It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, November 11th. 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 takes you deeper into the stories that matter - and keeps up with the news, weather and sports in your part of Wyoming. Just tune into Cowboy State Daily Dot Com and join the conversation.
Each year on Veterans Day and again on Memorial Day, a small group of people will wind its way through the Mount Pisgah Cemetery in Gillette. It won’t be difficult to see which graves belong to military veterans.
But it’s the forgotten soldiers that will be the focus of Campbell County Rockpile Museum tour on these days dedicated to America’s veterans, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy.
“These two volunteers from the Rockpile museum came in and started getting the stories of the veterans for their sixth grade class… one of the pet projects they took on themselves was to get new headstones for all of these forgotten veterans ...they started doing tours every Veterans Day and every Memorial Day, they would take groups of people and introduce them to the different veterans.”
There are more than 1,000 veterans buried at Mount Pisgah dating back to the Civil and Spanish American wars.
Read the full story HERE.
When a grizzly is charging and milliseconds count, it’s best to have a round already chambered in a defensive handgun.
That advice from experienced Wyoming outdoorsmen goes against what Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz has always been told - but he said firearms have come a long way since his dad’s days.
“It's been drilled in our heads, especially my head, you know, when I was growing up. And a lot of people will say this, don't have a round in the chamber… A lot of that goes back all the way back to the cowboy days when those old 1880 style revolvers, yeah, those things were weird … even if the thing wasn't cocked, if you bump the hammer just right, the thing would go off. Modern pistols, that doesn't really apply… the idea is, if you get in a situation in the back country, it's going to happen really fast. It's probably going to be at close range. And so you have to have that extra one or two second advantage of already having a round chambered.”
Avid Wyoming hunter and mule deer conservationist Josh Coursey told Cowboy State Daily that it’s best to have a round chambered in grizzly country - but it’s safe only if hunters are familiar and well-practiced with their handguns.
Read the full story HERE.
A Mountain West Conference women’s volleyball team with a player reported to be transgender is headed to the championship.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that San Jose’s 2024 season has been marked by automatic forfeiture wins, including against the University of Wyoming.
“it's been a long saga since September, of teams canceling their matches against… San Jose State University, which is known to have a transgender player, a very formidable outside hitter, Blair Fleming, University of Wyoming canceled its match in early October and did not say why, even though, you know, later, a team out of Reno would specifically say, we're concerned about fairness, we're concerned about safety.”
The University of Wyoming is ranked seventh in conference. Its team has forfeited two matches it was scheduled to play against SJSU — one scheduled for Oct. 5 and another slated for Nov. 14 — chalking both up as Wyoming losses.
Read the full story HERE.
Wyoming photographer Ken Driese has come across a lot of abandoned places in his treks across the Red Desert. But one place left him spooked.
Driese is a retired University of Wyoming professor who taught ecology and geospatial science. He’s traversed Wyoming and seen plenty of places that would give most people the heebie-jeebies, especially in the vast Red Desert. Driese told Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi what he saw and photographed in one particular location gave him a lingering sense of unease, and anyone who’s seen his photos might feel the same.
“There was an upside down car riddled with bullet holes. There was a full school bus with the window shot out and open pages of the Bible and the structure that drew them to it in the first place this house, it was sided with pieces of billboards from Interstate 80… and the inside was filled with clothes, and the walls were covered with blankets as sort of makeshift information. So he said that he's been to lots of abandoned places. This is the only one he's ever seen in Wyoming that creeped him out.”
Creepy vibes aside, many people would see the strange, abandoned property he encountered near Wamsutter as an eyesore in the Red Desert. For Driese, abandoned properties add a unique element of beauty to the immense emptiness of the region.
Read the full story HERE.
In the world dreamed up by “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan, the Train Station is a lawless corner of Wyoming where members of the Dutton family dump bodies and make their problems disappear.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that locals in places like Ennis, Montana, where the “Yellowstone” spinoff series “The Madison” has been filmed, are weary of road closures and economic interruptions in their small towns - and some in Ennis have made it clear they would like to send “The Madison” to the Train Station and make the whole glitzy spotlight of network television disappear.
“I think folks are of two minds in Montana about this. I think that there are definitely split opinions on the editorial, on the dramatic license that is taken by that series. But I think practically speaking, you can't deny that it's been a job generator… the Montana Media Coalition is asking for an expansion of the tax incentive so it can go from a $12 million incentive to a $50 million incentive per year, and they believe that will support extended growth and prevent Montana from losing this arms race where you have film centric states like New Mexico and Texas.”
“The Madison” is reportedly about a New York family that moves to the scenic Madison Valley. That plot line alone is bad news to some, who want to keep the peaceful atmosphere in their quiet corner of Montana.
Read the full story HERE.
Wheatland resident Charles Hoskinson is a very wealthy man. In fact, he’s a billionaire, the co-founder of the well-known Ethereum blockchain platform. Which he said is all the more reason to help people in North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene last month.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson spoke with Hoskinson about his recent philanthropic venture - using his personal Blackhawk helicopter to deliver relief to hard-to-reach places affected by the hurricane.
“Some of these people were almost basically isolated from the outside world, which is why Hoskinson's helicopter was so valuable to be helping them out in this situation. For some people it really caught them by surprise. They didn't expect to see a helicopter kind of landing in their backyards out of nowhere, but they certainly were grateful that he was able to do this.”
In many ways, Hoskinson’s charitable response to disaster relief in North Carolina is simply one more chapter in his larger efforts to help rural communities. He has made donations to the Platte County Sheriff’s Office, bought a firetruck for Wheatland Fire-Rescue and bought a restaurant in the town.
Read the full story HERE.
One of the most popular destinations in the Bighorn National Forest in northern Wyoming is a 3.4-mile trail that takes visitors to one of the highest spots for spectacular panoramic views of the Bighorn Range. But the best view is boarded up, and has been for decades.
The historic Black Mountain Fire Lookout is still standing after 84 years at an elevation of 9,400 feet. The structure has seen better days, but Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that with enough investment, its future could look better than ever.
“Getting it repaired is going to be the immediate task, because it's a popular trail and a popular spot that offers a great panorama of the Northern big horns. But Big Horn National Forest has converted some of its other cabins and lookouts into recreation rentals, so places where you can stay for a night and get wonderful vistas. So that's a really promising opportunity, but the Lookout at the Black Mountain Lookout is going to require a lot more investment and a lot of changes before it can even be considered as a recreation rental.”
Discussions on what could be done with the Black Mountain Lookout are ongoing. In the meantime, officials say the priority is ensuring the historic structure stays standing and somewhat accessible.
Read the full story HERE.
It’s been nearly 30 years, but many in Wyoming still remember the time when the state Game and Fish Department director was caught fishing without a license.
The incident happened near Rawlins in June of 1995, when a young game warden asked then-director John Talbott for his license - which touched off a scandal that led to the director’s resignation.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the incident inspired famed Wyoming author C.J. Box to mirror it in his highly successful “Joe Pickett” series of novels.
“According to reports and allegations from the time he tried to cover it up by forging a license… I talked to Jim Geringer, who was the governor at the time. I talked to Mary Kay Hill, who was one of his chiefs of staff… The problem was, from their perspective, when he tried to cover it up, then it became an ethical thing… CJ Box did use that whole episode as inspiration in his books. His character, Joe Pickett issues a citation to the governor of Wyoming in the fictional Joe Pickett universe.”
John Talbott is not to be confused with another former Wyoming Game and Fish Director, Scott Talbott, who retired honorably in 2019 and has no connection with the fishing license fiasco.
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.
