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

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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

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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.
Kathryn and Kristen Lenth at their (former) home in Casper

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

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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.
Single mothers would have been the main targets of Medicaid work requirements in Wyoming.

Session recap: Medicaid work requirements didn’t pass this year, but they fit too well with Wyoming’s history of denying public assistance to assume they won’t be back

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A work requirements bill passed the Senate with gusto, suggesting there's no small number of lawmakers eager to kick folks in Wyoming off Medicaid.

Better Wyoming director Nate Martin appears on “Speak Your Piece” talk radio show

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Better Wyoming director Nate Martin spoke with Darian Dudrick for the Cody-based "Speak Your Piece" talk radio show about what BW is, what we want, and how we're going to get it.
Neither pipelines nor oil spills nor climate change nor protests are going away. There's no reason to think bills like SF-74 will, either.

Session recap: Wyoming hasn’t seen the last of pipeline protest bills like SF-74

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The bill vetoed by Gov. Matt Mead that would have punished protesters like those at Standing Rock with imprisonment and absurd fines was a small part of a much larger fight. It's likely to be back in some form soon.

Book review: The currents young Wyomingites swim against

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In an essay for High Country News, BW director Nate Martin looks at two books that explain why Wyoming can't keep its young talent.
Earl DeGroot, head of Wyoming Sportsmen for Federal Lands, speaks at a rally for Public Lands Day last summer in Laramie.

Session recap: How the death of “Wyoming Public Lands Day” illustrates mining’s grip on the Legislature

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What should have been an uncontroversial win for public lands advocates became a way for mineral industry-connected lawmakers to demonstrate their supremacy.
Gov. Matt Mead says "Get that imprecisely crafted bill out of my face." The House obliged.

House upholds Mead’s veto of pipeline protest bill, killing it for good (until next year)

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The Legislature needed a two-thirds vote from each chamber to override Mead's veto. The Senate mustered the votes, but the House did not.
Sen. Leland Christensen is the sponsor of SF-74, which passed the Senate unchanged but has been heavily amended by the House.

House amendments might scuttle a consensus vote on pipeline protest bill

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The Senate left the bill much as ALEC wrote it. But amendments in the House to address free speech and landowner concerns imight make it difficult to reconcile the two versions before the 2018 session closes.