It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, July 24th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by Wyoming Senior Olympics, reminding you that this year's Summer Olympics start July 31st in Cheyenne - and volunteers are needed! Become a volunteer today at Wyoming senior Olympics dot org.
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A violent eruption of a Yellowstone National Park thermal feature Tuesday blew up a boardwalk and sent visitors scrambling to escape a powerful explosion of black water, mud and rocks.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the Black Diamond Pool in the park’s Biscuit Basin erupted at 9:45 a.m., ejecting an immense amount of black water onto a nearby boardwalk, destroying it, and sending tourists running for safety.
“Yellowstone is a dynamic place. And while there are lots of ways to monitor the systems that are going on, the volcanic activity, the geothermal activity, and you can anticipate some of these things to an extent, like you know, Old Faithful erupting every so often, there are things that you can't predict and don't get much warning for… When I spoke to eyewitnesses, the only warning they had that anything weird was happening was that another pool in the area started steaming. And then as everyone was watching that, Black Diamond pool blew its top. So it's a reminder that Yellowstone is a safe place to be for a visitor. But it can be unpredictable and change at any time.”
According to the Park Service, Black Diamond Pool has been infrequently erupting since an earthquake in 2006. Inactive since 2016, the pool has erupted twice in 2024, with the last eruption on May 7.
Read the full story HERE.
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A new documentary about legendary rodeo bull rider Lane Frost premiered in Cheyenne on Saturday. “Lane: Life, Legend, Legacy” was shown days before the 35th anniversary of Lane’s death at Cheyenne Frontier Days - and it brought out the rodeo and television stars who were inspired by Lane, and his life. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean was in the audience for the screening of the film Saturday.
1:59 “What’s really remarkable is that 35 years after Lane Frost’s death, people are still talking about him. He’s still setting an example for cowboys all over the world. Frost was just 25 when he died, but the impact he’s had on people is just tremendous.”
Moses Brings Plenty, who plays Mo Brings Plenty on the hit television series Yellowstone, told Jean he filmed all night, then he and his wife drove 12 hours straight to make it to Cheyenne, so he could introduce the documentary. The house was packed with more than 400 viewers in spite of going head-to-head with all the activities at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Read the full story HERE.
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Gov. Mark Gordon isn’t oblivious to the fact that it’s the height of campaign season in Wyoming.
Correcting and responding to misinformation offered up by some of the campaigns in Wyoming is one reason he held a town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon at Sheridan College. Politics reporter Leo Wolfson was at the meeting, and said for the most part, it was a feel-good event to highlight economic efforts Gordon has promoted since taking office in 2019.
“I asked him specifically, what was the point of this event?... And he said that he's been a little concerned about some of the misinformation and falsehoods that are being spread in some campaigns around the state… And he believes it's important to kind of set the record straight and get it out there, kind of, what his administration has been doing to diversify Wyoming's economic future and energy future.”
Gordon said he sees deciphering whether information is accurate as part of a larger trend in the greater political ecosystem.
Read the full story HERE.
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If Wyoming’s energy industry thinks President Joe Biden was tough on coal, natural gas and oil, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, could be even tougher.
Energy reporter Pat Maio says Harris has a long history of standing up against the fossil fuel industry.
“She went after companies very aggressively, and, you know, won millions of dollars in fines and indicted several people, and she doesn't play around… based on everything I was hearing and seeing, it sounds like she's going to be a little bit more aggressive, if you can believe it, than President Biden, when it comes to oil and gas leasing on public lands.”
A potential Harris presidency is viewed as being more aggressive than Biden in confronting oil companies on pollution and addressing environmental justice.
Read the full story HERE.
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More than 2,000 acres about 7 miles south of Cody has been chosen as the site for a $10 million Wyoming state shooting complex.
The 2023 Legislature authorized the money for the shooting complex, and also authorized the creation of a task force to oversee site selection, which has been ongoing this year.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Park and Cambell counties both had excellent proposals, but Cody’s existing draw as a premier tourist destination tipped the scales.
“I can't emphasize enough that this is going to be a big deal. This is going to be a huge thing. I mean, we're talking National and International Shooting championships, you know, giants of the shooting sports, which is a rapidly growing sport. So it's a huge win for Cody and we hope for, really, the entire state of Wyoming, to get this thing off the ground.”
If all goes as planned, the Legislature will release the money and greenlight the project in Park County during its 2025 session. Then construction could begin at the site by spring 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Denver-based clean energy startup with a carbon sequestration operation under construction in the heartland of Wyoming’s Powder River Basin has received a $13 million round of venture capital money from a former Texas oilman and his investment group.
Cowboy Clean Fuels LLC has now secured nearly $28 million in venture capital funding and matching grant money from the state of Wyoming, for a project that will produce renewable natural gas from sugar beets, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“They're using sugar beets as a part of the agricultural byproduct that they're using to produce carbon dioxide and then pump it into the coal geologic formations… it's really fascinating because there's a sugar beet industry here in Wyoming and surrounding area, and a couple of the plants have closed.”
Commercial operation is expected to begin in the final three months of the year.
Read the full story HERE.
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A resignation is not enough for Wyoming’s congressional delegation.
On Tuesday, all three members of the delegation celebrated Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s abrupt resignation, but Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that they still want answers about the agency’s failures that allowed the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13.
“All three members of the delegation also said that they are not content, and they still want answers about the security breakdowns that led to the attempted assassination and to Trump that nearly took his life by a matter of a few millimeters.”
Barrasso clarified that he doesn’t blame the Secret Service agents working the rally for what happened that day. He said some agents have expressed to him that they felt Cheatle’s leadership of the agency was poor.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Buffalo attorney who represented clients in a number of cases opposing COVID-19 mandates, has been disbarred by the Wyoming State Bar.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Beduhn had already been suspended from practicing law indefinitely by the State Bar in November 2022.
“He will no no longer be able to practice law in Wyoming. This resulted from his representation on a lawsuit back in 2021. The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by certain employees at hospitals in Cheyenne and Carbon County, regarding vaccine mandates on employees… Basically, what happened is Beduhn ghosted his clients and stopped responding to their needs and motions that were being filed in court on this case, by the judge, by the opposing defendants. And they ended up losing the case, inevitably.”
Beduhn has a history of abandoning clients. His license to practice law was suspended in 2017 on five separate complaints and a rule violation from his time serving as an attorney in the Cody area.
Read the full story HERE.
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And a young black bear with coloring that looks more like a Muppet than an apex predator caused a bit of panic in some Yellowstone tourists earlier this month.
The bear, which has shaggy fur and racoon-like markings, was actually just a regular black bear, but as outdoors reporter Mark Heinz relates, when it started swimming across the river toward them, people began bolting and fleeing toward their vehicles.
“Somebody screamed, ‘Grizzly,’ and everybody started running because… she thought, people thought it looked like it was out - if anybody remembers that old show Alf? They said it looked like Alf from that show. So if you can imagine people running and screaming from the terrifying grizzly, that was just this poor little black bear that just looks weird.”
Despite its unusual appearance, the bear looked to be in good shape and not suffering from any weird mutations.
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.
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
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KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland
KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey
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KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga
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KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan
KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan
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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
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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.
