Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, March 4th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show With Jake! From 6 to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, host Jake Nichols brings you news, weather, sports AND in-depth interviews with news-makers from across Wyoming - presented with Jake's unique humor and lively commentary. Just click on the Cowboy State Daily homepage and join the live broadcast!

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The number 2 and 3 trona players in the world are coming together in Wyoming to create a global juggernaut.

London-based WE Soda has announced the $1.425 billion acquisition of Genesis Alkali's two trona mines in southwest Wyoming. It's a move that puts all of WE Soda's U.S. operations under a single entity, with a combined capacity of 10.5 million tons per year. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that that makes it the largest natural soda ash producer in the world - and positions it well to take on China and other international competitors in the trona sector.

"they're based in London, but… They have trona mines in Turkey, and they have purchased two Wyoming trona mines owned by Genesis alkali… it does make them the world's largest trona producer. We've put the number two and the number three trona producers together, and that's going to create just a juggernaut, really… The acquisition included a port in Oregon, which I think that's kind of a juicy asset, okay, we've had some trouble getting new ports built… they already have existing logistics networks with some areas that we sort of hadn't been serving, like South America. So it's a pretty good acquisition."

WE Soda spokeswoman Liz Brimmer told Cowboy State Daily that the news is fantastic for Wyoming, and positions the Cowboy State to be a leader in the trona industry for decades.

Read the full story HERE.

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A last-ditch budget compromise from the Wyoming House of Representatives was rejected by Senate leadership on Monday, paving the way for what will become a mad dash to cram pieces of the rejected supplemental budget into other bills before the Legislature adjourns Thursday.

Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that leadership from both chambers met Monday morning to consider a proposal brought forward by the House, which would return to the original supplemental budget approved by the Joint Appropriations Committee - along with six amendments that both sides agreed to in their respective versions of the budget. But the Senate rejected it.

"Representative John Bear said they were concerned about spending. I spoke to members of the Senate leadership later in the day… they basically explained they just didn't see a purpose to try to hammer out a an agreement when they already felt like the budget was pretty small and they felt like the parts of it that needed to get passed could be put into other bills… There's certainly people out there who disagree with that conclusion. I spoke to… Holly crutch. She's the executive director of the University of Wyoming School of energy resources, and she had requested $2 million to continue construction on a project that will be working to find alternative uses for coal in Wyoming… Now that money is totally gone and has no idea where they're going to get it from, but she has no hopes that it's going to get put into any other bill this legislative session. That is what we're seeing with a number of other bills."

Senate President Bo Biteman confirmed to Cowboy State Daily there's still no budget on the table of any kind, and one won't be one created over the last four days of the 2025 legisl