Daily news roundup, Dec. 20, 2007
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Dec 20, 2007 Posted by Bill Luckett
Some good stuff today! Roll Call, the newspaper that covers Congress, reports that Gary Trauner’s race for Wyoming’s U.S. House seat is on the short list for those across the country that Democrats plan to win in November:
Gov. Freudenthal just released this opinion piece on the upcoming “Building the Wyoming We Want” conference, scheduled for Jan. 10 and 11 at Casper College:
The Cody Enterprise has more evidence that the Wyoming Republican Party did the right thing in sacrificing some of its delegates to its national convention by breaking its own party’s rules and holding its presidential caucuses early. Hugh Cort – yes, THE Hugh Cort, of Mountain Brook, Alabama – will be in Greybull for the Big Horn County Republican caucus tonight:
He’s no Rudy or Mitt (or Obama or Clinton or Edwards or Richardson, for that matter)
The Casper Star-Tribune sounds off against a bill sponsored by both of Wyoming’s U.S. senators to allow people to carry guns into national parks:
You don’t need a gun in a national park
While the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle favors a proposed mill levy to help fund community colleges:
The Green River City Council amended its recently passed no-smoking ordinance to allow smoking in bars, taverns and clubs:
This story cites the citizens’ petition as the force behind the City Council’s change of course:
Petition drives reversal on bar smoking ban
The Gillette News-Record writes that a local District Court judge has asked the state Supreme Court to review a production company’s dispute with the Revenue Department about how to value coal bed methane, a case that could potentially affect millions of dollars in mineral revenue. The request follows a ruling by the state Board of Equalization that Kennedy Oil must pay the Revenue Department the taxes in question:
State Supreme Court asked to review CBM case
John Barrasso has introduced a forest health bill which conservation groups fear would constitute a gift to timber companies and turn management of national forests in Wyoming over to the state forester. The Republican senator says the “Wyoming Forest and Watershed Restoration Act of 2007” would establish a comprehensive management policy to go forward with forest health projects:
Barrasso bill targets beetle kill
Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have formally agreed to work together to prevent species from being listed under the Endangered Species Act, under an agreement signed Wednesday by Gov. Dave Freudenthal, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acting Regional Director Jay Slack:
A recently released evaluation of the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range's management practices paints a bleak picture of the health of the island range ecosystem and charts the inability of the federal agency in charge of managing the area to meet its own goals. The Bureau of Land Management's recently released 75-page draft evaluation examines management practices between 1995 and 2007. The agency is seeking public comment on its evaluation to help guide any revision that may take place:
Report points to horse range problems
Wyoming Public Radio reports that the state’s growth slowed a little in 2007:
A plan to build 430 housing units in southeast Casper passed its first step in the Casper City Council’s approval process, but not without dissension from neighborhood residents. The Preserve development, also known as Haystack, is planned for an area between Missouri Avenue, 21st Street and the Rustic Ridge development.:
Plan for hundreds of housing units continues