Wyoming Public Radio & Media

07/26/2025

As summer is in full bloom, take a listen to our Science Camp series from HumaNature’s Archives: https://ow.ly/39Rm50Wvpvb

07/25/2025

Lawyers for the state hit back this week amid an ongoing legal battle between the state and its teachers over public school funding.

In a new filing to the Wyoming Supreme Court, the state said the idea that Wyoming schools are underfunded is "detached from reality."

"This appeal represents yet another chapter in the seemingly endless cycle of litigation over the constitutionality of school funding in Wyoming," the filing argues. "The Wyoming legislature has adjusted the current model over the years to improve efficiency and more closely reflect cost estimates. Unhappy with these choices, school districts and their allies again resort to legal action, filing suit to force further adjustments and compel more spending."

In a brief submitted to the Wyoming Supreme Court, lawyers for the state argue a claim of inadequate school funding brought by teachers "defies...

07/25/2025

Wyoming and the federal government are currently studying the rare earth mineral potential in the state. This comes as companies are eyeing setting up shop.

Wyoming geologists released a new rare earths mapping tool this week after aerial surveying was done this spring. Ideal mining areas have both light and heavy rare minerals. That’s because a combo is needed for things like cell phones.

“The lights make the energy run, the heavies keep it cool so it doesn't blow up in your hand,” said Melissa Sanderson, board director for American Rare Earths.

The company is hoping to be mining deposits on state land between Laramie and Wheatland, known as the Halleck Creek project, by the end of the decade.

Currently there’s not much competition in the U.S. There’s only one active rare earths mine in the U.S., which is based in California. Sanderson said that’s because of permitting and funding logjams, something the feds have been trying to fix.

Wyoming and the federal government are currently studying the rare earth mineral potential in the state. This comes as companies are eyeing setting...

07/25/2025

Wyoming Sounds will be broadcasting live from the 20th anniversary of What Fest.
Join Grady Kirkpatrick and Dr. Robert for live music....
Friday - Jalan Crossland, House of Cards, Noisefolk, The Patti Fiasco.
Saturday -Two Tracks, Taylor Shay Band, the River Arkansas, Bob LeFevre and the Already Gone
Pictured: John Poland and Shawn Hess show on the acoustic stage at What Fest 2024.
What Fest live and direct from just north of Saratoga….this Friday and Saturday on Wyoming sounds….streaming at WyomingSounds.org.

07/25/2025

Harmful cyanobacteria bloom advisories have been issued for two more lakes in Wyoming.

Blooms were found in Glendo Reservoir and Goshen Hole Reservoir, and Brooks Lake.

This adds to the 10 waterbodies where advisories already exist this summer.

The state issues a bloom advisory for a water body when a cyanobacteria bloom is present and cyanotoxins may be present. A toxin advisory is issued for a particular location within a waterbody when toxin concentrations exceed safe recreational levels.

Waterbodies under an advisory are not closed, since HCBs may only be present in certain areas and conditions can change frequently. Advisories will remain in place until blooms have fully dissipated and cyanotoxin concentrations are below recreational use thresholds identified in Wyoming's HCB Action Plan.

Swimming or any similar contact with the water has the potential to make you, pets or livestock sick. If you, a pet or livestock touches the algae, rinse off with clean water as soon as possible.

07/24/2025

Last year, the Teton County School District found multiple sw****ka images in a high school bathroom. Thirteen months later, the district found graffiti including antisemitic messages and racial slurs in a field near Jackson Elementary School. In April, Jacksonites began removing other white supremacist and neo-fascist hate images around town, too.

Beyond these isolated instances, incidents of antisemitism, especially vandalism and assault, are on the rise nationally, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

In light of that, members of the Jackson Hole’s Jewish Community and Christian church groups gathered last month to watch “October 8,” a documentary about the rise of antisemitic incidents in the wake of Hamas’ attack on Israel in 2023. The film focuses particularly on some students’ experiences with the rise of antisemitism on social media and college campuses.

After the screening, Shari Brownfield said her daughter didn’t experience antisemitism directly growing up in Jackson.

Following antisemitic images found around town, Jackson parents weigh in.

07/24/2025

Anglers haven’t been able to fish in Jackson Lake during October for more than 70 years. But the popular spot in Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) will open to fishing enthusiasts next October, when a closure that’s kept the month off-limits in the past will lift.

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Fish Management Coordinator Mark Smith said the initial closure started when folks were stocking up the lake to build a lake trout population.

“ It was also a period of time when most anglers that went out harvested their catch,” he explained at a recent Game and Fish Commission meeting in Casper.

Now, “most” is more like half, according to Smith. He said the trout population in Jackson Lake is fully established.

“ We believe that keeping the lake open will provide some increased opportunity with really no substantive consequences to the lake trout population,” he told commissioners.

The fish management coordinator referenced a Game and Fish survey during his presentation, which found that 74% of anglers wanted the closure to change.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will work with the National Park Service to extend invasive boat inspection stations to mirror the longer...

07/24/2025

School boards and special districts across Wyoming are facing shrunken budgets after lawmakers made cuts to a major funding stream in the recent legislative general session: property taxes.

Over Zoom, phone calls and in-person meetings, school district leaders have been telling Brian Farmer, president of the Wyoming School Boards Association, that they’re worried.

“Folks are becoming nervous as we look at future projections of what will happen to the School Foundation Program Account [SFPA],” said Farmer in a phone interview with Wyoming Public Radio.

The passage of SF 69 during the session means single-family homeowners will see a 25% cut applied to the first $1 million of their home's fair market value.

At the same time, the state is constitutionally required to fund public schools.

The heads of the state’s special districts and school boards associations say concerns abound after lawmakers cut property tax revenue this year.

07/24/2025

Wyoming’s Sheep Wagons #511: Robert C. Warner Papers

There was a time when sheep wagons were a fixture of the Wyoming landscape. The origin of the sheep wagon is debatable.

https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/show/archives-on-the-air

07/23/2025

It’s a clear morning in Lovelock, Nev., a small desert town about 90 miles northeast of Reno. It’s also home to the Lovelock Paiute Tribe, which has a 20-acre reservation on the edge of town.

At a tree-shaded park, the tribe is hosting its annual health fair. The air is filled with lively chatter and strums of an acoustic guitar. The sun-streaked space is filled with Indigenous jewelry vendors, information booths promoting health and wellness, and a handful of food trucks, offering everything from tacos to ice cream.

There’s also a vehicle that looks like a large blue-and-white motorhome idling on the edge of the park. But if you step inside, you’ll find two patient rooms with exam tables, a bathroom and a center lab with a blood draw station.

The rural healthcare shortage has hit some tribal nations especially hard. One tribe in Nevada has found a solution: a doctor’s office on wheels.

07/23/2025

A third case of measles has been confirmed in Wyoming.

The Wyoming Department of Health (WDH) said an unvaccinated adult from Carbon County was exposed out of the country.

The person was in public areas while contagious. The state’s epidemiologist is asking folks to self-monitor for symptoms for 21 days past the potential exposure date if they were at:

July 16, 2025, 11:15 AM through 2:10 PM – Elevated Health & Safety Solutions (EHSS)
July 16, 2025, 1:00 PM through 3:00 PM – City Market, Rawlins
July 17, 2025, 11:59 AM through 6:43 PM – Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC)
WDH is working with EHSS and MHCC to notify people who may have been exposed.

The state health department says an unvaccinated adult from Carbon County was exposed out of the country. Two other cases were previously confirmed...

07/23/2025

Going to Extremes with Mark Jenkins – Season 1 Episode 4, Ginge Fullen - Out now!

Season 2 Coming out July 30th!

Today's story is about the most successful mountaineer in the world who is utterly unknown.

goingtoextremeswithmarkjenkins.org