News briefs from around the state

Campaign finance complaint against Vogelheim dismissed

JACKSON (WNE) — The Wyoming Democratic Party’s campaign finance complaint against Republican legislative candidate Paul Vogelheim has been dismissed, according to Jennifer Martinez, the office’s assistant elections director in the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office.

Martinez said on Monday that she was not able to elaborate on why or provide documentation of the dismissal before press time.

Vogelheim is running against Democrat Liz Storer to represent House District 23 in the Wyoming Legislature, a seat formerly held by Democrat Andy Schwartz.

The state party, who Storer alerted of the now-dismissed violation, filed a complaint arguing that $10,000 Vogelheim’s campaign committee had received from his late wife’s mother was improper.

Per state law, individuals other than candidates’ immediate family cannot donate more than $1,500 to any one campaign. Statute defines “immediate family” as “a spouse, parent, sibling, child or other person living in the candidate’s household,” according to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office.

Because Barbara Carlsberg is Vogelheim’s mother-in-law rather than biological mother, Democrats argued the contribution flouted Wyoming’s limit for people outside the immediate family.

The goal, according to David Martin, communications director for the Wyoming Democrats, was to ensure an “even playing field” and answer if a “mother-in-law counts as immediate family.”

Democrats cited a state statute that defined a parent as a “natural parent or parent by adoption.”

Vogelheim said he returned the money soon after the complaint was publicized.

The candidate, however, accused the party of making “political fodder” out of his late wife Rebecca Carlsberg Vogelheim’s death. He argued the statute, entitled the “Termination of Parental Rights,” from which Democrats pulled their definition of “parent” from was inappropriate, implying that Barbara Carlsberg was no longer his mother-in-law.

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Park County school districts watching state education lawsuit

CODY (WNE) —A recently filed lawsuit from the Wyoming Education Association alleging that the state Legislature has failed to adequately fund K-12 education has school districts around the state wondering if they are due more money in their coffers.

The Park County school districts have the option to join the lawsuit, but so far they’re waiting to see what happens.

“We are keeping updated through the Wyoming School Board Association,” Cody superintendent Vernon Orndorff said. “We are monitoring to see how things are moving forward.”

As costs have increased and inflation has skyrocketed, the WEA contends the Legislature has failed in its Constitutional duty to properly fund education in the state.

“The WEA has exhausted possibilities for correcting the funding deficit outside of litigation,” WEA legal counsel Patrick Hacker said in a press release. “The point of the litigation is to get the Legislature to do its Constitutional duty. The goal is to enforce the Constitution to secure proper funding for safe, high quality schools everywhere in Wyoming and to stop the deterioration of public education due to legislative failure.”

The lawsuit argues the Legislature could have done a few things to avoid the lawsuit such as providing external price adjustments, creating new revenue streams or adjusting funding during its school funding model review process, which occurs at least every five years.

During the Legislature’s session last spring, the education committee had proposed a $72 million external cost adjustment.

The full legislative body cut that to $10.1 million before scrapping it entirely.

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Barnes & Noble to stay in Cheyenne – once it finds a location

CHEYENNE (WNE) — Barnes & Noble is sticking by its plan to stay here, according to a recent social media posting and to its previous comments to the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

On Tuesday, the bookseller wrote that it’s “actively working on a permanent location” in the state’s capital city: “Our commitment to the Cheyenne community is still strong.” Its previous store at 1851 Dell Range Blvd. closed a few months ago, and Natural Grocers took its place.

In its new comments, B&N wrote on its Facebook page for Cheyenne “We want you, our community, to know we’re still fully committed to opening our new location in Cheyenne. We also want you to know we are working hard to find and open a new permanent location.”

The original plan, company officials had previously told the WTE, was to leave its location on Dell Range Boulevard, close for a few months, open a new, temporary store inside the nearby Frontier Mall, and then find a permanent location in town. When this did not come to fruition, it spurred speculation it might not return. As recently as last month, B&N had reiterated to the WTE it still planned to remain in the city.

There was no word right away on Wednesday from the retailer about whether it plans to go straight to a permanent location, whenever it finds one, and skip the temporary-store plan.

Frontier Mall officials also did not comment immediately on whether they still planned to lease any space to B&N. On Wednesday, the mall’s website did not list B&N. Suite 93, where the retailer had planned to locate, was not listed as being occupied by any particular merchant.