Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, July 1st. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days. Ten days of rodeo thrills, Xtreme Bulls, live concerts, carnival rides, western heritage, and unforgettable cowboy spirit in Cheyenne, Wyoming! Don't miss the 129th Daddy of 'Em all July 18-27th.

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A dramatic marathon weekend session in the U.S. Senate elevated coal as a high priority among lawmakers who hammered out amendments to President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Republican senators successfully turned the tables on Biden administration efforts to promote green energy through wind and solar projects. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that although critics of the sweeping changes to the bill argue that wind and solar power bring costs down for utility ratepayers, those sentiments didn't slow the Senate's pro-coal legislative maneuvering.

"If you worry coal is heating the planet and causing climate change, it was a bad weekend. If you're Wyoming's coal industry, you're really encouraged that you're being listened to clearly… Should it pass, as as currently written, there's a tax break for coal. There's a reversal in Biden era policies that are really rolling back the competitors to coal, clean energy, like wind and solar."

The amended One Big Beautiful Bill Act now contains several provisions that aggressively support the coal industry through both regulatory relief and financial incentives.

Read the full story HERE.

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When Wyoming passed a law protecting doctors who prescribe drugs off-label, the state excluded providers of abortion drugs from that protection.

But Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the judge presiding over the latest in a series of pro-choice challenges blocked that exception Monday, saying it leaves abortion providers exposed to consequences in a way that could pose both constitutional wrongs and health issues to people.

"Wyoming passed this law where it was like, Okay… Doctors will not face discipline generally for prescribing drugs off label. And the chatter during the lawmaking session was, oh, we kind of have ivermectin in mind, because there was a doctor that suffered consequences for prescribing ivermectin during COVID… but they put in this carve out that says this protection does not apply to those prescribing abortion drugs, right?... Judge Campbell, in a Monday order, said, to me, leaving them out in the cold is similar to punishing them, and we're not punishing them right now because as the law stands while the High Court is reviewing it, abortion is a health care right now."

The new law also excludes from its safe harbor providers prescribing sex-change treatments to kids, but Campbell wasn't called upon to address that provision.

Read the full story HERE.

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Wyomingites concerned about Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee's proposal to sell millions of acres of federal public land in Wyoming, and 10 other Western states, may be able to relax for the time being.

After bipartisan backlash over his plan, Lee finally waved the white flag Saturday regarding getting the sale of public lands into the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Political reporter Matthew Christian spoke to former Deputy Secretary of the Interior - and Te