Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, April 8th. I'm Mac Watson.

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Wyoming was among the first states to hand voter data to the Dept. of Justice last year. But, Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that now, six GOP-led states and 23 Democrat-led states are fighting the initiative in court.

"Trump's DOJ Trump's Department of Justice, requested sensitive voter data, like partial social security numbers, driver's license numbers, other personal identifiers, and some states complied. Wyoming was one of the first ones to just to hand over that information. Other states resisted and refused to hand over that data, including at least six Republican led states that are now being challenged in court. The DOJ is challenging them, and they're fighting for example, the state of Utah is saying, 'No, the Civil Rights Act enforcement provision can't be bootstrapped to later laws mandate for maintaining voter lists in this way.'"

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray said he was granting that request in an Aug. 28 letter to assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. He claimed that after conferring with the Wyoming Attorney General's Office, "We agree that disclosure of the requested records is proper under the Civil Rights Act."

Read the full story HERE.

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A data center is proposed to go next to the blue-ribbon Montana trout water immortalized in the movie "A River Runs Through It." Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that neighbors are scrutinizing the plan as industry insiders say the hunt is on in Wyoming and Montana for new data center sites.

"The top concerns, according to these data center site experts, are water. The quick counter is that, well, wait, we've got this closed loop system that recycles the water. Our water use is no different than a lot of other regular businesses. The other complaint is the data center will drive up demand for electricity and not necessarily be matched by supply. And so if demand goes up and supply doesn't, then is the rate payer left paying more because of. That imbalance that has happened."

The Bonner proposal is the latest test of a question now being asked in rural states like Wyoming and Montana: What does a community get — and give up — when a data center moves in?

Read the full story HERE.

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Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says the city of Cheyenne's push for annexation is "the mayor land-grabbing" for tax revenue. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that Mayor Patrick Collins says he "understands the narrative, but it just isn't true."

"The sheriff gives the example of a call comes in to dispatch and the call is in one of these annexed pockets of land, and so technically, the call should go to a city agency. However, the county is often closer, so they will respond, but the county is not receiving the property taxes that the city is. Mayor Patrick Collins disputes that. He says that everyone in the county is on county land, even including the people in the city. The mayor tells Cowboy State daily, this is not a money grab. He said, we're trying to clean up the regulatory, public safety and services."

While some are critical of the consequences brought on by annexation, others see Cheyenne's push to annex as a necessary step to embrace the city's growth, particularly to accommodate data centers.

Read the full story

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