It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, August 7. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair! Beginning August 13th in Douglas, the Wyoming State Fair has something for everyone. For more info visit WY-STATE-FAIR dot com"
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The newest conspiracy in Wyoming politics involves House Speaker Albert Sommers of Pinedale, and an alleged connection with the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP.
Rumors have been building, mostly over social media, about Sommers’ role as board member for the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy group that had past relations with a Chinese group connected to the CCP.
But politics reporter Leo Wolfson said Sommers called the idea that he has any connection with Chinese communists, perhaps the most ridiculous thing he's ever heard.
“He thinks it's a total joke and laughable that they would accuse him of being involved with the Chinese Communist Party. Sommers himself is a third generation rancher. He's lived in Pinedale his entire life, and he's never even been to China on top of all that. But I talked to his opponent, Laura Taliaferro Pearson, who believes that there is some concern to be had there, and that there is a legitimate connection between the organization and the CCP.”
Stephen Lakis, president of SLLF, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that his organization has no ongoing relationship of any kind with the Chinese People’s Association or ever has with the Chinese Communist Party.
Read the full story HERE.
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Kentucky-based Ramaco Resources Inc. took an important step Tuesday to start mining rare earths in Wyoming with the announcement that it has retained global engineering firm Fluor Corp. to help build a processing plant outside of Sheridan.
Cowboy State Daily’s Pat Maio reports that Fluor has deep global experience in helping to build infrastructure for rare earths projects.
“Which is like about a $16 billion company. It's huge… I spoke to the CEO earlier today, Randall Atkins. He was telling me, this is real stuff. You know, that this is happening now. With the hiring of Fluor, that sends a really big message to the marketplace, so I guess they're going to start seeing some work out there in Ranchester.”
Early technical estimates have placed Ramaco’s rare earths find at $37 billion, but no one knows for sure what is in the ground until after Ramaco completes an assessment later this year.
Read the full story HERE.
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The leader of one of Wyoming’s most powerful lawmaking committees is livid about three attack campaign mailers his Republican primary election challenger sent to several Cheyenne residents.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Kathy Russell, challenger for Cheyenne’s state House District 7, distributed three mailers recently about her opponent, longtime Cheyenne Republican incumbent Rep. Bob Nicholas, who co-chairs the Wyoming Legislature’s Appropriations Committee.
“Her committee dispatched mailers saying things like, Bob Nicholas wants obscene books in schools. I'm paraphrasing, but on one of these mailers, she cited a Texas bill, not a Wyoming bill. And Bob Nicholas rebutted in a statement, saying, you know, that's obviously a lie, because I don't serve Texas. And he also said that he doesn't stand for the things that she says he does.”
Russell told Cowboy State Daily that the Texas bill reference was an unfortunate typo, stemming from a nationwide graphics consultant possibly cutting and pasting her design without taking out the inaccurate reference.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Clearwater fire about 11 miles west of Wapiti in Park County remained at 7% containment Tuesday, with nearly 2,000 acres burned in the Shoshone National Forest.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that the main concern for locals is getting the message out that the highway to Yellowstone’s east entrance, which has been impacted by the fire, is still very much open.
“The east entrance is open. It hasn't closed down, and there are a few road closures, but it's trail closures and other things so fire personnel can get out to the fire. What they're doing right now is they're creating fire breaks, and they're continuing to protect that highway and make it so that tourists can get to Yellowstone National Park from Cody.”
The Wyoming Incident Command center estimates that full containment of the fire, burning in rugged, inaccessible terrain, may not be until about Oct. 15.
Read the full story HERE.
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There is an angry bird perched just above E Street along Interstate 25 in the Oil City.
A person in a disgruntled-looking white chicken costume holds an AR-15 rifle and threatens people who eat meat. Then in smaller letters, the billboard urges people to go vegan to avoid contracting avian flu.
It’s a provocative message that plays on two issues Wyomingites feel very strongly about: eating meat and guns, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck.
“We checked with the health department in Wyoming, also with the state veterinarian, and there are currently, there is an issue with bird flu in a dairy herd, but there are no issues related to eating chicken or other meat. I was told by the stock Growers Association Executive Vice President that, again, this is just PETA trying to do their thing and get people not to eat meat and to turn to be a vegan.”
The PETA Vegan Campaign Project Manager said that the billboard in Casper is one of many the group has put up targeting areas around the country where avian flu has been detected.
Read the full story HERE.
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Before a federal judge sentenced a convicted child torturer to nine years in prison Tuesday, he blasted the failings of a tribal child protective system and voiced weariness at the ripple effect of a father’s poor choices.
U.S. District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson handed down a 108-month sentence Tuesday to 36-year-old Truman Sitting Eagle, who pleaded guilty in April to assault causing serious bodily injury for torturing his 13-year-old stepson last autumn. Crime reporter Clair McFarland was in court for the sentencing, and reports that Sitting Eagle wept while in court.
“It did seem that Truman Sitting Eagle was genuinely remorseful, and he what he seemed most upset about is that he his actions have deprived his children, including his other five children, of a father. And Judge Alan B Johnson spoke at length and really criticized Northern Arapaho Department of Family Services for giving the boy back to his mother after a prior abuse case.”
The judge said he hopes Sitting Eagle succeeds in improving his life, adding that he believes Sitting Eagle’s desire to make positive changes is sincere.
Read the full story HERE.
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The first weeks of August tend to be the hottest of the summer season in Wyoming. It's also the beginning of the long-range winter forecast season with some agencies already coming in with bold predictions for what the upcoming winter will bring.
But Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day doesn’t trust Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day, who told reporter Andrew Rossi that he doesn't trust any long-range forecasts released this soon in the summer.
“The problem is that six months away from now, we're talking about what the weather's going to be during the peak of winter in December, January and February, and a lot can happen between now and then… So NOAA’s forecast is for the entire United States for what that winter may or may not look like. And while some people may celebrate that, others are going to be extremely disappointed, because the last long range forecast from 2023 that people got really excited about was pretty wrong in a lot of respects.”
Day is working on his long-range forecast for the state of Wyoming, but said he needs a few more weeks of modeling and real-time weather before it's ready.
Read the full story HERE.
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Emergency firefighters in Campbell County and surrounding communities have made good progress on containing wildfires across rolling hills and prairies on more than 23,000 acres in northeastern Wyoming.
The wildfires are the largest active in the state as of Tuesday that were competing for resources and personnel located north of Guernsey, Wyoming. That fire, the Pleasant Valley fire, was reportedly 90% contained after burning through grass and tinder on nearly 29,000 acres, according to a statement issued by fire authorities Tuesday.
“With cooler weather… you almost could expect that this will be 100% contained shortly… And the two wildfires that are up in the Powder River Basin… I spoke to the fire marshal and Campbell County Fire Department, and he says that they've really gotten a handle on everything, and there's been a real turn for the better up there as well on the acreage.”
Fire authorities say open-pit coal mining activities in the Powder River Basin have not been impacted.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Fremont County man pleaded not guilty Friday to smashing up the Riverton Post Office in an attempt to scare off a dozen gangsters after snorting a line of methamphetamine.
48-year-old Sherette Lujan was indicted last month on suspicion of destroying United States property. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the crime was charged federally because the post office is under federal jurisdiction.
“The court documents say that he was drinking at a bar in Riverton, snorted some abnormally potent methamphetamine, and then it doesn't specify whether real or imagined, but he told police that night, while he was still high, reportedly, that 10 to 12 gangsters were chasing him, and he went into the post office and started smashing windows to show that he himself was gangster.”
A post office official told police that the damages exceeded $1,000, and the charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. His jury trial is set for Sept. 23.
Read the full story HERE.
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And after raccoons tried unsuccessfully to break into the covered bed of a Minnesota man’s Cybertruck, he went online to brag that the vehicle had proven itself “raccoon-proof.”
It didn’t take long for thousands of responders to point out that while his Cybertruck may be secure from raccoons, the troublemaking critters apparently think the Cybertruck looks like a dumpster. And Wyoming auto experts told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that they agree with the raccoons.
“They said, Yeah, I can see that. I can see how one could equivocate a Tesla cyber truck to a dumpster just given the shape and the coloring of it… And then I also talked to a lady I know who actually rescues wild animals… she said, you know whether they thought the truck was a dumpster, probably not. They probably just smelled or knew something was in there.”
Although the idea that the raccoons were drawn to the Cybertruck because they thought it was a dumpster is humorous, raccoons will try breaking into just about anything that has food in it.
Read the full story HERE.
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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 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.
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