Wyoming
Wyoming Freedom Caucus chair looks to next legislative session as the faction gains seats
The Freedom Caucus made some important gains in the primary. WPR checked in with Chair John Bear to hear what he thinks about the results. Bear was running uncontested in the primary for House Seat 31, which he has held since 2021. He is uncontested in the general election as well. Wyoming Public Radio’s state government reporter Chris Clements spoke with Bear.
Editor’s note: This story has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Chris Clements: What was your reaction about the news on Tuesday?
John Bear: Well, it really blew me away because it was much more favorable than I anticipated.
CC: What did the gains made by the Freedom Caucus in this past primary tell you about Wyomingites [and] how they’re feeling right now?
JB: I was not shocked by the fact that Wyomingites really supported the type of legislators that Wyoming Freedom Caucus represents. But I am thankful that the voters really came out strongly for those types of legislators. These candidates really worked hard, so they deserve the credit for getting themselves into office. A lot of door-to-door work, a lot of communicating with the voters and letting them know who they were. We did a tremendous amount of work trying to inform the voters on voting records so they knew which legislators to support and which ones really didn’t match what we believe is the core values of the Wyoming voters.
CC: And could you tell me just a bit about those core values?
JB: I think one of the easiest ways to describe it would be that our legislators and our voters really believe in the 23 planks of the Wyoming Republican Party platform. And those are just real common sense things that have been a part of the platform for decades, really. It hasn’t changed a great deal, maybe a word here or there, but for the most part, those are timeless principles. Those principles align with our Wyoming Constitution and the U.S. Constitution.
Those things are, for instance, smaller government, pro-life, pro-family – pro-traditional family at that – and certainly pro-Second Amendment, with an understanding that our gun rights are really not about hunting, but they’re about defending ourselves against a tyrannical government.
CC: What does the Freedom Caucus hope to do in the next legislative session? Do you have any priorities you’d like to get passed in 2025?
JB: I believe it’s important that we do respond to the voters by providing them with the kind of return on investment of their votes giving us a majority. I think what you’re going to see is serious efforts to pass property tax reform and relief, things that were vetoed by the governor in this last session.
And you’re also going to see gun free zones eliminated in the House of Representatives. You’re going to see DEI funding for the university and the community colleges, the funding for that type of education, that “woke” education, if you will, is going to be limited, if not eliminated. And then I don’t think we’ll ever stop fighting for the unborn and protecting them. So you’ll see efforts in that regard. The governor did veto an effort just this last session and you’ll see us continuing to work on that area.
We want to keep porn out of our libraries and we want to simplify state funding. So that’s a real big task there. It’s not real sexy for the people, but it’ll take a lot of steps to kind of undo the complication that’s been developed over the last several decades.
I believe it’s unnecessary. It is keeping our funding and our financing for the state from being transparent, and I believe it’s important that every voter knows where the money goes, what’s happening with their tax dollars and what kind of stewards we are being with those dollars.
CC: Are you concerned at all? I heard about a few incumbent losses and [many of those were aligned with] the Wyoming Caucus. Are you concerned at all with those incumbent losses this past primary, that there might be a loss of institutional knowledge about the legislature?
JB: Let me tell you, Chris, why I’m not concerned.
Number one, the people who have put their names in to run for office in this regard, they’re devoted to this state. They’re devoted enough to really dig in and learn what they need to learn to be able to make good decision. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus has been doing that since its inception. That is doing evaluations of bills, looking at the consequences of those bills and informing legislators so that they can make a good vote, as far as an informed vote.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
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Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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