Hanna Merzbach

3 weeks ago | wyomingpublicmedia.org | Hanna Merzbach

First it’s a trickle, and then a stream. Dismayed students flow out of the Job Corps campus in Riverton, Wyo., on the Wind River Reservation. They came out to meet this reporter, who wasn’t allowed on campus. They cluster outside the front gates, off the property line — dozens of them between the ages of 16 to 24 hailing from every corner of Wyoming and as far away as Florida. Their stories poured out.

3 weeks ago | wyomingpublicmedia.org | Caitlin Tan |Hannah Habermann |Hanna Merzbach |Jordan Uplinger

Very few know about Wyoming’s biggest export and how it’s produced. And yet, there’s a mini-underground world below the desert of Green River. Wyoming Public Radio brings you an audio tour of trona mining. Wyoming healthcare stakeholders are expecting a double whammy if changes proposed by Congress to Medicaid and the healthcare Marketplace are enacted. They predict 20,000 Wyomingites could lose coverage.

3 weeks ago | 891khol.org | Hanna Merzbach

Make our newscast part of your daily listening routine. Subscribe on Spotify (or wherever you listen to podcasts). Update June 5, 11 a.m.:A New York district judge temporarily stopped the closure of most Job Corps sites on June 4. The judge’s decision comes after the U.S. Department of Labor announced it would “pause” 99 Job Corps centers, including nine across the Mountain West. But supporters of Job Corps say the suspension of the program amounts to a preemptive shutdown.

3 weeks ago | wyomingpublicmedia.org | Hanna Merzbach

Many young people looking to kickstart their careers are reeling across the country. That’s because the Trump administration announced it’s suspending most Job Corps centers, including nine in the Mountain West. Athanasius “Thomas” Christofalos was installing a rear drive shaft underneath a semi-truck when he got the news that the Riverton, Wyoming center would be closing shop by the end of June. “My world kind of stopped,” said Christofalos, who’s in the Heavy Equipment Mechanic program.

4 weeks ago | wyomingpublicmedia.org | Hanna Merzbach

Wyoming state lawmaker Bob Ide wore a black cowboy hat as he thumbed through binders and books that were sprawled across a table in his Casper office. “ I've been immersed in this for 10 years,” the Republican legislator said. By this, he means the U.S. Constitution and legal justifications that most federal lands shouldn’t be federal. He thinks they should be handed over to states. “Just kind of always wondered, why do we still have all of these federal lands?” Ide said.