Local Lookout: Human trafficking in Wyoming | Data center delay | Housing fee fight 

Human trafficking prevalent among Indigenous Wyomingites
The Ranger
When individuals go missing on the Wind River Reservation, Nicole Wagon said, their friends and family don’t assume they just left on their own. According to reports from the Wyoming Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Task Force, Native Americans are eight times more likely to be victims of homicide than white Wyomingites — and also go missing at much higher rates. That means, Wagon pointed out, that Wyoming has some of the highest rates of Indigenous missing and murdered individuals in the nation, especially when considered per capita, The Ranger reports. “This is not an abstract issue,” she told an audience at Central Wyoming College. “This is home.” Read the full story.

Cheyenne delays annexation for data center until September
Wyoming Tribune Eagle
The Cheyenne City Council has postponed until September a proposed annexation of approximately 1,260 acres west of town intended to house a data center. The project has sparked public outcry with questions about transparency and the timing of when the public and council members learned about the data center. Neighbors also have asked about potential impacts to traffic, wildlife and a mausoleum on the property. Skybox Datacenters, a data center development company based in Dallas, would build the data center, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. Read the full story.

Rep. Byron hardens stance against housing fees, solidifying Teton County split
Jackson Hole News&Guide
After recommending Teton County officials exempt more residential homes from fees that support affordable housing, Rep. Andrew Byron took a harder stance against the fees this week. In a room full of housing advocates and other community members, the Hoback Republican stood by his vote to ban housing mitigation fees during the recent tumultuous legislative session, saying the fees are “barriers” to people staying in the community. Jackson and Teton County charge mitigation fees to commercial developers and some residential property owners building new homes, offsetting the impact of their development on the community’s housing stock, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reports. Read the full story.

Wyoming’s first Black legislator, Liz Byrd would have turned 100 in April
Cody Enterprise
“The Little Red Hen,” the classic children’s tale of a hen who labored to make bread without the help of her fellow farm animals, was Harriet Elizabeth Rhone’s favorite book. She would have her father, Robert Rhone, read it to her every night. Loving the book so much, she brought it with her to her first-grade class one day and asked her teacher if she could read the book in front of the class. That little girl would grow up to educate students of her own and, at times, make the Wyoming House of Representatives and Wyoming Senate chambers her own classroom. Born on April 20, 1926, Rhone was the product of generations of Wyomingites. Her grandfather, Charles Rhone, came to the Wyoming Territory in 1876, working as a cowboy and on the railroad, the Cody Enterprise reports. Read the full story.

Wyoming fights mental health stigma, connects people to care
The Sheridan Press
A 13-passenger van pulled into the gravel driveway of Papa Joe’s Produce in southwest Sheridan on a sunny morning. As the farm’s official greeter, the energetic collie Rosie, ran to welcome the half-dozen veterans who climbed out of the van to participate in an equine training program for individuals affected by post-traumatic stress disorder. Since At Ease Horsemanship became a nonprofit in 2024, founder Matson Tew said the program has grown from just one mustang to multiple horses, and he and his staff have added additional disciplines, like gardening and hapkido martial arts. Many Wyoming organizations are working to provide mental health resources to the state, The Sheridan Press reports. Read the full story.