It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, October 29th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by 4 Wyoming Pack. 4 Wyoming Pack says, “This November, Wyoming will vote to allow residential homes to be taxed at a lower, fairer rate, even the playing field, and give families a much-needed break.” 4 Wyoming Pack wants you to Vote Yes on Amendment A.
The latest weather system will diagonally slice across Wyoming with a blast of winter weather this week. And this time, there will be enough cold and snow to stick around.
The National Weather Service has already issued Winter Weather Advisories and Warnings for most of western and central Wyoming beginning Monday night through Wednesday morning. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that this slow-moving system will move from the southwest to the northeast, bringing the season's first heavy snow to the plains.
“It's a significant cold front that's bringing snow, not just rain. There's going to be snow across most of Wyoming. And patterns like this are going to keep getting stronger as we get further into the season and toward the end of the year. So everyone should anticipate winter weather driving conditions starting on Monday night and then going into Tuesday and Wednesday.”
Meteorologist Don Day said there will be another rebound after the incoming system passes. However, warmer days in Wyoming will be waning, especially as the days get shorter.
Read the full story HERE.
The expected weather system is expected to dump a significant amount of snow on a pair of wildfires that have burned nearly 190,000 acres in northern Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the forecasts are calling for snow beginning at higher elevations Monday night and continuing through Wednesday. That’s welcome news to the nearly 450 firefighters and support personnel who are making accelerated progress on containing the two wildfires.
“The managers of both of these large wildfires, the Elk Fire and the Pack Trail fire, are really looking forward to this next storm system… this winter storm system comes on the heels of another one that came on October 17 that hit, and that one really put a damper on these fires. And now… this one promises to do a lot better.”
As of Monday, the Elk fire - which is measured at 98,352 acres as of Monday, is 82% contained, up from the 73% reported Saturday.
Read the full story HERE.
With bear lovers around the world still reeling from the death of Grizzly 399, many remember another immensely popular bear, Grizzly 104, that was also struck and killed by a vehicle.
Grizzly 399 was hit and killed last Tuesday south of Jackson in Lincoln County. Wildlife photographers and bear fans across Wyoming are grieving her loss. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that those sentiments echo the sadness after the death of Grizzly 104 near just outside the east entrance to Yellowstone, 23 years ago.
“In her time, grizzly 104 lived in Yellowstone Park from the late 80s, and then she was hit and killed by a vehicle in 2001 and in so many ways, her story paralleled 399 it was a grizzly that came out of one of the National Parks got in the habit of bringing her cubs down near the roadway to protect, you know, from marauding male bears that would try to kill the Cubs… and then ended up the sadly, same thing happened to her as happened to 399 ended up in the dark, getting hit and killed by a vehicle.”
It hasn’t yet been decided what will be done with Grizzly 399’s carcass. There’s a chance that a full-body taxidermy mount of Grizzly 399 could join a taxidermy mount of Grizzly 104 on display at the Draper museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.
Read the full story HERE.
Turns out Wyoming politicians aren’t the only ones being censured these days.
On Sunday, the Mountain West Conference issued a public rebuke of University of Wyoming head football coach Jay Sawvel for publicly criticizing game officials after his team’s loss Saturday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Sawvel’s comments violate the conference’s sportsmanship policy, which stipulates that coaches, athletes or other school personnel can’t publicly criticize or disparage officials.
“When asked about a unsportsmanlike conduct that he received, Sawvel responded that both his coaching and some of the officiating of their teams. Games have been horse shit. Sawvel was assessed a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after he argued with refs on a pass interference call that was called on UW’s Wyatt Eckler on one passing play for Utah State, the penalty resulted in Utah State being awarded another 15 yards on top of the original penalty, and led to the Aggies scoring a touchdown at a critical moment in the game that Utah State ended up winning.”
UW football has had a tough year in Sawvel’s first season, falling to 1-7 on the season after the home loss to an equally poor Utah State squad, which also was 1-6 going into the game. It’s the worst start to a season for the Cowboys since 2015.
Read the full story HERE.
A secondary school student in Moorcroft stopped breathing after a drug overdose and had to have Narcan administered.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to the principal of Moorcroft Secondary School, who confirmed that five students suffered consequences in connection with the incident, which happened Oct. 4 at a school volleyball game.
“Principal Redden, on the one hand, was saying, you know, five kids got consequences… One of them stopped breathing, and staffers had to administer Narcan… and another one was caught with marijuana, according to the principal. The other three I asked him, ‘Well, did they have drugs? You know? Why? Why were they disciplined? And he said they made poor choices. They were in this circle, and they were making poor choices. He didn't specify.”
School authorities have turned the investigation of the incident over to Moorcroft police.
Read the full story HERE.
Nationally home sales are on track to hit a 30-year low, with many homebuyers sidelined by high prices and sticky interest rates that haven’t come down as much as many had hoped, following the Federal Reserve’s unusually large half-point cut to its benchmark interest rates.
But the picture in Wyoming is considerably more nuanced than the national trend, according to business reporter Renee Jean. She says some areas are reporting robust sales, while other areas more closely mirror the national trend.
“I just talked with a real estate attorney in Casper, and she said her sales are pretty robust. Things are steady eddie… you can find some deals in Sheridan, but if you're buying new the price is higher… in Jackson, the price is 5.5 million on average for a single family home… those buyers. They're not affected by these macro trends, high interest rates, high prices, they could just go go forth with what they want to do.”
Demand also continues to be strong for high-quality farms and ranches, and inventory for vacant land is at its second lowest level in 40 years.
Read the full story HERE.
For years, the Gallagher family has welcomed crowds of visitors to their seasonal corn maze and pumpkin patch near Clark.
But there are other visitors showing up with growing frequency — grizzly bears hungry for corn. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that for that reason, a new five-strand, 9,600-foot-long electric fence has been put up surrounding the corn maze and the adjacent attractions.
“They're kind of in grizzly Central… that sweet corn really attracts a Grizzlies. They like to come down and stuff their faces with sweet corn. And so a bunch of groups - Wyoming Game and Fish Department, the Greater Yellowstone coalition, and some other groups got together, and they funded a five strand electric fence to basically circumvent the entire corn maze and all you know, the surrounding area to keep to keep people safe, and also to keep the Grizzlies safe, keep the grizzlies from getting into a situation where, you know, folks might not have a choice. But to trap them or even kill them, so kind of good for both humans and grizzlies to keep them separated.”
So far, the Gallaghers and their employees haven’t had any direct confrontations with grizzlies in their sweet corn, but they said things have gotten spooky a time or two.
Read the full story HERE.
If the Soviet Navy of the 1980s is still in pursuit of that nation’s rogue Russian Typhoon-class submarine, the Red October, it will have to follow their quarry to Powell, Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that a collector in northwest Wyoming purchased the actual 11-foot model of the soviet submarine that was used in the 1990 blockbuster movie.
“Powell resident, Daniel Catone, he says he's had a lifelong fascination with Tom Clancy, calls his work life changing. So when he found out he could buy an 11 foot model of the Red October used in the movie The Hunt for Red October, he jumped on it and he bought the sub and the Soviet sub chasing it, along with one of the other on screen used props, so it was a really cool auction… So The Hunt for Red October is officially over, and the Russians, if they're still looking for it, it's in Powell. How you're going to get another submarine there? I don't know, but at least you've got two there already.”
The two subs are now temporarily located in the office of the investment manager who said he actually failed Algebra his ninth-grade year because all he did was read Tom Clancy novels.
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! 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.
