U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and Sen. John Barasso met with local officials Thursday morning in Casper to discuss leveraging a federal tax incentive program designed to spur development in select zones in the area. The meeting served as a venue for leaders from Casper, Mills and Natrona County to pitch a variety of development projects Read More…

Just before the close of the 2019 legislative session in Cheyenne, Rep. Landon Brown — then a 32-year-old staffer in the state’s Department of Environmental Quality — was contemplating resignation.   The Legislature was approaching concurrence on a bill to raise its $109 per diem rates for some lawmakers that, thanks to a late amendment Read More…

Gov. Mark Gordon announced Thursday that he would be ending a legal proceeding he initiated as state treasurer in 2016 over that office’s authority to approve contracts related to the state capitol building construction project.   Gordon’s suit challenged the 2014 legislation that created the Capitol Building Rehabilitation and Restoration Oversight Group — the entity Read More…

Though Gov. Doug Burgum remains mum on a 2020 re-election bid, he’s already planning another type of term.   Burgum is the new chairman of the Western Governors’ Association, a coalition of 22 governors of western states and territories. He has set the organization’s 2020 annual meeting for June 29 to July 2 in Medora. Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. (KCND) – Next June, North Dakota will be hosting the Western Governors Association. Governor Burgum was recently elected chairman of that organization. He says the meeting will be held in Medora. In 1997, when then-Governor Ed Schafer headed up that group, he chartered a train from BNSF, from Bismarck to Medora. Burgum says Read More…

Former Sen. Duane Mutch, 93, of Larimore, died the night of Wednesday, July 17. Mutch served in the North Dakota Senate for 47 years and was known by some as the most conservative Republican in the Legislature. District 19 first elected Mutch in 1958. He lost re-election in 1976 but regained his seat in 1979. Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakotans had grown accustomed to electing a state auditor named Bob Peterson. After all, the father and son pored over the state’s books in successive tenures that lasted more than 40 years. But that consistency was shattered with the election of Josh Gallion in 2016. Now, the new auditor is at the center Read More…

Former Rep. Cynthia Lummis announced a bid for Senate in Wyoming Thursday, becoming the first Republican to jump into the race and setting up a potential clash with her successor in the House, Rep. Liz Cheney. Lummis, also a former two-term state treasurer, was first elected to the House in 2008 and retired after the Read More…

The chairman of the North Dakota House’s energy committee recently defended a business relationship with the state’s top oil and gas lobbyist.   Mandan Republican Rep. Todd Porter and North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness are both listed in state records as partners in a commercial real estate investment group. Porter owns 5% of Read More…

South Dakota may only be half way through 2019, but the state’s public university system is looking two years into the future. Universities and schools under the South Dakota Board of Regents asked for almost $91.2 million to complete what they deemed as “high-priority projects” in 2021 at Wednesday’s board meeting through informal budget hearings. The Read More…

BISMARCK — A panel charged with selecting members of North Dakota’s new state government ethics commission identified two dozen candidates for further consideration during a meeting at the state Capitol Friday, June 21. Members of the selection committee, composed of Gov. Doug Burgum and the Senate’s majority and minority leaders, each brought their own list Read More…

Former Wyoming Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R) on Thursday officially filed to run for outgoing Sen. Mike Enzi’s (R-Wyo.) seat in 2020. Lummis, a former member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, previously represented the Equality State as the state’s lone House representative, but opted not to seek reelection in 2016. Enzi, 75, in May announced his plans to retire from Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. – On Flag Day, senators Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., and Steve Daines, D-Mont., introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to prohibit the desecration of the American flag. In a press release Friday, Cramer said “A flag worth dying for is a flag worth protecting. While we should always be mindful of First Amendment rights, Read More…

Idaho Gov. Brad Little plans to lead a trade delegation to Taiwan and Hong Kong this fall. The Idaho Wheat Commission June 7 said the trade mission presents an opportunity to recognize loyal client millers in Taiwan and to explore ways to grow that business. Wheat growers from the state have exported for more than Read More…

State lawmakers finalized the interim committee assignments today. The groups will look at various issues over the next 18 months, but today’s meeting might have created another one. Democrats wanted to chair three or four committees and ended up with one. House Minority leader Josh Boschee, D-Fargo, says they had an agreement with republican leadership. Read More…

Cheyenne Mayor Marian Orr is accusing Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon of using profane and misogynistic language toward her in an effort to intimidate her during a meeting on Friday. Gordon responded Monday that Orr mischaracterized the meeting, although he apologized for using an obscenity. “At no time during the conversation was I standing up or using Read More…

CHEYENNE — A wealthy Republican political donor from Wyoming says he’s thinking about running for U.S. Senate in 2020.   Foster Friess told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday he will be weighing a possible run in the months ahead. Republican Sen. Mike Enzi recently announced he will retire at the end of his current Read More…

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Native American rights in a 5-4 decision in a case out of Wyoming. Justice Neil Gorsuch, the only Westerner on the court, provided the decisive vote in this case, showing himself again to be sensitive to Native American rights. The court held that hunting rights for the Crow tribe Read More…

BISMARCK, ND — A Courtenay, North Dakota man is behind an effort to change the state constitution and end prohibition of the cannabis plant. John C. Bailey is the chairperson of the sponsoring committee. He has turned in a petition request to the secretary of state’s office in Bismarck. The secretary and attorney general will review Read More…

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department tracked 40 outdoors-related bills during the 2019 legislative session, 21 of which were passed by both chambers and signed into law by Gov. Doug Burgum. Here’s a closer look at the bills, which take effect Aug. 1 unless the bill includes an emergency clause indicating it already is Read More…

North Dakota has seen a small swell of storytelling on screen in recent years, but none of it filmed here. The FX television series “Fargo” was shot in Calgary, Alberta. “Woman Walks Ahead,” which portrayed an artist’s relationship with Sitting Bill on the Standing Rock Reservation, was filmed in New Mexico. And ABC’s “Blood & Read More…

Gov. Doug Burgum on Thursday signed the last 53 bills remaining from the 2019 North Dakota legislative session, including one reforming civil asset forfeiture. Rep. Rick Becker, R-Bismarck, brought the original bill to eliminate the “perverse incentive” of “policing for profit.” Civil asset forfeiture applies to property involved in crime. The bill evolved greatly over Read More…

A huge majority of people responding to a Townsquare Media of Cheyenne poll over the past week say “good old boy” politics run Wyoming. While the poll was not a scientific sampling of public opinion, 504 out of 607 people taking the poll represents an overwhelming majority agreeing with the premise of the question. That Read More…

BISMARCK, N.D. – The North Dakota Legislature is scrambling to finish its work and leave at least a handful of days on the books before the constitutional 80-day limit. Lawmakers had hoped to be finished in less than 75 days to give themselves a cushion that could be used in the future to address unforeseen Read More…

BISMARCK — The North Dakota House rejected a compromise bill creating a new income tax deduction for Social Security benefits Monday, April 22, sending legislative negotiators back to the drawing board.   As introduced, House Bill 1174 would have allowed people to reduce their North Dakota taxable income by the amount of any Social Security Read More…

BISMARCK — A North Dakota Republican state senator from Mayville has resigned due to health issues. Arne Osland, who was in his second session in the state Legislature, notified Legislative Management Chairman Sen. Ray Holmberg of his resignation in a letter dated Monday, March 18. “It has been my honor and privilege to serve the Read More…

Out of 503 bills introduced in the Wyoming Legislature this year, about 43 percent of them made it Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk. When Wyoming’s chief executive takes his pen Friday to the final 13 bills passed by the Wyoming Legislature, he will be considering three of the most contentious pieces of legislation to emerge from Read More…

BISMARCK — North Dakota senators voted Monday, March 18, to repeal the state’s law prohibiting drivers from leaving their car running while it’s unattended, a ban that’s often ignored during the state’s frigid months. READ FULL STORY

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon vetoed a bill Friday that would have allowed the Legislature to sue the state of Washington over coal exports. It’s important for Wyoming to “speak with one voice” on coal-export litigation, Gordon said. Wyoming is the top coal-producing state. Wyoming’s coal industry seeks to export more coal Read More…

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – Gov. Mark Gordon has signed into a law a measure that aims to keep Wyoming’s coal-fired power plants online and in business by requiring a utility to try to sell the facility first before decommissioning it. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports Gordon on Friday signed Senate File 159, which was sponsored Read More…

BISMARCK — A panel chaired by North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum voted Monday, March 11, to pursue a legislative fix that would pay back state funds that the state’s land commissioner says have been shorted, putting it at odds with top Republican lawmakers. A Senate committee will consider a delayed bill addressing the issue Wednesday Read More…

BISMARCK — Two revenue forecasts due next week will give North Dakota lawmakers a brighter path for budgeting in the session’s second half. Joint meetings of the House and Senate appropriations committees will hear the Moody’s Analytics forecast on Monday, March 11, then the IHS Markit forecast on Tuesday. Moody’s has long provided forecasts for Read More…

The executive director of Wyoming’s $8.5 billion pension fund will retire in July. Ruth Reyerson is departing after almost six years, staying on to help the transition as the Wyoming Retirement System searches for her successor. Staff praised Reyerson’s accomplishments, such as her “focus on building a strong management team at every level of the Read More…

A new bill introduced in the Idaho legislature Tuesday would allow people with an enhanced gun permit to carry a handgun in public schools without first telling administrators. State Rep. Chad Christensen (R) told the Idaho State Journal he introduced the bill because he doesn’t want schools “to be a soft target.” The bill would Read More…