State lawmakers skeptical of $1m suicide hotline request

By Seth Klamann

Casper Star-Tribune

Via Wyoming News Exchange

CASPER — Wyoming is the only state in America that doesn’t have a local affiliate to the national suicide prevention hotline, and lawmakers were skeptical Monday of a $1 million request to change that.

“We can do this a whole lot better,” said Rep. Bob Nicholas, the Republican co-chairman of the Joint Appropriations Committee, which holds the state’s purse strings. “To me, you’re throwing money before you’re throwing your brains at it.”

That sentiment was echoed by Sen. Eli Bebout, R-Riverton, the other chairman of the committee and...