Daily news roundup, Jan. 29, 2008
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Jan 30, 2008 Posted by Bill Luckett
Gov. Freudenthal leads us off today with his op/ed piece on property tax relief for seniors. He takes issue with the Joint Revenue Committee’s refusal to consider helping out elderly people whose property taxes have in some cases doubled this decade, while the panel also refused to subject helium to the same taxes as other minerals.
“The net effect of those two decisions: Exxon avoids an estimated $3 million a year in taxes, and folks over 65 receive no meaningful property tax relief as a result of the committee's decision to punt on both of the bills,” the governor writes. “I am taken aback by the irony inherent in the committee's decision. … A break for Exxon and no real break for Wyoming's seniors leaves me wondering whether the members of the Revenue Committee shouldn't take another look at their action - or inaction.”
Here is the full piece:
$3 million for Exxon, but what relief for Grandma?
The Casper paper supports Gov. Freudenthal on another issue he raised recently:
Wyo needs to protect academic freedom
Republican Tom Sansonetti ducks out of the U.S. House race:
Sansonetti won’t run for House
While a Casper legislator calls it quits (sorry I missed this one yesterday):
Walsh to resign state House post
The Casper Star-Tribune continues “polling week” with this piece on beer and gas taxes:
Poll: Raise beer tax, not fuel tax
The Cheyenne paper comes down in favor of the gas tax:
Our view: Gas tax hike makes sense
As they promised:
Groups sue over wolf-killing rule
Supporters of the wolf rule ask whether opponents are:
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle joins the debate:
Our view: Move wolf plan forward
Meanwhile, when they’re not dodging wolves, elk in western Wyoming are dodging traps – even though we’re only trying to make sure they’re not sick:
In legislative news:
Panel revives tax for colleges
EnCana workers in southwest Wyoming's lucrative gas fields will be housed a little closer to the job site this coming year, after federal officials approved the construction of a new man camp:
Wyoming Public Radio reports that the feds want input on a proposal by Plains Exploration and Production to drill more than 100 new wells on the north edge of the Wyoming Range:
Forest Service seeks comments on Hoback Rim drilling
The status of 44,700 acres of Wyoming Range land originally leased for energy development in 2005 and 2006 has been in question for more than a year, but that could soon change. For the first time in many months, there was an indication Monday that there will be movement in the coming weeks toward some kind of a resolution on the oil and gas leases in question:
Agency responds to gas lease ruling
Officials from Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park began a two-day meeting Monday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Billings on the future of Sylvan Pass:
The Laramie Boomerang previews tonight’s special meeting of the Laramie City Council:
City considers the place of police in Laramie’s schools
And the Jackson paper writes that the developers who are proposing 500 new affordable- and free-market homes near South Park will hold an informational open house this evening: