Open Spaces

August 27th, 2010 Listen to the Whole Show   The much improved University of Wyoming football team prepares for what could be a challenging season. Last year , the Wyoming Cowboys entered the football season with a lot of question marks. As feared they struggled to start the year. But the team rallied and finished the season with a bowl win over Fresno State. That win did wonders for the Cowboys who enter this season much more confident. Whether that confidence pans out remains to be seen. Bob Beck has the story.

A listing of today's stories

A lawsuit to challenge Wyoming's marriage law is opposed by some in the Gay and Lesbian community Prominent gay and lesbian activists in Wyoming were surprised this week by the announcement that a gay couple from Cheyenne had filed a lawsuit challenging the Wyoming law that defines marriage as existing only between a man and a woman. But critics inside the GLBT movement say the recently filed lawsuit is unlikely to properly address the issue of gay marriage in Wyoming. What it does do is illustrate a larger, national conversation on the subject while giving fuel to conservative lawmakers intent on banning all recognition of same-sex marriage in the state. Wyoming Public Radio's Tristan Ahtone has more. Wyoming relief for Haiti continues. Shortly after the Haiti Earthquake a former election judge for Haiti organized a group called Wyoming Haiti relief in Casper. It involves sending Wyoming Medical Teams, Prosthetics and the building of dome structures as shelters. The effort has been organized by Jill Ramaker Hendricks who just returned from the country. She gives Bob Beck an update on Haiti and explains how she got so many people to help. A dispute over a plan to haul thousands of tons of waste from a Gold Mine from Montana through Wyoming. This week, Wyofile dot com-- the online news site reported about a plan in Montana to haul thousands of tons of waste from a gold mine through Wyoming. This would be part of a cleanup effort because the old mine is contaminating a creek that feeds into Yellowstone National Park. Rone Tempest is the editor of Wyofile and one of the reporters who broke this story. He speaks with Renny MacKay. The discussion over a Wind Energy Tax. Next Tuesday in Mills a legislative committee will once again discuss how wind energy will be taxed in Wyoming. When they last met the committee kicked around the idea of a type of flat tax. State Senator John Schiffer is the chairman of the Senate Revenue committee. He speaks with Bob Beck. The number of military veterans attending the University of Wyoming has jumped The number of military veterans attending the University of Wyoming has jumped in the last few years. This comes after the federal government made more money available for vets through the G-I Bill. The Wyoming legislature followed suit and on top of that hundreds of National Guard soldiers returned to Wyoming last year after serving in Iraq and Kuwait. Renny MacKay reports that U-W is trying to ease the transition from the battlefield to the classroom. A reunion brings people to Sinclair to discuss their life and next to refinery. Sinclair, Wyoming is a little town just off the interstate, home to about 400 people. Its most noticeable feature is its oil refinery - a sprawling facility of tall towers and glinting metal pipe that generates barrel after barrel of petroleum products each day. The refinery is Sinclair's reason for being. The town was founded as a company town in the 1920s. Recently, people with ties to Sinclair gathered. Some traveled from halfway across the country to meet old friends, and to remember what it was like to live in this community, decades ago. Wyoming Public Radio's Molly Messick has this story. University of Wyoming Historian Phil Roberts discusses Wyoming street names. University of Wyoming historian Phil Roberts-- tells us what's in a street name. The much improved University of Wyoming football team prepares for what could be a challenging season. Last year , the Wyoming Cowboys entered the football season with a lot of question marks. As feared they struggled to start the year. But the team rallied and finished the season with a bowl win over Fresno State. That win did wonders for the Cowboys who enter this season much more confident. Whether that confidence pans out remains to be seen. Bob Beck has the story. UW Athletic Director Tom Burman discusses changes in the Mountain West Conference. It has been a dizzying summer for the University of Wyoming's athletic conference. It started when the Mountain West lost the University of Utah, but added Boise State. Then just in the last few weeks Brigham Young threatened to leave and the conference added Fresno State and the University of Nevada-Reno. All of this has implications for Wyoming. U-W Athletic Director Tom Burman explains this to Renny MacKay. He says it would be hard on to see BYU go because they are such a strong athletic program.