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Sen. Alan Simpson goes viral in Gangnam Style video decrying national debt

Former Sen. Alan Simpson dances "Gangnam Style" in a viral video aimed at getting young people to speak out on the national debt. (YouTube image)

Former Sen. Alan Simpson has a message for America's youth. "Stop Instagramming your breakfast and tweeting your first-world problems and getting on YouTube so you can see Gangnam Style," the 81-year-old deficit hawk warns in a new viral video making the rounds online. It's the latest effort from one of America's funniest elder statesmen to reach young people and convince them to take an interest in taming federal budget deficits and reducing the national debt. Continue Reading →

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Wyoming public policy experts discuss collaboration in resolving natural resource disputes

Former U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Director John Turner, left, speaks Monday during a panel discussion in Cody that included, from left, former Environmental Protection Administration head William Ruckelshaus, former Sen. Alan Simpson and former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Managing high-profile public lands, especially national parks like Yellowstone and Grand Teton, often means navigating a minefield of public passions over hot-button issues like snowmobiles, wolves, bison and grizzly bears, just to name a few. Inevitably, it seems, disagreements over such topics end up being settled not in planning sessions, public forums or at bargaining tables, but in the courts. Or worse still, even the courts appear unable to offer a final and workable solution for the most contested natural resource management issues, as has been the case for the past several years with snowmobiles, wolves, bison and grizzly bears. Continue Reading →

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Heart Mountain center near Yellowstone challenges views on profiling, prejudice

Brooke Wayne, left, Yuji Tsuno and their sons St. John, left, and Ruffin visit the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center east of Yellowstone National Park. (Ruffin Prevost/Yellowstone Gate - click to enlarge)

Thousands of visitors to Yellowstone National Park this summer have also stopped off at a new attraction nearby. A former wartime internment camp museum is challenging, and perhaps changing, how some tourists — and even a few locals — view American history and current affairs. About two-thirds of the summer visitors to the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center are either on their way to or returning from Yellowstone, said Stevan Leger, executive director of the nonprofit Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, which built and operates the center. Continue Reading →

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