyenne; Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne; and Cyrus Western, Read More…

Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday called North Dakota’s future “full of boundless opportunity” as he outlined a blueprint for the state’s oil tax savings fund and announced opportunities for workforce and community development. The first-term Republican governor gave his State of State address at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. It’s his second such address Read More…

CASPER, Wyo. — A member of the Wyoming Legislature criticized “women acting like sexual objects on national television” following the Sunday, Feb. 2 Super Bowl. House District 31 Representative Scott Clem said on Facebook that American culture “is sick and twisted, pushing over-sexualization everywhere.” Clem shared this article from the Miami Herald in which they report that evangelist Franklin Read More…

If Canada ratifies the new trade deal as expected, it would replace the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which President Donald Trump views as unfair to American workers. BISMARCK — The three members of North Dakota’s congressional delegation expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump after he signed the U.S-Mexico-Canada Agreement on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Read More…

Wyoming’s governor is reiterating his support for s a statewide lodging tax to boost state revenue. Republican Gov. Mark Gordon says a lodging tax is the only new tax he would support. Gordon told reporters and editors at the Wyoming Press Association’s winter convention in Casper a lodging tax would make Wyoming’s tourism promotion efforts Read More…

CASPER, Wyo. — Under current Wyoming law, people can get married or enter civil unions if they are at least 16 years of age. The Wyoming Legislature will consider a “child marriage restriction” bill that would raise the minimum age to 18. Both parties entering into marriages or unions would need to be 18. The proposal would Read More…

Even though our statewide radio show is called “Montana Talks,” we cover a lot of issues important to folks in the Rocky Mountain West. We also get a lot of great listeners in Wyoming thanks to the big signal from our Billings radio station: Newstalk 95.5 and AM970 KBUL. That being said, the news that Read More…

Wyoming lawmakers are the least conservative they’ve been in five years, a new report from a top conservative group in Washington says.   However, a close review of the survey shows some oversights in the compilation of the numbers, including key differences in how the group evaluated members of the House and Senate.   Numbers released Read More…

The South Dakota legislature begins their 2020 session on January 14 in Pierre. State Farm Bureau Lobbyist Mike Held says the primary challenge facing lawmakers will be how to divide up the state budget to fund needed programs. He says Farm Bureau members are watching to see if legislators increase agricultural fees to raise revenue Read More…