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Wednesday, November 6, 2024

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Donald Trump wins US presidency and the GOP flips the Senate; UT electric provider taps into the potential of 'virtual' power plants; Ohio State course bridges science and faith in polarized times; MI mayor prioritizes health, climate with 'health-in-all-policies' plan.

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Trump wins the White House. Republicans will take over the Senate after flipping several seats, and seem to be on track to hold the House. In spite of bomb threats and charges of fraud, a very high-turnout election mostly went smoothly.

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Abortion care can be five minutes away in California or 11 hours for women in Texas, rural living proves a mixed blessing for veterans, an ancient technique could curtail climate-change wildfires and escape divisive politics on World Kindness Day.

Federal lawmakers respond to WY wolf abuse, state's response

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Monday, September 16, 2024   

Following the torture of a wolf by a Wyoming man, a state panel is seeking a bill to protect the killing of predators with vehicles, but Federal lawmakers are pushing back.

After Cody Roberts in February hit a gray wolf with his snowmobile, taped its mouth shut and brought the injured animal to a bar, he was fined just $250 and an international outcry followed.

The gray wolf was removed from the federal endangered species list in 2021. In Wyoming, it is considered a "predator" and is legal to kill. The state's newly formed Treatment of Predators Working Group approved a bill, which clarified using vehicles to run over "predators," a practice called "whacking," is legal, as long as all "reasonable efforts to kill" the injured animal are then taken.

Elaine Leslie, retired agency chief of biological resources for the National Park Service, said Wyoming "sanctions this kind of behavior."

"The dialogue during that meeting was focused on, 'Oh, we can't identify or articulate the exact meaning of the word humane or ethical. So let's take that out of the bill,'" Leslie recounted.

In an opposing move, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last week introduced a bill to prohibit the intentional use of motor vehicles to harm wildlife on federal lands, establish a protocol for enforcement and penalties and maintain exemptions for human safety.

The bill is co-sponsored by legislators in North Carolina, Florida and Louisiana but notably none in the Mountain West, where the practice of "whacking" coyotes and wolves is legal in several states, as a practice distinct from hunting.

Leslie pointed out the behavior is likely happening elsewhere, too.

"We have no idea what the extent of this behavior is nationally," Leslie acknowledged. "I think it does need to have national attention and be a national bill right now."

A Wyoming legislative committee will hear recommendations from the Treatment of Predators Working Group Sept. 30.


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