Planned closure of 8 schools leads WTE's top 10 stories of 2024

CHEYENNE – A look at the top stories and topics from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle over the past 12 months shows how national hot topics are unfolding locally, perhaps escalated by national and local elections this year.

From public school book policies and racial discrimination to voting integrity and property taxes, WTE staff offered a perspective on how these complex issues played out locally.

After tallying the votes from WTE staff, Ivy Secrest and Hannah Shields' coverage on Laramie County School District 1's MCER study topped the list. The study suggests LCSD1 close eight public elementary schools, which upset many community members and recently resulted in a lawsuit.

Several issues specific to the Cheyenne-Laramie County area made the list, as well, including an arrest in the 2015 double homicide at The Coin Shop, the influx of gaming facilities coming to the area and the state's response, and even an artificially intelligent entity's unsuccessful bid for mayor of Cheyenne.

1. Parents sue state commission after MCER study recommends closing 8 LCSD1 schools

This year, parents, administrators, school board members and local government got into the trenches with Laramie County School District 1’s Most Cost Effective Remedy (MCER) study.

The study determined that eight of LCSD1’s schools would need to permanently close for educational use to meet the construction needs of other schools and the construction of two new schools.

According to the report, the schools that will close are Miller (2025), Deming (2026) and Jessup (2027) elementary schools in the Central triad; Hebard, Bain, Fairview, and Lebhart (all in 2029) elementary schools in the South triad; and Henderson Elementary School (2033) in the East triad.

Some existing elementary schools will be updated, starting with Arp, whose students have been displaced for almost two years.

Parents responded with mixed emotions from the beginning, and the LCSD1 Board of Trustees and Wyoming’s School Facilities Commission (SFC) were forced to make the difficult choice of approving the study.

Unconvinced by the “we have no choice argument,” LCSD1 parents signed petitions and ultimately launched a lawsuit against the SFC and State Construction Department (SCD) looking to appeal the decision and have alternative plans assessed.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 6, demands judicial review of the SFC’s adoption of Remedy 4, outlined in the MCER.

2. Community responds with support after City Drug ordered to close, owner ordered to sell business

Wyoming Board of Pharmacy meetings are typically not very well attended and fairly quiet. That changed in September when more than 100 outraged community members packed the meeting room in the state Capitol’s extension to voice their concerns with how the board handles its business. The meeting was adjourned prematurely following the forceful removal of an attendee and shouts of disapproval from others.

On the agenda for the meeting that day, the board had planned to discuss an item that ordered City Drug to close. Many attendees said they were informed by investigators from the Board of Pharmacy that they would be allowed to provide public comment at that meeting, but were shocked to be denied the opportunity to comment when they arrived.

The suspension order came following an investigation that found City Drug in downtown Cheyenne was compounding semaglutide, even though the pharmacy has been suspended from doing so earlier in the year after staff were found to be doing it incorrectly.

In October, the Board of Pharmacy and City Drug signed a settlement agreement that allowed the business to remain open, but with a few stipulations. The agreement revoked the pharmacy license of Kelsey James, owner and lead pharmacist at City Drug, for three years and ordered her to sell the business. After that period, James may apply for the reinstatement of her license.

The docket also notes that City Drug’s pharmacy license will be on a stayed suspension for three years, so long as the pharmacy complies with seven conditions, including that City Drug will name a new pharmacist-in-charge other than James, and City Drug will not be allowed to compound any medication, either sterile or non-sterile, during the three-year period.

After one year, City Drug may petition the board for permission to resume non-sterile compounding.

3. Arrest made in 2015 double homicide at The Coin Shop

Cheyenne Police had a major breakthrough in a high-profile cold case over the summer. During one of the 2015 Cheyenne Frontier Days pancake breakfasts, police were dispatched to The Coin Shop to find shop owner Dwight Brockman and Brockman’s friend George “Doc” Manley dead from apparent gunshot wounds.

In June, Douglas Smith, the original 911 caller, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Smith provided inconsistent information throughout the nine-year-long investigation, which ultimately led to his arrest.

Smith pleaded not guilty, and a $500,000 cash-only bond was set four months after his initial arrest. He is a Canadian citizen who is in the U.S. illegally, which complicated setting bond, according to court documents.

Smith’s trial has yet to begin and will likely commence in early 2025.

4. Group organizes after racist incident at South High School

In October, an 11th-grade student at Cheyenne’s South High School returned to her car after a volleyball game. As she was walking in the parking lot, the student, who is Black, noticed that someone had written the N-word and drawn several swastika symbols in dirt on her car.

Jessica Little, the student’s mother, called on the community to come together to share their stories of discrimination, and seek paths to achieve meaningful change to address safety and discrimination in the school system and in the community.

Around 50 community members gathered for the group’s first meeting, where attendees shared emotional testimonials of their experiences of discrimination and worked to identify the next steps to address the issue in Laramie County School District 1.

The following month, the group met again. This time, they had given themselves a name: “Humanity Over Racism.”

During this meeting, the group made it clear that they are looking to work with the district, hoping that moving forward they can partner to address the issue. While members of the group have yet to publicly announce any plans, they did express that they intend to maintain communication among meeting attendees, and will formalize their goals and action items, which will likely be shared with the public in January.

5. First books reviewed under LCSD1 library checkout policy, board passes procurement policy

In December 2023, the LCSD1 Board of Trustees approved an “Opt-In” policy, by which parents were required to select the level of access their child would have to school libraries in the upcoming year, including no access at all.

Coverage of the policy's first full year in effect and subsequent book policies have been a hot topic statewide.

Record requests in April showed that the majority of parents chose to give their children full access to all books in their school library, which local attorney George Powers said showed that parents wanted to trust librarians and teachers.

In August, the board passed an additional book procurement policy that would impact what books are in the library, regardless of a child's access.

Patricia McCoy, Moms for Liberty Laramie Chapter chair and a mother of four, has been a staunch advocate for both policies from the beginning. She spoke with the board repeatedly about the need to have parental rights in education, believing these policies achieved that.

Other parents spoke against the policy, saying that it was an overstep of the board and impacted kids whose parents wanted them to be able to read whatever books the librarians determined were age-appropriate.

6. Property tax relief bills passed by Legislature, signed by governor

The hot-button issue of skyrocketing property taxes dominated the 2024 budget session, as both legislative committees and individual lawmakers brought bills offering different types of property tax relief for Wyomingites. Out of the onslaught of property tax bills introduced during the session, five were successfully passed by the Wyoming Legislature, and all but one were signed into law by Gov. Mark Gordon.

Senate File 54, "Homeowner tax exemption," which would have provided a 25% exemption on up to the first $2 million of the fair market value on a single-family residential structure, was vetoed by the governor. He criticized the bill as "Bidenomic-type" tax relief, arguing it could lead to budget shortfalls. Lawmakers nearly went into a special session over the vetoed bill, but a straw-poll vote sent to lawmakers resulted in the majority voting against it.

The four other bills signed into law expanded the governor's property tax refund program, doubled the veterans tax exemption, provided a 4% cap on property tax increases on residential property and created a new property tax exemption for long-term homeowners.

7. Wyoming GOP sues Laramie County clerk over flawed voting machine test, censures her twice, calls for her resignation

This year’s election was not without drama in Laramie County after concerns over the county’s voting machines led to the Wyoming GOP calling for the Laramie County Clerk’s resignation.

In August, County Clerk Debra Lee conducted a test of two DS450 tabulators, which are used to count absentee and recount ballots. However, the way the test was conducted did not meet the requirements of state statute, so they were tested a second time.

This error concerned the test ballots that were put through the machine, as they all had the same number of votes for each candidate. According to state statute, the test ballots are required to show a different number of votes for each candidate to demonstrate that the machine can count the votes for the different candidates.

As there was still time, Lee retested the machines one week before the primary election. This time, the test was attended by around 50 members of the public, mostly from the Wyoming GOP, to monitor it.

During both tests, Lee found that there was no error in the function of the machines.

However, the Wyoming GOP launched a lawsuit against Lee in August, claiming that her tests of the machines were not compliant with the law. In September, they censured Lee. In November, they called for her resignation.

Lee maintains that she has never acted unlawfully and denies the claims from the GOP.

8. Wyoming lawmakers report influx of out-of-state campaign attack mailers

Coverage of increasing number of attack mailers against mostly state legislative candidates came to the front page during the lead-up to 2024's primary election.

As lawmakers across the state ran their campaigns, several longtime legislators saw out-of-state attack mailers begin to impact their respective campaigns.

Former Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne, who ultimately lost his bid for reelection, saw attack mailers reach new heights in 2024. In past years, Zwonitzer said he’d seen, at most, one or two mailers targeting him — this year, he received nearly nine times that amount.

According to WTE state government reporter Hannah Shields' reporting, many of these mailers came from “dark money” groups. “Dark money” refers to funds raised by nonprofit organizations with the sole purpose of influencing election cycles. These groups are not required to disclose the identities of their donors.

These mailers also misconstrued the meaning of several representatives' votes, claiming they had taken controversial stances that they had not taken.

9. State launches first detailed study of $1B gaming industry, more gaming sites open in Laramie County

Gaming in Wyoming surged into a billion-dollar industry with the authorization of new forms of gambling in recent years. In May, the Wyoming Gaming Commission began a statewide study of the gaming landscape to determine if further state regulation is needed.

The study reviewed several items, including:

• All pari-mutuel wagering activities, skill-based amusement games and online sports wagering
• The number and growth of betting locations and activity
• The WGC’s oversight capacity
• Grounds for denying applications for a license or permit
• Processes and procedures to address noncompliance with gaming laws and regulations

In Laramie County, new gaming facilities continue to pop up. In the past year alone, the DT’s Liquor Mart and Tusker Bar at Pershing Boulevard and Ridge Road was sold to 307 Racing Management, which is currently in the process of converting the building into a gaming facility, and the $25 Swan Ranch Horse Palace, owned by Wyoming Horse Racing, opened near the Wyoming-Colorado border and already has its sights set on a $76 million expansion.

Additionally, Cowboy Racing broke ground at Thunder Plains, 10 miles east of Cheyenne, on the state’s only full-size live horse racing track that will begin hosting races in 2025.

10. AI candidate, VIC, runs unsuccessfully for Cheyenne mayor

Cheyenne made national and international headlines this year when a robot decided to run for mayor. Technically, the candidacy was registered under Cheyenne resident Victor Miller, whose campaign promise was to merely be the “meat avatar” that would make all decisions based on what he hears from an AI program, which he named VIC.

VIC, powered by ChatGPT through OpenAI, faced a scare in June when OpenAI announced Miller would be locked out of his ChatGPT account for violating the company's terms of service by using its product for political campaigning.

Nonetheless, Miller and VIC’s campaign continued, drawing attention from international news outlets like The Washington Post, The Guardian and several Japanese outlets.

Despite all the attention, the campaigning duo fell short in the mayoral race, receiving only 327 votes, the fourth most, in the August primary. However, Miller has indicated his intention to campaign with VIC again for Cheyenne City Council in 2026.