It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, December 12th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

The financial landscape of college athletics is straining the University of Wyoming's athletics budget as it tries to keep up with exploding NIL deals for Division I recruits. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland explains the reasons why the school is asking the Legislature for more money in addition to their annual budget.

"What they are saying is that this settlement involving the NCAA recently, this past summer, changed everything for them. Changed the dynamic…They're losing, I think it was, half a million from the NCAA as part of the settlements, losing between 300 to 350,000 from the Mountain West Conference as a result of shifting around there and then there's also added economic burdens, like having to extend health care and scholarship offerings to these athletes."

The extra $3 million would bring the state's annual contribution to the program to just over $19 million, UW spokesman Chad Baldwin confirmed to Cowboy State Daily.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Rock Springs family of eight lost their rural rental home, four pets and all their possessions in a fast-moving fire driven by high wind Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that the family is now split up among relatives while the community rallies to help them find new housing.

"I was told by the fire chief that in Sweetwater County that they responded to this home, a rural home north of Rock Springs, they found smoke throughout coming out of the house, and then the winds that day were like 35 to 55 mile an hour gusts, it took them seven hours to put out the fire. Officially, there is no cause of the fire, but the wife in the family told me that they had a fireplace on and she believes that could have contributed to it. What we do know is that four of their pets passed away in the blaze. The family lost their Christmas presents and everything like that."

The home, which has been determined as a total loss, had been the family's residence for 18 months and had six bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Wyoming pilot flying to a visit with a doctor ran out of fuel and made a safe emergency landing on U.S. Highway 14 near Greybull on Monday. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that pilot Martin Mercer did the right thing by landing on the highway.

"We have a lot of experienced pilots in Wyoming, and a lot of times they do have to make emergency landings on the highways. And I think people might not know, or they've forgotten, that's what the highway system was partially established to be, was to establish long stretches of pavement that could be used as runways, and that was intended in the event of military mobilization. But in Wyoming's case, it's more often used as emergency landing strips for people who have problems with their planes, and usually it's single engine, fixed wing aircraft."

After Mercer landed, he had the police take him to his appointment, then after refueling, authorities blocked traffic so he could take off and safely fly home.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Albany County Conservancy is accusing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of concealing eagle deaths in Carbon County. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that biologist Mike Lockhart says golden eagle deaths are soaring due to wind farms.

"Just based on his own observation of the prevalence of eagles, he's noticed a precipitous decline. There are places you used to be able to go and see like 1415, of them hanging out. Well now he goes there and he doesn't see any so their numbers have declined. You know, quite a bit on that metric. He's also tagging the birds…He's looking for a percentage and so of the 160 or so birds he's tagged, he's been able to confirm deaths of 29 birds, half of which were close to half of which were wind farm but there's another 49 birds that had just disappeared."

The Albany County Conservancy has filed a lawsuit in the District of Columbia to force the U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to release all 1,166 pages of the incident reports about bald and golden eagle deaths and injuries related to the Seven Mile Hill, Ekola Flats, and Dunlap wind farms.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

Brody Cress of Hillsdale, Wyoming, secured a top spot at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas on Monday. Cowboy State Daily's Jackie Dorothy reports he rode a legendary animal named Virgil.

"Virgil is going out on top. He has done a great ride, and he's definitely a horse that has a history, and we will continue to watch both Brody's Brody crest and Brody wells at the NFR."

Cress scored 89.5 points, coming in second to Damian Brennan, who posted a 90-point ride.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A DoorDasher is accused of going on an anger-fueled rampage around Cheyenne on Monday. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that William R. Ingleby is facing multiple charges on suspicion of threatening people with a loaded 9 mm handgun and physically fighting a 17-year-old.

"A 24 year old guy in Cheyenne that's facing some serious charges related to his pulling a gun on people performing all kinds of acts, at least six acts of road rage, and also fighting with a teen …This individual is facing aggravated assault charges with a weapon, possession of a weapon, also reckless driving. There were six 911 calls in a period of like 15 to 20 minutes of this guy and his girlfriend going around Cheyenne and cutting people off, threatening them, giving them the finger and things like that."

The aggravated assault and battery charge against Ingleby carries a potential punishment of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, while the possession of a weapon with intent charge carries a potential penalty of up to five years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office is reporting that a domestic violence incident in rural western Wyoming has left one man dead and an 8-year-old child with a gunshot wound. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that deputies were informed the suspect, 40-year-old Chazz Lilly, was still in the home.

"They get there and they hear the suspect is still at the home. He's potentially, armed. They approach it that way. Eventually enter and discover that the guy is dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot. What isn't clear in the statement from the sheriff's office is whether the eight-year old who suffered a gunshot wound was one of the four children that were involved, or if it was somebody else's."

The sheriff's office says an investigation continues and that "no other information will be released at this time."

Read the full story HERE.

–

Glacier National Park is ending its reservation system for getting into the park, which was meant to keep the park from getting mobbed. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that insiders are saying that national parks are getting overrun anyway.

"It kind of backfired on them, because what happened is, everybody decided, 'oh well, the heck with your reservations. I'll just show if you said it at seven, I'll show up at six.' And so, according to what the park supervisors reported as saying, there were a lot of people coming in in the pre-dawn darkness, so you just had a lot of traffic, you know, going through. And you know, in the dark when, you know, windy, narrow roads, lots of wildlife. And so they said, You know what? This isn't working. This is having unintended consequences."

According to reports, the park plans to end reserved entry during the summer 2026 season.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, December 11th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

Cryptocurrency billionaire Charles Hoskinson says the construction company formed to build a health clinic in Gillette did not lay off all of its employees. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that the layoffs, highlighted by Gov. Mark Gordon's office on Friday, shouldn't be a surprise due to the construction season.

"The governor wanted to highlight that his office is ready to serve the people who are laid off, help them get new jobs. There were just some things in the release that maybe Charles Hoskinson felt didn't paint things in the best light. He felt that saying it was the biggest layoff or the most significant, one of the most significant layoffs in Wyoming history is a big stretch…They built the project, and now it's time for them to move on to the next construction project. And so his his comment to me was, 'Is he going to put out a release like that when the nuclear plant and camera is finished?'"

Hoskinson has just returned from Abu Dhabi, where he said he was unveiling his new block-chain project, named Midnight.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Wyoming Highway Patrol has confirmed at least 21 blowovers on Wyoming's highways during Tuesday's winter windstorm. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that wind speeds clocked as high as 105 mph.

"The Wyoming highway patrol was still collecting reports as of Tuesday, as of Wednesday afternoon, but according to the reports they had, there were 21 confirmed blowovers: semi trucks, RVs and campers, and there nine of those incidents had minor injuries, no reports of major injuries. Now this is to be expected during a Wyoming winter windstorm, let alone the first Wyoming winter windstorm of the season. But the thing is, when those road closures are enacted for high profile vehicles because of high gusting winds."

Most of Wyoming's busiest highways were closed to high-profile vehicles under 40,000 pounds for most of Tuesday and Wednesday. WHP troopers don't proactively enforce these closures, leaving the decision to drive at the operator's discretion.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Wyoming Public Television CEO Joanna Kail asked state lawmakers on Wednesday to fill a $3 million funding gap from federal cuts that Congress made earlier this year. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that one legislator is asking why the outlet's product is worth the backing of government.

"Ken Pendergraft, was basically like, if you're doing well, won't the private sector support you? And he asked, 'What makes your product so special that the government has to back it?' Joanna kale, throughout the course of that presentation, maybe not just instant to that question, but throughout the course of her presentation, emphasized that, yes, they offer programming, documentaries, but they also do public services like emergency broadcast and they actually they stream the legislative meeting so that the public can watch them, so they're very much a mix of what we think of as entertainment, information and public service."

When the federal government cut funding to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting this summer, one of the Wyoming-run outlets lost a third of its funding.

Read the full story HERE.

–

As Wyoming communities recoil from nuclear waste, the Idaho National Lab continues to embrace waste as an untapped resource. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that Energy Sec. Chris Wright, who visited the lab earlier this week, described the happenings there as a "nuclear renaissance."

"There are 200 different types of spent fuel at Idaho National Lab right now. Well, if you contrast that with Wyoming, where even just the topic of waste coming up in the discussions around Radiant in this resolution that was recently passed by the Campbell County Commission, there's a real aversion to anything with that word waste. That has always been the case with the story of nuclear power in Idaho…so there is maybe more of an acceptance."

According to the Department of Energy, there are more than 200 types of spent nuclear fuel stored at Idaho National Lab.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

The former Bar Nunn fire chief on Wednesday received a suspended three-to-five years in prison and three years of supervised probation for stealing from the 2024 MDA Fill the Boot fund drive last year. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that 57-year-old Robert Hoover was repentant in court.

"There were members of the Bar Nunn fire department in the courtroom, and one of the things that came out was both the defense attorney and the prosecutor and maybe the judge as well. They all said that once restitution comes as he had promised, the former fire chief promised to provide restitution. His attorney said he had the check and was ready to hand it over to the court. So as soon as the restitution was provided, it was going to be going to MDA to make up for the funds that were stolen back in 2024…He apologized to the court. The judge went along with a plea agreement. So that plea agreement says that he got three to five years in prison that was suspended, and now he's on three years of supervised probation that requires him to obey every law."

Hoover was ordered to pay a $500 fine on a misdemeanor charge of official misconduct and $10,812.03 in restitution.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Big Piney man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing another man with a bow and arrow in February. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports Rowan Littauer's prison sentence is up to the judge.

"What they do is they order what's called a PSI, a pre-sentence investigation report, which one judge loves to describe as a book report on your life. It goes in your childhood, your criminal history, you're thinking about this crime, all of that, and the judge likes to review that before she sentences you, because then she feels at least like she knows who you are. And so they'll review that, and they'll also just consider the case. And then when they get to sentencing and they have all that ammunition in the chamber, then that's usually when they decide whether they're going to accept the plea agreement."

Rowan Littauer could face between 75 years and life in prison if District Court Judge Kate McKay accepts his plea agreement.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Two horses that went missing north of Moran in late October still haven't been found despite aerial searches. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that an outfitter is also missing horses in the same area, and the parties have joined forces in their search efforts.

"I also spoke to a horse expert with Back Country Horsemen, and she told me that it's possible that what can happen is this fascinating adaptation by horses that will glom on to a elk herd, or bison even, and follow them and forage along with them. It's happened, apparently."

Ron Ostrom, one of the horse owners, tells Cowboy State Daily that his horses left camp during a late-season outing in the mountains. The outfitter has two or three horses missing on the Cody side, which could bring the total number of lost animals in the general area to as many as five.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Tuesday's windstorm knocked over a massive tree behind the Broadway Theater in downtown Rock Springs. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that even though the tree went through the roof, the Christmas shows will go on.

"The damage to the building has been assessed, and it's been deemed to be minor… it brought the house down in the sense that it went through the roof, but there was little to no structural damage that couldn't be easily repaired. So there are several performances in the Broadway Theater over the next few weeks, and none of those performances are going to be canceled or inhibited in any way. So the way I put it, a theater critic would say that it was an ambitious effort, but overall it was an overblown and wooden performance by the tree. It tried to bring the house down, but it failed to achieve that goal."

Chad Banks, manager of the Rock Springs Urban Renewal Agency, tells Cowboy State Daily that the tree couldn't have fallen in a better spot. Fortunately, that was on the sidewalk and alley adjacent to the Broadway Theater, missing most of the building.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, December 10th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

Roping and riding a terrorized cow moose and then dragging it gave cowboys on a Uinta County ranch enough of a thrill to capture the event on video. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that now those videos are being used to charge the trio with felony violations for cruelty to animals.

"There is video that came up because of an investigation later, like a year or two later, by the Wyoming Game and Fish. And this video shows these cowboys lassoing the moose, and one of them riding it and spurring it. And then on another date, this was back in May 2021 on another date, another of the three has his Lariat around it and is pulling the moose while the other cowboy videos it…Wyoming, Game and Fish is saying that these violations, there's a felony involved in against all three of these people…they're facing up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine."

Justin Martin, of Evanston, the registered agent for M Arrow Ranch, Range H. Martin of Evanston, and Kylan W. Platt of Malad City, Idaho, have all been ordered to appear on Jan. 15, 2026, to face a variety of charges, including accessory before the fact to felony cruelty to animals, accessory before or after the fact to wanton taking of a big game animal, and felony cruelty to animals, among others.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Winds as high as 105 mph were recorded on Tuesday, and most of I-80 and I-25 were closed to high-profile vehicles because of gusting winds. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that meteorologists say it's a result of cold air trading places with warm air.

"We had a surge of cold air from the Arctic sweep over Wyoming during the weekend, and now there's a warm surge of air sweeping in from the Pacific. That's why Don Day, Cowboy State Daily meteorologist, calls these 50/50 days. If you have a day in winter that's 50 degrees, you have 50 mile per hour winds, because that's what happens when the warm and cold air masses are trading places. It gets super windy in Wyoming because of the winds aloft and the strong jet stream."

Wind gusts as high as 105 mph were recorded on the Chief Joseph Highway, north of Cody. Mount Coffin, one of the windiest spots in Wyoming, experienced wind gusts up to 86 mph.

Read the full story HERE.

–

During a tour of the Idaho National Lab on Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright described Wyoming as a "tremendous energy state." Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that the Energy Secretary also urged support for nuclear fuel manufacturing.

"When asked specifically about where Wyoming fit into all this, we talked about BWXT. BWXT has work going on out at the Idaho lab. They're providing fuel for a couple of projects, and they have this proposal in Gillette…his advice to Wyoming is, 'Get in the fuel manufacturing business. Welcome BWXT to your state.' He said that he's done work in Gillette himself and hopes to see that that project goes forward."

Energy Secretary Chris Wright toured the Idaho National Lab Monday with INL Director John Wagner, U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Idaho Gov. Brad Little.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

The future of Cheyenne's Outlaw Saloon, Wyoming's largest bar, is settled. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that The Maury and Bonnie Brown Foundation purchased the building and will turn it into a rec center.

"Cheyenne, the capital city of Wyoming, does not have a community rec center. There are much smaller communities that have rec centers in Wyoming, but the capital of the state does not have one, and this will finally put a bow on that…I'm told that the facility will be state of the art. It's going to include an indoor walking track, which is something Cheyenne also lacks…it's going to have an aquatic center, multiple volleyball and basketball courts, daycare, pretty much everything that the YMCA used to have when it was open."

Peaches Tyrrell, who's overseeing the project, tells Cowboy State Daily that it will be a "YMCA on steroids."

Read the full story HERE.

–

An overloaded semi-truck with 23 violations backed into a Laramie County Sheriff's Office patrol car Monday during a traffic stop. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that Sheriff Brian Kozak said the truck had numerous safety violations and was driven by an undocumented Nicaraguan man who was arrested.

"This truck that had 23 violations. His deputy deputies pulled it over in Burns Wyoming at five in the morning on Monday, and it had three flat tires. The brake light didn't work. The taillight didn't work, and when the deputy pulled up behind it, pulled it over, he's walking up to the cab, the truck rolls backwards into his patrol vehicle and smashes the front of the patrol vehicle. The truck had faulty brakes as well. Turns out that the driver and his passenger could not speak English. They were both undocumented aliens, one from Nicaragua, one from Mexico, both of them being turned over to ICE."

Sheriff Kozak says the growing number of illegal drivers and trucks on the road made him decide to post a Facebook video about the incident.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Archaeologists are searching for a person who stole a human skull from an 1,700-year-old burial site in Utah. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that officials call the act "grave robbing" and "disgusting."

"I spoke to several archeologists, and the word that they kept using was disgusting…What these archeologists want is to be able to return the skull to the burial site. And they're hoping that that's the best case scenario. As to why somebody would do this? They have no explanation. It's an utter anathema to them. And I think most people, if you find a burial site that's 1000s of years old, it's good where it is, and it should be left undisturbed, because it's just as ghoulish as grave robbing in a cemetery would be today."

The Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration is offering a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individual who stole a human skull from a protected archaeological site near Kanab, Utah.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Someone who bought a Cowboy Draw ticket at the Daniel Junction Foodmart in Sublette County is $2.2 million dollars richer. But as Cowboy State Daily's Jimmy Orr reminds us, we may never know who the winner is.

"Who knows who it is? No one knows. They sold 200 of those tickets for the Cowboy Draw, so somebody's richer, but again…we may never know who it is, because Wyoming is one of those states where you can remain anonymous, if you want to. So congratulations to that person. As one person posted on Facebook. We'd like to be your new best friend, and all of us at Cowboy State Daily would like to be their best friend."

The winning ticket was pulled on Monday and is worth $2,277,420 in the Cowboy Draw game.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, December 9th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

The two men the Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested last week for kidnapping a teenage girl are wanted by ICE. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports the men are still being held in the Carbon County Detention Center.

"I got court documents for 33-year-old Pedro Perez and 22-year-old Alexa Solis Gomez. And these documents allege that this girl told her sister she was being followed and that there was a photograph of someone pointing a gun at the home where she was staying shortly before this alleged kidnapping. I also learned last week from talking with ICE that they've issued detainers on the two men, which means that the agency believes they're here illegally and would like to process them."

The Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested the two men who were traveling with a 16-year-old girl, on claims the two men were kidnapping her from her home in Wisconsin back on November 29th.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Areas in the Snowy Range in Albany County received over 75 inches of snow in 40 hours over the weekend. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports the wet, heavy snow has boosted the snowpack in Wyoming's southern mountains by more than 30 percent.

"The snow storm over the last weekend was great for the mountains, particularly in southern Wyoming, there were monitoring stations that detected up to 75 inches of snow on the western side of the snowy range, which is phenomenal. And there was a foot-and-a half or so that fell in Centennial over that period. So that makes up for some of the deficit that we had in November. It was warmer and drier than normal in November, and this snowfall helps make up for some of that deficit, not all of it, but some."

A monitoring station above Centennial in the Snowy Range recorded 65.5 inches of snow in 40 hours. Another monitoring station on the west side of the Snowy Range recorded over 75 inches over the same period.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Wyoming lawmakers on Monday criticized the Wyoming Department of Health's proposed emergency insurance program named "Bear Care." Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that some legislators are pushing back on government health care.

"The Wyoming Department of Health is like, 'Hey, we can start this with federal seed money and get a buy-in, self-sustaining program to offer an alternative on the marketplace so people can get this emergency care insurance without having to buy a Cadillac on the Obamacare exchange,' basically, is what they're saying. And they're claiming that after the five-year expiration of Big, Beautiful Bill funds, that this program would be able to live on. But state lawmakers, including John Bear after whom Bear Care is not named, were apprehensive on Monday, saying, this is just more government.

If approved, the proposed program would give individuals and small business groups a government-backed option to provide insurance for catastrophes and emergencies.

–

Two of Wyoming's most influential historical organizations say they have finalized their split with the Wyoming Historical Society. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that The Wyoming Historical Foundation and WyoHistory.org say they will move forward together without the society.

"This has been a big drama. It kind of emerged in February that these guys were trading accusations. Big to do. There was a no confidence letter issued in May, in June, Wyoming Historical Society basically booted all of its society chapters out. These individual historical societies in each county had been like chapter members, and they just told them, they to go their own way. Basically completely changed the structure of Wyoming Historical Society, and there were still kind of arguing throughout the year about different things. They have finally reached an agreement now they are all three going their own separate ways."

The Wyoming Historical Foundation had long been the fundraising arm for the Wyoming Historical Society, putting money into an endowment for them. Now, the Foundation is set to begin fundraising with WyoHistory.org to be among its new beneficiaries.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

Despite being early December, most Wyoming anglers are still fishing open water due to warm weather. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that it may not be until the beginning of the year until ice fishing season begins.

"The simple fact, it just hasn't gotten cold enough, and stayed cold enough long enough to produce that really, you know, lock in the lake with that good, thick ice that's that's suitable for ice fishing…I talked to Don day, it's probably going to be the better part of a month before things really start freezing up and locking up hard to where people can go ice fishing in mass. So it's coming. You just have to be patient."

Tony Valdez, owner of Buckboard Marina on the western side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, tells Cowboy State Daily that relatively warm and windy weather is forecast for about the next 10 days, making it highly unlikely that the reservoir will ice up during that timeframe.

–

When Montana photographer Beth Moos heard elk were stuck in an icy lake, she grabbed her camera and raced to record the scene. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that what Beth captured was an incredible helicopter rescue.

"The Elk had been stuck in there since the morning. She got there about 3;30 in the afternoon, and 20 minutes after she got there, a helicopter showed up to kind of haze and guide the elk towards shore. It's kind of a motivational device, if you will. The Game Wardens had tried to haze the elk out of the pond, and they weren't budging. So the helicopter gave them more encouragement to start making their way back to the shore. All four of them survived."

Moos, is a retired physical therapist and took up photography as a hobby. She's ventured to Canada to photograph snowy owls and has shot bison in Yellowstone.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A 21-acre Jackson estate has just hit the market for a little under $40 million dollars. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that this piece of property offers private Snake River frontage, as well as winding creeks full of trout.

"When you see the pictures, you just can't believe that it even exists. It looks like a fairy tale land. It's got a very cinematic view…Every bedroom has a view of the Grand Teton. You know it, if you're there, you wouldn't know where Jackson is, because it's like you've been plopped into this secluded wilderness where there's wildlife and trout fishing and seemingly nothing else. But Jackson is just five minutes downtown."

The home, built in 1997, is almost six-thousand-square feet, and has Montana moss rock fireplaces, birchbark cabinetry, reclaimed wood floors, and custom ironwork.The property is surrounded by 300-plus acres of landlocked BLM land.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas is happening this week. Cowboy State Daily's Jackie Dorothy reports that Wyoming is well-represented with two cowboys named Brody.

"So our two Brodies are Brody Wells of Powell and Brody Crest of Hillsdale, and they got into rodeo because they're Wyoming cowboys. They live in our great state. They're celebrating our Wyoming heritage. And what is so exciting about Wyoming is that we actually are the only state with our own state sponsored rodeo team. Once you get on Team Wyoming, you've made it to the big time…both of these cowboys are saddle bronc riders, and they've been training and in the sport since they were teenagers."

Also joining the Brody's at the National Finals Rodeo is Meeteetse bullfighter Dusty Tuckness who's been invited an unprecedented 17 times.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Monday, December 8th. I'm Mac Watson.

–

Move over Jackson — two national business publications are claiming a place called Sleepy Hollow (allegedly near Laramie) is Wyoming's richest small town. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that not only the town does not exist, but this is an example of how artificial intelligence can sometimes not be 100 percent accurate.

"I've seen articles about Wilson being the most expensive ski town, Hoback being the most expensive place to live. These places are not towns. They are census designated areas. They are a cluster of streets that are near town, but they're not towns, Sleepy Hollow, in this case, is a little suburb, kind of off of Gillette, southeast corner of Gillette, but it's not a town. It's not near Laramie, like realtor dot com was telling us. But if you're looking for know the a Sleepy Hollow near Laramie in the mountains, you'll be looking for a long time."

Sleepy Hollow, Wyoming, according to Realtor.com, is Wyoming's wealthiest small town. It has a population of 1,812 people with what Realtor.com says is a median household income of $119,451 and a median home price of $399,800.

Read the full story HERE.

–

So far this year, 71 grizzlies have died in and near Yellowstone, compared to a record of 72 in 2024. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that experts are saying it's not surprising, it's actually a good thing.

"Every bear that is known to have died or been killed, or every grizzly that carcass that is discovered in the Greater Yellowstone Area gets tallied on this report from the USGS…he total mortalities are the total number of carcasses or bear remains that turned up in 2025 was 73 however, 71 of those mortalities occurred in 2025…Last year had very similar numbers. You go back much further than that, number start dropping down into the 60s, and people will the consensus seems to be that a lot of it has to do with the fact there's just more bears."

The most common causes of death remain the same. Some include roughly 30 grizzlies killed for attacking livestock, at least eight struck by vehicles and seven killed by other bears. Twelve of the bear deaths remain "under investigation," with no official cause yet listed.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Wyoming rancher Doug Samuelson expected to hear lions while camped out in Mozambique but was crushed to hear poaching had wiped them out. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that Samuelson and his coalition has pulled off the largest international relocation of lions ever attempted.

"He met a guy named Ivan Carter, and they dreamed up this notion of bringing back lions to landscapes that could clearly support wild lions, but didn't have any because of poaching. And so he convinced Ivan Carter, who runs a Wildlife Foundation in South Africa…They believe it's really the first time this has ever happened, that this size of translocation from one country to another just hasn't been done."

Samuelson and his team flew the lions from South Africa to Mozambique, which is over a thousand miles, where the lion population has been devastated by civil war and poaching.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Alta, Wyoming's Jaelin Kauf is one of the world's most decorated freestyle skiers and currently the "athlete to beat" in the upcoming 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Italy. Cowboy State Daily's Zak Sonntag reports that Jaelin started thinking about Olympic gold as a child.

"She was raised in Alta Wyoming, and this is a really unique, interesting community. It's almost like this little ski republic of its own, because it's on the western edge of Wyoming, but it gets most of its resources and access through Teton County, Idaho and the city of Driggs, Idaho. So it's like right on this border, and it's sort of unto itself, almost, but it's right at the base of grand Targhee resort, and it has incredible ski terrain. And both of her parents are themselves professional skiers, so they wanted to live there, and that's where she was raised. And it's the type of place where the schools would take the kids out of session every Monday in the winter to go up skiing on the hill. And so it's a really unique community."

After winning silver in 2022 Jaelin is aiming for the gold medal in the winter Olympics in February.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

After 35 years as a dispatcher with the Wyoming Highway Patrol, Chris McGuire is retiring. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports that she's handled everything from domestic disputes to blizzards and everything in between.

"Chris didn't set out to become a dispatcher, but at the time, she was working for a hospital, cleaning rooms, and she absolutely hated it…so she saw a job for dispatcher, and so she took the job, and it didn't go well. Initially, it's high stress. She didn't know what she was doing, and she got a call that almost set her she got a call that almost made her quit. And the call was that a woman called and said, there are kids all over the road, and you can imagine how terrifying that was for her."

During one treacherous Wyoming snowstorm, Chris tells Cowboy State Daily, she worked 37 hours straight.

Read the full story HERE.

–

There have been only two major eruptions of Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser in 2025, and it's been more than 200 days since its last eruption. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that scientists have no idea when it will erupt again as it has stopped exhibiting one of its only predictable behaviors.

"What scientists are concluding is that Steamboat has had another active period that lasted for several years, and now it's winding down. It could erupt tomorrow. It could erupt next month. It could erupt sometime within the next 50 years, as it has gone up to 50 years without a major eruption. Now how likely it's that? Not very likely. The normal behavior of Steamboat is that it erupts frequently for a few for a few years, for a short period, and then it goes back to a period where eruptions occur once every few months, or once every few years."

The last major eruption of Steamboat Geyser, which sent water 300 feet into the air, occurred on April 14.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Brush Creek Ranch's new Chef Nicholas Pissare brought two Michelin Keys to a resort in Colorado, that state's only such property. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that if he can do the same here, that would expand Wyoming's Michelin footprint somewhere else besides Jackson Hole.

"Michelin Keys are a little different than stars. Michelin keys are for resorts that have dining establishments, but you can't just eat there. You can't make a reservation and eat there…And so they came up with these MICHELIN keys to kind of recognize those places that have outstanding food. And so, you know, this guy has already done it once. He's very que sera sera about whether he'll do it again."

Pissare tells Cowboy State Daily that Brush Creek's leadership has been curious about Michelin Keys, and what the process is, but are not fixated on that as a goal.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Marty Simonich has driven his white 2001 Subaru Legacy sedan nearly 1 million miles. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that Marty has driven through snowstorms, across the Bonneville Salt Flats at 120 mph, into at least four deer and through Jackson Hole, where the odometer turned 777,777.

"He's excited to share his story. He doesn't know what's going to happen. He's got a digital readout, and it's going to hit 99999, and what's next? He doesn't know if it's going to just go to zeros, if it's going to be all exclamation points or like a congratulations. And Subaru doesn't know. I mean, at least the folks we spoke to at the corporate office, they tried to reach out to the guys in Japan to ask this question, what's going to happen?"

Marty tells Cowboy State Daily that he has a 150-mile round-trip commute from his home to his job, but he's also taken many road trips in his Subaru.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, December 5th . I'm Mac Watson.

–

A trucker accused of shooting at a pickup with a child inside claims the pickup driver actually fired first in a road rage incident. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports a judge found probable cause Wednesday to send the case to district court on multiple felony charges and the defendant chose to testify - a rare decision.

"I don't recall seeing it in the preliminary hearings I have covered, and that's because at that phase of the case, the defense attorney has very little information. He hasn't gone through discovery yet. He hasn't gotten his arms around the constitutional situation yet, and so it's rare, it's unprecedented, but it's also a bold move."

59-year old Rabindranath Bunsee faces one count of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of reckless driving, two counts of reckless endangerment, one count of property destruction, and an eighth count of using a radar detector.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Wyoming's leaders, past and present, are mourning the loss of former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judy Catchpole, who died on Thursday at the age of 81. Cowboy State Daily's Jimmy Orr reports that Catchpole is remembered for her boundless energy, sense of humor and advocacy for children.

"She was truly a happy person. Every single person I spoke to and spoke to, governors today, Senators today, leaders of all sorts and just regular people who knew Judy well, they all said the same thing. She was genuinely happy, she was funny, she just bring joy wherever she went. I mean, she was so different from other politicans…she's one of those people where, if you saw her in a store, you would go seek her out, and you would go give her a hug, because you knew she was generally genuinely happy to see you."

Catchpole served as Wyoming's highest ranking education officer from 1995-2003.

Read the full story HERE.

–

After being rescued from what officials called an "abhorrent" hoarding situation 2 months ago, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter has found homes for all 103 animals that were rescued. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports the ability to get over a hundred pets placed is an amazing achievement.

"None of the 103 animals rescued from the hoarding situation back in October are at the Cheyenne animal shelter. Now, they've either been adopted or they've been sent to other facilities where they can receive treatment and care and rehabilitation to get them ready for adoption. They had a giant Mastiff that got flown to Idaho, and within two weeks of reaching his new foster family in Idaho, he was adopted as well. So it's a really tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved. I mean, you can't really be prepared to take on that many animals, let alone that many animals who need urgent care, and then have them all in better spots within two months."

Kayla Hahn with the Cheyenne Animal Shelter tells Cowboy State Daily that the quails were the last of the 103 rescued animals to find a home.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Cheyenne's Outlaw Saloon is part dive bar, part honky-tonk and known for hosting music, boxing and even little people wrestling. Cowboy State daily's Greg Johnson reports the landmark bar is closing this weekend after the bank foreclosed on it to recover $1.7 million owed.

"The Outlaw saloon is closing this weekend. On Monday, at 10am, the bank is having an auction. There's a there's a public auction foreclosure sale. It's only been called the Outlaw since about 2019 when the current owners bought it. But for decades before, it was called Cowboy South. And it's a huge place, over 22,000 square feet. At one point, they had three working bars and a bowling alley in there, all at the same time. And it's got a real reputation as as the place to go. It was a honky tonk, it's a dive bar. And people, people loved it."

The Outlaw bar was bought by Curtis and Shelby Crowton and their limited liability company Bullseye Operations, has been the go-to hangout in Cheyenne since the early 1970s.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

The USGS estimates 4.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas remains under southwest Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that combined with other recent assessments, federal scientists have identified enough gas to supply the entire country for a long time.

"So, significant amount of undiscovered natural gas resource was announced by the USGS today, but to them, it wasn't a surprise. They have been doing so many studies of southwest Wyoming, it was kind of expected. I think I said, I asked the researchers, you know, were you pleasantly surprised by this? And she said, No, you know, it really fits a pattern that every time we've looked, we found more. And it's basically saying, this is what the inventory is. It's a pretty solid resource that could generate as much as you know, it could generate enough natural gas to power the whole country for 18 months."

The assessment marks the fifth oil and gas study in the area released by the USGS in the last two years, following assessments of the Lewis Shale in July 2020, the Mowry Composite in May 2025, the Niobrara Formation in June 2025, and the Phosphoria petroleum system in August 2025.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The daughter of the Rock Springs, Wyoming, police chief was sentenced to 42 days in jail and ordered to pay over $2,000 in restitution Wednesday for poisoning her roommate's dog, leading to its having to be put down. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Allie Erspamer pleaded "no contest" Wednesday to the misdemeanor version of that charge.

"The county attorney, Clayton Malinkovich, that covered for Sweetwater County in this case, wrote a statement saying, like 'probably, had she been convicted by a trial, the judge after that would have given her probation.' And so this way, he was able to secure some jail time, because he wasn't confident about whatever sentence she would have gotten, even with the felony level conviction, which she dodged. And he said, but he recognized that nothing could make up for the loss of the dog and the other things that the dog's owner went through."

The restitution amount Erspamer must pay is for cremation and veterinary costs, the deceased dog's owner, Hallie Blake, confirmed Thursday to Cowboy State Daily.

Read the full story HERE.

–

When John and Tucker Bass moved from Tennessee, they were unsure about Wyoming's bass fishing. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports then 12-year-old caught a world record-setting largemouth bass in Fremont County.

"Tucker is the Son, and this summer they were fishing, fishing on a lake that's colloquially or locally known as Bass Lake, and Tucker caught a world record breaking bass in so far as it was, it was the New World Record for the junior class on four pound test line. So it was the largest large mouth bass that's ever been caught by someone in the junior division on a four-pound test line. John, the dad, told me that to his knowledge, there's never been a record large mouth caught in Wyoming, because Wyoming really isn't known for bass fishing."

Dad says that they plan on eating the fish for a world-record dinner now that they have the official approval. Tucker said they plan to cook it his favorite way, "deep fried."

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, December 4th . I'm Mac Watson.

–

More than two weeks after a 10-month-old boy was reported missing, authorities have issued a felony arrest warrant for his mother, who's accused of taking the baby. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports that the father is offering a reward for any tips that would lead to getting his son returned home safely.

"A felony warrant has been issued from Madeline Daly for custody interference, because she has absconded with the couple's son, and she was last seen in the Worland area on November 16…So on Wednesday, the father of the child announced he was putting up a $10,000 reward for any information leading to his safe return."

Daly's grey 2017 Dodge Ram pickup was last seen in the Worland area in the Big Horn Basin in north-central Wyoming with her last known address at an RV park in Ten Sleep.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Construction of a $60 million state-of-the-art rare earth processing and separation demonstration plant is complete in Upton, Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that the plant is expected to be a re-defining moment in America's efforts to break China's rare earth stranglehold.

"So Rare Earth Resources is keeping China from having a monopoly on this technology. Their proprietary and patented technology will keep production of the elements that it mines within the US, and it also intends to process and separate the elements more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way…construction of the plant is completed, but the plant will not be fully operational until early 2026."

Processing and separating the rare earths, which will come from neighboring Crook County as part of the Bear Lodge Critical Rare Earth Mining Project, will be a game-changer for Wyoming — and the domestic supply chain as a whole.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Worland man who riddled his own dog with bullets was sentenced Wednesday to three years' supervised probation and fined $1,000. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Donald "Dudley" Wright says he's had death threats over the incident.

"He was facing years in prison, potentially, and so he was like, I just can't believe how severely my life is derailed over these incidents. I still have a right to put down my own dog. And, you know, he said he was trying to put down this dog that was eating medication and reportedly killing chickens, and it just went haywire in the dark, you know, the dog got free, and then he couldn't finish the job, and then the neighbor women like ran off with it before he could finish the job. And the prosecutor countered, saying, 'it's not that you were trying to put down your own dog, it's the jury found the way you did it to be cruel in nature, feloniously cruel.'"

Wright told the court that in hindsight, he wished he'd handled his frustration with the dog differently.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Rock Springs residents turned out Tuesday to support promised changes to a controversial plan to manage 3.6 million acres of southwest Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Tracie Sullivan reports the plan is being amended to comply with Trump's order to peel away roadblocks to U.S. energy development.

"People right now are optimistic that that's going to be amended in a way that will give them more of what they want under the current administration, because Trump had signed an executive order that basically said that basically told the BLM, you need to amend this in order to to focus on energy development, domestic energy development. And that's been their order now from the Trump administration, which is what brought this, this whole idea of amending this resource management plan to the forefront, and so they're pretty optimistic…they're optimistic as far as knowing that there's at least going to be some changes that are going to benefit Sweetwater County."

The original 2024 plan drew intense backlash across Wyoming, where residents, lawmakers, and industry groups argued the new land designations, trail buffers, and use restrictions went far beyond what had been discussed during years of public meetings.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

Wyoming wildlife officials and others fear a Utah-based company's plan to build a 900-megawatt power project at Seminoe Reservoir could ruin the state's most-prized bighorn sheep herd and a blue-ribbon trout fishery. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that county commissioners are weighing both sides of the issue.

"People are concerned that this proposed power project could disrupt the sheep's critical winter range…and people are concerned that that could disrupt the aquatic habitat and water temperatures, which in turn could affect the fishery, Seminoes, known for walleye fishing, as well as trout. I talked to county commissioners in both Carbon and Natrona counties, and they are concerned, because they're saying, Okay, well, we're being told this power plant would generate, you know, a lot of economic benefit for us, but at what cost? Because we, our counties, benefit hugely economically from recreation, hunting, fishing, wildlife watching, all those things."

In a letter sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in April, Game and Fish Deputy Director of External Affairs Doug Brimeyer stated that the project's estimated five-year construction time could affect an "entire generation of wildlife."

Read the full story HERE.

–

An aviation consultant whose child custody battle raged for years in Wyoming's court system sued Jackson Hole News&Guide on Tuesday for $25 million. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that David Laurence Mecartney is claiming that the newspaper falsely labeled him a child abuser despite court documents saying otherwise.

"According to the complaint, the Guide just put it out there as an objective assertion that McCartney was an abuser, and the complaint also says that the outlet, then later, you know, a week later, did this update, couching that in an attribution saying the man's son said he was an abuser, but that the man denied it. And so the complaint calls this an inadequate update, and is now demanding millions of dollars over the assertion that McCartney was an abuser."

Mecartney filed his $25 million federal defamation lawsuit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming. The newspaper, if they think Mecartney didn't apply the law correctly, can file a motion to dismiss the case.

Read the full story HERE.

–

To access sections of Wyoming public land surrounded by private property, some hunters are charting helicopter pilots to fly them in, upsetting adjacent ranchers. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that some ranchers don't like it, but hunters say it isn't right for landowners to treat landlocked public parcels as extensions of their property.

"I talked to Fonzey Haskell, who's actually a member of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission and an outfitter, and he's from Northeast Wyoming. He says, 'Yes, we see that occasionally we do see private parties flying in. It's legal. It might cause a little bit of friction between those guys and the professional Outfitters, but it doesn't seem to be a huge deal at this point."

Landlocked public lands often contain extensive road systems used by ranchers, oil-and-gas workers, and, occasionally, hunters.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Tour de Wyoming has announced its route for July 2026, when 250 cyclists will cover 400 miles through the Bighorn Basin, with a brief visit to Montana. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that this will be the 27th year for what's regarded as one of the best bike tours in the United States.

"It's one of the best, fully supported bike tours in the nation, because there are only 250 people selected to participate every year, but their luggage gets carried from stop to stop along the route. They have a caterer that makes all of their meals, sometimes even have fancy coffee and a masseur that goes along with them. And of course, there's a bike repair station so that if anything goes wrong, it can be tended to. And they choose a different spot in Wyoming to go to every year. They haven't been to Northwest Wyoming for a while, so they've chosen a route that covers a lot of small communities in the Big Horn Basin, the kind of places they prefer to go."

The 2026 tour starts on July 12. Cyclists will follow a 56-mile loop from Powell past Cowley, Lovell, and Byron before heading back to Powell for the night. And then it's on to Cody, Red Lodge, and finally Yellowstone's East Entrance and back.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, December 3rd. I'm Mac Watson.

–

The University of Wyoming is getting a $1 million dollar grant from the Trump Administration's Department of Education. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports the University's Firearms Research Center is tasked with creating nonpartisan public school courses about the Second Amendment.

"All of our congressional delegates like it, and they did that, you know, they, they see this is coming from the Trump administration, the Department of Education…they were thankful in that regard. And I talked to Jeremy Haroldson, who's a state representative…he's been a strong advocate for gun rights…Those behind the grant, just thought that there was a gap with or just not adequate education. What they see is historically accurate, straightforward education in serious civics classes about the Second Amendment specifically."

The curriculum will focus on factual information rather than the typical heated political debates around the Second Amendment and firearms policy, UW College of Law professor George Mocsary, the Firearms Research Center's director tells Cowboy State Daily.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The Cheyenne Frontier Days lineup has been announced and one famous and familiar face will be back in the Cowboy State. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that Blake Shelton will highlight the Frontier Nights concert lineup that was announced Tuesday evening.

"Cheyenne Frontier Days is announcing their concert lineup just a little bit earlier than usual…Blake Shelton's coming back. It'll be a sixth time back in Wyoming. Blake Shelton, of course, you know, he took a four year hiatus. He stepped back from the voice, after 23 seasons…he also found enough time to write a new album.

Other notable acts include country star Trace Adkins and an up-and-coming Texas bar band named Treaty Oak Revival.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Douglas couple is trying to salvage what they can from their 1923 Craftsman bungalow home that was devastated by fire Friday morning. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that a shop next to the home full of the husband's tools also burned.

"A neighbor who lives, not only on their street, but a street over a few houses down, got up, looked out the window and saw this orange glow. Went to check it out. It was a cottonwood tree in this couple's backyard, and their whole shop, which was just a few feet away from their house, was on fire, along with this tree, fire department is called, and the end result is their house has significant fire loss, as well as the shop is gone, and they are trying to determine what they can salvage from their home."

Homeowner Judy Naughton tells Cowboy State Daily that she was told by fire investigators that they think the fire likely started in a wood stove in the shop, but the investigation is on-going.

Read the full story HERE.

–

While Josh Allen sets NFL records as one of the best football players on the planet, his underdog story and MVP performance on the field are keeping the University of Wyoming in the national spotlight. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that UW officials are thrilled with the publicity.

"One of the kids I talked to, George Pollard, three years ago when he told his classmates he was going to come to Wyoming, the first thing out of their mouth was, 'Oh, hey, that's Josh Allen's school. Did Josh Allen go to school here?' I mean, that was three years ago, long before the Super Bowl ad. So, the University of Wyoming is basically getting the kind of publicity that money just can't buy. You can't buy that spot on the front page article that I did about the Josh Allen effect."

Now Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen is widely recognized as one of the top professional football players in the world, but he was rather famously overlooked as a high school player before being recruited and ultimately coming to play for the University of Wyoming Cowboys.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

A Casper man who ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 and made headlines with an aspiration to buy TikTok can keep suing a former state legislator, a judge has ruled. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Reid Rasner's lawsuit will survive at least into the evidence-swapping phase.

"Judge Kervin sat down and said, 'Okay, I'm going to look at this showing grace to Reid Rasner, and just kind of being soft toward his claims at this stage. That's required at this stage, according to case law. So he did that, and under that, that soft standard, yes, it survived, and it immediately got catapulted into the discovery phase, so the evidence swapping. And then after the discovery phase, there's other parts, including Bouchard, at that point, can ask for the court, once he has the evidence at his fingertips, he can ask the court to judge the case early in his favor at that point as well."

Rasner claims former state legislator Anthony Bouchard defamed him as part of "a coordinated smear campaign."

Read the full story HERE.

–

The town of Rock Springs hired a 300-goat army to eat through weeds clogging drainage canals this past spring. Now homeowners in Fort Collins, Colorado, are using 600-pound hogs to root out unwanted weeds, but Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz finds the answer to the question, "Are hogs better than goats?"

"The guy who has a hog, said they're really good at weed mitigation, because they go through and actually they root around. They rip things up by the roots there. There are people that have used goats for weed mitigation in Wyoming. And he said, 'Yeah, goats are great, but they'll just kind of go along and either nibble the tops of plants or or nibble plants down to the ground, whereas the hogs go a step further and rip out the roots.' So they're trying it in Fort Collins. It seems to be fairly effective down there."

So will Wyoming see hogs replacing goats for weed control? Weed and pest control experts contacted by Cowboy State Daily said they haven't heard of hogs being used here in the Cowboy State yet, but they weren't opposed to the idea.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A 64-year-old Cheyenne man faces an attempted aggravated vehicular homicide charge. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that Calvin Alexander is accused of striking and injuring a Laramie County Sheriff's Office deputy with his vehicle during a wild Monday evening traffic stop.

"This guy didn't want to pull over. Basically, this guy didn't want to pull over, though the sheriff's office responded. Just kept going back and forth. He's just kind of driving slow and doing U-turns. Finally, they think they've got him to stop. They get out of their cars to go approaching and he instead, according to the sheriff's office, he goes on, hits one of the deputies, hurts them, and keeps trying to get away. And it's not until the sheriff himself arrives and kind of blocks his car in that way that they actually get him and even then, he still resisted. They had to pull him out of the car, and they finally had to tase him to get him going."

The Sheriff's office report states Alexander was booked into the Laramie County Detention Center on charges of interference, felony property destruction, driving under the influence, aggravated fleeing, and eluding police.

Read the full story HERE.

–

It took three hours, sedatives, a lot of manpower, and a special tractor-forklift rig to get a horse out of a ditch in northeast Colorado on Sunday. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that in the Rocky Mountain West, rural responders are prepared for livestock rescues.

"A horse in Weld County, Colorado, fell into a ditch. Its owner couldn't get it out, so the owner called the local fire department and multiple agencies coordinated to get the right tools for the job, and the animal control officer on the Weld County Sheriff's Office staff contacted a local veterinarian to sedate the horse because it wasn't too keen on being rescued, because it's a frightening situation. So it was a team effort by all the agencies involved, but more importantly, everybody who was there knew what needed to be done and knew what they were capable of doing, and if they didn't have the tools or the expertise, they know they knew which agency to call, who would have those tools or expertise or both. And that's something that Wyoming livestock owners should take to heart, is that they don't have to do this themselves."

The Ault-Pierce Fire Department, Eaton Fire Protection District, Windsor Severance Fire Rescue, Banner Health Ambulance, and the Weld County Sheriff's Office all braved freezing temperatures to safely extract the stranded horse.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, December 2nd. I'm Mac Watson.

–

Gov. Mark Gordon fielded questions on data centers Monday when pitching his $11.3 billion budget to lawmakers. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that one Wyoming lawmaker called the line of questioning a "political football."

"Gordon was asked questions about data centers and energy diversification and courting Taiwan and Japan to potentially consume Wyoming's natural gas Secretary of State Chuck Gray, on the other hand, ended up in a back and forth about his Spats with Governor Mark Gordon regarding an exception request for publishing information about a ballot initiative, and it's Senator Ogden Driscoll, a Republican from Devil's Tower, said, You know, this would be easier to get behind if it wasn't such a political football."

The two officials on Monday presented different budget requests to the legislative Joint Appropriations Committee, which is set to meet through half of December and half of January to craft a budget bill for the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A 55-year-old Gillette woman is fighting for her life in a Denver burn unit following an early morning house fire on Sunday. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that Tammy Jo Schafer suffered burns all over her body trying to put out the blaze with a towel.

"Apparently, she had tried to put out the fire with a towel, according to her daughter I talked to, and then the towel caught her on fire, and so she suffered severe burns, but was able to get a dog out of the house, and a firefighter battalion chief told me that when he got there, she was with sheriff deputies…She was flown from Gillette hospital to Denver suffering burns on 21% of her body. And complicating things is she had a heart issue and COPD so she's in intensive care on a ventilator and fighting for her life right now."

Campbell County Fire Department Battalion Chief Doug Rigsby told Cowboy State Daily that the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Snowy weather caused havoc on I-80 over the weekend as semi-trucks and other vehicles were involved in a series of collisions in western Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that motorists were stuck on the highway for hours.

"The first incident occurred around 11:30 when the semi lost control, going downhill westbound on I-80, flipped over on its side, and then other incidents happened after that. Several people described it as a chain reaction, so as they were responding to one incident, another incident happened…So we're fortunate that the worst thing that happened as a result of that, other than the damage to the vehicles, was a broken arm that was the worst of the five injuries reported."

Wyoming Highway Patrol reminds drivers with winter weather, road conditions can quickly deteriorate, leading to black ice and dangerous driving conditions.

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

Wyoming U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman co-signed a letter Monday to the FBI seeking statistics on crimes on Tribal Lands. Cowboy State Daily's Sean Barry reports from DC that Rep. Hageman says the Biden administration's immigration policies led to Native Americans being exploited and victimized by drug cartels.

"Obviously, illegal immigration was a huge problem under the Biden administration, millions of undocumented people, including many people involved in drug trafficking setting up shop in the US, including many. On tribal lands. So illegal immigration is is definitely at the root of this. She believes that these cartels are, in fact, transnational, as she puts it, and are just exploiting the vulnerabilities of indigenous people and also taking advantage of the quilt work of law enforcement that takes place on Tribal Lands…Will this lead to legislation? We don't know."

The letter was signed by Hageman and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, the judiciary panel's chairman. No specific Native tribes are named in the letter.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Gov. Mark Gordon is seeking an extra $1 million to defend the fossil fuel industries and natural resources outside of Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that state leaders are also exploring shipping up to 20 million tons of coal a year to Asian markets through a revived Oakland export terminal.

"You have plenty of coal advocates in Wyoming to make them likely the majority what this does is it, and again, they emphasize it's not just about coal, but when federal policy is perceived to be impinging on Wyoming's ability to develop natural resources, there is this fund that can move things along, at least they hope they will. And basically they had to talk about, could the state add some money to this fund. But really, what the most interesting stuff that came out about it was the potential for a coal export facility in Oakland, and the perceived demand by Japan and Taiwan for Wyoming's coal and natural gas."

Gordon's chief of staff, Drew Perkins, tells the Cowboy State Daily the governor's proposed budget asks for $1 million to add to a $3.3 million fund provided to Wyoming through the Federal Natural Resources Policy Account.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Burns man is dead after his pickup hit a stopped train Friday night on County Road 154 north of Interstate 80 east of Cheyenne. Cowboy State Daily's Scott Schwebke details the accident and says a local resident who captured video at the scene described it as "a pretty bad deal."

"The the arms were down on the on the intersection, and so were the lights were flashing, and the train was stopped at the track, and his car just plowed into it…this is the first time at least five years in Wyoming that there's been a fatality from a car being struck or hitting a train. So this is a pretty unusual occurrence."

The Laramie County Sheriff's office has identified the driver as 45-year-old John Balczewski, who was not wearing a seat belt. An investigation is underway to determine what led to the crash, including whether Balczewski drove into the train intentionally or accidentally.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Bigfoot hunter says he's determined to continue his quest for the elusive creature, despite an FBI report releasing 50-year-old recently unsealed records. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that Alan Magargle of Colorado says the released documents were disappointing, to say the least.

"The FBI released a report from the 1970s that somebody sent in 15 hairs to have them testing, and they turned out to be deer hair. And this guy told me, 'Well, you know that that's kind of boring and kind of a letdown. We figured we heard the FBI was releasing something, and it turned out to be nothing.' But, as far as he's concerned, the quest continues for Sasquatch."

Magargle tells Cowboy State Daily that he developed a passion for Bigfoot hunting after he and a friend were hiking in the New York state's Adirondack Mountains and came across two broken trees blocking the trail.

The thing was that the trees didn't appear to have been snapped off by wind or any other such natural force.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Monday, December 1st. I'm Mac Watson.

–

Wyoming's shortage of nurse practitioners could get worse if the federal government takes nurse practitioners off its list of "professional" degrees. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that slashing federal student loan assistance could put the nurse practitioner program out of reach for students, and could negatively affect the medical landscape in Wyoming.

"Wyoming has a lot of remote communities that can't, you know, whatever they do, they're probably not going to attract a full fledged doctor to come and practice there. They're just not enough people there to support the practice. And so these nurse practitioners have been filling a very essential role in a lot of remote communities across Wyoming, they're the only source of local care in many of these smaller communities. So making this degree harder to get is kind of, you know, has the potential to constrict or put a chokehold on that pipeline of creating some of these new nurse practitioners."

The University of Wyoming says it will be difficult to offer its nurse practitioner program for much less than they now charge for tuition, but they do say they're looking at financial work-arounds for students.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Researchers at Brain Chemistry Labs, a state-of-the-art biology laboratory in Jackson, are studying the brains of dolphins in a quest to cure Alzheimer's disease. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports researchers have discovered a link between the disease, the dolphins, and toxic algae blooms.

"Brain chemistry labs has been working with partners like Sea World and the University of Miami and Florida for quite a long time, and the this attempt to see if there was a connection between what was going on in the brains of beached whales and dolphins and the cyanobacterial blooms that have become more of a concern on the eastern coast of Florida and around the world. And what this study did was found a concrete link between these cyanobacterial blooms, the neurotoxins therein, and the brain damage being caused to dolphins and whales, which in turn, has implications on humans, because Miami, Dade County in Florida has the highest incidence of Alzheimer disease in the United States. So they think that it's more than a coincidence that you have these dolphins dying of a or at least dying as a result of a neurodegenerative brain disease, and the fact that there's an extremely similar disease in humans in the same spot."

Dolphin brains are distinctly different from human brains, but the tissue damage caused by neurodegenerative diseases looks the same.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Kaci Bulkley of Campbell County is already an accomplished hunter at the age of 12. Outdoors Reporters Mark Heinz says this past fall, she stunned seasoned hunters by dropping a huge bull elk with one shot from 600 yards away.

"Her dad is a gunsmith, so he's able to custom make a rifle for and it's just that they practiced and they practiced at longer ranges. And so she had the aptitude for her but, yeah, but her mom was saying, 'No, she did.' I mean, people online trying to call us – liars, like, 'Nope, nope. My daughter absolutely made that shot.'"

The bull's antler rack scored in the 320-inch range. Kaci has also bagged coyotes, antelope, and a mule deer buck that scored 184 inches.

Read the full story HERE.

–

A Wyoming couple's European cruise on the Rhine River 5,000 miles from Worland became quite eventful when the wife learned the stranger who sat across from her at dinner was actually her cousin who was also born in Worland. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that although they were related, they had never met.

"The first night on the cruise, they're on the Rhine River, cruising down the river with some friends. Some friends went with them from Cheyenne, and there's two other seats at the table. So this older couple comes and says, 'Hey, can we sit with you guys?' They sit down. They start talking small talk, and they learn that the wife of this couple that just sat down is from what was originally born in Worland, and so the Cheyenne couple, the wife says, 'Well, I was born in Worland too.' They get talking, and they find out that she was a cousin. They were both cousins of one another through a grandfather. So they never knew each other existed."

Ron and Diane Downey of Cheyenne tell Cowboy State Daily that meeting someone from their hometown in Europe is one thing, but then the odds of discovering you're related is just "astronomical."

Read the full story HERE.

–

I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….

–

Critics of a bill co-sponsored by Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso says it would turn prime wilderness into a surveillance zone. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that Senator Barrasso says it would protect wildlands from being trashed by smugglers and illegal immigrants.

"The promoters of the bill are saying what this will do is it will kind of open up, pave the way for more infrastructure and border security anywhere within 100 miles of the Southern or northern borders. What critics are saying is that, you know a couple things. Number one, they're talking about putting in watch and surveillance stations and fences and roads all along there. And you get up to what they call the Montana High Line up there in northern Montana, they say they're going to be cutting through a lot of wilderness, and delicate High High Plains land, and also they might intrude on some private land up their private farms and land ranches. So it's drawing a lot of criticism."

Some outdoorsmen tell Cowboy State Daily that this could lead to the disruption of northern breeding grounds and migration routes in Wyoming and Montana.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Rep. Harriet Hageman's mother, Marion, celebrated her 102nd birthday this month, and remains as passionate as ever about inspiring those around her. Cowboy State Daily's Jackie Dorothy says Marion's positive outlook on life has always been inspired by "picking up the pencil."

"Marion lives today in a nursing home in Torrington, and she still stays active, and one of her favorite activities is her illustrations. Since she was a young teacher, she has been sending letters that not only are written, but illustrated, showing the life and all of the activity around her. These drawings, these illustrations have also inspired other artists to stand up and make a lifetime. These drawings and illustrations have also inspired other artists to pursue their dreams of art, from her own children to past students."

Through her inspired life, Marion has been rancher, teacher, artist and mom to six kids of her own — and 40 foster children.

Read the full story HERE.

–

The novel agricultural research of a University of Wyoming senior could help NASA pioneer the future of space farming. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi introduces us to Drea Hineman, a senior majoring in plant production and protection in the UW Department of Plant Science who is researching how to grow food in zero gravity.

"What's happening at UW is they're using a unique system that mimics zero gravity or low gravity conditions, and seeing how that impacts plant growth. And the really cool thing that they're doing is trying to figure out how to drain salt or make it so that the salt doesn't impact the plants. Because any farmer will tell you, if you can't drain your field to get certain nutrients out, the plants aren't going to grow as well. That's a lot more difficult when you don't have any gravity and you're just got plant pods floating around in space."

Drea tells Cowboy State Daily that she inherited her love of gardening from her grandfather growing up in Gillette and her novel agricultural research could help revolutionize gardening in space.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Southern Wyoming's Brush Creek Ranch is a 5-star experience that has repeatedly beaten the luxurious Amangani resort in Jackson for Condé Nast's nod as the No. 1 stay in America. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that the secret to its success is it's all about the guest.

"I think the first thing that stood out to me about the whole experience is they like, called me up. What are you interested in? You know, what are your goals for this day? What would you like to do while you're here? And next thing I know, I have this itinerary in my inbox that's basically planning out my stay…I don't know if too many places that will just instantly make your wish happen. Your wish is their command. Sometimes even your unspoken wishes are their command…So they're really super attentive to the guests."

Brush Creek Ranch is bounded by the Medicine Bow and Sierra Madre mountains in southern Wyoming. The closest public airport to Brush Creek is in Laramie, which means a lot of travelers end up driving through the Snowy Range to get to this legendary Wyoming place.

Read the full story HERE.

–

And that's today's news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.