By Kristi Eaton for The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Eric Galatas for Wyoming News Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

A new center in the southwest corner of Wyoming aims to offer digital skills and navigation for people who may not otherwise have access to it. 

The Empowerment Center in Torrington is set to open in the next few weeks, said Matt Larsen, CEO of VistaBeam, the Internet service provider that is setting up the center. 

“Our main goal with the Empowerment Center is, we wanted to get somebody set up to be a digital navigator to help support the community that was there,” he told the Daily Yonder. “We’re going to add a couple of workstations for digital skilling where we’ll have computers available, and people come in and use them whenever they need it. Microsoft is going to have some digital skill programs available that people can use for learning basic things, they can also access whatever else there is on the internet.”

The digital navigator will also be trained to help people sign up for the Affordable Connectivity Program. There will also be a video conferencing set up so people can take part in telehealth appointments, Larsen said. 

“We’ve also talked to some volunteer legal services that were willing to do video appointments for clients,” he said. “So there will actually be like the video conferencing area is also going to be set up like a community meeting room…We’re trying to come up with a general purpose facility that will be able to meet the needs of people that may or may not have access to broadband, or the technology or the help to be able to utilize the technology in their home.”

The mission behind the center is to empower communities, Larsen said. 

“We look at broadband as a way to help communities be a little bit more self-sufficient, and not be dependent on things,” he added. “Most of the customer base that we have right now, they don’t necessarily have the expertise to try and figure out how to set up a telehealth monitoring system or even to set up video conferencing. We do. We do a lot of tech support. We help people with a lot of different things. And it seemed like the trend that we were starting to observe is that people really needed to have help with those applications.”

Jen Davis, senior policy advisor for Human Services for Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, said she has had conversations with Larsen about the concept. 

“It will allow residents an alternative location to access technological resources such as telehealth, as well as get support from technology experts,” she told the Daily Yonder. “Many of our rural residents may not have technological access to services or some may not know how to utilize it.”

Davis said she would like to see the utilization patterns so that officials know where there remain gaps and where there are successes in order to replicate it properly. 

“If this is successful, I would love to see this grow as an alternative location for rural Wyoming to gain access and support for technology,” she said, adding: “Since Wyoming is so rural, it is critical that we offer ways to connect to resources. Resource centers are a fundamental piece in providing hands-on services and support to residents who can’t otherwise access services.”

VistaBeam is a small provider – it operates in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska – so it needs to be well connected to its customers, Larsen said. 

“We looked at this as an opportunity to kind of take that customer relationship to the next level, and even open ourselves up to people,” he said. “This is not something that’s only going to be available to our customers, it’s going to be available to anybody that walks in.”

The company is self-funding the endeavor, mainly from the marketing budget, he said, adding that if successful, they hope to open additional centers in Colorado, Nebraska and elsewhere in Wyoming. 

“We’d like to see it kind of develop as being a go-to place for people to have any kind of digital equity stuff that they need to get taken care of,” Larsen said. “We’d like to see it become something that people feel comfortable coming in, and using it, and to just kind of develop a closer tie with the community.”

Kristi Eaton wrote this article for The Daily Yonder.


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A Mississippi judge has ruled the State Legislature is not a "public body" under the state's Open Meetings Act, a decision allowing lawmakers to hold secret caucus meetings.

The decision comes after the Mississippi Free Press sued to open these meetings to the public, in the name of transparency. The case originated when the nonprofit paper filed an ethics complaint after one of its reporters, Nick Judin, was barred from attending a closed Republican caucus meeting in the House of Representatives.

Donna Ladd, editor and CEO of the Mississippi Free Press, called the ruling a blow to open government.

"About the way this is worded, to me, is a technicality that allows them -- when they want to -- to get around the idea of public transparency," Ladd observed. "So, it's kind of status quo, and especially in a state where -- I mean, let's just be honest -- much of Mississippi's history has been one-party rule, one way or the other."

In the ruling, the judge stated the Open Meetings Act applies only to "executive or administrative bodies," not the Legislature itself. Supporters of the ruling argued political caucuses are internal party matters and privacy is essential for candid discussions.

Rob McDuff, director of impact litigation for the Mississippi Center for Justice, argued on behalf of the Mississippi Free Press that caucus meetings should be open under the Open Meetings Act, as they involve a quorum of the House discussing public business. However, McDuff explained the Ethics Commission and Chancery Court ruled against them, with the judge citing a narrow definition of "public body."

"That just seems quite nonsensical when you think, of course, the Mississippi Legislature is a public body in Mississippi," McDuff pointed out. "But the wording of the particular statute, the Open Meetings Act, is what led him to that conclusion."

The ruling means journalists and the public cannot hear the debates shaping policy. While advocates for open government said the fight is not over, the decision sets a troubling precedent for transparency nationwide. As Free Press Editor Donna Ladd warned, "Don't think that it can't happen in your state."


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A former community organizer and newly-elected lawmaker is responding to the Trump administration's escalating attacks on the press with a proposed law to strengthen privacy protections for New Mexico journalists.

Rep. Sarah Silva, D-Las Cruces, said House Bill 153 is needed to replace a state statute last updated in the 1970s before the internet, email and cellphones. With the Trump administration targeting journalists as "enemies of the state" for reporting the daily news, she stressed it is important to reinforce a reporter's privilege to protect their sources.

"Given the current state of affairs at the federal level, I want to do as much as I can to protect journalists here in New Mexico from the threat of subpoena or some sort of civil case," Silva explained.

In recent weeks, major media outlets including ABC and CBS have entered into negotiations or agreed to pay huge settlements over court cases brought against them by Trump. Others have lost assigned spots in the White House press area. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission has launched a funding investigation into the Public Broadcasting System and National Public Radio.

Silva, who is married to a journalist, said she modeled the bill on the federal PRESS Act, proposed legislation which failed to pass the U.S. Senate last year after then President-elect Trump assailed it on his social media site.

Silva's bill would bar the executive branch or New Mexico's administrative agencies from obtaining a subpoena to force journalists to identify their sources or to disclose unpublished information they gathered for a story.

"As a community organizer, I really relied on journalists in the field to be covering issues like immigration reform for closures," Silva recounted. "They were helping move the needle on really important issues or they were revealing problems that the organizer needed to know about."

The bill includes some exceptions against protecting journalists, including terrorism investigations or when an imminent threat of harm exists.

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In the last days of President Joe Biden's term, senators are tackling some of their highest priorities, like confirming judges. But that may also include passing a bill to protect reporters and their sources.

The Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act would provide a federal shield law for a reporter to protect the identities of their sources.

Lucy Dalglish, former dean of the Merrill College of Journalism, said the bill would protect all types of journalists, from independent reporters to those at mainstream publications.

"It covers more than just traditional, mainstream media journalists," she said. "It covers folks, such as ones who are working for this radio network, and others who regularly collect information, digest it in some way and disseminate it to the public."

She added the bill also bans investigators going to telecommunications or other internet companies to see who a reporter has been in contact with. Right now, 49 states and Washington, D.C. have a shield law or some legal precedent on the books.

In January, the legislation unanimously passed the House of Representatives. But last week, the bill failed after Sen. Tom Cotton, R-AR, objected to its passage. The only way now for the bill to pass Congress is if it is attached to another piece of legislation - or if the Senate has a stand-alone vote on the bill.

Dalglish said it's sometimes surprising how administrations vary in their subpoenas of reporters. For example, she explained, many thought the subpoenaing of reporters after 9/11 would stop with a new president. But Dalglish said President Barack Obama and his justice department accessed the phone records of more reporters than any other president.

"And you get more subpoenas during different times in history, what's going on in society. It hasn't been too bad lately, but it goes in spurts," she said. "And of course, we really have no idea what's going to be going on in this new Trump administration."

A slew of press freedom organizations support the proposed law, including the Society of Professional Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.


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