LARAMIE — Nine Wyoming Cowboys were recognized on the 2024 All-Mountain West football teams, announced Tuesday. The selections, determined by voting from the conference’s 12 head coaches and media members, included one First Team honoree, three Second Team selections, and five Honorable Mentions.

First Team Selection

Tyler King (Kick Returner):
Senior kick returner Tyler King earned First Team All-Mountain West honors after an impressive season. King led the conference and ranked fourth nationally in kick return average at 28.1 yards per return. He recorded one touchdown return, tying him for third nationally and first in the Mountain West.

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Second Team Selections

John Michael Gyllenborg (Tight End):
Gyllenborg led the Cowboys in receiving yards per game (47.2) and tied for the team lead with three touchdown receptions. He recorded 30 catches for 425 yards in nine games and delivered a game-winning touchdown against Washington State. Highlighting his season was a 137-yard performance against San Jose State, the most by a Wyoming tight end since 2016. Pro Football Focus rated him the Mountain West’s top tight end.

Shae Suiaunoa (Linebacker):
Suiaunoa, a Butkus Award semifinalist, led Wyoming with 88 tackles and 10 tackles for loss. He added one sack and four double-digit tackle games, including a career-high 13 tackles and three tackles for loss against Air Force. He ranked 10th in the conference in tackles per game (7.3). Wyoming’s defense, led by Suiaunoa, allowed only 20 third-quarter points over the final three games and topped the nation in third-down defense (25.9%).

Jack Walsh (Offensive Guard):
Walsh played over 650 snaps without allowing a sack and recorded more than 20 pancake blocks. Pro Football Focus ranked him the fourth-best guard in the Mountain West and 25th nationally. Walsh anchored a line that helped Wyoming rack up 604 total yards against Utah State, the team’s highest output since 2021.

Honorable Mentions

Wrook Brown (Nickel):
Brown contributed 48 tackles, three interceptions, and six pass breakups. His pick-six against New Mexico helped secure a Wyoming victory. He ranked eighth in the conference in interceptions and was instrumental in Wyoming’s nation-leading third-down defense.

Sabastian Harsh (Defensive End):
Harsh tallied 8.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks despite missing time due to injury. His standout performances included seven tackles against BYU and a school-record-tying four tackles for loss against San Diego State.

John Hoyland (Kicker):
Hoyland, a three-time All-Mountain West honoree, converted 15-of-19 field goals, including a season-long 54-yarder. He was perfect on field goals under 40 yards and finished his Wyoming career with school records for field goals made (73) and points scored (366).

Jaylen Sargent (Wide Receiver):
Sargent led Wyoming with 480 receiving yards and two touchdowns. In conference play, he averaged 23.3 yards per catch, ranking second, and tallied six catches of 30-plus yards in the final three games. His 186-yard game against New Mexico was the most by a Cowboy since 2012.

Nofoafia Tulafono (Center):
Tulafono started all 12 games and allowed just one sack in over 350 pass-blocking snaps. He recorded more than 20 pancake blocks and earned an 82.7 pass-block grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking second in the conference among centers.

A panel of lawmakers punted Monday on an effort to address the rising cost of electricity in the wake of utility sparked wildfires, which industry officials describe as an existential threat. The multipronged legislation, which sought to incentivize power companies to make wildfire mitigation upgrades in exchange for limits on damage claims, was too mired in complex amendments to secure the votes needed to move forward. 

The Minerals, Business and Economic Development interim committee tabled the draft Public utilities-wildfire protection plans and liability measure, which means it will not be introduced as a committee-sponsored bill in the upcoming legislative session that begins in January. A group of stakeholders that crafted the bill, however, will likely seek individual sponsors, according to one member. 

Climate-driven wildfire and utilities

Wildfires, driven by human-caused climate change, have become much more frequent and intense, particularly in the West. The region’s vast network of electric power lines and other energized facilities is aging and it simply wasn’t built to safely operate in an ever warmer and drier climate, according to industry experts.

Utilities have sparked devastating fires in California, Hawaii and Texas in recent years, prompting hundreds of lawsuits seeking enormous payouts. PacifiCorp, which operates as Rocky Mountain Power in Wyoming, faces tens of billions of dollars in claims for its role in wildfires that raged in Oregon in 2020.

Some industry leaders in Wyoming say it’s only a matter of time before a similar situation plays out here. “We’re just one wildfire away from bankruptcy if we don’t have liability relief,” Wyoming Rural Electric Association Executive Director Shawn Taylor told WyoFile earlier this year.

Meantime, utilities face another potentially crushing financial strain in the form of soaring insurance costs. Wyoming’s largest electric utility, Rocky Mountain Power, cites skyrocketing wildfire liability in its current bid to increase rates by 14.7%, claiming insurance premiums for its Wyoming operations have risen 1,888% over the past five years.

“What has happened over the last few years is that wildfire has become a real existential threat, not just for the investor-owned utility, but all utilities,” Rocky Mountain Power Vice President of Government Affairs Thom Carter told the committee.

Legislative remedies

The basic legislative concept being considered in Wyoming, which is borrowed from similar measures in other western states, would restrict what wildfire victims can claim damages for when an electric utility sparks a blaze. To qualify for the protection, a utility would be required to invest in and maintain more stringent wildfire mitigation strategies. While the cost of those upgrades would be passed on to customers, they’re intended to stem rising insurance rates, according to proponents.

“This is not intended to be a dollar-for-dollar cost reduction,” Wyoming Office of Consumer Advocate Administrator Anthony Ornelas said in support of the bill. “To us, the real benefit here that we’re trying to do is to put some legal protections around … liability exposure.” 

Though many committee members agreed the Legislature should provide some protection for utilities from what could be costly damage claims, the bill draft was marked up with too many complicated amendments to move forward, some lawmakers said. Others worried the ultimate goal of the bill — to protect utilities from expensive litigation and to stem rising insurance costs — remains speculative.

“The economics are not aligning in my mind,” Sen. Chris Rothfuss (D-Laramie) said. “I see where it’s really good for the utilities. I’m struggling to see how it’s really good or even marginally good for our ratepayers.” 

Though Utah passed a similar bill in 2020, it’s difficult to calculate the net benefit of avoided damage claims and insurance costs versus ongoing investments in wildfire prevention, Carter of Rocky Mountain Power told the committee.

The Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association also warned that the bill may go too far in removing legal remedies for wildfire victims. 

For example, a person or entity would not be able to sue a utility that is determined by the Wyoming Public Service Commission to have “reasonably” implemented and maintained a wildfire mitigation plan. But that determination is more suited to be determined by a court or jury, not the public service commission, according to Sarah Kellogg, who serves as the association’s board of directors president.

“This legislation is essentially taking the question of reasonableness away from a jury, after the fact, and giving it to a governmental administrative body to decide reasonableness through a process that has not been laid out at all,” Kellogg told the committee. 

“Wyoming juries are conservative people, they’re reasonable people,” Kellogg continued. “So taking this question away from Wyoming people and Wyoming juries — and in an adversarial setting — is not going to be good for Wyomingites.”

In addition to limiting utilities’ liability, several western states have acknowledged rising insurance costs and the need for major spending to prevent utility sparked wildfires. California authorized three utilities there to tap ratepayers for some $27 billion and has created an industrywide fund for such costs.

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CASPER, Wyo. — In October 2023, the U.S. Attorney’s Office formed a Project Safe Neighborhoods Leadership Committee in Wyoming. Throughout the last year, the PSN Leadership Committee reviewed and analyzed various factors and statistics to determine how to best use PSN resources, as well as to develop and implement enforcement strategies to prevent and reduce crime and to provide oversight and evaluation of the PSN’s progress.

That’s according to a release from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office, which states that the Leadership Committee has decided to concentrate PSN resources on Laramie County.

The release also offered the following areas of concern, which the resources will primarily focus on:

• Violent offenders who victimize children
• Armed offenders, including individuals federally prohibited from possessing firearms
• Violent crime recidivists
• Intimate Partner Violence, o IPV, offenders who commit a violent offense stemming from
  IPV and/or who use firearms during an IPV crime
• Violent offenders who possess firearms while distributing controlled substances
• Violent offenders involved in human trafficking

According to the release, “Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them by implementing the four PSN design elements: 1) Community Engagement, 2) Prevention and Intervention, 3) Focused and Strategic Enforcement, and 4) Accountability.”

Following these guidelines, in early 2024 the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office and the Cheyenne Police Department were approved to apply for and receive grant funding from Project Safe Neighborhoods in an effort to reduce and prevent violent crimes in Laramie County.

“The goal of bringing this committee together is to make Wyoming safer by supporting local and state law enforcement and prosecutors, and by prosecuting appropriate violent offenders in federal court where they will receive long prison sentences,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Eric Heimann.

In addition to the funding, officers from both law enforcement agencies joined the PSN Leadership Committee in order to “provide important insight regarding the needs and concerns of Laramie County and participate in the development of programs and strategies that emphasize the core elements of PSN.”

Individuals from the Laramie County District Attorney’s Office have joined the leadership committee as well.

According to the release, the following agencies are also participating in the PSN program and are represented on the leadership committee:

• Cheyenne Police Department
• Laramie County District Attorney’s Office
• Laramie County Sheriff’s Office
• Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police
• Wyoming Department of Corrections
• Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation
• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• Drug Enforcement Administration
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Homeland Security Investigations
• United States Attorney’s Office
• United States Marshals Service

The release states that the Project Safe Neighborhoods program was designed to help combat violent crime problems in different cities and states. It was created with the goal of enhancing both coordination and cooperation among public service and safety partners in order to ensure that tactics, resources and intelligence services are integrated to identify and target violent offenders and criminal organizations.

“Project Safe Neighborhoods is a vital partnership between all levels of law enforcement,” said Cheyenne Police Chief Mark Francisco. “By combining our resources and expertise, we can effectively identify offenders, enhance prevention efforts, and strengthen our communities.”

Laramie County Sheriff’s Office Sheriff Brian Kozak said that he will use the resources offered by PSN to “provide exceptional service to other criminal justice agencies in Laramie County and to help domestic violence victims. The Sheriff will host an advanced homicide investigation course for local detectives, and he plans to purchase state-of-the-art cameras to capture a victim’s bruising following a domestic assault.”

The program is also describes as a collaborative effort designed to protect victims and potential victims.

“The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation is honored to be partnered with our state, local, and federal partners on the PSN initiative,” said Ronnie Jones, director of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation. “I am thankful for the cooperation, commitment and work the United States Attorney’s office has provided to this program to help make our state a safer place to live and work. We look forward to seeing how all the stakeholders work together to implement new ideas and strategies to address local violent crime.”

For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, visit www.justice.gov/psn.

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