Property tax is a hot issue in Wyoming politics. Residential property tax assessments have increased in recent years, and some are feeling the squeeze. These concerns are not entirely without cause, as some genuinely struggle with the increase. However, the reasons why assessments have increased are not well understood and the main proposed response would do more harm than good.

Editor: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) recently held a meeting in Kemmerer, letting the public know there will be opportunities to get involved in the permitting process for TerraPower’s proposed Natrium nuclear plant.

I texted my kids yesterday, “I don’t try to be annoying, it’s just a gift from God. I’m thinking I’ll bestow my talent on you this Christmas.” One son shot back, “We wish you had a memory because you shared that with us last Christmas.” I sent back, “Well, it’s that or hemorrhoid cream. Pick one.”

I moved from Milwaukee to Kemmerer in the summer of 2020. With great anticipation, I researched the town and region. I discovered a very predictable human dilemma: when you have two towns right next to each other, there will be competition and sometimes even negativity about the “other.”

Here in sunny Los Angeles, it’s raining. It’s too bad it didn’t rain real hard last Saturday. It might have helped firefighters put out the enormous fire under the 10 Freeway near downtown before the heat weakened the pillars and forced the highway to be closed.

Recently, one of our offspring texted to ask if we were hosting Thanksgiving this year. I texted back, “I’m not sure because I’m cooking for a public event that day. I think it’s a hanging.”

You know how sometimes when you’re going 70 mph and suddenly a stupid fly in the car starts bothering the hell out you? You know how it keeps buzzing around your head, landing on your windshield, and you have to open the window and try to shoo it out without crashing your car?

Megan Degenfelder, Wyoming’s superintendent of public instruction, recently testified at a congressional hearing aimed at “combating graphic, explicit content in school libraries.” But did she travel to Washington primarily in her capacity as the state’s top public school official, or as a politician raising money for her next campaign?

Until just last year, Wyoming has led the country in the suicide death rate since 2018, according to the most recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. This is an issue of life or death; and as a pro-life legislator, I have joined many in the Wyoming Legislature who understand we can no longer, in good conscience, continue to force the obligation of this critical issue of Wyoming lives at the feet of families, churches, nonprofits and volunteers.

It is hard to be optimistic about the state of politics in our nation. Both in Washington and Wyoming, we are faced with many problems and few solutions. Elected officials refuse to work toward solutions and instead spend their time trying to get one over on the other side.

I know people who are excellent with money, who buy securities at just the right time, watch the market, sell when stocks are high and invest when commodities are low. I am not one of those people. I have a motto, “buy high, sell low” which unbelievably has the label “loss eversion.”

“The more we learn about the 2020 election the more ILLEGITIMATE it becomes. America deserves to know whether we have a FAKE president in the oval office.” How could Republicans in the House struggle for three weeks and then unanimously elect a man who said this kind of irresponsible stuff to be their new speaker?

Since Joe Biden was inaugurated, he has undermined our sound energy policy and our national security. Emboldened adversaries are a predictable consequence of American weakness, and President Biden’s anti-American energy policy has contributed to this weakness.

A woman once wrote, “I love when my husband says. ‘Correct me if I’m wrong,’ like I would pass up that opportunity.” A few years ago, a woman who has remained anonymous, fell overboard off her husband’s 39-foot sailboat. He didn’t realize she was no longer aboard and continued along the scheduled route.

The dysfunction in Washington was in full view recently as, for the first time in American history, the House of Representatives voted to remove its speaker mid-term. This was accomplished primarily through the efforts of small handful of Republican representatives joining the Democratic party in voting to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speaker’s chair.

U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman says we need term limits, but not for members of Congress. No, Wyoming’s GOP freshman lawmaker has identified another group she said must have its power held in check: federal employees.

I’m like the person who said, “If I were lost and all I had was a compass, I would remain lost.” We were in Florida visiting our kids when COVID was winding down. Gar and I decided to get a few groceries and remembered we’d seen a small market in a strip mall not far away. I pulled in and as I got my purse from the back, Gar came around and got into the driver’s seat.

I want to encourage our constituents to take a few minutes to help us continue to get the word out about both the rate increases proposed by Rocky Mountain Power and the proposed changes to the BLM’s southwest Resource Management Plan (RMP) for multiple use. Both of these entities have failed to consider the long-term and short-term repercussions from both of these poorly thought-out decisions.

Autumn is a beloved season. A time often thought of as cozy; filled with blankets, pumpkins, and hot chocolate. The weather isn’t the only thing that changes as September kicks off the fall season though, so do many people’s mental health. As days get shorter and colder, autumn is the open door to seasonal depression. During a season so often romanticized on social media and TV shows, how can one find their wellness in the midst of the reality of fall?

Last January, Gar went to Texas for the winter while I stayed home and worked, because I don’t know how long we’re going to live and I like to eat regularly. Wintertime where we live sees 90-120 nights below zero and an average of 39 days of below-zero weather.