We read frequently about employers who desperately want to hire and put people to work. And we often read about how young people are desperate to find jobs "with a living wage." So why aren't they teaming up and living happily ever after? Where's the disconnect? It's in basic skills. Employers routinely report that people they interview don't have ...

State revenues are declining dramatically and are expected to continue to decline. That means big ticket items, even crucial ones like K-12 education, must feel the pinch. No one wants the quality of education in Wyoming to drop, but the spending on it must decrease. Why? The Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG) projected in January that total...

After months of review and mammoth change, the Wyoming legislature sent Governor Mead's budget back to him for his signature. When the governor sent it back – signed – it had more line item vetoes than ever before. The nature of Governor Mead's line item vetoes in the Wyoming budget bill created a couple of underlying themes. According to Governor ...

by Charles Katebi For four years, supporters of Medicaid expansion urged our elected representatives to permanently commit Wyoming to this entitlement program. And for the fourth year in a row, Wyoming's Joint Appropriations Committee, or JAC, responded with a resounding "No." Governor Matt Mead and Wyoming's biggest healthcare institutions claimed...

by Charles Katebi The director of Wyoming's Department of Health, Tom Forslund, recently sat down before the Joint Appropriations Committee (JAC) to make his plea for more spending. The biggest item by far on the agency's wish list was Medicaid Expansion, costing a whopping $268 million. How did he try selling such an expensive line item to the JAC...