It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, August 28th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by ServeWyoming - Wyoming's center for volunteerism and AmeriCorps service for the last 30 years! For volunteer opportunities, visit ServeWyoming dot org"
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At least three of Wyoming’s five major wildfires saw rain Monday, which helped firefighters make some progress on containing fires that have so far burned nearly 460,000 acres in Wyoming and southern Montana.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports on Wyoming’s notable wildfires.“There just were not huge changes as far as the size of each fire, though, we saw some small gains in containment, with the biggest gain, like, I believe, like an 11% gain in the containment of the Flat Rock fire, which is a pretty residential Ranch area there in western Campbell County. So some of these were helped by rain, though, as we discussed Monday, the rain doesn't help as much up in the very timber laden Fish Creek fire area.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Over the last few weeks of the Wyoming Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, challenger Reid Rasner touted some highly questionable political polling results he claimed showed he was in a dead heat with incumbent Sen. John Barrasso.
Not only wasn’t the election close, it proved Rasner’s paid polls to be incredibly inaccurate, as Barrasso beat Rasner by 44 percentage points, according to politics reporter Leo Wolfson.
“I spoke to Rasner, and he said, Yeah, absolutely, I wouldn't have released this poll if I knew it was so inaccurate, it kind of goes against what my campaign was all about, and transparency… quite frankly, polling is just not what it used to be. There's a lot of more challenges for pollsters than there used to be, as far as getting a hold of people and getting people kind of engaged in these polls… But there's also the effects of people just lying on these polling results.”
No matter whether Rasner gave out accurate polling information or not, his campaign was likely doomed by other factors such as Barrasso’s strong popularity, and the missteps Rasner made along the campaign trail, such as posting photos he took with people without their permission.
Read the full story HERE.
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Colorado-based Energy Fuels Inc., which holds a key uranium production center in Wyoming, along with interests in critical rare earth minerals, has expanded into development and production of medical isotopes used in cancer treatments.
Energy reporter Pat Maio says that Energy Fuels is one of the few uranium-producing businesses that has looked beyond just supplying the critical uranium ore to the nuclear fuel industry.
“The company Energy Fuels has acquired a company called Radtran… which is involved in medical radio isotopes that can treat cancer. So that's a significant move, and you obviously need uranium and some processing of uranium to have that kind of equipment to help with the treatment of cancer.”
In May, Energy Fuels announced plans to begin preparing for ramping up its Nichols Ranch uranium mine near Kaycee, for production by 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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A towering Cheyenne man whom many business owners dread for his tendency to “hex” and threaten them while wielding a staff, is now facing a felony charge on claims he tore up documents at an election center in the city a couple weeks before last week’s primary.
43-year-old Joshua Hayden-Ali has frustrated many Cheyenne business owners for years, especially in the historic downtown area. And Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the man - who calls himself “Wisdom” - was charged on suspicion of causing chaos at an election center in Cheyenne before the primary election.
“He's been facing a smattering of misdemeanors over the past few years. But in the meantime, he gained a reputation among many Cheyenne business owners as just a terror… But then on August 9, after early voting opened up those before the primary election, he allegedly strode into the election center in the courthouse in Cheyenne and just started tearing up documents and causing all sorts of mayhem.”
The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office arrested Hayden-Ali in June on claims that he threatened to kill a Safeway Fuel Station attendant and her family while he accosted the attendant at the station on South Greeley Highway.
Read the full story HERE.
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The city of Jackson, Wyoming, which is among the wealthiest in America, has received a $5.5 million grant from the federal government to expand its network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Jackson, along with regional partners in Teton County, will receive the grant as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s $2.5 billion dollar charging and fueling infrastructure program. That’s according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“Let's face it, you know, Wyoming is not a big EV type of place. There was a lot of that, what everyone calls range anxiety… that concern of getting from one place to the next, because it was like 150 miles to go between spots. I mean, I just felt that recently, when I drove from Buffalo to Casper, it's like, Gee, I actually only have a quarter tank of gas. So, but can you imagine what it's like in an EV… Millions of dollars are flowing to Jackson to install charging ports all over the place and that part of the world, the Jackson Hole area, all throughout Teton, talent County, the beast. There'll be a few of them, I think, that are going to be installed up around Yellowstone, others around Grand Teton National Park.”
No other city in the Cowboy State was mentioned in Tuesday’s announcement from the Biden administration.
Read the full story HERE.
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Colorado’s newest wolves — three pups born this spring — are growing fast and could be up to about 50 pounds each, according to a video recently taken by an outdoorsman and verified by that state’s Parks and Wildlife department.
A Colorado outdoorsman told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz that he and his son happened upon the wolves completely by chance about two weeks ago.
“They came around the corner. And here's these three wolf pups about, you know, four months old, 56 you know, the 50 pound range, just playing in a puddle like dog puppies would. And then their mom shows up, and then something startles them and they take off… we've reported before at Cowboy State day, that daily, that as of June, I think there was at least one wolf pup known to have been born to the wolves that were reintroduced at the very tail end of last year. And so now that count is officially up to three.”
CPW officials announced this month that the plan is still to bring in more wolves this winter, but it’s not certain where they will come from.
Read the full story HERE.
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A whiskey and beer-fueled evening for an off-duty Casper police officer went downhill late Thursday night after a phone conversation with his estranged wife where he made alleged threats to kill himself.
Before the next 17 hours were over, 30-year-old Michael Hughes would threaten to shoot Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputies, fire a round through a Quail Run Apartments window at deputies and put two bullet holes through the ceiling and the floor of the apartment above him. That’s according to Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck.
“The police officer that was involved in a standoff with Natrona County deputies last week, actually shot two times into an apartment above him, into the floor and then once out of the window, at deputies who are trying to open a curtain to see inside. They had tactical shields in front of them, but apparently, according to the affidavit, he shot at a window right beside them.”
Hughes is charged with five counts of aggravated assault and battery stemming from threats to responding officers, property destruction worth more than $1,000, and a reckless endangering misdemeanor for shooting into the apartment above him.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Riverton Police Department officer is accused of receiving illegal steroids by mail.
25-year-old Logan Alley was charged Friday and could face up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines if convicted, according to Crime and Courts reporter Clair McFarland.
“It started with a flagged package that the postal inspector said was coming to Logan Alley's place from a an address associated with drug busts. And so they started to look into it and and got a warrant for one of the packages they Alley found, these prescription only steroid drugs that are considered a controlled substance under white law.”
Alley is no longer employed with RPD as of Tuesday.
Read the full story HERE.
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Accused of beating his mother and threatening her with a knife, a 24-year-old Gillette man could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted.
Sebastian Tucker appeared at his initial hearing Monday afternoon, charged with one count of aggravated assault and another of domestic battery. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that he was arrested after barricading himself inside a room in his mother’s house.
“Court documents say he had threatened her with a knife just prior, and so police actually sent in a drone and a special team to get him out after obtaining a warrant due to these concerns, not only about this incident, but reportedly because he had threatened family members prior and charged neighbors with an open pocket knife.”
Police say Tucker has an extensive history of threatening household members and other people in the neighborhood.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming residents who want to put in their two cents about the United States Postal Service’s latest plans to cut $3 billion in costs, in part by sacrificing rural mail delivery, will have just one chance to do so.
The USPS is offering one virtual conference prior to filing its proposal to discuss what it describes as a mail processing and transportation improvement plan and collect public comments, according to business reporter Renee Jean.
“It's a very limited opportunity to comment, and I think a lot of Wyomingites will want to comment. This latest plan is going to cut 3 billion in costs at the expense of rural mail delivery. Essentially any place that's 50 miles or more outside of a large processing center is going to be taking a little longer to get their mail.”
Those wanting to attend will have to register for the Zoom meeting online. The conference call will take place at 11 a.m. Sept. 5.
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.
