Wyoming – Some say it's a rumor, others say it's a real possibility. Either way, Wyoming farmers have caught wind of the idea that the government could impose a global warming tax on cows and pigs. Sara Sciammacco reports from Washington.

Wyoming – Many people are anticipating a federal cap-and-trade law for greenhouse gases. If such a law were passed, a group of ranchers in Wyoming would be poised to profit. Addie Goss reports.

Wyoming – This month Pulitzer-prize-winning writer and editor Annie Proulx and photographer Martin Stupich release the book "Red Desert: History of a Place." It's a collection of photographs and essays about the Red Desert from scientists and historians. Addie Goss interviews Annie Proulx and Martin Stupich about the book.

By Bob Beck

Laramie, Wyo. – Wyoming Senator John Barrasso told the U.S. Senate today that the Wyoming Range is an important area for wildlife in the state, and that it should be protected from future energy development.

Barrasso is sponsoring a bill that would keep any future oil and gas leases from being awarded for the area, but he says the bill honors any current leases.

The bill has the support of the Governor and should be voted on this weekend.

By Bob Beck

Laramie, Wyo. – Because the state is expected to have less money to spend then previously thought, the Governor has cut his proposed supplemental budget in half.

In December, Governor Dave Freudenthal asked lawmakers to spend over $440 million on a number of projects, but because revenue forecasters now say the state will only be getting a third of the money they previously thought, the Governor is now asking for $216 million.

By AP

Washington – Millions of tons of toxic coal ash is piling up in power plant ponds in 32 states, including Wyoming.

An Associated Press analysis of the most recent Energy Department data finds that 156 coal-fired power plants store ash in surface ponds similar to the one that collapsed last month in Tennessee.

Wyoming has three ponds.

PacifiCorp has two plants with such ponds - one in Lincoln County and another in Campbell County.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative has another in Platte County.

By AP

Gillette, Wyo. – A 25,000-gallon oil and discharged water spill into the North Fork of the Powder River in northern Wyoming will cost Citation Oil and Gas Corp. $860,000 in penalties and other costs.

The Environmental Protection Agency and the U. S. Department of Justice announced an agreement with the company.

The spill occurred in June 2004 in Johnson County when a flow line ruptured. The spill affected six miles of the river, coating the river banks in some places and some wildlife.

By AP

Cheyenne, Wyo. – Rep. Cynthia Lummis says she's been assigned to two House committees that will affect federal policies and programs in Wyoming.

Lummis will be serving on the House Committee on Natural Resources and on the House Budget Committee.

Lummis said earlier in the week that she was interested in the Energy and Commerce Committee, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Ethics Committee. She didn't get any of those spots.

Cheyenne, Wy – A new federal study says Wyoming's teen birth rate increased in 2006 after declining the previous 14 years.
According to new state statistics released by the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, the state's rate of teen births
in 2006 also exceeded the national average.
For every group of 1,000 women ages 15-19 in the United States,
nearly 42 became young mothers. In Wyoming, the rate was more than
47 births per 1,000 teenage girls.

Cheyenne, Wy – Some Wyoming lawmakers want to make certain that people accused of misdemeanor domestic violence realize that pleading guilty will cost them their federal gun
rights.
A bill drafted for the legislative session that starts Tuesday
would require judges to inform defendants that a misdemeanor
domestic violence conviction would cost them their gun rights. The
bill would also classify domestic violence as a serious offense
requiring defendants to have legal representation.