Wyoming Public Radio & Media

12/22/2025

Happy Holidays from Wyoming Public Media!

See our list of Holiday Programming Staring Monday December 15th

https://ow.ly/xM2x50XHJHs

12/20/2025

Live on the Robert K. Johnson Foundation - Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network
(11 AM) MT, Saturday, December 29
Mozart: THE MAGIC FLUTE

– Abridged English-Language Holiday Presentation
Steven White; Paul Appleby (Tamino), Joélle Harvey (Pamina), Michael Sumuel (Papageno), Rainelle Krause (Queen of the Night), Alexander Köpeczi (Sarastro), Thomas Capobianco (Monostatos), Harold Wilson (Speaker)
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Link: https://ow.ly/mMxx50XJLNm

12/20/2025

Latino-owned businesses line a narrow street on the edge of downtown Rock Springs, which the city recently rebranded as the “Las Americas Hispanic District.”

The name tries to honor the city’s diverse roots as a coal mining town, while recognizing the Mexican restaurants and shops that are there now.

This came at the same time as a crackdown on immigration. Rock Springs is part of the only county in Wyoming that’s been closely working with ICE since 2020.

“We are the first to be in a relationship with ICE [in Wyoming]. But yet we're also the first to do a project like this,” said Rosa Reyna-Pugh, who came up with the idea to honor the block. “It doesn't make sense, right?”

About 17% of the city’s residents are Hispanic, one of the largest communities in the state.

She added: “We're gonna try to do the best that we can to keep our home and to make sure that we are thriving here.”

Photo credit: Hanna Merzbach

Rock Springs, Wyo., is promoting Latino businesses, while the county works with ICE to crack down on immigration.

12/19/2025

Five cases of measles have been identified in Fremont County, bringing the state’s total this year to 14.

The Wyoming Department of Health says all five were close contacts and spread it to each other. The initial exposure happened out of state.

The recently infected children and adults were unvaccinated. None were hospitalized.

You may have been exposed if you were at the Flying J Travel Center in Evanston on Dec. 1 from 2:30 to 5 p.m. The department didn’t identify any other locations where the general public may have been exposed.

“Measles is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious illness, including pneumonia, encephalitis, hospitalization, and death,” the department said in a release. “The measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine provides highly effective and long-lasting protection against measles infection. WDH recommends that all Wyoming residents ensure they and their children are up to date on MMR vaccines.”

Photo credit: CDC and NIAID

The health department says all five were close contacts and spread it to each other. The initial exposure happened out of state.

12/19/2025

Unusually high winds hit the state over the last couple days, making winter driving extra dangerous.

Wind gusts were clocked at 144 miles per hour in Smoot, near Star Valley, and 123 mph on South Pass, between Farson and Lander, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) sensors.

Although the state is known for its wind, WYDOT Deputy Public Affairs Officer Jordan Young said 100 mph “still raises some eyebrows around here.”

The extreme winds were an issue across the region this week, making for dangerous wildfire conditions and some utilities to take power sources temporarily offline.

The wind is linked to storms in the Pacific Northwest. Moisture is trapped in that region’s mountains and creates high gusts in the Plains.

On Wednesday, much of Wyoming’s interstates and some state highways were closed to high profile vehicles.

Photo credit: WYDOT

The extreme wind gusts were on South Pass and near Smoot. But unusually high wind was prevalent across the entire state this week.

12/19/2025

In a since deleted social media post on Dec. 15, a special district in Natrona County called for classifying EMS as an essential service under Wyoming law, like firefighting and law enforcement, to give it dedicated funding.

That’s in response to property tax reductions that have gnawed away at the district’s budget, as well as those of other EMS and fire districts across the state. Wyoming lawmakers passed cuts to help those grappling with rising inflation and high property tax rates following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Photo credit: Leighton Burgen

In a since deleted social media post, a special district in Natrona County called for classifying EMS as an essential service under Wyoming law,...

12/19/2025

This fall, Colorado State University’s (CSU) Dan Zimmerle received a letter from the federal government informing him that his research grants were cancelled. He said it was a shock.

“We've worked with the Department of Energy (DOE) across multiple administrations, both Republican and Democratic administrations,” said Zimmerle, director of CSU’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center in Fort Collins. “We've never had our projects that were ongoing just out of the blue get canceled.”

He said two of his multi-year research projects that benefit Wyoming depend on the $17 million the federal government is cutting. It’s part of a larger culling of 321 other DOE awards totalling nearly $8 billion, with an additional 300 or so sitting in limbo, according to Politico reporting.

Wyoming Public Radio reviewed Latitude Media’s published version of the list of projects that were cut or in limbo, and identified that as many as 11 or more impact Wyoming projects.

Photo credit: Caitlin Tan

The Department of Energy cut about $8 billion in federal energy grants. Here are the ones that could impact Wyoming.

12/19/2025

Celebrating National Ugly Sweater Day with your Wyoming Public Media crew! 🎄

12/19/2025

The Eastern Shoshone Tribe is working on a new centralized cultural hub and museum. Community members have carried the vision forward for decades, but the tribe got a big boost from a rural design program over the last couple years.

The new space isn’t built yet, but is slated for the lot across from the gas station in Fort Washakie. The plan is to put four tribal departments under one roof: archives, cultural arts and education, tribal historic preservation and enrollment. The idea is also to increase tourism and pass information down to younger generations.

Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann stopped by an event at the Fort Washakie School to hear how the project’s been progressing.

Photo credit: Hannah Habermann

The new space would bring four separate tribal departments under one roof, with an overarching goal to create a centralized space to celebrate and...

12/18/2025

Zoe May Noble grew up on a cattle ranch in Cora and raced for the Pinedale High School Nordic Ski Team. Now, she’s vying for a spot to represent Team USA in biathlon in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy.

She’ll compete in qualifying trials in Craftsbury, Vermont this weekend.

The sport is a combination of cross country skiing and rifle shooting, with roots in the Scandinavian military. While race format can vary, biathlon involves cross-country skiing multiple laps at top speed, interspersed with shooting a series of targets from both a prone, laying down position and an upright, standing position.

Noble, age 25, said the dual-sport nature of biathlon means a competitor has to be two athletes in one.

“ You have to be a very fit and capable cross country skier, and then you have to put a rifle on your back and you have to be a very capable sharpshooter,” she said. “ Those things are trained separately and in conjunction.”

Noble qualified for the Junior Nationals Team with the High Plains Nordic Association for all four years of high school. But she didn’t try biathlon until she was in college at Alaska Pacific University.

Photo credit: Kevin Voight

The 25-year-old raced for the Pinedale High School Nordic Ski Team and got into biathlon while going to college in Alaska.

12/18/2025

The voices of dogs and people made a racket as Paige Russell, the foster manager with Black Dog Animal Rescue in Cheyenne, tries to talk.

” We just had dogs come in from New Mexico yesterday, so we took in a mom and some puppies and then a smaller chihuahua mix and then a little beagle mix,” said Russell.

Black Dog Animal Rescue is the largest animal foster care program in Wyoming, she said.

“During the holidays, people get busier, and fewer fosters are available,” said Russell. “These wonderful dogs end up sitting in kennels for days on end, when what they really need is a warm home and a caring family.”

She said her program has seen a surge in need right now because of the number of dogs that have nowhere to stay over the holidays.

“[Volunteers] might go around to visit other family members. They might leave their house and go on vacations, or they have people coming into their home that aren't there throughout the year. It could range from they're really great with animals to maybe they're not so great with animals,” she said.

Russell said they’re having a hard time finding homes for several large dogs through early January.

Photo credit: Black Dog Animal Rescue

Holidays are an extra challenging time for Wyoming’s animal shelters, especially those that offer foster care in the homes of volunteers.

12/18/2025

About a dozen towns around the state will be counting birds this weekend. It’s part of the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count.

The annual count has helped tally bird species across the country for over a century.

“There used to be a tradition of people going out and trying to shoot as many birds as they could for the Christmas season,” said Grant Frost with the Cheyenne chapter. “So it was decided to try and change that by having them just count the birds.”

The count occurs on a single day chosen by local chapters between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. Organizers choose a center point, then send volunteers to watch for birds within a 7.5 mile radius.

Photo credit: Sergey Yeliseev

The annual count by chapters of the Audubon Society help track invasive species, trends in where different species are spending time and offer a day of citizen science.