Britney Tennant, chief executive of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter and longtime nonprofit leader, announced her candidacy for the Wyoming House of Representatives in District 11, running as a Democrat on a platform centered on unity, public education and economic opportunity. Tennant brings deep Wyoming roots to her campaign. A fifth-generation Wyomingite and graduate of Cheyenne Read More…
Sam Mead, a Jackson rancher and fifth-generation member of a prominent Wyoming political family, has announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate, becoming the latest Republican to enter the open-seat race. Mead is the fourth candidate overall and the third Republican seeking the seat after Cynthia Lummis announced in December that she would not seek Read More…
Gov. Larry Rhoden has appointed Chad Callahan as a circuit judge in the Fourth Circuit, filling a vacancy created by the retirement of Mike Day. Rhoden praised Callahan’s integrity and professionalism, saying he is confident the judge will uphold the rule of law, treat everyone fairly in the courtroom, and serve the state well. Callahan Read More…
Mark Gordon announced he will not seek a third term as Wyoming governor, confirming his current term will be his last in office. Gordon recently met with his cabinet to outline priorities for the remainder of his administration, focusing on strengthening Wyoming’s economy, supporting key industries, protecting natural resources, and investing in local communities and Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — The governor wants the Legislature to provide more than $4 million for state government to start preparing for medicinal and recreational marijuana in South Dakota. Legislation was pre-filed Thursday that would appropriate $4,026,253 to the state Department of Revenue and $135,249 to the state Department of Health. The Senate Appropriations Committee agreed Read More…
U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., objected to counting Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes hours after a violent mob supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, causing significant damage, leading members of the U.S. Congress to seek shelter and delaying the certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s November victory by nearly six hours. Lummis, sworn in Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawmakers convene Tuesday either in person wearing masks or remotely for North Dakota’s 67th legislative session. The session comes as lawmakers face tough spending choices amid a pandemic that’s hit a state economy already reeling from depressed oil and agriculture prices. Ambitious billion-dollar bonding proposals from Republicans, Democrats and Gov. Doug Read More…
For a few months in the spring of 1996, Mike Enzi thought his career in politics was over. Then a 10-year veteran of the Wyoming Legislature, Enzi was in recovery from open heart surgery the previous October at Deaconess Hospital in Billings, Montana, where he was treated for a damaged heart valve. It Read More…
A reduction in soda ash royalties expected to save producers up to $5 million over the next 10 years is being praised by members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation. U.S. Sens. Mike Enzi and John Barrasso and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney welcomed the U.S. Department of Interior’s decision to reduce the royalties paid on soda ash Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — Democratic leaders in the Idaho Legislature are requesting that the upcoming legislative session – set to begin on Jan. 11, 2021 – be postponed until at least April due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to GOP House and Senate leadership, Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett and House Minority Leader Ilana Read More…
BISMARCK, N.D. – Gov. Doug Burgum signed an amended executive order paving the way for restaurants and bars to resume normal hours of operation as active cases and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 have decreased in North Dakota. Bars, restaurants and other food service establishments have been closed to in-person service between the hours of 10 Read More…
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (KIFI/KIDK)-Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order Monday to prevent large increases in Unemployment Insurance (UI) taxes for businesses directly impacted by COVID 19 health orders. Under the order, the Department of Workforce Services will remove unemployment insurance benefit charges from the policies of all businesses and industries named in health orders. Read More…
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem urged Minnesota business owners to relocate to her state after the Minnesota attorney general began suing bars that defied the state’s lockdown orders. “Come to South Dakota!” Noem tweeted. “We respect your rights. We won’t shut you down.” Noem’s tweet also shared a Star Tribune article that highlighted the stories of bars Read More…
The Minnesota Republican Party has decided to hold its annual winter retreat in Deadwood, South Dakota. On its invitation to members, party officials say they’re excited to hit the road and head to our “friendly neighbors to the west in a beautiful, free and open part of the country.” South Dakota has fewer COVID restrictions Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — The Wyoming Legislature is considering joining other states in authorizing the use of “automated vehicle identification systems” to enforce speed limits and other traffic laws. 19 states and the District of Columbia have laws in place which allow the use of cameras to issue speeding fines, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Read More…
PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem sent official letters on December 7 withdrawing as a presidential elector and asking that South Dakota Republican Party chairman Dan Lederman serve in her place. Lederman and two fellow Republicans, Lieutenant Governor Larry Rhoden and State Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg, met at noon Monday in a Read More…
South Dakota is making a last-minute bid to overturn presidential election results and keep President-elect Joe Biden from taking office next month. South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg’s office Wednesday joined 16 other states with Republican attorneys general in filing an Amicus Brief in support of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit against four battleground states — Georgia, Read More…
Cynthia Lummis is the Republican senator-elect from Wyoming, having been elected to succeed Mike Enzi. She will be the first woman to represent Wyoming in the Senate. First elected to the House in 2008, she served as the representative for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district from 2009 to 2017. READ FULL STORY
Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin accepted $314,727 under the Paycheck Protection Program, a federal coronavirus relief program, records show. Three months later, she wrote an op-ed published in newspapers across the state criticizing those “who advocate socialized medicine, unearned income, and other handouts … that foster dependency.” The money was offered to employers under the $2.2 trillion coronavirus aid Read More…
SANDPOINT, Idaho — A county commissioner in northern Idaho has proposed defunding the local health district after the district instituted a mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus as it surges in the area. The Bonner County Daily Bee reports that Bonner County Commissioner Steven Bradshaw proposed the resolution Tuesday to pull Read More…
New state lawmakers take office this week during the Legislature’s organizational session, during which the governor will lay out his budget plans and lawmakers will decide on a legislative mask mandate. Among those swearing in will be a longtime, powerful state representative whom Gov. Doug Burgum sought to keep from another term. Business during Read More…
BOISE, Idaho — The Idaho State Board of Education held a special meeting Monday, Nov 23. The board meeting started at 3 p.m. and was streamed live. Board members took four pending rules that will be submitted to the Idaho Legislature when next year’s session begins in January. The proposed rules have to Read More…
The now-former Washakie County Health Officer says he was let go over his support for a mask mandate. On Monday, KWOR reported the Washakie County Commission called a special meeting on Monday and unanimously voted to remove county health officer Dr. Ed Zimmerman. Commission Chairman Fred Frandson declined to go into details and simply told Read More…
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Two South Dakota law enforcement officials want the courts to overturn a citizen-approved constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana in the state. Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom and South Dakota Highway Patrol Superintendent Rick Miller filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the constitutionality of the amendment. READ FULL STORY
CASPER, Wyo — Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s sole delegate and third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, has called on President Donald Trump in a statement to either back up his claims of voter fraud or respect the “sanctity of our electoral process.” “America is governed by the rule of law,” Cheney wrote. “The President Read More…
GILLETTE — The son of a Wyoming state representative who opposed COVID-19 public restrictions said his father was positive for the coronavirus when he died. Roy Edwards, 66, died Nov. 2 at Wyoming Medical Center in Casper after being hospitalized for more than a week with illness that was not immediately disclosed, The Gillette Read More…
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was “distracted” before he drove onto a highway shoulder where he struck and killed a pedestrian in September, state Secretary of Safety Craig Price said Monday. Price said 55-year-old Joseph Boever was walking on the side of the road and displaying some type of light on the night of Sept. Read More…
Gov. Doug Burgum is seeking legal representation for a likely lawsuit over a Bismarck-area state legislative seat won by a deceased candidate. The governor on Friday asked Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem to appoint three attorneys with Vogel Law Firm in Bismarck to represent him “on legal matters related to Legislative District 8’s membership in the North Read More…
Micron Technology is one of Idaho’s largest employers, but it only pays property taxes on a fraction of its taxable value. The reason? An unsuccessful attempt to lure a nuclear company to East Idaho during the Great Recession. The company paid $4.75 million in property taxes in 2019, only 23% of what it would owe Read More…
The Libertarian Party earned a historic victory Tuesday, clinching a statehouse seat for the first time in nearly two decades. Marshall Burt was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives in its 39th district, defeating Democrat incumbent Stan Blake, said Bob Johnston on the Libertarian National Committee. “This is only the fifth time in Libertarian Party history a candidate running only on Read More…
Whether dark money is a problem in North Dakota depends on who you ask. “Absolutely there’s problems with transparency in elections here,” Ellen Chaffee, a proponent of the Ethics Commission, said. “I don’t think dark money is a real problem in North Dakota,” Bismarck Republican Sen. Dick Dever said. Dark money refers to political spending Read More…
North Dakota voters are deciding whether to reelect their only congressman, a freshman incumbent, or pick someone new for the next two years. U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., is seeking a second term. He’s challenged by Democratic-NPL nominee Zach Raknerud, a retail manager in Minot, and Libertarian Steven Peterson, a Fargo business owner. In Read More…
A state financial report released Monday showed a General Fund shortfall of $451.1 million and a school funding shortfall of $300 million, according to a news release from Gov. Mark Gordon. The Consensus Estimating Revenue Group’s forecast is slightly better than projected in May, but the state’s revenue collections have experienced a significant decline. “I Read More…
Some things are easy to predict in Wyoming politics. The liberal enclaves of Jackson and Laramie will continue to favor Democrats, despite Wyoming’s deep red reputation. Natrona County, home to a robust and influential conservative establishment, will continue to elect Republicans under the local, “big tent” tradition. And towns such as Gillette, as conservative Read More…
CHEYENNE — With Wyoming approaching one of the most crucial legislative sessions in its history, state lawmakers held initial discussions Wednesday afternoon on what COVID-19 precautions will need to be taken to kick off the session in January. While members of the Legislature’s Management Council didn’t finalize a format during their meeting Wednesday, one thing Read More…
(AP) – The Supreme Court refused on Monday to take up an appeal from South Dakota’s only death row inmate, who was sentenced to death after he pleaded guilty to taking part in a torture killing 20 years ago. The court did not comment in leaving in place the death sentence for Briley Piper, an Read More…
BISMARCK — A Republican candidate for the North Dakota House of Representatives died Monday, Oct. 5, a month out from Election Day and with no way to replace his name on the November ballot. Multiple representatives from the North Dakota Republican Party confirmed the death of David Andahl, a candidate in the high-profile District 8 Read More…
A committee of South Dakota lawmakers this week is expected to send recommendations to the governor’s office and the Legislature about how $1.3 billion in federal coronavirus relief funds should be used. But a meeting Wednesday to finalize formal suggestions could be a preview of what’s to come at next week’s special session. Legislators have been meeting for weeks with various Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon’s office said on Thursday, Oct. 1 that Gordon supports President Donald Trump’s decision to issue an executive order which aims to protect domestic mining in the United States. “Yesterday, September 30, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order and declared a National Emergency to expand the domestic mining Read More…
CASPER, Wyo. — Casper attorney and former Chief Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court Michael Golden was presented with the Wyoming State Bar’s Gerald R. Mason Professionalism Award on Tuesday, Sept. 15. Golden’s award was presented Tuesday “during a small awards luncheon held in conjunction with the Bar’s Virtual Annual Meeting.” Wyoming State Bar President Read More…
One man died Saturday night in a pedestrian-vehicle crash west of Highmore. A 2011 Ford Taurus was westbound on U.S. Highway 14. The driver, 44-year-old Jason Ravnsborg of Pierre, told the Hyde County Sheriff’s Office that he had been involved in a car-deer crash. The driver was not injured. The pedestrian’s body was discovered Sunday Read More…
The Wyoming Public Service Commission moved to delay finalizing its investigation into the state’s largest utility on Tuesday, after an energy company made an eleventh-hour request to include additional evidence in the case. Commissioners had initially scheduled public deliberations on its investigation into PacifiCorp for Tuesday afternoon but ultimately delayed the proceeding. The commission determined it Read More…
North Dakota’s Democratic-NPL Party on Friday endorsed a new candidate for state insurance commissioner, days after the state Supreme Court ordered the party’s nominee removed from the ballot. The party’s Executive Committee endorsed Mutual of Omaha insurance agent Jason Anderson, of Fargo, to replace Bismarck critical care respiratory specialist Travisia Martin, whom the court Read More…
On Tuesday, Republican primary voters will effectively choose their state’s next US senator. Sen. Mike Enzi, the four-term Republican incumbent who’s served as chair of the Senate Budget Committee since 2015, is retiring. He and the state’s junior senator, John Barrasso, have both endorsed former Rep. Cynthia Lummis for the seat. Lummis held Wyoming’s one and only House Read More…