Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, February 13th. I'm Mac Watson.

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All 59 Wyoming representatives who were on the House floor on Thursday afternoon voted to convene a special committee to investigate the checks given to lawmakers on the House floor on Monday. Cowboy State daily's Clair McFarland reports that the committee will investigate if it was an act of bribery or legislative misconduct.

"So, a few of us saw Rebecca Bextel on the House floor Monday, but Representative Karlee Provenza that had the close advantage and took photographs of Bextel handing checks to House members. Now this erupted Wednesday, when Representative Mike Yin was like, 'Do not vote yes on a bill that Bextel has championed after accepting checks from her on the House floor.' And he said, 'We don't want to, it's a bad optics. We don't want the image of bribery.' And that exploded again Thursday, when Representative Karlee Provenza, who originally shot the photographs of this incident, brought a provision to convene a seven-representative investigative panel to determine whether this was bribery and misconduct. And there was extensive debate, like three hours of debates, attempts to amend discussions, people, origin, other people, not to be biased. At the end, all 59 members who were on the House floor available to vote at that time voted in favor of convening this committee…The House Speaker is now tasked with forming the committee, and he promised to form a fair committee, and he urged everyone to give it Grace during this very rushed, very frantic budget session."

Rebecca Bextel is not a state legislator or a registered lobbyist. She is a political activist, and after starting her outlet the Open Range Record, she was registered to attend this year's session as a member of the media.

Read the full story HERE.

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Senate Pres. Bo Biteman told colleagues on Thursday that Wyoming needs to stop waiting and start leading as demand for electricity is expected to spike. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that Biteman spelled out a vision that would put Wyoming in front of Trump's push for American energy supremacy.

"There's a trio of bills now working their way through the Wyoming Legislature, and one of them kind of defines what they're all about. It's about energy dominance. So one bill that was voted into introduction on Thursday directs the Wyoming Energy Authority to study the transmission opportunities. What is the best way for Wyoming to approach the energy market? Senate President Bo Biteman stood on the floor today and told his fellow senators that he wants Wyoming to be the tip of the spear, meaning that as the Trump administration urges the entire country to create more energy as fast as possible, Biteman envisions Wyoming leading the pack."

Introducing Senate File 123, the Wyoming Energy Dominance Fund, Biteman spelled out a vision for the state to position itself at the front of the Trump administration's push for American energy supremacy — backed by roughly $105 million in redirected severance tax revenues.

Read the full story HERE.

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Wyoming officials are universally cheering the Trump administration's Thursday repeal of an Obama-era rule that was the linchpin for EPA climate regulations. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that environmental groups say the move ignores science and invites legal challenges.

"What they say is that it was a giant overreach on government's part to then just be