Uncoordinated, underfunded, and inadequate: Wyoming's approach to homelessness — STATE OF INSECURITY

There are plenty of well-meaning people in Wyoming trying to make sure their neighbors have roofs over their heads. But the state has neglected to fund or develop infrastructure to ensure everyone is effectively working together.

Better Wyoming launches new series: STATE OF INSECURITY

Over the next several weeks, Better Wyoming will publish a series of articles, “State of Insecurity,” that examines shortcomings in the ways Wyoming deals with homelessness, hunger, and low wages. This is the series introduction.
What a brilliant notion!

The Wyoming Legislature's Judiciary Committee has a great idea: Stop sending so many people (back) to prison

New proposals would reform parole sentencing and increase substance abuse treatment in Wyoming.
Bonnie, a grocery store clerk in Douglas, pays a far higher tax rate than any Jackson billionaire

New report: Low-income residents in Wyoming pay an effective tax rate more than three times higher than the state’s wealthiest One Percent

Wyoming's lack of an income tax means the rich get a free ride.
Kathryn and Kristen Lenth at their (former) home in Casper

Exit Interview: Kathryn Lenth — How to lose a computer scientist (VIDEO)

Computer scientist Kathryn Lenth was happy to make Casper home, until she and her partner, Kristen, realized Wyoming might not be the best place for LGBT people to live. Now Kathryn is training the tech workforce of tomorrow ... in Utah.
Wyoming police lobbyists have gone public with their anti-cannabis crusade.

Why won't Wyoming reform its cannabis laws? Ask a cop lobbyist.

Powerful police lobbyists have convinced the Wyoming State Legislature to ignore citizens' wishes and refuse to reform the state's draconian marijuana laws. Now, they've taken their crusade public.
Wyoming students in kindergarten through third grade may soon receive less attention as a result of shady policy decisions.

The Legislature didn’t increase class sizes. But lawmakers who want to cut Wyoming education budgets have found a back-channel way to do it.

The State School Facilities Commission has one job: to make sure Wyoming students have good schools. But the commission has inserted itself into the debate over education budget cuts—and it's hard to believe the commissioners came up with the idea on their own.
Wyoming schoolchildren head out to collect bugs as part of a Biodiversity Institute program. The institute engaged thousands of Wyoming K-12 students in hands-on science.

Abrupt closure of successful institute demonstrates another UW leadership failure

The decision to close the University of Wyoming's Biodiversity Institute will hurt the school's fundraising and community engagement efforts—not to mention scientific learning on campus and throughout the state.
When talented, young faculty members leave Wyoming, they take their talented, young families with them.

Exit Interview: Rattawut Lapcharoensap and June Glasson — The (hidden) costs of the UW budget cuts (VIDEO)

EXIT INTERVIEWS is a new series profiling talented people who are leaving Wyoming as a result of boneheaded policy decisions. This episode features a (former) UW professor and his wife, a (former) pillar of the Laramie arts community.
Rep. David Miller knows the solution to Wyoming's revenue problem. But he'd rather not pay for anything himself.

Miller: The solution is a state income tax (but...)

Rep. David Miller knows a state income tax would largely solve Wyoming's revenue problems. But he'd rather shackle the state even more securely to boom-and-bust mining industries.
Mining provides the lion's share of Wyoming's tax revenue. But even the deepest budget cuts in more than a decade aren't enough to keep up with the busts.

Wyoming’s budget is the smallest it has been in 15 years. We still need new revenues.

The deepest cuts in more than a decade couldn't fix Wyoming's "structural deficit." When will lawmakers realize more cuts aren't the answer?
The UW Good Ol' Board of Trustees is taking over.

UW Board moves to grant itself unchecked power over reshaping the university during financial crisis

The board will vote next week to give itself the ability to single-handedly fire tenured faculty, cancel courses, and eliminate academic departments—big responsibilities for a group that's proven itself incompetent.