It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, October 21st. 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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During the Panhandle Fire in Texas last year, a lot of Wyomingites stepped up to help deliver hay and other necessities to stricken ranches.
Texas took note of all that help - and Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean says they’re now returning the favor in the wake of the Elk Fire, Pack Trail Fire, and other devastating wildfires that have burned in excess of 810,000 acres in Wyoming so far this season.
“This is a slow burning crisis in America. The more farms and ranches we lose, the less able we are to feed our families, and the more our products go up retail and so really, it is, in fact, a slow motion crisis. You don't see the headlines about it because it's not so immediately gripping… these ranchers have suffered devastating losses… it's great that this group is willing to help, not just Texas, but any ranch that's in trouble because of natural disasters. They're there to help step in where there's really right now, nothing helping these guys overcome.”
The effect of the Elk Fire, which has burned more than 96,000 acres, is likely to linger for a long time, particularly for the affected ranches. They have lost all-important hay to feed their cattle through winter, as well as rangelands that will need to rest at least a year before animals can once again graze them.
Read the full story HERE.
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For the first time in weeks, neither the Pack Trail nor the Elk Fire burning in different areas of northern Wyoming are reporting almost no growth.
The rain and snow brought by the cold snap cooled off some of the hottest parts of the blaze and has allowed firefighting crews to start to get the upper hand on controlling it. But Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the changing weather was just a short reprieve.
“Now that it's warming up again, it's getting a little drier again, the conditions for the fire are going to be a little more favorable to the fire. However, they don't expect it to come back nearly as volatile as it was before.”
This week’s blast of winter has allowed officials to let nearly everyone evacuated by the fires go home. All, that is, except for one primary residence near the mouth of Tongue River Canyon just southwest of Dayton in the middle of the Elk Fire, which is still located within the fire’s perimeter.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Bechler River Soldier Station in the southwest corner of Yellowstone National Park is one of the park's many backcountry entrances. And the area accessed through the park's least-used entrance is an oasis of blue and green in the vast expanse of Yellowstone.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi writes that the Bechler Station is so far into the undeveloped wilderness that only the most determined visitors journey to see the pristine wilderness.
“There's so much water in that region that Idaho, Montana and Wyoming wanted to dam the Bechler River and get irrigation going in there. They wanted to tap into that water source. And it was ultimately decided in the 1930s that Bechler was better within the boundaries of Yellowstone and not part of this commercial development.”
Yellowstone refers to the Bechler region as the park’s “least traveled entrance” on social media because it is so far from any developed areas inside or outside the park.
Read the full story HERE.
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In his near decade of rescuing sex trafficking survivors in South America, Tyler Schwab of Afton, Wyoming, has seen and heard some terrible things. His anti-human trafficking nonprofit Libertas International has helped rescue more than 100 girls throughout South America.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher says the story of an 18-year-old girl from Argentina named Blue is one of the worst he’s ever heard.
“She was first sexually abused by her father at age seven, and that abuse continued until age 14, and then her mother began sex trafficking her to strangers… What really struck me about her is she tried to get help… she tried several times. And finally, somebody in the office had called this guy, Tyler, at Libertas International… she's been with the group now for two years. Her trafficker was just arrested this month… and they are in the process of extraditing him to Colombia to face charges. And also, she's also now turned in her parents to the Colombian police, and that investigation is currently playing out.”
Blue speaks near-perfect English that she taught herself after escaping her trafficker. She is studying musical production and programming and writes songs for kids teaching them how to say “no” - and to respect their bodies and one another.
Read the full story HERE.
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In 1951, a hunting trip in Wyoming’s backcountry took a dire turn for a teenage hunter when he became lost in a thick fog. He believes that he would have come to a tragic end except for a supernatural intervention that to this day he cannot explain. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy brings us this spooky ghost story from the Bighorn Mountains.
“Dylan was lost in 1932 he was a 17 year old up in the big corn mountains at trappers Creek, and there was a huge search party for him. People were looking for him for weeks, and when they finally found them, unfortunately, he had passed away, and the circumstances surrounding it were snow, fog, everything that occurred 19 years later to another 17 year old. This 17 year old was caught in a storm. The fog was getting thick. He got lost, and a boy in a flannel shirt showed up. So you'll have to read the story to find out the rest.”
Read the full story HERE.
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A Douglas man with a long and troubling military background has been found guilty of second-degree murder for shooting his cousin to death last year.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the verdict for 44-year-old Mark Helms came after a weeklong jury trial in Converse County District Court. The main argument was whether he was mentally competent enough to rationalize what he was doing the night of Sept. 13, 2023, when he shot Nicholas Velazquez to death.
“The trial, according to the clerk of District Court, was about whether his post traumatic stress disorder was so severe that the night he killed Nicholas Velasquez, he Velasquez, excuse me, he couldn't rationalize his conduct. Wyoming law says if you are too mentally ill to rationalize your conduct or conformance to the law, then you can't be found guilty.”
After deliberating for roughly three-and-a-half hours, the jury chose second-degree murder, which means the jurors believe Helms killed Velazquez purposefully and maliciously, but without premeditation.
Read the full story HERE.
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The federal government might remove endangered species protection for wolves across the Lower 48, but that doesn’t mean other states will follow the lead of Wyoming when it comes to hunting wolves.
At the paws-on-the-ground level, it will likely be up to each individual state to determine how to manage wolves. That’s what a retired federal game warden told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz.
“This would affect, of course, you know, that big population of wolves in the Great Lakes Area - Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota, as well as the, you know, kind of, kind of the growing population of wolves we have in Oregon, Washington and California, as well as the wolves down in Colorado, which are just, just been recently reintroduced to there… as far as any of these states ever mirroring what's happening here in Wyoming, Montana, in Idaho, probably not anytime soon.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently stated that it would like to have a nationwide wolf management plan in place, possibly by late next year.
Read the full story HERE.
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A state legislator says the future of a coal mine that employs hundreds of Sheridan County people is threatened by proposed federal regulation.
Cyrus Western is worried the feds will cut the Spring Creek mine’s available coal by half because of a proposed revision to an environmental impact statement. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the mine, which is located just north of the Wyoming border - is not in imminent danger of closing, but continued restrictions will halt its growth.
“As a business continues on, it always wants to continue expanding, and I think that's what's kind of at risk here and at play in this situation… the company says, Navajo says that it would reduce coal output in the short term as well, just by by virtue of throwing everything in doubt. So it's not that necessarily, necessarily like we're going to be people are going to be losing jobs immediately, but it's kind of a death by 1000 cuts type deal.”
The mine now has a projected life through about 2038 with 152 million recoverable tons of coal now under lease.
Read the full story HERE.
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How far will a tortoise stray from home? If it’s determined enough, at least a mile uphill, given the jailbreak of a fugitive tortoise in northwest Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi spoke to residents of Wapiti, between Cody and Yellowstone, who were startled to discover a tortoise on the loose in neighborhoods where grizzlies roam free.
“It had an outdoor enclosure that's kept it happy for several years, and then one day, it decided it was done, climbed over a boulder, and not only escaped and left the property, they found it a mile away, higher in elevation. So that just goes to show how determined and obstinate and ornery these giant tortoises can be. But I was told that… Sheldon the tortoise was very happy to return home after his mile long excursion out of his outdoor pen.”
When it comes to getting out of his outdoor habitats, Sheldon's a habitual offender. According to his owner, this is Sheldon's third escape.
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! And don’t forget to drop in on the Cowboy State Daily morning show with Jake Nichols, Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m.! Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
