By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, WY – A bill that would allow counties to regulate subdivision over 35 acres has passed the state Senate.

Currently most counties have no power over large subdivisions and cannot regulate growth issues.

Some landowners worry that they might give up some landowner rights, but supporters say that won't happen.

They say the goal is just to focus on developments.

By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, WY – A long-debated law on the amount of money natural gas producers must pay in taxes for processed gas is making its way through the legislature.

It has taken the legislature seven years to determine a uniform way to tax gas that is essentially worthless until it gets processed.

By Peter O'Dowd

Cheyenne, WY – Governor Dave Freudenthal says 2008 will be a difficult year for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

By the end of this month, state wildlife officials will be one step closer to managing the gray wolf. And the governor says that means the Game and Fish Department is about to get a lot busier.

"The calls that are currently going to the Fish and Wildlife are going to go to the Game and Fish, questions about damages and payments," Freudenthal said.

By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, WY – On the same day the Idaho legislature sent a felony dog fighting bill to its Governor, Wyoming representatives overwhelming voted to consider a bill that would also make dog fighting a felony.

By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, WY – The Wyoming legislature is having its own battle with campaign finance reform.

The house debated a bill that limits political action committee contributions to $3,500 dollars per candidate per election for statewide offices.

But the bill also increases the current individual campaign contribution from a thousand dollars to 35-hundred dollars. It led to a long debate on whether that should be reduced.

By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, WY – The Wyoming legislature will not consider a statewide smoking ban this year.

With very little debate, the House defeated a bill on introduction that would have set up a statewide smoking ban.

The bill was proposed by Cheyenne Representative Lori Millen as a health bill. But Casper Representative Lisa Shepperson says it was a case of the state trying to go too far.

Millen says she was trying to protect a person's right to breathe clean air.

The bill failed to get the needed two thirds votes.

By Elsa Partan

Laramie, WY – Bison round-up has started at the northern end of Yellowstone National Park.

Over the past week, Park Service employees have captured 139 bison near Gardiner, Montana as the animals got close to leaving the park. They sent 67 of the bison to slaughter.

It's part of a plan to protect Montana cattle from brucellosis, a disease that about 50 percent of Yellowstone bison carry.

By Addie Goss and Peter O'Dowd

Laramie, Wyo. – The Barack Obama campaign announced today it will launch a full-scale effort in Wyoming.

They'll start by opening two new offices in Cheyenne and Laramie.

Obama's Wyoming director Gabe Cohen says there's been growing support for the Democratic senator in the West, and they hope to see the same in Wyoming.

"He won convincingly in Utah, Idaho, and Colorado," Cohen says. "So we hope to continue this momentum that Obama is seeing in this region and across the country."

By Elsa Partan

Laramie, WY – Governor Dave Freudenthal says that last-minute lobbying from property owners and the minerals industry is threatening to complicate a bill that lays out rules for storing carbon dioxide underground.

"Everybody is trying to reach over and try to get somebody else's property right," he said.

"And all that bill is intended to do is to confirm the status of the law, not change the relationships, and I encourage people to disregard a lot of these amendments," he added.

By Bob Beck

Cheyenne, Wyo. – The Wyoming House of Representatives discussed another round of bills that would provide property tax breaks, and agreed to debate a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit annual property-tax increases to ten percent.

That bill now heads to the House Revenue Committee for further debate. Jackson Democrat Pete Jorgenson does not object to property tax breaks, he just wants all options studied first.