KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, SportsGov. Matt Mead Delivers State of the State

Gov. Matt Mead Delivers State of the State

Gov. Matt Mead is calling on Wyoming lawmakers to endorse a wolf management plan that would designate the animals as predators that could be shot on sight in most of the state.

Mead and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last year agreed on a plan to end federal protections for wolves in Wyoming. The federal government already has turned over wolf management to state governments in Idaho and Montana. Under the Wyoming proposal, wolves would be subject to controlled hunting in a flexible area in the northwest corner of the state, generally around Yellowstone National Park. They would be left unprotected elsewhere. Wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone and other areas in the mid-1990s.

There are now more than 1,600 in the Northern Rockies, including more than 300 in Wyoming.

Gov. Matt Mead says Wyoming needs to continue its strong emphasis on children's education. The Republican governor, speaking in his second State of the State Address on Monday in Cheyenne, called on legislators to join with him in providing consistency and direction in dealing with education issues.

State lawmakers have been working to overhaul the state's K-12 education system for the past several years, saying student achievement and test scores have been lagging far behind the state's heavy financial commitment to education. The Legislature's Joint Interim Education Committee is pushing an accountability bill to change the state's student assessment system.

Gov. Matt Mead says he's proposing a fiscally conservative budget that still maintains investment in Wyoming. Speaking in his second State of the State address Monday in Cheyenne, Mead says he's proposing an appropriate budget for the coming two-year cycle even as national and global economic forces affect state revenues. Falling natural gas revenues have reduced this year's state financial projections by more than $100 million. Many analysts say the state's shortfall could grow even more. Mead has resisted the call from some in the Wyoming Legislature to implement across-the-board budget cuts for state agencies. Mead also has continued to push for the state to give local governments $168 million in the coming two-year budget cycle, saying it's critical that the state continue infrastructure investment.