Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Monday, March 3rd. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Senior Olympics, thanking the participants, volunteers, supporters, and sponsors of the February winter games in Pinedale. Visit Wyoming senior olympics dot com!

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Traffic crashes involving large commercial trucks have been on the rise since 2016, and some in the industry are pointing to a simultaneous rise in non-English-speaking truckers.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that 2016 was the year the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a memorandum telling safety inspectors not to suspend commercial drivers for failing to communicate well in English.

"People who work in the industry are noticing like, Oh, that one didn't speak English, that one didn't speak English, that one tried to order fuel and couldn't speak English… from talking to truckers, people who work with truckers all the time, it's been kind of in the back of their minds, like, how can he read the signs if he can't order fuel? But then the dots really connected when I talked to Shannon Everett, who runs a group representing American truckers, and he said… in 2016 the federal government said, Okay, inspectors stop suspending truckers for non English proficiency, because before they could… pull you from your operation if you could not read the signs, communicate with the general public and log your own reports in in English and and then in 2016 there was this memo saying, Oh no, don't suspend them for this anymore. So after that, the fatalities really started to climb."

Wyoming is no stranger to deadly large-truck crashes, and had the most per capita of any state in 2022. At Wyoming's Evanston-based port of entry, it is "not uncommon" for Wyoming Highway Patrol inspectors to encounter truckers with non-citizen licensed commercial driver's licenses.

Read the full story HERE.

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With President Donald Trump's promises to "drill baby drill," many Wyoming oil and gas service business owners are hopeful that an energy boom is waiting around the corner.

But for now, though, it's been a game of hurry up and wait. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that operators are still having a hard time getting permits, although Some activity has picked up, with optimism riding high.

"the more you produce, the bigger the supply is. What happens to price. It goes down. So if you get below that $60 per barrel oil, you're not going to drill a new well… So companies stop drilling when the price goes down… I think the other contributing factor, permits are still taking a long time to get right. Trump's only a month into his administration. There are a lot of regulations that would have to be streamlined or lifted or changed in order to speed that up significantly.

Additionally, Jean reports that the industry's own success is making new wells unnecessary. Oil and gas engineers are learning how to enhance the oil recovery and make their wells last longer, so they don't have to drill a new well as often to keep the production high.

Read the full story HERE.

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With the repeal of Wyoming's gun-free zones, it's become one of only five states allowing people to carry concealed weapons in K-12 public schools without requiring special permission from school authorities.

Effective July 1, adults age 21 and older with concealed carry permits may also take their weapons