It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming! I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, for Friday, May 17th.
A police affidavit filed in Casper Circuit Court states that Eavan Castaner allegedly went to Buckboard Park shortly after midnight with a Glock 9 mm pistol he had taken from his mother’s home three days before.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that Castaner texted Lenea Brown before the tragic confrontation, telling her that he planned to, quote, “celebrate when you die.”
“There had been a broken relationship between the young man, the 17 year old charged in the shooting, and the 17 year old girl. There had been texting going back and forth particularly from the young man… The young man charged in the shooting wanted to fight, so they met at a park on the southwest side of Casper. And the young man that's charged, took a weapon from - his mom had that weapon, and according to the affidavit, his ex-girlfriend was walking toward him and had raised a fist, and he just pointed the gun and shot her in the head.”
The first-degree murder charge carries the potential for a life prison term.
Property owners along a now-closed Boswell Road in southern Albany County are angry they’ve been cut off from their land.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that because of the confusion over who controls the road, many landowners are finding that they can’t build their homes, or drive cattle to their longtime summer grazing pastures.
“I talked to three people that are actually directly affected by this. One of them is a rancher. They've been ranching in Albany County for six generations, and they have summer range that goes just across the Colorado State Line along Boswell road. So they depend on that every summer to get their cattle up there to free range graze… And they're not certain if they can legally get up there this year, because of the situation with the road.”
The Forest Service is trying to get special use permits for private property owners to use Boswell Road. Meanwhile, the road remains closed to the general public.
The economy may be roughed up, but gold and copper prospects have one Wyoming mining company seeing new riches, as pricing for the commodities have gone on a tear recently.
Cheyenne-based U.S. Gold Corporation recently hit a major permitting milestone toward development of a gold and copper mine west of the state’s capital city, even as surging prices for the commodities bring the project’s worth up to about $3.7 billion. That’s according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“They're at the early stages now, looking at raising money to begin mining and they're estimating some rather large deposits in that mine east of Cheyenne here, and a few miles out of town. They're looking at probably raising roughly a quarter of a billion dollars to put it all together…But yeah, it's pretty much a go now. We're gonna be mining gold here in the state of Wyoming.”
Other permits are expected in coming months to deal with dust and emissions from equipment, and water discharge to handle sediment running into creeks and tributaries.
Wyoming House Speaker Albert Sommers faced an important decision following his final legislative session as House leader this spring — stay in the Legislature or move on.
After months of talking with constituents and considering his own personal life, Sommers officially announced Thursday that he’s running in the Republican primary for Senate District 14. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Sommers will be up against Kemmerer sheep rancher and school bus driver Laura Taliaferro Pearson.
“Sommers came under attack a lot during the 2023 session, which was his first as speaker, mostly over the issue of keeping certain bills in his drawer rather than letting them come out and be heard for debate and voted on. He even got attention for this on Fox News on national news… Sommers also already has an opponent in this race in Kemmerer resident… Laura Taliaferro Pearson… she has been testifying before the legislature over the last couple years, she expressed his farther right views. And more than anything she said, people in Wyoming are fed up with the way the state is being run.”
The Senate District 14 seat had been held since 2016 by Fred Baldwin of Kemmerer, who announced in February he’s not running for reelection.
And Yellowstone National Park tourists actually behaved themselves and nobody was mauled, when a momma grizzly with two large cubs took a stroll through the Upper Geyser Basin near Old Faithful and close to crowds of visitors earlier this week.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that a webcam video of the Tuesday event shows people keeping a reasonably safe distance from the bears, while at the same time, the bears were just out on a stroll like any other park visitor.
“They're just taking their time - one of the cubs does break into a gallop at some point, but it looks like he's just having fun. And remarkably, or maybe not so remarkably, the tourists all behave themselves, they stay on the boardwalks and keep their distance. They just politely watch the bears just roll on by - and so that's how we like things to go in Yellowstone Park.”
Things don’t always go quite so smoothly with human-wildlife interactions in Yellowstone. In April 40-year-old Clarance Yoder of Idaho was extremely lucky to suffer only minor injuries when he allegedly kicked a bison - while drunk.
And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper by hitting the subscribe button on cowboystatedaily.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel! I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
Radio Stations
The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. More radio stations will be added soon.
KYDT 103.1 FM – Sundance
KBFS 1450 AM — Sundance
KYCN 1340 AM / 92.7 FM — Wheatland
KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland
KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey
KZQL 105.5 FM — Casper
KMXW 92.5 FM — Casper
KBDY 102.1 FM — Saratoga
KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga
KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson
KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan
KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan
KWYO 1410 AM / 106.9 FM — Sheridan
KYOY 92.3 FM Hillsdale-Cheyenne / 106.9 FM Cheyenne
KRAE 1480 AM — Cheyenne
KDLY 97.5 FM — Lander
KOVE 1330 AM — Lander
KZMQ 100.3/102.3 FM — Cody, Powell, Medicine Wheel, Greybull, Basin, Meeteetse
KKLX 96.1 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep, Greybull
KCGL 104.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin, Lovell, Clark, Red Lodge, MT
KTAG 97.9 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KCWB 92.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KVGL 105.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Basin, Ten Sleep
KODI 1400 AM / 96.7 FM — Cody, Powell, Lovell, Basin, Clark, Red Lodge
KWOR 1340 AM / 104.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep
KREO 93.5 FM — Sweetwater and Sublette Counties
KGOS 1490 AM — Goshen County
KERM 98.3 FM — Goshen County
Check with individual radio stations for airtime of the newscasts.
