Public Air Quality Meeting

There will be a public meeting this Tues, March 22 @5:30 at Rendezvous
Pointe in Pinedale. Director of WY Dept. of Environmental Quality,
John Corra, will be there explaining air quality & moderating a Q&A
session with industry representatives. Sen. Stan Cooper will be there
too (weather permitting). Check out Ozone in Sublette County for the
local community’s perspective!

JOINT LABOR, HEALTH AND SOCIAL SERVICES INTERIM COMMITTEE

A FORMAL MEETING NOTICE TO BE FORWARDED AT A LATER DATE

F:\AA\COM\LAB\Notices\2010 Notices\Tentative MTG NTC 12.9.2010 12.10.2010.doc

The Council of State Governments’ 2010 National Conference

For more information, click here.

Cowboy State Free Press suspends daily newsletter

The Cowboy State Free Press is temporarily suspending daily distribution as of today.

Funding shortfalls in the fourth quarter have required drastic cost-cutting measures. We do, however, anticipate grant funding covering 2011 in January. That funding will allow a return to normal operations during and after the legislative session.

With our limited resources, we have decided to focus on preparations for coverage of the Wyoming Legislature’s session that begins Jan. 11. Our plans include a pilot internship program offered to University of Wyoming Political Science and Communications/Journalism students, as well as students from Wyoming Community Colleges. Interns will have an opportunity to cover legislative committee meetings under the tutelage of Bureau Chief Bill McCarthy. The program will provide great benefit to students by allowing them to work in the real world of journalism, to leverage cutting edge technology, with a focus on adherence to the highest standards of journalistic ethics and excellence. It will provide great benefit to Wyoming citizens by allowing them a way to see their government in action in real time. If there is an issue that you are particularly interested in, you can follow it, and know exactly what happens, when, and in time to take action. Educators will have a way to give their students a unique window into how the Legislature actually works, and where the bulk of the decisions are made, in committee, before legislation ever reaches the floor.

We are currently seeking sponsorships to purchase video equipment and setup systems in advance of the session to provide real time and archived, edited, and indexed footage of the most important legislative committee meetings. We would welcome sponsorships of any level that would help with these preparations. The Cowboy State Free Press is a 501c3 nonprofit news service, and all contributions are 100 percent tax deductible.

If you have any questions or concerns, or would like to discuss a sponsorship, please contact Executive Director Sue Wallis at sue.wallis52@gmail.com.

Happy Holidays and see you in January!

ALEC 2010 States & Nation Policy Summit

For more information, click here.

JOINT MINERALS, BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INTERIM COMMITTEE

FORMAL MEETING NOTICE TO BE FORWARDED AT A LATER DATE

Voter turnout approximately 71 percent

CHEYENNE – Preliminary indications are that 71 percent of Wyoming’s eligible voters cast ballots on Tuesday.

Secretary of State Max Maxfield cautioned in a press release that the information is unofficial regarding total ballots cast in each county.

Those figures are somewhat lower than the 2006 election which was the last election in which the State’s five elected officials were on the ballot, Maxfield said.

Republicans swept all five of those seats and diminished the Democratic power in the Legislature as well.

Complete results are available on the Secretary of State’s website at http://soswy.state.wy.us/Elections/Docs/2010/2010GeneralResults.aspx

Historical information about Wyoming’s Voter-Turnout can be accessed on the Secretary of State’s website at http://soswy.state.wy.us/Elections/Docs/profile.pdf.

State agencies to move to single e-mail platform

CHEYENNE – All Wyoming state agencies will be on a Google-based e-mail system within a year, the state’s Chief Information Officer announced Monday.

Putting all state agencies on one e-mail and groupware system will save the state money, add capability for workers in different agencies to communicate and make it easier for everyone to find e-mail addresses for state employees through a consistent addressing system.

A single system will save $1 million a year because 15 agencies will not need servers, licensing, and maintenance contracts or provide dedicated staff to manage the system, according to Bob von Wolffradt, the state’s CIO.

Under a contract with Tempus Nova, the state will pay $5 million to migrate e-mail systems to Google’s hosted e-mail, security, e-discovery, encryption, and archive services and transition some 10,000 e-mail accounts to the new services over the coming year.

Currently, there are two separate communication systems managed by 14 agencies internally, and one central agency, the Information Technology Division, which manages e-mail systems for an additional 47 state agencies.

Wyoming cities, towns and counties will be able to use the state’s contract pricing and eliminate costly procurement processes and time if they choose to participate, von Wolffradt said.

The next step will include meetings with agencies to figure out timing, conversion, training, licensing and maintenance contracts for existing systems.

Western oil-and-gas drillers launch legal assault on Interior

By Ben Geman, The Hill

Oil-and-gas companies active in Western states have filed litigation that alleges Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is blocking energy exploration on federal lands.

A trade group called the Western Energy Alliance filed suit in a Wyoming federal court Monday claiming that Interior is violating the Mineral Leasing Act by failing to issue leases within 60 days of receiving payment.

But the litigation – which targets the policies of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management – more broadly reflects political tension between the two sides and their allies. Drilling companies allege Interior is wrongly denying access to domestic energy through a series of policy changes finalized in May.

To read more of this article, click here.

Online poetry contest helps promote anti-suicide effort

CHEYENNE – More than 50 poems written by Wyoming youth are being featured online at www.amillionmilesfromanywhere.com.

The online youth poetry contest is part of the Wyoming Department of Health’s Youth Suicide Prevention Initiative.

Visitors to the website may vote for their favorite poem; the top entry will be awarded $500.

The website offers a safe, anonymous place for young people to express themselves and an opportunity to engage them in discussions that hopefully deter suicide, said Keith Hotle.

Hotle is the suicide prevention team leader with the Wyoming Department of Health’s Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Division.

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