It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, September 27th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake! Launching October 1st at 6 a.m., Cowboy State Daily’s Jake Nichols is making morning radio cool again. Tune in from wherever you are for the latest news, weather, sports and in-depth conversations that matter to you.
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An archery hunter was attacked by a grizzly in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming early Thursday morning, suffering severe bite wounds to his thigh before shooting the bear dead with his handgun.
31-year-old Landon Clement of Blue Ridge, Georgia, was still being treated at the Pinedale Clinic when Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reached out.
“He was posted up, kind of up against a flat rock, kind of scanning the area, looking for elk. And he saw a mother with two, sound like two year old, pretty much fully grown cubs coming down, and then they came across in front of him in the way he - or at least the way that he described it to his friend who described it to me - the Mother Bear scented him, charged at him. He opened fire. She sank her teeth into his leg. His pistol jammed at one point, but he managed to clear the jam and keep firing. Hit the bear in the head and killed it.”
Clement had 3-inch deep bite wounds “on both the top and bottom” side of his thigh - but his friend, who spoke with Cowboy State Daily, said he’s optimistic about Clement’s chances of a full recovery.
Read the full story HERE.
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A fake social media post claiming a student had been shot at East High School in Cheyenne triggered local parents into a frenzy of fear and worry Thursday afternoon.
School officials locked down the building after a school resource officer got a tip from a student that another student “was carrying a firearm.” That’s what a Cheyenne Police Department spokesperson told Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson.
“They… did their due diligence, cleared the school, got things out of the way, but in the meantime, someone had posted a fake story on social media with a big headline in all caps that a child was shot in the parking lot of East High School, which did not happen, but it sparked some some fear, some frustration with parents who were calling the police department and the school to find out what, what was, what was going on.”
Although the post was determined to be a fake, the police department and school administrators will always take reports of weapons or potential violence seriously.
Read the full story HERE.
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Details are still sparse on a Rock Springs High School teacher’s discovery of a firearm on campus Thursday morning, but the local police department says it does not look like a case of a teen accidentally bringing his hunting rifle to school.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the high school had a scheduled evacuation drill just before 9 a.m. Thursday. During the drill, a teacher learned of a weapon in the school, contacted administration and confiscated the weapon.
“When I hear a gun has been found on campus, lifelong Wyomingite, my mind goes to oh, maybe he is going hunting after school and he forgot in the back of his truck. So I specifically asked, Is this the case? And she said, No, we don't think that was the case. And she also confirmed that it wasn't a hunting rifle. She did, however, say it was unloaded, though, she wasn't sure at that moment whether they found ammunition in the area.”
Law enforcement agents who were already on campus for the evacuation drill responded and detained — then arrested — the juvenile associated with the weapon. The department expects to see criminal charges filed in this case.
Read the full story HERE.
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When UPS driver Cary Lambert spotted a suitcase sitting along his usual route on Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and a few miles past Buford, he decided to do something about it. Because with the reach of social media, nothing seems to be hopelessly lost anymore.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Lambert’s small act of kindness made a big difference for a Colorado kid.
“The UPS driver found the suitcase untouched on the side of the road, picked it up and he opened it up to see if he could find an address or phone number. He didn't find anything like that, but he found a t shirt from a charter school in Colorado, but this was during the middle of summer, so he waited until the school year started, contacted the school, posted about it on Facebook, saying, I have this suitcase and I want to get it back to its owner, because he knew it was a kid, because it was a kid sized t shirt. And then, lo and behold, there was a handoff, and a couple days later, he finds out that the suitcase got back to its rightful owner, and there were a bunch of sentimental items inside that the family was devastated that they thought that they had lost when they lost their suitcase, but it all got back to them.”
Thanks to Lambert’s unexpected pickup and social media search, it was a happy ending for everyone.
Read the full story HERE.
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“Bust” isn’t a word the oil and gas industry throws around lightly, but bust could readily describe Wednesday’s oil and gas lease sale.
The Bureau of Land Management offered just 159 acres in the sale, which netted $27,593.80 for just 80 acres - with two 40-acre lots, one in Crook County and another in Fremont County, getting no bids.
With Wyoming’s dependance on federal oil and gas production, Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that lease sales that net basically nothing spark worry among industry officials of a bust waiting to happen.
“70% of Wyoming's mineral acres are on federal lands, and so these oil and gas leases are tremendously important to maintaining the flow of production. This isn't going to be felt immediately, but like, you know, it's just like in the agriculture industry, if all the calves are lost one year, it doesn't affect the meat industry right away. It's the subsequent years where suddenly there's no calves available to slaughter.”
Oil and gas lease sales ultimately are the biggest leading indicator for where oil and gas production in Wyoming is headed, and right now, that trend line is hovering right above the zero mark.
Read the full story HERE.
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When a 26-year-old Torrington man turned himself in to answer claims that he disfigured and hospitalized his girlfriend by pistol-whipping her, two old felony charges he’s evaded since he was 18 caught up to him.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Andrew Atkinson had been avoiding two very serious charges from 2016 - both of which are being brought forward now.
“He basically evaded these other felony charges, one burglary and one strangulation of a household member for eight years, since he was 18 according to his court file… he's alleged to have kind of scooped up his girlfriend, dumped her on the sidewalk or the concrete outside, and wrapped a belt around her neck and tightened it for a period of time. So that's the allegation from 2016 along with one claiming he stole like, $5,000 out of a woman's vehicle.”
Atkinson’s attorney has argued for a low bond pending further court action, but the judge has ordered a $221,775 cash-only bond in the case.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 26-year-old Evansville man charged with killing another man in a drug deal gone bad has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Rajion Vu was originally charged with second-degree murder for the Feb. 1 shooting death of 30-year-old Brandon Lopez during a marijuana deal. Although he had originally pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder charge, Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck said Vu changed his plea Thursday.
“What was interesting to me is both charges carry 20 year penalties, but the second degree murder charge carries a mandatory 20 years, and this involuntary manslaughter charge is 20 years or less. And his attorney said in court today that he intends to bring several witnesses at the sentencing hearing to talk about the character of his client. So it seems like the strategy is going to be to try and convince the judge, you know, that he's not worthy of serving 20 years on this case.”
Vu remains jailed on a $750,000 bond.
Read the full story HERE.
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The latest acquisition at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is a famous portrait of an icon painted by another icon. The Whitney Western Art Museum unveiled a recently acquired serigraph portrait of Gen. George Armstrong Custer created by pop artist Andy Warhol.
The image is part of Warhol’s “Cowboys and Indians” portfolio, but Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that this 40-by-40-inch print in Cody is one-of-a-kind and uniquely appropriate to hang in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
“The Custer image was created as part of a 10 image portfolio called cowboys and Indians that had Custer, Annie Oakley, John Wayne, Geronimo, a bunch of Western figures and images. The thing that makes the recent acquisition at the Whitney Western Art Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West unique is that it's one of Warhol's experimental colorings of Custer… He has an army blue hat and coat, and he has gold and yellow hair.”
The museum’s latest acquisition will be featured prominently in an upcoming exhibit. “Pop! Goes The West” will highlight 20 artists working at the intersection of pop art and Western art, and will open in May 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news! For a deeper dive into the people and issues that affect Wyoming, check out The Roundup, conversations with the most interesting people in the Cowboy State. A new episode drops tomorrow, when I have a conversation with Mandy Fabel with Leadership Wyoming. You can find the link on our website, on our YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, you'll find it in our FREE daily email newsletter!
Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
