It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, September 19th. 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"
A 60-year-old tourist from New Hampshire suffered second- and third-degree burns Monday after walking off-trail over a geothermal crust in Yellowstone National Park.
Visiting from Windsor, New Hampshire, the woman — who was not identified — her husband, and leashed dog were walking in a thermal area near Old Faithful, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“That thermal crust on top of some of this scalding water can just be a hardened layer of minerals. I mean, it might look solid, but you can fall through it and scald yourself, and she reportedly suffered third and second degree burns and was lifelighted out to Idaho… we don't know whether she'll be charged with a crime, potentially banned from the park, which they've been known to do, but it might be interesting to watch going forward.”
The incident is under investigation. The burns to the woman mark the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone this year.
Read the full story HERE.
Nearly a year after he caught heat for remarks made during a visit to Harvard University about why Wyoming should go carbon negative to address climate charge, Gov. Mark Gordon said he’s “sick and tired” of hearing about it.
He struck his most defiant tone on the issue at a town hall energy-focused event at Cam-plex in Gillette on Tuesday night. Leo Wolfson was in attendance at the event.
“The purpose was to kind of showcase some of the efforts that have been taking place at this Integrated Test Center, and to really kind of show to give a better explanation of why he stands up for carbon capture efforts, some of these efforts have been criticized by some Republicans in Wyoming as being unrealistic or a waste of money, or even furthermore, an attack on the coal industry. Gordon says it's completely the opposite, and it's actually a way of keeping the coal industry lasting longer and insulated against some of the more democratic policy positions that are generally opposed to coal.”
Gordon said he wants to specifically find audiences like Harvard that are opposed to coal, in order to showcase the efforts taking place to produce this form of energy in Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
Interest rates were already moving down ahead of Wednesday’s half-percent rate cut by the Federal Reserve, and prepared buyers were cheering.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the cut was higher than many real estate agents and financial experts in Wyoming expected.
“I talked with a realtor in Casper. She's so excited for her clients, they've been waiting eight months now they at the 7% interest rate. There just wasn't anything they could really afford. Now they're getting into a home that's kind of their dream home, as opposed to, you know, this home will work for now kind of thing.”
The realtors that Jean spoke to said they expect most Wyoming buyers to continue waiting for even lower interest rates. However, they could be missing out on what will be a real sweet spot for prepared buyers right now, as some home prices are coming down.
Read the full story HERE.
Months of emotional back-and-forth over a controversial gravel pit proposed for state-owned land near the base of Casper Mountain ended with an explosion of relief and a standing ovation from opponents of the mine.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck was at the meeting Tuesday night, when Natrona County commissioners unanimously denied the permit filed for by Prism Logistics.
“County commissioners in Natrona County last night voted to ignore the recommendation from the planning commission and went with an amendment to the county zoning resolution that basically will not allow a gravel pit to go on the face of of Casper mountain… the only way that Prism Logistics is going to get a gravel pit is probably going to court, which likely will happen in the future.”
Nearly 100 local residents turned out for the meeting.
Read the full story HERE.
The entire Beartooth Highway closed Tuesday morning because of an anticipated winter storm that would imperil anyone traveling the 68-mile route between Red Lodge, Montana, and the Northeast Entrance of Yellowstone National Park.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the scenic byway was tentatively set to reopen Thursday morning and allow access to one of Wyoming’s most spectacular — yet unpredictable — stretches of highway. But he points out that September is particularly unpredictable for anyone wanting to travel this spectacular road.
“On the one hand, it's one of the best times to get up there and see everything. It's not as busy. There's snow on the mountains. It's cool. It's just a beautiful thing to see any time of year, but September, especially. But the on the other hand, that's when it starts to periodically and temporarily close because of snow. It closed this week for a few days until the road could be cleared, and it could just as easily close again right after that.”
It’s still too early for the Beartooth Highway to close for the season, but it’s getting more unpredictable as September progresses. And it’s more than likely that there are only a few weeks left to take it all in this year.
Read the full story HERE.
Accused of holding the door open for rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, grabbing and pushing a Capitol police officer and spending a total of 29 minutes in the building, a Laramie, Wyoming, man has been indicted and arrested.
August Raymond Garcia could spend more than a decade in prison if convicted on four federal crimes, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“The FBI didn't say how many years in prison exactly Garcia faces, just from some of my preliminary research in the statutes they cited, which, mind you, tend to have caveats and different penalties. Because of those, it looks to me like about 14.5 years in prison. And the allegations say that he spent a total of 29 minutes in the Capitol building. He kind of hugged and wrestled and shoved a Capitol police officer, and he allegedly held the door open for other rioters.”
Garcia wasn’t identified as one of the Capitol rioters until a tipster identified him nine months later from a be-on-the-lookout notice the FBI published after the breach.
Read the full story HERE.
State Sen. Larry Hicks of Baggs believes he can bring positive change and help restore order to the Wyoming Senate.
That’s why Hicks announced Tuesday that he’s running to be the next president of the Wyoming Senate. Additionally, Lingle Senator Cheri Steinmentz announced her candidacy for Senate vice president and Douglas Senator Brian Boner’s campaign for majority floor leader.
Wolfson reports that the announcement came as a surprise to the current Senate President, Ogden Driskill.
“He called it unprecedented, and he was just surprised to kind of see these things come out initially. He also said that Hicks was the only one that reached out to him ahead of time to let him know that they would be running. There was a lot of conflict in the Senate over the past year over various issues that occurred there, and Hicks said he's going to do his best to restore order to the chamber.”
Hicks is now the Senate majority floor leader, and has been in the Legislature since 2011.
Read the full story HERE.
Two young men speeding on motorcycles have been killed in the past three weeks after crashing into the same Cheyenne building.
Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that both crashes happened at the intersection of East Lincolnway and Nationway, one of the busiest in town - and a spot where Lincolway makes a predominant curve.
“An eyewitness who was walking to work during the August 28 crash told me that it didn't actually look that serious right away. She was wondering why they were performing CPR. He didn't seem like he was going that fast, and she said that she thought she saw a car that looked like it was about to run the red light, kind of slam on its brakes at the last minute, prompting the motorcycles to swerve and crash into the building.”
Both motorcyclists crashed into the Cheyenne Stitch building, and both were young men, ages 20 and 18. The police department has discussed speed as a factor in each of the crashes.
Read the full story HERE.
When a decorated Army combat veteran from Georgia returns to Wyoming to hunt elk next month, seeing a grizzly bear in on his wish list - so long as it’s from a safe distance.
Chris Clemmens told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that on Oct. 8, he’ll head out on a dream Wyoming elk hunt near Dubois, thanks to a program called Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn that allows disabled and combat veterans to hunt on tags donated by Cowboy State residents.
“There was a gentleman. He's from the from the Midwest, was an Army veteran, came home, and a lot of these veterans, you know, especially the ones who's who've been into combat, just having a really rough time adjusting, and just kind of entered a dark period of his life. And he remembered growing up hunting and fishing, and so he kind of forced himself to get up and go out and start doing those things again. Started feeling a lot better. And then another veteran friend of his said, Hey, this has worked so well for you. Why don't we find a way to make this work for other veterans? And so they started this program.”
Last year, Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn got five donated elk tags through Game and Fish. This year, they got 15 general elk tags.
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.
