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Trump detractor Liz Cheney faces voters in Wyoming primary, while Sarah Palin maps political comeback in Alaska

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Trump detractor Liz Cheney faces voters in Wyoming primary, while Sarah Palin maps political comeback in Alaska


WASHINGTON (AP) — Elections in Wyoming and Alaska on Tuesday might relaunch the political profession of a former Republican star and successfully finish the profession of one other — at the least for now.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney is the vice chair of a U.S. Home committee searching for to reveal the reality behind former President Donald Trump’s relentless efforts to remain in energy after dropping the 2020 election, and his position in fomenting the Jan. 6 revolt on the U.S. Capitol.

Cheney’s dedication to stop Trump from ever once more serving within the White Home has left her combating to carry on to the Home seat she has held for 3 phrases. Trump has made Cheney’s ouster a high precedence, endorsing a challenger and touring to Wyoming to attempt to seal the deal.

Don’t miss: ‘She is aware of it wasn’t stolen’: Liz Cheney challenges Republican main rival over false Trump election claims

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In Alaska, Sarah Palin jumped on a emptiness within the state’s congressional delegation as a possible springboard again into elected workplace. A victory in Tuesday’s particular election to fill the remaining months of the late U.S. Rep. Don Younger’s time period might ship her to Washington as quickly as subsequent month.

Palin, a former Alaska governor and the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, has been out of elected workplace for greater than a decade however is betting her rebel model of conservativism could make her successful once more within the age of Trumpism.

The next is what you’ll need to watch.

Wyoming: Cheney’s work as vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee has gained her bipartisan reward from those that see Trump as a menace to American democracy. However it has severely threatened her possibilities of prevailing within the Republican main in deeply crimson Wyoming, the place Trump notched one in every of his most lopsided 2020 victories, capturing 70% of the vote in comparison with Joe Biden’s 27%.

Set to disclaim Cheney a fourth time period as Wyoming’s lone member of the Home is Harriet Hageman, a Cheyenne ranching business lawyer who was little recognized outdoors the state earlier than profitable Trump’s endorsement final 12 months.

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Hageman completed in the course of a five-way, 2018 Republican gubernatorial main. She’s campaigned aggressively for Cheney’s Home seat, showing at county gala’s, parades and rodeos. Making his first public political look in Wyoming, Trump drew a crowd of at the least 10,000 to a Casper rally supporting Hageman in Could.

A defeat for Cheney would cap a swift, as soon as unthinkable political collapse in a state the place her identify recognition is sort of common and her household’s political roots run deep. Her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, held the state’s Home seat for 10 years till 1989.

Nonetheless, the first comes after Republicans booted Cheney because the get together’s No. 3 Home chief and the Wyoming GOP censured her. Safety threats have largely prevented the congresswoman from attending public occasions and rallies as she campaigns.

See: ‘Doorways have opened … and the dam has begun to interrupt’: Liz Cheney on influx of latest data amid Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings

Cheney has as an alternative opted for personal gatherings and endorsements from well-known, conventional Republicans like Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson. She additionally launched an advert through which her father declares: “In our nation’s 246-year historical past, there has by no means been a person who was a larger menace to our republic than Donald Trump.”

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Don’t miss: Liz Cheney buys time on Fox Information for Dick Cheney marketing campaign advert calling Trump a ‘coward’

Cheney’s finest hope is that sufficient Wyoming Democrats will change events to vote for her as an alternative of their very own get together’s three candidates — none of whom stands an opportunity in November’s common election. Even Cheney’s shut allies say she may be placing precept above success on this race.

That has fueled hypothesis that Cheney is hoping for one thing greater, and she or he’s refused to rule out a 2024 presidential run.

Alaska: Palin is on the poll twice in Alaska: as soon as in a particular election to finish Younger’s time period and one other for a full two-year Home time period beginning in January.

Voters authorized an elections overhaul in 2020 ending get together primaries and instituting ranked voting on the whole elections. Endorsed by Trump, Palin completed first amongst 48 candidates to qualify for a particular election. They have been searching for to exchange Younger, who died in March at age 88, after 49 years as Alaska’s lone Home member.

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Palin is now attempting to safe the win in opposition to the No. 2 and 4 finishers, Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola. The third-place vote getter pulled out of the race after the particular main.

In a current deal with to the Conservative Political Motion Convention, Palin decried the brand new voting system, saying, “It’s weird, it’s convoluted, it’s difficult. And it ends in voter suppression.”

See: Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán greeted warmly at CPAC occasion in Dallas

Additionally: Trump to steer GOP till he ‘takes his final breath,’ CPAC chair says

Tuesday’s poll additionally includes a Home main race and one for the U.S. Senate through which Trump’s affect might not show decisive. Alaskans decide one candidate in every race, with the highest 4 vote-getters advancing to the final election, no matter get together affiliation.

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Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is searching for re-election to a seat she has held for practically 20 years. She faces 18 opponents — essentially the most distinguished of which is Republican Kelly Tshibaka, who has been endorsed by Trump.

Murkowski, the state’s senior senator, is a Trump critic who voted to convict him at his impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 Capitol assault. The previous president has railed in opposition to Murkowski, together with at a rally with Tshibaka and Palin final month in Anchorage.

The Home main, in the meantime, has 22 candidates, together with Palin, Begich and Peltola.

Begich has tried to forged Palin as a quitter as a result of she resigned as governor partway by way of her time period in 2009. Palin has referred to Begich, nephew of former Democratic Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and grandson of former Democratic Rep. Nick Begich, as her “fellow ‘Republican’ ” within the race. Begich counters that he’s all the time been a Republican, regardless of coming from a household of distinguished Democrats.

See: ‘Decertification’ of Trump loss to Biden in 2020 emerges as new litmus check in Republican primaries

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Wyoming

University of Wyoming trustees punt on concealed-carry vote as debate over guns on campus continues – WyoFile

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University of Wyoming trustees punt on concealed-carry vote as debate over guns on campus continues – WyoFile


The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees deferred a decision Thursday on whether to adopt a concealed-carry policy for UW’s campus after hearing from students and staff who overwhelmingly oppose the change. 

“I think it’s prudent for the committee to step back, get together, maybe sometime this afternoon briefly to compare notes and make sure we have not missed an issue that was brought up today in public comments that should be considered in the rule,” Trustee John McKinley said at the meeting. 

With few exceptions, opposition to concealed carry on campus defined Thursday’s public comment period, with UW students, staff and faculty citing concerns over safety and gun violence. 

The policy has formally been in the works since August, when the state’s sole public four-year university sought input on possible changes to its firearms regulations following a request from Gov. Mark Gordon. 

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In March, the governor rejected legislation that would have done away with most gun-free zones in Wyoming and would have allowed people with concealed carry permits to bring firearms into most public spaces overseen by the state. 

“This is not a veto of the notion of repealing gun free zones, it is a request to approach this topic more transparently,” Gordon wrote in his veto letter. “With the authority already in place to address this issue at a local level, I call on school districts, community colleges, and the University to take up these difficult conversations again and establish policies and provisions for their districts.”

University administration has “worked very hard to comply and to draft a rule,” UW President Ed Seidel said at the Thursday meeting. 

University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel listens March 21, 2024, during a board of trustees meeting at the campus. (Ashton J. Hacke/WyoFile)

Meantime, UW Trustee Chairman Kermit Brown made plain that the board is also keeping another branch of Wyoming’s government in mind. 

“This topic is going to come up in the Legislature again [next session],” Brown said. “I will guarantee you there’s going to be a bill, and that bill is going to be an overarching reach that would go over the top of all the rules the university makes, all the rules that anybody makes, and mandate statewide what the rule in this state is going to be about carrying concealed weapons and open carry for that matter.”

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Indeed, Wyoming Freedom Caucus Chairman Emeritus Rep. John Bear (R-Gillette) told WyoFile in August that eliminating gun-free zones across the state would be a priority of the group of hard-line Republicans in 2025. 

Since then, the Freedom Caucus won control of the state House of Representatives in the general election and is expected to secure leadership positions when Republican lawmakers caucus this weekend. 

Brown, who previously served as Wyoming’s Speaker of the House, called on those who were “impassioned” and “dedicated today to the position you took with this board,” to not limit their advocacy to Thursday’s meeting.

“You have to go to Cheyenne when they have those hearings and those meetings,” Brown said. “You have to talk to your individual legislators, and you have to go to Cheyenne and make your wishes known.

“Because this board is going to do whatever it’s going to do. We’re trying to find a position that maybe will be acceptable to the Legislature, but we don’t know whether the Legislature will accept it, or whether they’ll cast all this aside and do their own thing,” Brown said. 

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UW Trustee Chairman Kermit Brown. (Courtesy)

The discussion comes amid increasing political pressure on UW’s decisions ranging from the now-shuttered Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, to athletics and longtime services for marginalized students. 

The trustees’ vote on the policy is now set for 10:15 a.m. Friday. 

Amendments and public comment 

Like Thursday, the public comment at a Monday town hall on campus was overwhelmingly characterized by opposition. 

Many of those who spoke Monday raised specific concerns about UW’s residence halls as well as its Early Care and Education Center (ECEC), which operates as a preschool and daycare, among other things. 

In response, the trustees added residence halls and the ECEC and its grounds to the areas on campus exempt from the proposed concealed-carry rules ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

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Several ECEC staff and parents thanked the board for doing so at Thursday’s meeting.

The board also added Half Acre Recreation and Wellness Center — the gym on campus — as well as “fitness facilities and indoor practice areas” to the exemptions. 

Caroline McCracken-Flesher, a faculty member, pointed to the areas and instances that remain.

“UW is a place of education. Among the exemptions listed in this document, places of education are conspicuous by their absence,” McCracken-Flesher said. “By this document, protected spaces are the Legislature, its meetings, its committees, any meeting of a governmental entity, perhaps including this board, [and] Faculty Senate meetings. In other words, places frequented by those who vote on this document.”

University classrooms and faculty offices, which are not exempt from the policy, are “places of ideas,” McCracken-Flesher said. 

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“That means they are necessarily places of contention. They’re places of great anxiety, they’re places of academic rivalry. They are not places for weaponry.”

Liz Pearson, a student, said the university’s focus should be elsewhere. 

“We have a huge mental health crisis on the UW campus,” Pearson told the board. “Why aren’t we talking about that? Why aren’t we talking about the issues that have arisen due to DEI being defunded? Why aren’t we talking about students that currently feel unsafe on campus due to campus life and culture?”

Pearson also pointed to the results of UW’s survey, which showed that 64.4% of respondents wanted the university’s no-guns policy to remain the same. 

The one person to speak in favor of the policy Thursday was Brandon Calloway, a third-year law student. 

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“Under the current policy, uncertainty prevails,” Calloway said, pointing to the fact that concealed carry is already allowed on certain university grounds, such as the central green space on campus known as Prexy’s Pasture.

“If someone carries a concealed weapon and uses it to protect themselves or others from an active assailant, they would violate university policy and break the law, even if saving lives,” Calloway said. “The proposal eliminates this contradiction.”

The most recent version of the draft policy can be found here. The proposed changes are in red. 

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Spring registration open at Central Wyoming College

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Spring registration open at Central Wyoming College


JACKSON, Wyo. — Central Wyoming College (CWC) spring registration is now open!

CWC offers in-person and online Associates, Bachelors of Applied Science and leadership programs. CWC gives students the opportunity to pursue higher education while developing skills that will allow them to transition into meaningful careers. 

From the creative to the curious, CWC provides diverse programs in high-demand fields such as business, hospitality, culinary, outdoor education, science, nursing and English as a second language. Browse courses here.

Fascinated by shows like CSI and NCIS? Interested in learning more about the art and science of criminal investigations? Criminal Investigation I (CRMJ-2130), is co-taught by Michelle Weber, Chief of Police for the town of Jackson. Open to those interested in pursuing work in the field of law enforcement and for those curious about forensics, interviewing and interrogation, surveillance and more.

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Interested in pursuing a career as a writer? Andrew Siegel, a MFA student in creative writing from University of Wyoming, will teach Creative Writing: Fiction (ENGL-2050) in the spring. ENGL-2050 is open to students who have taken the prerequisite (ENGL-1010) and anyone with a college degree (Associate’s, Bachelor’s, or Graduate).

Interested in enrolling? CWC is an open-enrollment school, which means all students are accepted once their application has been submitted. Apply below today:



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Wyoming governor pledges to appeal after judge blocks pro-life laws

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Wyoming governor pledges to appeal after judge blocks pro-life laws


Here is a roundup of recent pro-life and abortion-related news.

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Wyoming judge blocks state pro-life laws

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon plans to appeal to the state Supreme Court after a county judge blocked two pro-life laws in Wyoming. The judge blocked the Life Is a Human Right Act, which protected unborn children except in cases when the mother’s life was at risk or in cases of rape or incest, as well as a law prohibiting chemical abortions via abortion pills, a law signed by Gordon in March 2023. 

Gordon said on Tuesday that the ruling was “frustrating” and that he instructed his attorney general to prepare to appeal the decision to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Teton County District Judge Melissa Owens ruled on Monday that the two laws violated the state constitution by restricting medical decisions. Owen has blocked Wyoming abortion laws three times since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Now that the ruling has been struck down, abortion is legal up until fetal viability in Wyoming.

The plaintiffs included Wyoming abortion clinic Wellspring Health Access, two obstetricians, two other women, and the Wyoming abortion advocacy group Chelsea’s Fund. Following the ruling, Chelsea’s Fund stated on Tuesday that it “will do everything in our power to uphold this ruling in the Wyoming Supreme Court.”

Montana judge blocks licensing law for abortion clinic 

A Montana District Court temporarily paused the state’s recent health department licensing regulations for abortion clinics amid pending litigation. House Bill 937 required licensure and regulation of abortion clinics and included rules for sanitation standards, emergency equipment, and hotlines for women who are coerced into an abortion or are victims of sex trafficking.

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Two abortion providers, All Families Healthcare in Kalispell and Blue Mountain Clinic in Missoula, and an abortionist sued over the regulations, saying they would have to close if they were implemented. Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Chris Abbot ruled in their favor, saying that H.B. 937 was a shift in “the status quo” that abortion providers “are not generally considered health care facilities subject to a licensure requirement.” Montana voters approved Initiative 128 on Election Day, enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution and allowing abortion after fetal viability.

Virginia bishops condemn fast-tracked right to abortion proposal

Two Virginia bishops recently opposed a proposed amendment granting a right to abortion, which was fast-tracked by the state House Privileges and Elections Committee. Bishops Michael Burbidge of Arlington and Barry Knestout of Richmond in a Nov. 13 statement called the proposed right to abortion “a fundamental tragedy.” Virginia law currently allows abortion up to 26 weeks and six days and allows abortion after that in certain cases. Burbidge and Knestout encouraged Virginia to “work instead for policies that affirm the life and dignity of every mother and every child.”

The bishops also opposed a fast-tracked proposal to remove the definition of marriage as between one man and one woman from the state constitution. The bishops noted that they “affirm the dignity of every person” and “affirm too that marriage is exclusively the union of one man and one woman.” Following the election, the bishops encouraged “deep engagement in decisions” that are at “the heart of who we are.”





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