It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, October 18th. 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! From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday, Cowboy State Daily’s Jake Nichols brings to life the latest news, weather, sports and in-depth conversations that matter to you.
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After weeks of “perfect fire weather” that has fueled two massive wildfires in the state, Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day says a much-needed cold spell has finally arrived in Wyoming with the potential to blanket much of the state with snow.
Wyoming is a large state with varied terrain, so the impact of the winter weather pattern moving across the state Thursday and Friday won’t be the same everywhere, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi.
“What Wyomingites can expect broadly across the board is that there's going to be a lot of snow in the mountains. We're talking a foot or more in most of the mountain ranges. There's going to be enough snow and enough strength in this cold weather system for snow to fall in the lower elevations. But it's not anything that's going to stick and not anything that's going to be shovel-able, as Don puts it.”
Read the full story HERE.
The cold temperatures and snowfall are answered prayers for hundreds of people who have been fighting the Elk Fire in the Bighorn Mountains, which has consumed 96,000 acres so far. But Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the Thursday morning raindrops - which turned to snow - has only stalled the fire, not stopped it altogether.
“I'm told by both the meteorologists I've talked to and the elk fire officials, it's probably not going to end the fire. It's burning too hot. There's not going to be enough precipitation, and it's not going to last long enough before a warming trend comes through and kind of dries everything out again. But so it's not going to be the fire Ender that we're all hoping for, but it's definitely going to give these firefighters a big shot in the arm when it comes to containing this fire and keeping it under control.”
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day did say this is the beginning of the end of the fire season.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Weston County effort to add two seats to solely represent their county in the Wyoming Legislature is moving forward.
The Weston County Republican Party on Wednesday selected three candidates each for a new state Senate and a House seat that the Weston County commission is attempting to create for the upcoming 2025 legislative session. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the commission is making its play based on a clause in the Wyoming Constitution, which Weston County leaders say entitles every county to its own senators and representatives.
“The Weston county commissioners, or a majority of them, believe that the current state law for deciding legislative districts violates the Wyoming constitution, and they are taking it upon themselves to create new districts to represent themselves… It's not clear how this is going to move forward once these people are picked and whether they'll be given a desk and legislative responsibilities at the legislature when it convenes in January, but it's going to be very interesting, nonetheless.”
The Weston County commission plans to choose from the six total nominees at a special meeting early next week.
Read the full story HERE.
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The search for body parts in a field south of Cheyenne is finished.
A construction worker discovered human remains Monday while mowing a field north of Terry Road. The finding prompted a two-day search in which 50 officials searched in “grid” squares so they wouldn’t miss anything. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke with a representative of the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, who said searchers have found all there was to find.
“They think it's going to be a really long investigation. They did not give me a timeline. They still don't have things like sex, age, length of exposure, so it's really just them saying we got everything off to the coroner, ultimately, the forensic anthropologist.”
The remains are now in the custody of the Laramie County Coroner’s Office, which is coordinating with a forensic anthropologist to identify the body.
Read the full story HERE.
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The violent death of a Montana man at a remote campsite near the Wyoming border was probably at the hands of another human - and not a grizzly mauling, as first reported.
35-year-old Dustin Kjersem was last seen alive on the afternoon of Oct. 10, as he was headed to go camping in a remote spot near Big Sky. The Belgrade-Bozeman-area resident was evidently killed sometime between late Oct. 10 and early Saturday, according to outdoors reporter Mark Heinz.
“He was supposed to meet with a friend either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. His friend found the campsite, found him dead in his tent at about 10am on Saturday… the friend called it in initially as he thought it had been a fatal grizzly mauling… Upon further investigation, Fish Wildlife and Parks didn't find any evidence of a grizzly having been in that area, anytime within the time frame… Autopsy revealed that he had suffered, he had died by suffering chop wounds … the sheriff described the attack as violent, brutal.”
Authorities are seeking tips from anybody who might have seen Kjersem’s black 2013 Ford F-150 pickup during the time frame of his suspected murder.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Jackson Police Department is asking for the public’s help in locating a local hotel employee who disappeared under mysterious circumstances a month ago.
30-year-old Braigene Collins of Pennsylvania was last heard from Sept. 14 when she called in sick to her shift at the 49’er Inn & Suites in Jackson where she’d worked as a guest service agent for the past year. That’s according to Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher.
“She was a guest clerk at an area hotel, and she typically shows up for work, or if she doesn't, she calls in. And so this time, she called in to say she wouldn't be there, but the next day, she didn't turn up for work, and nobody heard from her. And her manager said that is very unlike her…after she didn't hear from her on her scheduled days off, on Monday and Tuesday, she then got maintenance and HR and did a wellness check and found her room empty… the manager thought there something was not right. It felt like something she had left in a hurry. But of course, it's all speculation. Nobody knows.”
Collins is one of three people currently listed missing in Teton County, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s missing person database.
Read the full story HERE.
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A man already facing a potential life sentence on claims he confined and tortured a woman in a Laramie apartment now faces another felony charge on claims he pressured his victim into recanting her statement.
41-year-old Brenceis Jimenez is accused of duct-taping the woman’s mouth and head, punching and choking her and cutting her with a knife because she “disrespected” him, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“The new allegation, is that Jimenez was texting someone an operative, like, we're going to break her will. We're going to break her soul for messing with me. And the the claim is that that is to try to get the victim to recant. And in you know, whether it's coincidence or not, the victim did recant. She sent a letter to the judge September 6.”
The charge of intimidating a witness is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
Read the full story HERE.
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“Welcome to Wyoming” is getting a new postcard look at every highway entrance to the state. The Wyoming Department of Transportation designed the new signs, which feature bold, colorful photographs from around the Cowboy State.
And what happens to the old “Welcome to Wyoming” signs? Well, Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that those will likely fetch thousands of dollars at auction.
“Now you'd think, what kind of market is there for an old Welcome to Wyoming sign? But Doug McGee, WYDOT spokesperson, told me that the last time they sold five Welcome to Wyoming signs on public surplus.com in 2017 they raised over $30,000 and a third of that was just from one sign. One of those signs sold for $10,000 and all the money that's generated goes back into WYDOT’s funds so they can produce more road signs that, you know, add to the safety and the photogenic Nature of Wyoming.”
The first of the new “Welcome to Wyoming” signs was installed along U.S. Highway 85 south of Cheyenne, and more were put up Wednesday on Highway 120 north of Cody and U.S. Highway 310 near Frannie.
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 author, photographer and longtime Yellowstone winter-keeper, Jeff Henry. 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.
