By Renny MacKay

Laramie, WY – The state Senate voted to fund a study for a light rail project in eastern Wyoming on Friday. The report would help lawmakers decide whether to move forward with a proposed rail system from Casper to New Mexico. During the debate, Cheyenne Senator Bob Fecht asked lawmakers to envision the future, where there might even be a train between Laramie and Cheyenne. The senate vote would put $240,000 into a study, although the House must approve the spending. The state of Colorado has already committed $1.2M to the effort.

By AP

By Renny MacKay

By AP

Cheyenne, Wy – The state Environmental Quality Council
approved a rule change yesterday (Friday) that would give landowners more say in water discharged from coal-bed methane wells.
The proposed rule change still needs the approval of Governor
Freudenthal before it would take effect. A spokesman for Freudenthal says the governor will reserve comment
until he could review the proposal.
Coal-bed methane water has become an issue -- especially in the
Powder River Basin of northeast Wyoming where a great deal of water

Washington D-C – Congresswoman Barbara Cubin says she supports
President Bush's plan to send an additional 21-thousand troops to
Iraq.
Cubin was NOT among the 246 representatives who voted yesterday
(Friday) for a resolution opposing the troop build-up.
Cubin got a turn to speak on the troop build-up resolution on
the House floor. She called the resolution, quote "misguided and
dangerous."
Specifically, she said that if the U-S were to lose in Iraq, it
would give al-Qaida a base of operations in the heart of the Middle East.

Cheyenne, Wy – The state Senate has decided NOT to
support using Wyoming's assessment test as a qualifier for the new
Hathaway Scholarship.
Currently any student with a sufficient grade-point average and
A-C-T score can qualify for the Hathaway.
Lawmakers had voted to require 11th graders to score in the
"proficient" range or better on the Proficiency Assessments for
Wyoming Students, the statewide assessment test.
But senators backed away from that idea yesterday (Friday).

Cheyenne, Wy – The Wyoming House of Representatives reversed a previous position and approved an additional 20 million dollars for highway construction. House members will now spend 100 million on roads...the same amount approved earlier this week by the Wyoming Senate. But Campbell County representative Sue Wallis objected to the argument that Wyoming roads are bad. She adds that the state is spending too much this year. The amendment passed by one vote.

Cheyenne, Wy – State employees who are retirees will get their first help with insurance costs in years. The house of representatives rejected an attempt to strip funding for retiree health insurance in the state budget. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Frank Philp supported the cut, because he thinks the benefit is unfair.
But others say retirees are having problems affording health insurance. The funding is in both the house and senate versions of the budget.

By Kristin Espeland