Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, January 29th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by Visit Casper. Visit Casper invites you to come enjoy the Casper International Film Festival, January 31 through February 2. A broad range of films from local and international filmmakers will be shown. Learn more and get your tickets at visitcasper.com.

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A bill that would block Wyoming's government from compelling employees to use a coworker's preferred pronouns cleared its first committee vote with unanimous approval, and now heads to the state Senate floor.

If it becomes law, Senate File 77 would forbid the state and all its subdivisions — such as towns, counties, and schools — from compelling or requiring government employees to call their coworkers by "preferred pronouns." That's according to Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland.

"On the one hand, Senator Crump was like, Well, what if I'm calling a guy 'she' to haze him all the time? Can the state not fire me for bullying him?... nd so an attorney from Alliance Defending Freedom, which practices in this area, a ton, said, No, this bill is just the right not to be compelled to say certain things. There's just they cannot force your speech. There's still remedies for bullying, according to him."

The bill passed on a 5-0 vote. It must survive three readings in the state Senate and House of Representatives, and the governor's desk to become law.

Read the full story HERE.

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Freedom Caucus members in the Wyoming House are leading an effort to stop political candidates from running for office in general elections by switching parties after losing primary races.

On Tuesday, the House passed first reading of a bill that would move the date to file as an independent candidate in Wyoming to well before the primary. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfon reports that this would eliminate the ability for people to run after losing primary elections.

"The whole aim of this bill basically, is to target people who were running their campaigns based off the results of primary elections that they didn't like… Currently, people can announce a independent campaign after the primary election for about 10 days… So this is kind of the latest step in a trend of hardline conservatives like Haroldson who do not like people making political registration decisions based off of candidates they do or don't like in elections."

The bill sponsor, state Rep. Jeremy Haroldson of Wheatland, said he's had county elections staff complain to him about the 70-day rule, which gives the clerks a short window to print ballots for Wyoming residents voting from overseas.

Read the full story HERE.

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There's agreement across the board that the torture of a wolf in Daniel last year goes against everything Wyoming hunters stand for.

House Bill 275 was written in response to that incident, and is advancing through the Wyoming Legislature. But Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that whether it should be legal to chase