Merry Christmas and happy holidays to the WyoFile family of readers and commenters, engaged skeptics and enthusiastic fans.

It is the most important time of year, again, the season when WyoFile reporters and editors make lists of news contacts and check them twice; when policy debates from sessions past are rekindled; and essential issues are explained in tidy previews wrapped up with a bow.

December is more than a season of holiday cheer for the news crew at WyoFile. It is the time of year when the whole staff leans into the important work of preparing for Wyoming’s Big Conversation.

The Wyoming Legislature will convene its 40-day session on January 15 and WyoFile will be ready. Reporter Greg Nickerson is already preparing readers to join citizen lawmakers to craft laws that shape how Wyoming:

• educates its children;
• sustains the health of its residents;
• protects the air, land and water within its borders;
• and fosters its economy in the service of these greater goals.

WyoFile’s goal is to cover the conversations about Wyoming’s future from the inside out, and from the outside in. While Greg reports from Cheyenne to the rest of the state, Reporter Angus Thuermer will work to relay the stories of the state back to lawmakers in Cheyenne.  Editor Dustin Bleizeffer, working from both Casper and Cheyenne, will be the pivot man who keeps the conversation flowing.

WyoFile embraces the Legislative session as a highlight in a year of focused reporting.  In a national mediascape of white noise, static and cat videos, we offer you few Top 10 lists and almost no celebrity news. We don’t want to distract you, we want to empower you.

In December alone:

• WyoFile reporter Greg Nickerson explained the concerns and proposed solution to Wyoming’s reluctant Medicaid expansion.
• Reporter Angus Thuermer has digested new scientific inquiries about the effect of oil industry chemicals on communities near the oil patch.
• And Editor Dustin Bleizeffer has waded through a federal report that looks specifically at the soil and water contamination situation at Pavillion – a situation that could play out in many towns that sit atop mineral reserves.

This is our way of inviting as many people as possible into the conversation about what Wyoming will be in the years ahead. We know people are tuning in. The number of WyoFile users rose this year to more than 200,000, and the number of pageviews topped a half million.

I’d like to see that number grow because we believe everyone affected by decisions in Cheyenne should join the conversation that shapes them. WyoFile needs the help of all of its readers to do that.  We are working to leverage a challenge grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation that will will match all new and increased donations from our donors! If you’ve never donated to WyoFile, here is the chance to double your money. If you have given before, the Foundation will match any increase in your donation.

So, please consider adding a gift to WyoFile to your year-end donations. And we hope to deliver a brand new WyoFile website to your computer early in the New Year.

Thank you. Merry Christmas, happy holidays and remember: Join the fray!

Sincerely,
Nadia White
WyoFile board member