Wyoming
Wyoming Transgender Sorority Member’s Lawsuit Against Attorneys Headed To Trial
A transgender University of Wyoming sorority member’s lawsuit against two lawyers who leveled allegations against the student is headed to trial, a judge’s Friday order indicates.
Artemis Langford sued Cassie Craven and John Knepper in March, two attorneys who filed a lawsuit against Langford’s sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, a year prior.
Langford’s petition in the Laramie County District Court describes how Langford sought membership in a Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority chapter at the University of Wyoming in the autumn of 2022, and was later accepted by majority vote.
Some of the other sorority members were uncomfortable with Langford’s inclusion in the women’s organization, and with Langford’s alleged behavior during overnight parties and other events.
Seven women sued the sorority in spring 2023, though one later dropped out, claiming the sorority’s actions were hurting its integrity and future, and harming them.
They also named Langford under a pseudonym in the lawsuit because they believed Langford should have the chance to defend against an action that could result in the transgender student being removed from the sorority.
Craven and Knepper included in their lawsuit complaint numerous details about Langford.
They described Langford’s height and weight, physical appearance, and speculated about whether Langford was undergoing gender-change treatments.
Judge Alan B. Johnson, the federal U.S. District Court judge overseeing the Kappa suit, ruled that the women could not remain anonymous.
Knepper and Craven re-filed the lawsuit revealing their clients’ names, and Langford’s.
‘Embarrassing’
These actions are the basis of Langford’s lawsuit against the two attorneys.
Langford’s March lawsuit filed in state court accuses the attorneys of abuse of process, malicious prosecution, intrusion upon seclusion and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Langford accuses the attorneys of divulging and alleging irrelevant facts for their litigation against Kappa Kappa Gamma to garner media attention and raise money toward their attorneys’ fees.
“The lawsuit’s causes of action did not require defendants to allege any details about Ms. Langford whatsoever, other than that she had been voted into the sorority and was a transgender woman,” says Langford’s civil petition, written by Alex Freeburg of Freeburg Law LLC. “The allegations appeared to be an attempt to spark public outrage at Ms. Langford’s expense.”
The Kappa attorneys and/or clients agreed to interviews on the Laura Ingraham Angle, the Megyn Kelly Showand Fox News’ America reports, says the petition.
“Defendants mocked Ms. Langford’s physical appearance, made jabs about her GPA and attempted to paint Ms. Langford as a sexual deviant who had joined a transgender-friendly sorority simply to gain access to women,” the petition adds.
Langford also disputes the attorneys’ decision to unseal Langford’s name when they unsealed their clients’ names after the judges denied the clients’ request for pseudonymity.
Langford, however, had gone public as the first openly-transgender member of the Wyoming-based Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority as early as 2022, in a story in UW’s student newspaper the Branding Iron.
On Aug. 25, 2023, Johnson dismissed the women’s lawsuit against Kappa Kappa Gamma, saying private organizations can define their own terms — even the definition of the word “woman.”
Johnson also wrote that allegations about Langford’s behavior had “no bearing on (the women’s) legal claims” and were “unbefitting in federal court.”
No Duty Of Care
Craven and Knepper filed an Oct. 14 answer to Langford’s claims via their attorney Anna Reeves Olson, saying they deny wrongdoing.
They also argued that they did not owe a duty of care to Langford; that Langford has not suffered any actual damages; that any damages Langford claims were based on contingent and speculative rights; and that Langford’s claims are barred by litigation privilege.
On Friday, Laramie County District Court Judge set a scheduling conference for Jan. 6 to map out a route for trial.
“The court expects the parties to confer prior to the scheduling conference as to when they anticipate the case will be ready to go to trial, and to discuss any scheduling,” says the order.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
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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