The search for an overdue hiker in Yellowstone National Park stretched into its seventh day, with crews employing helicopters and cellular forensic technology in the effort to find 22-year-old Austin King.

Two helicopters spent Thursday extensively searching the remote southeastern portion of the park where King was last heard from, according to an update published Friday morning by the National Park Service. An employee of a park contractor, King had taken a seven-day solo backcountry trip to summit the 11,372-foot Eagle Peak, the highest point in the park. 

He summited the mountain on Sept. 17 — the same day a storm moved into the area, bringing snow to higher elevations.

The search effort has now swelled to 96 people with assistance from helicopters, a dog team and a drone. The teams are combing an area from the peak to 8,000 feet, examining both drainages and ridgetops, according to the park service update.

Along with the physical search, park staff have “followed up on cellular activity by King” from the evening he summited the peak. The park service had previously said King called friends and family to inform them he had reached the top. On one call, he described fog, sleet, hail and windy conditions at the peak.

“Staff are working with cellular forensic experts to attempt to learn more from this data,” the park service wrote in its Friday update.

The search involves personnel from Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, along with Park and Teton counties. Crews are expected to continue the effort for the next several days as conditions allow. 

King was supposed to arrive for a boat pickup near Yellowstone Lake’s Southeast Arm on Sept. 20. When he failed to show up, he was reported overdue to authorities. 

The search began at first light the following morning. On the evening of Sept. 21, crews found his camp in the upper Howell Creek area.

The park is asking anyone with information about King’s possible whereabouts to contact the Yellowstone Interagency Communications Center at 307-344-2643. He is 6 feet tall, weighs 160 pounds, with brown hair and hazel eyes and was wearing glasses, a black sweatshirt and gray pants.

The post Searchers scour mountain, cellular data for missing Yellowstone hiker appeared first on WyoFile .

Video released by Yellowstone National Park shows the frantic minutes of a shootout between park rangers and a gunman who was killed July 4 as he stormed an employee dining room with a semi-automatic rifle.

The clips from officers’ body-worn cameras show a ranger firing from inside a garage at Samson Fussner, a ranger removing the semi-automatic rifle from Fussner as he lay unresponsive near the loading dock, and a ranger rushing to a colleague, wounded in the leg, who declares “Yeah, I’m all right.”

In a community briefing video statement that lasts 20 minutes, park officials explain how five rangers engaged and killed Fussner at the threshold of the employee dining room early July 4. The room is below the Canyon Eatery that caters to visitors and was open at the time. The park service previously said roughly 200 people were inside.

Fussner, an employee of the park concessionaire Xanterra Travel Collection, had earlier threatened to shoot up the dining hall, according to a recording of a 911 call made to police and released by Yellowstone. He was also accused of showing up at another employee’s residence armed with a pistol and knife. 

After searching for him during the night, rangers found Fussner’s car and a pistol and were patrolling and guarding the area between employee dorms and the Canyon Village visitor amenities.

“Many bullets penetrated consecutive walls of the building when Fussner fired at Officer number one.”

National Park Service statement

“At 8:05 a.m. Fussner emerged from the woods with a semi-automatic rifle and encountered an NPS law enforcement officer near the Canyon Lodge,” the park said in its briefing. He shot first at “Officer Three” so named because that ranger was the third to fire at Fussner. That set off the gunfight that killed Fussner.

Shouting, shots, a fire alarm

Some of the rangers had not turned on their body-worn cameras, and some of what was recorded does not include audio. But the scene that emerges from the video that was captured is one of frantic minutes laced with heavy breathing, shouting, shots, a fire alarm, a dead man and a wounded ranger.

The Park Service briefing provided the following account.

As Fussner emerged from the woods, he advanced toward the back of the two-story visitor eatery and employee dining room, saw “Officer Three,” whose body-worn video camera was not on, and shot at him.

He then saw “Officer One” through an open door on the loading dock and unleashed a barrage.

“Many bullets penetrated consecutive walls of the building when Fussner fired at Officer number one,” the park stated. One bullet from Fussner hit Officer One in the lower part of one of his legs.

Officer One returned fire. Officer Two could not immediately engage Fussner because of his position in a hall, the park said.

But he turned on his body-worn video camera and moved from the hall to where he could see through a garage bay door adjacent to the loading dock.

Fussner moved past the garage door and Officer Two shot at him.

“He’s on the ground!” Officer Two yells after shooting. He also shouts, apparently to a civilian, to get back upstairs in the building.

“You, move! Go! Go!” he yells.

The third officer, the one Fussner shot at first, then engaged the gunman.

“Officer number three rounds the corner of the building and fires at Fussner,” the park states in the briefing. “Fussner falls to the ground.”

Officer Two, who had been near the ranger who was wounded, called for medical help.

“I need one EMS!” he shouts to his radio. “[Inaudible] been hit!”

Video footage also shows an armed ranger running from the employee dorm area behind the Canyon Eatery and training his rifle toward Fussner. Rangers then approach the unresponsive gunman and take his firearm away.

Footage shows a ranger rushing through the Eatery building and up stairs to find the wounded ranger who is being attended to by others.

“Yeah, I’m all right,” the wounded ranger says in response to questions about his condition. He was later treated at an undisclosed hospital.

Rangers from Grand Teton National Park assisted in the confrontation. The incident remains under investigation.

The post Videos show frantic minutes in Yellowstone shootout with gunman appeared first on WyoFile .

While last month’s primary decided more than three-quarters of Wyoming’s legislative races, the balance of power between the two factions of the Republican Party will come down to about a dozen contests in November’s general election. 

The hard-line Republican Wyoming Freedom Caucus is aiming to build on the momentum of the primary, when it gained ground and ousted several prominent Republican incumbents. Eight of those Freedom Caucus-endorsed primary winners face general election opponents in races of varying competitiveness. 

For the caucus to claim control of the House — without needing to rely on a few “swing” Republican lawmakers who don’t reliably vote with their bloc — it will need to win at least five of those contested races. 

Here’s a closer look at the races that will decide control of the statehouse for the next two years.

Most competitive 

Democrat Jen Solis fell 221 votes short of winning House District 41 in 2022. This year, Solis has a political asset she lacked before — a full-length campaign cycle. 

Two years ago, Solis decided to run as a primary election write-in against Rep. Bill Henderson (R-Cheyenne) after she realized the race would otherwise be uncontested. She gained enough support to appear on the November ballot, but that only left her with the months between the primary and the general to ramp up a campaign. 

Solis faces a new opponent this year after Freedom Caucus-endorsed Gary Brown beat Henderson with about 54% of the vote. The district encompasses a section of north-central Cheyenne. 

Just south of there, House District 11 is another race to watch in Laramie County. Rep. Jared Olsen (R-Cheyenne) has represented the district since 2017, but opted to seek a seat in the Senate this year, clearing the way for other candidates. 

Before Olsen’s election, the seat had been represented by Democrats for at least the previous 28 years, according to Legislative Service Office records. 

Former lawmaker and Democrat Sara Burlingame hopes to turn the district blue again, but will have to defeat Freedom Caucus-backed Jacob Wasserburger, who fended off Seth Ulvestad in the primary. 

Burlingame previously represented House District 44 in South Cheyenne, but is running in HD 11 after moving across town. 

A race in central Wyoming will determine whether the 68th Wyoming Legislature includes any Indigenous representation. 

Eastern Shoshone tribal member and Democrat Ivan Posey is challenging Freedom Caucus member Rep. Sarah Penn (R-Lander) for House District 33. 

The district’s constituency is majority Indigenous including major Wind River Indian Reservation communities of Fort Washakie, Ethete and Arapahoe. 

Andi Lebeau, a Northern Arapaho tribal member and Democrat, previously represented the district, but lost her 2022 reelection bid to Penn. 

Republican strongholds 

Rep. Jeremy Haroldson (R-Wheatland), a Freedom Caucus member, is expected to seek a leadership role in the lower chamber, but he will first need to defeat Democrat Charles Randolph for House District 4. 

Randolph previously told WyoFile in an email that he plans to canvass and hold several meet and greets, but the Democrat faces an uphill challenge. The district, which encompasses Platte County and a northern section of Laramie County, has voted Republican since at least 1977. 

Two years ago, Haroldson beat independent candidate, Dan Brecht, by more than 1,100 votes. 

Catty-corner to House District 4 is Albany County’s House District 46, where Freedom Caucus-backed incumbent Rep. Ocean Andrew (R-Laramie) faces Democrat Chris Lowry. However, Lowry told the Laramie Boomerang in August he was considering dropping out. 

Andrew beat Democratic challenger Merav Ben-David in 2022 by more than 1,400 votes. 

Write-in candidates 

Three Democrats secured the requisite 25 write-in votes in the August primary to appear on November’s ballot. Each will now face a Freedom Caucus-backed Republican. 

One of those races will be a rematch between Rep. Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan) and Martha Wright for House District 29 in Sheridan. The two candidates faced off in the 2022 general election with Pendergraft securing 65% of the vote. 

Larry Alwin will challenge Rep. John Winter (R-Thermopolis) for House District 28, a lengthy district that runs from Cody’s outskirts south to Shoshoni.

Carmen Whitehead, meanwhile, will oppose Marlene Brady for House District 60 in Green River. Brady beat incumbent Rep. Tony Niemiec (R-Green River) by 46 votes. 

Whitehead was one of three Democrats to launch a write-in campaign in early August in Sweetwater County, according to Sweetwater Now. 

Albany County’s Democratic incumbents 

While Teton County’s two Democratic representatives will run unopposed, all three of Albany County’s face Republican challengers. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Freedom Caucus will weigh in on any of the three races. 

Shane Swett will oppose Rep. Ken Chestek (D-Laramie) for House District 13, which covers a south-east section of Laramie. In central Laramie’s House District 45, Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie) will seek a third term against Paul Crouch. 

The two districts have historically leaned to the left. High-profile Republicans represented House District 14 for decades, however, until Rep. Trey Sherwood (D-Laramie) flipped the seat in 2020. 

The district covers the northern, rural section of Albany County and includes the communities of Albany, Bosler and Rock River. 

Joe Giustozzi will challenge Sherwood for the seat. 

The general election is Nov. 5. 

The post Here are the races that will decide control of the Wyoming Legislature appeared first on WyoFile .

With lower-than-usual voter turnout in Wyoming’s primary election on Tuesday, several legislative contests came down to very few votes. 

Fifty or fewer votes decided five House races, including northeast Cheyenne’s House District 9, where Rep. Landon Brown (R-Cheyenne) defeated challenger Exie Brown by 17 votes, according to the complete but unofficial election results. 

In the Senate, a closely watched central-Casper contest between Sen. Jim Anderson (R-Casper) and challenger Bryce Reece for Senate District 28 was decided in the incumbent’s favor by 30 votes. 

The closest race came down to seven votes. 

That was between Kevin Campbell and Edis Allen in House District 62 — which spans a portion of southeastern Natrona County and the western half of Converse County. The seat is currently represented by Rep. Forrest Chadwick (R-Evansville), who did not seek reelection. 

The margin was small enough to elicit a recount, which is required by state law when the margin between the top two candidates is less than 1%. 

Converse County conducted its recount Wednesday afternoon, while Natrona County did so Thursday morning. Both counties produced identical results to Tuesday — 794 to 787. Ultimately, Campbell prevailed. 

Malcolm Ervin, Platte County clerk and president of the County Clerks’ Association of Wyoming, said he was unaware of any other recounts occurring in legislative contests.

Joe Rubino, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, told WyoFile HD 62 was the only legislative contest with a small enough margin to qualify for an automatic recount. Rubino did not say whether any statehouse candidates had requested a recount. 

Legislative candidates may request a recount, according to state law, but must do so no later than two days after the state canvassing board has certified the results, which is set to occur Aug. 28. 

By law, the requester foots the bill for the recount, unless the recount changes the election outcome.

The post Several legislative races decided by slim margins as voters stayed home Tuesday appeared first on WyoFile .

Voting machines tested again, show accurate results

Some questioned the testing of Wyoming voting machines in recent weeks, but several counties have confirmed with WyoFile that new tests ordered by the secretary of state showed accurate counts. There were never any errors or failures with early tests, Carbon County Clerk Gwynn Bartlett stressed. Counties ran some voting machine tests where races ended in a tie, and in Wyoming, that doesn’t follow the law. 

“In Wyoming statute … it does say that each candidate shall have a differing number of votes,” she said.

Updated 9:17 a.m by Madelyn Beck

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Polls open across Wyoming

The 2024 Primary election kicked off at 7 a.m. this morning as polls opened across Wyoming. At the Sweetwater County courthouse in Green River, Chief Election Judge Ian Parker placed a sandwich board outside denoting a polling place, making sure to tape down a red directional arrow well to keep it secure from the wind. Laurie Hamel helped him, saying “I just want to ensure elections are fair.” Both are volunteers. “I do believe Wyoming elections are fair,” Hamel said.

Updated 8:14 a.m by Angus M. Thuermer Jr.

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Control of the Capitol: What’s at stake?

Wyoming’s primary will answer a number of questions, but perhaps none is bigger than this: Which faction of the Wyoming Republican Party will control the Wyoming Legislature? Control of the statehouse is hardly academic. It will influence any number of key issues in Wyoming, from energy to education. WyoFile’s reporters offer a video breakdown here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by WyoFile (@wyofile)

Updated 7:56 a.m by Joshua Wolfson

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Early voting wraps up

Early voting tallies were starting to trickle in Monday. In rural counties like Carbon and Weston, early voting counts seem similar to previous election years, clerks said, but in Albany County, participation is well below 2022’s tally. Late Monday afternoon, county elections coordinator Stacey Harvey said about 2,161 total people voted early — either in person or via paper ballot — compared to a total of around 4,300 early votes in the last primary.

These lower numbers could be influenced by a range of factors, including no gubernatorial race this year, a fiery election involving Liz Cheney and Harriet Hageman in 2022, high absentee voting during the pandemic and changes in voter registration laws, among other things.

Updated 6:24 a.m by Madelyn Beck

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Still making your picks? Check out WyoFile’s election guide.

It’s primary day in Wyoming, and if you’re still trying to do your homework, WyoFile can help. Our election guide features questions and answers from dozens of congressional and legislative candidates from around Wyoming. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Not sure where to vote? The Wyoming Secretary of State’s poll locator can help.

Updated 4:25 a.m. by Joshua Wolfson

The post Election 2024 live: Voting machines tested again, show accurate results appeared first on WyoFile .

Don Hall is an avid snowmobiler, but instead of heading for the hills each winter in search of deep powder, he takes an older snowmachine to lower elevations nearer the snow line. There’s a reason the Riverton resident prefers the lower zones despite the rocks, fences and sage most riders avoid: That’s where the coyotes are.

“I’d rather run coyotes than go ride mountain snow,” Hall told WyoFile. “It’s that much fun to me.”

Running coyotes, a hobby he picked up about five years ago, is “beyond a challenge,” he said. It’s rough riding. Plus, when the 49-year-old spots an animal, it’s invariably wheeling — running as fast as it possibly can — and looking to cross a fence line and get to the nearest cover.

About two-thirds of the fleeing coyotes escape, according to Hall’s estimation.

Hall runs down the rest.

“I drive up on them and I park them underneath the track and I shoot them in the head,” he said.

For Hall, who’s also an accomplished carp shooter, running over coyotes with snowmobiles is just another form of hunting — little different than running a predator call and shooting lured canines. He concedes there’s an “unfair advantage” and says he doesn’t enjoy the violence and killing. Videos of coyotes being run over “tear me up,” he said. Nevertheless, Hall feels justified partaking in the practice. It is, after all, entirely legal in Wyoming.

“A snowmobile running over a coyote in the snow, I guess that’s brutal,” he said. “But [it’s] nothing compared to what they do when wolves surround an elk and literally tear it down.”

By Hall’s estimation, what’s sometimes called “coyote whacking” is a niche recreational activity in Wyoming, with maybe 100 avid participants. Others contend it’s much more commonplace. In Sublette County, the activity is widespread enough that a resident once made and marketed apparel celebrating a pursuit he branded “chasin’ fur.”

Regardless, relatively few people — especially outside of the Equality State — knew the practice existed. That changed when a western Wyoming man brought a dying wolf into a bar after running it down with a snowmobile this winter. Suddenly, people across the globe demanded to know why the state allowed an activity they considered nothing short of barbaric.

The outrage prompted Wyoming to temporarily halt its tourism marketing and empanel a new legislative group to study the issue. But that anger, observers say, isn’t likely to result in a ban anytime soon.

Passing on prohibitions

Calls to ban recreationally running over Wyoming wildlife with snowmobiles aren’t new.

In 2019, John Fandek, a former ranch manager and longtime contract elk feeder who lives the small Sublette County community of Cora, wrote in remarks delivered to a legislative committee that running down coyotes and foxes with snowmobiles has “evolved into merely fun-time family recreation” that occurs “every day all winter long in the snow country of Wyoming.”

“The kind of activity described in this statement is not hunting,” he testified. “It is merely despicable, disgusting killing.”

Fandek, who could not be reached, wrote those words the same year that two legislative efforts to criminalize running predators fell flat.

Rep. Mike Yin (D-Jackson) pushed the first bill, which died for lack of a committee assignment. Between sessions that summer, the Wyoming Legislature’s Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee also declined to pursue statute changes being pushed primarily by Teton County residents.

As it stands, it’s explicitly legal to use motorized vehicles to kill predatory species (wolves in 85% of Wyoming and coyotes, red fox, stray cats, jackrabbits, porcupines, raccoons and striped skunks throughout the state).

The laws governing Wyoming Game and Fish exempt predators from rules that otherwise prohibit harassing, pursuing, hunting, shooting and killing wildlife with aircraft, cars, snowmobiles and other vehicles. Species classified as predators can also be taken by anyone, at any time, by any method without a license.

The regulations allowed for the normalization and eventual popularity of running over animals with snowmobiles, but the controversial practice largely stayed out of the spotlight — an open secret mostly confined to a distinct subculture that bantered on message boards and posted helmet-mounted camera videos online. Many of those videos have since been taken down.

Disclaimer: The following video contains footage of a legal but controversial practice in Wyoming of people running over predators with snowmobiles. WyoFile has chosen to publish it here so that readers see for themselves what the practice entails. Viewer discretion is advised.

The lack of attention changed last winter, when a Sublette County resident used a snowmobile to take a young wolf captive and show it off in a Daniel bar.

“The fucker ran it over with his snowmobile and injured it so bad it could barely stay concious,” a Wyoming Game and Fish Department staffer texted the eyewitness who reported the incident.

The saga of the dying wolf kept alive in Sublette County stoked global outrage partly because of the lightness of the punishment: The offender, Cody Roberts, was issued only a $250 ticket, though steeper penalties were available. The incident also introduced people around the world to the Wyoming pastime of running over foxes, coyotes, wolves and other animals with snowmobiles for fun.

Animal rights groups, average folks and even the hunting community united in calls for reform.

Some 70 hunting organizations — including the Wyoming Wildlife Federation and the Cody-based American Bear Foundation — signed onto a joint statement condemning the incident and calling on the Wyoming Legislature to change the law to “define a legal (ethical) means of take” for predatory animals.

“His method of take was using a snowmobile to run it over…,” the groups wrote in the letter. “That is not a method of take. That is not ethical, and that should not be legal.”

The push for a ban reached all the way to Washington, D.C., where activists gathered, fundraised and lobbied congress. Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) even worked on a bill that would have made it a felony to use “a motor vehicle to intentionally drive, chase, run over, kill, or take a wild animal on federal land.” Introduction, however, was delayed after it was vetted with “well-known hunting groups and Second Amendment defenders,” Mountain Journal writer Ted Williams reported. Six weeks after Williams’ story was published, the bill still hasn’t been introduced.

Short of congressional action, federal land managers in Wyoming have told the Jackson Hole News&Guide they lack the jurisdictional authority to prohibit killing wildlife with snowmobiles.

Although the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission was encouraged to change its rules, too, that body likewise lacks the authority to manage predatory animal species which, by law fall under Wyoming Department of Agriculture jurisdiction.

Another run at statute changes

That leaves the decision up to the Wyoming Legislature, which is examining potential changes to the law in direct response to the Sublette County incident. The Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee — the same committee that passed on snowmobiling-related legislation five years ago — even created a subgroup, the Treatment of Predators Working Group, to take on the task.

It’s a mix of lawmakers and non-elected government and private-sector officials: Along with a handful of legislators, the group includes soon-retiring Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Brian Nesvik, Wyoming Department of Agriculture Director Doug Miyamoto, a representative from Gov. Mark Gordon’s office, Wyoming Stock Growers Association representative Jim Magagna and Wyoming Wildlife Federation representative Jessi Johnson.

Rep. Liz Storer (D-Jackson), who chairs the committee, believes that the committee’s makeup was “not balanced.” (Storer also serves as president and CEO of the George B. Storer Foundation, which is a financial supporter of WyoFile. The foundation has no role in WyoFile’s editorial content.)

“It doesn’t reflect the public well,” she told WyoFile. “There are no animal activists articulating their concern.”

To rectify the perceived imbalance, Storer proposed to bring in “outside perspectives” that were not represented in the working group. She sought an all-day meeting to examine the treatment of predators “more objectively” and “more holistically.”

“My desire was to … focus on the topic of addressing wanton animal cruelty,” Storer said. “I don’t think we’ve done that and I think the public would probably agree with that, based on what we’ve done to date.”

Ahead of the Treatment of Predators Working Group’s initial June meeting, Gov. Mark Gordon wrote members a letter encouraging “narrow, focused conversations on wanton animal cruelty,” while discouraging them from straying.

“Punish unacceptable behavior and deter acts of animal cruelty without interfering with the ability to manage predators,” Gordon wrote. “My office will monitor the working group and the TRW Committee as you work to address inhumane treatment of predators.”

A few weeks after receiving the letter, Storer was informed there was a new agenda — and that non-working group members were no longer invited to present.

TRW Committee Chair Rep. Sandy Newsome (R-Cody), who did not respond to an interview request, added herself to the working group. She sent word of the new agenda in an email, echoing the governor’s guidance:  “… there is a desire to focus on the narrow topic of addressing wanton animal cruelty without interfering with the ability to manage predators,” she wrote.

Livestock-protection tool? 

During the June 25 meeting, lawmakers and other members of the committee focused on what occurred after Robert’s acquired the wolf. They walked through language that would legally require making an effort to swiftly kill a predator, discussed addressing the predator exemption in the animal cruelty statute, and proposed hiking some fines and penalties. But the group was leery of a bill addressing how Roberts acquired the wolf: by snowmobiling into the animal until it was barely conscious.

Nesvik, the Game and Fish director, said during the meeting that a snowmobiling-over-animal prohibition would be “more thorny” and “more complicated.”

Agricultural interests on the committee discouraged new regulations in that realm. It’s considered a “tool” ranchers use to reduce predator populations, Wyoming Stock Growers Executive Vice President Jim Magagna told WyoFile.

“It’s primarily been used with coyotes, but would be applicable to wolves as well,” Magagna said. “I’ve talked with a number of livestock producers across the state — in particular, sheep producers — who have said that they view it as one of their most effective tools.”

Already, he said, the industry’s arsenal to protect livestock has waned. Magagna cited the Bureau of Land Management’s recent national prohibition on M-44 devices, better known as cyanide bombs, which propel sodium cyanide poison and were typically used on coyotes but sometimes killed pets.

“As we lose some of those tools,” Magagna said, “then [snowmobiling over animals] becomes more important.”

The Wyoming Wildlife Federation’s Johnson worries that pursuing a snowmobiling-over-animal prohibition without agricultural interests on board could sink the working group’s chances of achieving any reform.

“The ability to torture something is a lot more egregious than the ability to chase something down,” Johnson said. “I want to get that win. I want that win solid and signed and inked before we get into a discussion that is going to be harder to have.”

Johnson added a caveat: Wyoming “needs” to have a discussion about rules that allow for recreationally snowmobiling over wildlife. She pointed out that the predator statutes are under the Agriculture Committee, and encouraged outraged activists to engage more tactfully.

“I haven’t seen anybody that wants to push one of these bills have a meaningful sit-down with agriculture that doesn’t involve lobbing bombs,” Johnson said.

A continued Wyoming tradition?

The Treatment of Predators Working Group is tentatively scheduled to meet next on Sept. 4 via Zoom. The Legislative Service Office is crafting a bill for the group, but as this story went to press it was not yet publicly available.

If the group decides to leave recreationally snowmobiling over wildlife legal, Storer, the chair, is considering bringing a personal bill.

“I haven’t made a decision about that yet,” she said. “I’ve heard that other people are certainly thinking about that as well.”

In the meantime, Hall and anyone else living in or visiting Wyoming are in the clear to keep on with their winter activity of running down coyotes and other predatory wildlife with snowmachines.

Hall had choice words for Roberts, whose stunt with the wounded wolf drew attention to the snowmobiling-over-animals world that in turn triggered a global outcry for change.

“He slapped the wasp’s nest,” Hall said. “That guy’s a straight-up fool.”

It’s a safe bet that animal rights groups, hunting advocates and the public will be watching to see how Wyoming proceeds. Even now — more than five months after the Sublette County incident —  Storer and other members of the Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee continue to get emails encouraging reform on a daily basis.

“They’re asking us to outlaw running over any sort of animal with a vehicle,” she said.

That outrage might prove a fair reflection of public sentiment, despite most of the working group’s reservations about change. In April, the Remington Research Group conducted a poll, paid for by the Humane Society of the United States, gauging what Wyoming residents thought about different aspects of the wolf incident.

Of the 540 likely general election voters, some 73% said using snowmobiles to kill predatory species was not acceptable.

The post Wyoming allows snowmobilers to run down wildlife. Despite global outrage, it may stay legal. appeared first on WyoFile .

A new study ranks Wyoming in the bottom 10 states when it comes to access to women’s reproductive care. 

The 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care, which assesses every state’s health care system based on measures such as maternal mortality, prevention and provider access, ranked Wyoming 42nd. The state came in behind all of its neighboring states.  

Wyoming scored especially low in the category of health coverage, access and affordability — at 47th. In health care quality and prevention, the state ranked 43rd, and Wyoming ranked 28th in health and reproductive care outcomes. 

The report was put together by The Commonwealth Fund, a 106-year-old private foundation whose stated purpose is to promote a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality and greater efficiency. 

Wyoming’s ranking is unsurprising given that 11 of 23 counties here lack a practicing OB-GYN physician, according to the Wyoming Health Department, and three delivery facilities have closed since 2018. Wyoming has just 16 active midwives licensed under the state board of midwifery. In Fremont County, where access to maternity care has declined significantly over the last five years, average monthly births at Lander’s SageWest Hospital have dropped from around 35 to under 20, health department numbers show. 

The situation has the attention of lawmakers and stakeholders. A legislative committee is now studying the various factors contributing to the dearth of maternity care providers and ways to bolster access. A subcommittee of Gov. Mark Gordon’s Health Task Force has also been meeting on the topic for months. Many ideas, but no firm plans, have emerged. 

“I wasn’t totally surprised by some of our scores in that we’ve been talking about it and looking at these different things,” said Jen Davis, Gordon’s health and human services policy director. “I think it really does lend to continuing to have these conversations.”

What the groups’ exploration has underlined is how complicated the issue of maternity care is, she said, and how vital it is to consider all the factors when exploring solutions. 

Critical, complicated

A 2023 WyoFile investigation found that significant gaps in Wyoming’s maternity care system prompt families to increasingly travel out of county and out of state to deliver babies, which poses risks to mothers and infants and often comes with bigger costs. 

Stakeholders have also pointed out these gaps in care constitute economic threats as young people are more reluctant to move and raise families in a state without quality prenatal and maternity care. 

Solutions have been elusive. Complicating the issue are provider challenges like low birth volume in rural areas, high costs of medical malpractice insurance, financial viability struggles for hospitals, abortion legislation’s impacts on doctors, liability concerns and barriers for midwives to deliver in hospitals.  

The Joint Labor Committee made Wyoming’s maternity care shortage its No. 1 interim priority, along with childcare. That means the members are studying it before the next session with the aim of drafting legislation.

At the same time, the governor’s Health Task Force’s OB Subcommittee has been meeting regularly to explore solutions Wyoming could adopt to bolster access to the critical services of maternity care. 

“Unfortunately, it is a super complicated topic in Wyoming, just like all of rural medicine,” Davis told the Labor Committee in June. After delving into the intricacies, she said, the subcommittee has identified three main areas of interest: how to better utilize midwives, doulas and family physicians alongside obstetricians in delivery care; the possibility of creating OB medical fellowships to bolster care in Wyoming and regionalizing the state’s maternity care. 

“It’s definitely solvable, but we just need to have those meaningful conversations with each other about how do we meet the needs of our Wyoming citizens,” Davis said. “I just think we need to be real intentional as we do this, because if we do one thing, it has an impact on [other factors].”  

Between the lawmakers, doctors, OB-GYNs, midwives and medical experts on the governor’s task force and the legislative committee, Davis told WyoFile, she is confident the groups can identify initiatives to improve Wyoming’s maternity care landscape. 

In the Labor Committee’s two interim meetings thus far, members have discussed solutions that range from tort reform to creating midwife training opportunities in community colleges. 

Labor Committee member Sen. Fred Baldwin (R-Kemmerer), a physician assistant who has been attending the subcommittee meetings, noted at the June meeting the problem doesn’t always come down to not enough doctors. 

“We can’t just simply plug a provider into that location if there’s not enough patients,” Baldwin said. 

“There’s a lot of nuances to this, it’s not just simply a matter of getting enough providers,” he continued. “Regionalization is one of those concepts to look at, and I think it’s an important concept to look at.”

Policy impacts

Declining access to maternity care is not isolated to Wyoming. Over the past decade, more than 200 rural hospitals across the country have stopped delivering babies. The trend spurred the national scorecard, according to the Commonwealth Fund report. 

“Clearly, women’s health is under threat,” the report states. “That’s why the Commonwealth Fund has developed the first-ever state scorecard to track trends in women’s health over time and document how policy choices and judicial decisions may impact women’s access to timely health care.”

The report touched on state policy that influences the issue, pointing out that 10 states have yet to expand eligibility for Medicaid while 21 states have tightened or imposed new limits or bans on abortion.

Wyoming has not expanded Medicaid eligibility. The state has also passed bans on abortion since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, but the procedure is still legal here as the bans are tied up in litigation.

The Joint Labor Committee is expected to revisit the issue when it meets Aug. 29-30 in Cheyenne.

The post Why Wyoming ranks 42nd on women’s reproductive health care scorecard appeared first on WyoFile .

Keith Kennedy of Virginia was shocked to learn from a WyoFile reporter that his photograph appears on a political mailer for Keith Kennedy of Wyoming — a candidate for the Wyoming Senate. 

That the glossy, full-color, eight-by-five-inch postcard granted him the title of state senator — a designation neither Kennedy has earned — was little consolation.

For 28 years, the virginian Kennedy did work for the U.S. Senate, serving as majority staff director during three separate periods as well as a two-year stint as deputy Senate sergeant at arms. 

His official Senate photograph is the first image that turns up when googling “Keith Kennedy.” 

It’s a stately portrait: Kennedy standing in a suit jacket and tie, smiling, with sunlight casting through a corridor behind him. 

In early July, a cropped version of the portrait appeared on mailers sent to Albany County voters promoting a different Keith Kennedy for Wyoming Senate District 10, which encompasses the outer limits of Laramie and the rural communities of Bosler, Rock River, Centennial and Jelm. 

“Whoever this candidate is, I don’t know him,” he said. “I don’t know what he’s running for. I don’t know what he stands for, but apparently he’s using my image just because he has the same name.”

In yellow font over a darkened image of a bear, the mailer alleges that Keith Kennedy is “the ONLY 100% pro-gun candidate in the race,” “a gun rights CHAMPION,” and “a leader with a BACKBONE.”

The mailer also gives the wrong dates for early voting in Wyoming and inaccurately infers that Keith Kennedy is the incumbent. Sen. Dan Furphy (R-Laramie), who is not seeking reelection, has represented the district since 2021. An out-of-state political action committee takes credit for the mailer in its bottom left corner. 

“Paid for by Make Liberty Win,” the mailer reads. “Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”

Candidate Keith Kennedy did not respond to WyoFile’s request for comment by press time.  

Nearly identical mailers, mostly boosting candidates who are either members of, or ideologically aligned with, the hard-line Wyoming Freedom Caucus, have been distributed in communities across the state. 

The mailers were among the first to hit Wyoming mailboxes after the candidate filing period closed for an election many expect to be particularly ugly and expensive as the two factions of the GOP battle for control of the statehouse.  

‘Direct voter contact’

As a lifelong hunter, concealed-carry permit holder and member of the Laramie Rifle Range, Gary Crum objects to Make Liberty Win’s assertion that he’s against firearms. Crum is running against Kennedy in the Republican primary. 

“I’m not going to do anything in the state Legislature that would limit gun rights,” Crum said. “It’s very spelled out on my website.”

Crum also objects to Make Liberty Win’s efforts to sway Wyoming voters. 

“How can you believe what these out-of-state organizations are saying?” Crum said. “They don’t even know the candidate that they’re supporting well enough to have the right picture on the thing.”

While the mailers may appear haphazard, Make Liberty Win is a well-funded political machine. 

As a Carey committee, according to OpenSecrets, the organization is a hybrid PAC that isn’t affiliated with a particular candidate. It can operate both as a traditional PAC — giving money directly to candidate committees — and as a super PAC that makes expenditures independent of candidates. 

It raised about $8.7 million since the beginning of 2023, almost all of which came from donors in Texas, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. No donations were listed from Wyoming. 

The PAC lists Elizabeth Curtis as its treasurer and Petra Mangini as assistant treasurer in its filings. Neither returned calls to WyoFile. An email sent from WyoFile to the address listed in the filings also went unanswered. 

The PAC is primarily funded by the Austin, Texas-based libertarian student activism organization Young Americans for Liberty, according to OpenSecrets. YAL’s aim, according to its website, is to “build the bench of liberty legislators at the state level who will advance a pro-liberty philosophy, ascend to higher office, and reclaim the direction of our government.” It claims to be “the most active and effective pro-liberty youth organization advancing liberty on campus.” 

Young Americans for Liberty didn’t immediately respond to an email from WyoFile. 

Goals

Make Liberty Win’s goal is to elect “250 liberty-defending state legislators,” according to its website, through “direct voter contact,” which includes mailers, door knocking, phone calls and texting. 

A similar full-court press recently proved moderately successful in neighboring Idaho. While the PAC had a hand in the upset of a powerful 16-year incumbent and spent more than $700,000 in May alone, according to Idaho Education News, most of the candidates it opposed prevailed. 

In Wyoming, the group began sending campaign materials and text messages and making phone calls in support of Wyoming legislative candidates in early July. 

“As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, it’s time to think about one of the great advantages of living in a Free America — choosing who will represent you in Cheyenne!” one of the early text messages said, encouraging readers to vote for specific candidates. The PAC sent out another text message on Friday claiming that its chosen candidates would “NEVER vote for gun control,” and would “ADVANCE pro-2nd Amendment legislation” and “Be a leading voice for FREEDOM in Wyoming.” 

Some of the incumbent candidates that the PAC has endorsed, such as Reps. Jeanette Ward (R-Casper) and Bill Allemand (R-Midwest) are aligned with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a hard-line far-right bloc of the Wyoming House of Representatives. 

Allemand said he hadn’t heard about the PAC or seen any of its materials when WyoFile reached him by phone. Ward told WyoFile that she was grateful for the PAC’s support. “They seem to have gotten some things mixed up, but I’m not responsible for that,” she said. 

Errors 

The PAC’s materials have several errors. They say that early voting is from July 17 through Aug. 19, when the dates are actually July 23 through Aug. 19. Some mailers were sent to the wrong district. They also represent some of the candidates as the current lawmaker in their respective districts when, in fact, these candidates are challenging an incumbent. 

What’s more, some candidates say the PAC’s materials are misleading. 

“If you look at my voting record, I’m a 100% pro-gun candidate,” incumbent Rep. Tony Niemiec (R-Green River) told WyoFile. Make Liberty Win had sent mailers in support of Niemiec’s primary opponent Marlene Brady, a political newcomer who hasn’t served in the Legislature before. 

“They’re just trying to put these candidates in that have no voting record,” Niemiec said. 

Brady said in a Friday text message to WyoFile that she’s “grateful” for the PAC’s “acknowledgement that I am the only 100 pro-2A candidate” in her race. But she added that she wished the PAC “had been more careful proofreading their materials before sending them.”

Christopher Dresang, a new candidate challenging Rep. Tony Locke (R-Casper) in House District 35, said he messaged Make Liberty Win through its website to complain about the claims on the organization’s pro-Locke mailers. 

“I wanted to know where they got their data, and I said, ‘I’ve never filled out anything that would show that I’m not in full support of the Second Amendment and its application,’” Dresang told WyoFile. (He had not heard back from the PAC as of Monday morning.) 

Robert Hendry, a Make-Liberty-Win-supported candidate challenging incumbent Sen. Charles Scott (R-Casper) in Senate District 30, took issue with the “100% pro-gun” message for a different reason. 

“I’m not sure I’m 100% on that. I think there are places where we don’t need to pack guns,” Hendry told WyoFile. 

“We live out in the country, and I’ve always got a firearm with me somewhere. So I’m plenty pro gun, but there are places we don’t need to pack them.” 

Though Make Liberty Win is based in Alexandria, Virginia., the mailers show a Cheyenne, Wyoming address. 

The PAC has also distributed door hangers. One of these door hangers supporting Republican political newcomer Steve Johnson, who is running against incumbent Rep. David Zwonitzer (R-Cheyenne) and fellow challenger Cayd Batchelor in House District 8, focuses on parental rights, immigration and foreign influence in the U.S. Like the mailers, it also misrepresents Johnson as a current representative. 

Johnson declined to comment on the Make Liberty Win-sponsored door hanger when reached by phone Thursday. 

“I think you’re a leftist newspaper, and I’m not going to talk with you,” he said. 

Another door hanger supporting Ward focuses on lowering taxes, Second Amendment rights and school choice. “She is ready to do whatever it takes to prevent the leftist agenda from going any further in our state,” the mailer says of Ward. 

The candidates that WyoFile spoke with said they didn’t know the PAC would be sending out materials on their behalf. Bryce Reece, a Republican first-time candidate challenging incumbent Rep. Jim Anderson (R-Casper), told WyoFile that he recalled responding to the organization’s questionnaire but wasn’t alerted that its PAC would be sending out materials in his support. The first knowledge he had about this, he said, was when he went door knocking one evening and people said they had already received a mailer from him, even though he hadn’t yet sent any. 

“Anytime somebody is positive about you, it’s flattering. But I’m not sure that that’s going to make people’s decision. I hope that a mailer like that isn’t what makes up people’s minds about me,” Reece said, noting that he and his wife spent significant time building his campaign website where voters can learn much more about his policy stances. 

“A mailer like that, it tells you where I’m at on Second Amendment, but it doesn’t really tell you everything that there is. I hope that voters are trying to educate themselves.”

While candidates said they didn’t know these materials would be disseminated, some are familiar with the PAC’s associated organization, Young Americans for Liberty. Allemand, a Wyoming Freedom Caucus member, told WyoFile that he attended the organization’s convention in Orlando, Florida last August. Other Wyoming lawmakers also attended the convention last year, and more were invited, Allemand said. (He declined to share the names of the other lawmakers.) 

The convention, he said, was packed with hundreds of college students and legislators from around the country. Conservative firebrands like former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul and Kentucky Republican Rep. Rand Paul gave speeches. Allemand got to shake Rand Paul’s hand. 

“It was a very electrifying event,” Allemand said. “Just like everything, they’re not 100% perfect, but I look at YAL as a good organization.” 

The primaries are on Aug. 20.

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Wyoming has narrowed its definitions for who can bid on state oil and gas lease parcels, disqualifying parties that intend to conserve the land rather than produce the mineral resources.

The change, made under emergency rulemaking in June, was mandated by House Bill 141 – State land oil and gas leases-operator requirement, which the Legislature passed during the budget session. Rep. Cyrus Western (R-Big Horn) brought the bill on behalf of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. The association raised concerns over the state’s vetting process after the Lander-based conservation group Wyoming Outdoor Council last July placed bids on a state oil and gas lease parcel in Sublette County intending to spare it from development.

If a small Wyoming conservation group can bid to block energy development, a conservation- or anti-oil-and-gas-minded billionaire could do the same, the trade association argued.

“So rather than wait for that to happen, we thought, ‘Well, let’s step in now and let’s put in place a bill that acts as a deterrent to doing that,” Petroleum Association of Wyoming President Pete Obermueller told WyoFile.

Ultimately, the winning bidder in last year’s controversial auction was Casper-based Kirkwood Oil and Gas — the same company that had nominated the parcel — at $19 per acre for the 640-acre tract. When the company later learned that it had been competing against a conservation group, the owners cried foul and claimed they were duped into paying an artificially inflated price.

The Wyoming Outdoor Council defends its actions. 

Yes, council leaders say, the organization did bid on the controversial “Parcel 194.” But it didn’t skirt the rules or misrepresent its identity. The group expected that, if it was the winning bidder, it would pay about $12,000 for the lease (based on its $18 per acre bid) out of its own budget, according to Wyoming Outdoor Council Executive Director Carl Fisher. No well-heeled individual was on standby to finance the purchase, he told WyoFile.

The bidding controversy, he said, misses the larger issue: a lack of commitment by the state to implement its own policies that were crafted years ago to avert such conflicts in wildlife migration corridors.

Path of the Pronghorn

Kirkwood Oil and Gas had nominated a state lease parcel, 194, smack in the middle of the Path of the Pronghorn — a popular name for the long-distance migration of the Sublette Pronghorn Herd. It’s part of one of the most studied ungulate migration routes in North America, and the Path of the Pronghorn portion of the route is so named because it represents a “bottleneck” — an area squeezed due to rural development and landscape features.

And, critically, according to the council, Parcel 194 bisects the New Fork River where pronghorn cross. 

Given the years of high-profile studies and discussions regarding the Path of the Pronghorn and many other well-documented ungulate migration routes in Wyoming, the group didn’t expect the state would OK oil and gas lease parcel nominations in the area for its competitive lease auction.

“To our surprise, they were going to offer an oil and gas lease directly in one of the most important spots where, like, thousands of these members of the Sublette pronghorn herd are crossing the New Fork River,” said Alec Underwood, the council’s program director.

In the weeks before the auction, the council and other conservation groups implored state officials and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to intervene and convince the Office of State Lands and Investments to remove Parcel 194 and others inside the Path of the Pronghorn from the auction, according to Fisher. But the parcels were not removed.

At that point, Fisher said, the council felt it had no other choice. 

“We had a conversation just to say, ‘Well, if we can’t get the parcel removed, and if we do qualify as a bidder in the process, we should engage in the process and put our money where our mouth is and bid to protect the parcel and the corridor,’” Fisher said.

Delayed protections 

The state had already anticipated such conflicts.

Gov. Mark Gordon signed an executive order in 2020 outlining general protections for designated wildlife migration corridors and directed the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to develop a set of specific migration corridor policies to avoid activities that might disturb the critical pathways. But the state, under pressure from industry, still has not bestowed official designations to several migration corridors, which leaves the Path of the Pronghorn open to development without the state’s stipulations — although the years-long designation process is formally underway.

In the immediate wake of the July 2023 bidding controversy, Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials collaborated with the Office of State Lands and Investments to propose adding stipulations to Parcel 194 preventing industrial activity during spring and fall migrations.

But the State Board of Land Commissioners, made of the state’s top five elected officials, declined the proposal.

For its part, Kirkwood Oil and Gas discounts the need to significantly restrict industrial activities in migration corridors — the industry has a stellar track record of producing oil and gas without detrimental impacts to wildlife, the company’s Land Manager Steve Degenfelder said. The industry continually refines best practices for habitat mitigation, he added.

Kirkwood didn’t nominate Parcel 194 because it is in the Path of the Pronghorn, he told WyoFile. It nominated the parcel, and others in the area, because the company is trying to piece together a block of lease tracts on the western flank of the prolific Pinedale Anticline natural gas field.

“I hunt and fish,” Degenfelder said. “I value the attributes of Wyoming, both monetary and wildlife, and our standard of living with great respect. I think that we can accomplish both of them at the same time.”

Research, however, shows that pronghorn have avoided and abandoned the Anticline gas field. 

The state’s new definitions for qualified bidders went into effect just before an oil and gas lease auction that began July 8. The online auction, which is managed by Texas-based EnergyNet, was extended to Wednesday due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Beryl.

The post Wyoming bans conservation bidders from oil and gas lease sales appeared first on WyoFile .

The man shot and killed by rangers at Yellowstone National Park on Thursday approached a building occupied by roughly 200 people while firing a semi-automatic rifle, park officials announced Tuesday. 

Several law enforcement rangers posted near Canyon Lodge exchanged gunfire with the man, identified as Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner. The 28-year-old from Milton, Florida, died at the scene, the park said in a statement. One ranger was shot in a lower extremity, treated at an area hospital and has since been released. No one else was injured.

“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement rangers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement. “These rangers immediately confronted this shooter and took decisive action to ensure he was no longer a threat to public safety.”

According to the statement, Fussner worked for Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business that the National Park Service contracts with to provide lodging and other services at Yellowstone. 

911 call

Shortly after midnight on Thursday, 911 dispatchers at Yellowstone received a report that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun at a residence in Canyon Village, which sits near one of the park’s main attractions: Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. She also told authorities that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, and had plans to carry out a mass shooting at Fourth of July events outside Yellowstone, the park said.

Rangers found Fussner’s unoccupied car in the “Canyon area.” Authorities, preparing as if Fussner was armed and dangerous, deployed law enforcement rangers strategically to protect areas with park visitors and workers, according to the statement. At the same time, authorities continued to search for Fussner.

The park says more than 20 rangers, including Yellowstone’s special response team, were involved in searching for the suspect while protecting the public. The search occurred at the start of a holiday weekend during what is typically the park’s busiest month. The area of the park is home to the Canyon Lodge and Cabins, which has 500 rooms, and a campground with more than 270 sites.

Gunfight

Those rangers encountered Fussner at about 8 a.m. Thursday near Canyon Lodge, which houses employee and public dining rooms. Fussner, the park says, was walking toward the service entrance while firing the rifle. A gunfight ensued, and after Fussner and the ranger were shot, authorities provided emergency medical care to both people.

The case is now being investigated by the FBI, which is also providing support to others involved in the incident. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming will review the case.

“We are working now to provide maximum support to those involved and their families,” Superintendent Sholly said. “We appreciate the support of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Park Service, Department of the Interior, and many other partners as we continue to manage through the aftermath of this incident.” 

The rangers involved in the shooting have been put on paid administrative leave during the investigation, which is standard policy. The park service says it will release body-camera footage of the shooting within 30 days. 

People are allowed to possess guns inside Yellowstone, though they are not allowed inside certain facilities and government offices. Firing a gun is prohibited while inside the park.

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