It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, June 13th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Presented by Cheyenne Frontier Days - starting July 19th, from sun-up to sun-down - there’s something for everyone! Check it out at C-F-D RODEO DOT COM!
The babysitter who beat a 5-year-old girl in her care to death about 18 months ago was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland was in the Kemmerer courtroom for the sentencing of 52 year old Cheri Marler, and reports that many of her family members tearfully begged the judge for an option of parole and claimed the woman was wrongly convicted.
“Her family really stood by her. They testified that they've known her to be gentle and non violent, and they said that the stairs in her home are dangerous, alluding to Marler’s trial theory that the little girl could have fallen down those stairs and that could have caused her injuries. It was, however, a theory that medical professionals rebutted.”
A jury convicted Marler on May 10 of first-degree murder and child abuse in the beating death of 5-year-old Annabelle Noles, who’d been in Marler’s care for weeks in late 2022.
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After Saturday’s collapse of Highway 22 on Teton Pass, commuters who live in Idaho and work in Jackson report that the four-hour or longer round-trip detour through the Star Valley area is brutal.
But there’s a secret route that people living in Idaho’s Teton Valley all know about as a way to travel over to the wealthy enclave of Jackson to do their blue-collar work.
It’s called Reclamation Road, and some locals told Cowboy State Daily’s Pat Maio that it may be time to dust off — or grade with a heavy equipment scraper— this possible route for travel.
“Everybody around here seems to know about this alternative route that you can do, which is difficult, but it's doable, if you don't like traffic, which many people don't. It's called the Reclamation Road Route, and it takes you north of Jackson about 20 miles or so. But you know, when I try and go the whole route, because I don't have a high clearance vehicle, like a jeep, it could get a little dicey in some spots.”
The loss of Teton Pass in Wyoming is a crushing blow to Idahoans. Tourism is feeling the slowdown on the Idaho side of the border, and pocketbooks are feeling lighter with the extra dollars that everyone is paying for gasoline at the pump.
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A Gillette resident is accusing organizers of a recently submitted petition for a property tax initiative of illegally collecting signatures at post offices and county courthouses around Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson spoke with Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who says the complaint by Dale Janota is bogus.
“He said that it's actually rather disturbing that this complaint was made since they were fully legal to do what they did. Wyoming State law does not address the issue of where signatures can be gathered. It's important to note that Gray has been a big supporter of this property tax initiative, calling it a grassroots effort for the people.”
Organizers of the petition say the group’s volunteers received prior permission from staff to collect signatures at all the post offices and government buildings they worked at around the state, receiving denials at the post offices in Rock Springs and Casper.
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The last board meeting of a school year is usually light and upbeat with the obligatory acknowledgements for teachers, staff and students.
But the murders of a pair of local teens this spring has cast a pall over the Casper community, and Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports there was little lighthearted and upbeat this week when the Natrona County School District 1 trustees met for the final time for this school year.
“People were pretty open to talk about the hardship of the past year, and one of the board members was just saying that they've experienced two suicides, two murders, and that she's a former teacher, and that she just doesn't get what's going on.”
Superintendent Mike Jennings, in his last meeting before retirement, said the district has worked hard to ensure schools have a learning environment. He characterized 85% to 90% of the students in the district as “being very successful.”
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And a federal judge Tuesday sentenced an 80-year-old man to two months in jail for covering up the shooting of a grizzly bear on his property four years ago.
Othel Pearson of Troy, Montana, pleaded guilty to both charges in February. His defense attorney has argued that he acted in self-defense when shooting the bear, but that he takes responsibility for trying to hide the act. That’s according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“Investigators… had written in the affidavit that this was really calculated concealment he cut off, bear claws he cut off the tag to ear. He destroyed the GPS tracking collar and he dumped the bear in a different location from the one in which it was killed.”
Pearson also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine in his federal case of failing to report the taking of a grizzly bear and evidence tampering.
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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 dotcom - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel. I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
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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.
