It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, August 19th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by Outrider PAC. According to a new survey, 79% of Wyoming Voters support Freedom in Education. Learn more about Educational Savings Accounts in Wyoming at OutriderPAC.com
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In case there was any confusion, former President Donald Trump on Saturday reiterated his support for the three Wyoming candidates he had previously endorsed for Tuesday’s primary election.
In three separate posts on his social media platform Truth Social on Saturday, Trump reissued support for U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, and Cheyenne state Legislature candidate Darin Smith. Trump had already endorsed all three earlier this year.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that some of the opponents of these candidates had questioned whether Trump’s previous endorsements were in fact that.
“The timing is interesting for all these is really what's most significant. Barrasso’s Republican primary opponent Reed Rasner had kind of questioned whether Trump was actually endorsing Barrasso’s campaign, and not just his campaign for Senate whip. So this kind of clarifies that he is effectively endorsing. And then Hageman even more so, her Republican primary opponent Steve Helling claimed that Trump had endorsed him because he received a generic email from Trump that Trump sent out to all his people on his email list, saying so and so, I endorse you.”
Trump delivered these three endorsements around a number of other state-level and congressional endorsements he gave in Florida and Alaska.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s top education official Megan Degenfelder is applauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s Friday ruling against a new Biden administration transgender bathroom rule.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday refused to let the Biden administration's new Title IX rules, which address transgender accommodations like bathroom policies in schools, go into effect against several states suing the government.
Every justice agreed the rules may be proclaimed unlawful in court, and may harm those states, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“That injunction should be functional in I believe, 26 states right now, including Wyoming. Even though this order didn't come down in Wyoming's case, it probably affects it, but basically, every single justice on the High Court said, yeah, these states are entitled to some relief from these rules while they're suing, which is legal, speak for they might win their case against the rules, and they might suffer harm, either actual or constitutional.”
The new rules are blocked from going into effect in Wyoming, and in 25 other states, and in several schools that have sued.
Read the full story HERE.
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As one of the Cowboy State’s biggest logistical undertakings, move-in day for incoming freshman at the University of Wyoming is usually chaotic.
And Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that when you add in broken dorm elevators and extensive road construction all around the campus, the experience can be a nightmare.
“I used to work for the University of Wyoming in their housing and food logistics departments. So yeah, I'm quite familiar with what an undertaking move in day can be. You’ve got, you know, 1000s of new freshmen, plus all their plus all of their parents moving into the dorms. And to further complicate things, number one, pretty much the whole central campus at UW is under construction right now, which makes it more difficult to get around. But then they got things going. But then one elevator in each of the four major dorms broke down. I could tell people were making the best of it.”
University spokesman Chad Baldwin told Cowboy State Daily that massive projects right in the heart of campus will make getting around UW complicated, but pedestrian access corridors have been left open in key areas.
Read the full story HERE.
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With the energy industry making strategic shifts away from coal-fired power plants, there’s one plant that may stay in play.
The three-unit coal-fired Laramie River Station near Wheatland is of vital importance to eight Wyoming power cooperatives in rural communities that are members of Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a Colorado-based not-for-profit power supplier to 41-member electric distribution cooperatives and power districts.
Energy reporter Pat Maio says the Laramie River Station is unique because it delivers electricity to two electrical grids.
“It's got a really interesting strategic importance in the United States, actually, literally, it's the only plant of its kind in the United States that straddles the line between two electrical grids in the country, the eastern and the western interconnections… it's the only coal fired plant that seems to have this little line, little circle line drawn around it, you know, to protect it.”
But the Tri-State cooperative is facing other challenges as well - including the exit of a number of local districts who feel they can purchase power cheaper elsewhere.
Read the full story HERE.
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At 75, when most men are retired, Casper’s John Wickman is working to design and build cheap but effective rockets the military can produce to shoot down drones or hit enemy targets.
An engineer who owns Wickman Spacecraft and Propulsion Co., Wickman told Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck the price tag for his cheap rockets will run about $1,000 dollars, which is one thousandth of a percent of the $1 million dollars the government now pays for a similar rocket from defense contractors.
“He's moving his company back up from a kind of a semi retirement to produce cheap rockets that he intends to commercially produce and create a manufacturing facility in Casper that would be available for purchase by like the Ukrainian government or the US government. He told me that, you know, the military can't continue to spend half a million, a million dollars on rockets to shoot down $200 drones around the world. And so he is trying to come up with a solution for that.”
With backing from private investors, Wickman said he has “backchannel” connections to the Ukrainian government who will be able to help him test prototypes in actual battle conditions.
Read the full story HERE.
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How does one even describe the heavy metal band Mac Sabbath?
Well, imagine four guys dressed up as McDonaldland characters playing classic Black Sabbath songs riff-for-riff — except the song titles and lyrics are about fast food.
It’s every bit as bizarre and absurd as it sounds. It also was the most fun that Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz said he’s had in a long time.
“They’re really good at replicating Black Sabbath sound playing their songs, but they dress as McDonald's land characters. For instance, this lead singer goes by Ronald Osborne, and he wears this weird Ronald McDonald costume on stage. And then the guitarist is dressed like Mayor McCheese. And then they change the song titles and the lyrics to be about fast food, so they're singing about hamburgers and fries over these fantastic heavy metal riffs.”
Mark said he’d give Mac Sabbath a rating of four out of five stars (or maybe four out of five undercooked burger patties). But he left the concert with a huge smile on his face - and a hankering for some french fries.
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.
