It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, November 13th. 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.
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Leadership elections for members of the 68th Legislature haven’t happened yet, but a few state legislators have already started lobbying their fellow lawmakers for support for their next round of elections — this time, for leadership posts within the legislature.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson says at least one role can be predicted - State Rep. Chip Neiman of Hulett is expected to be elected as Speaker of the House, as no one is running against him.
“I talked to him on Tuesday to get some answers and to possibly dispel some rumors about what's going to happen in the upcoming legislature, but he said all of it really depends on what happens in the leadership elections for the Senate, where which are much more murky and undecided.”
If the Senate leadership elections don’t go the way that Neiman and other members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus would like, he told Cowboy State Daily he wouldn’t rule out the possibility of leaving Democrats completely off critical committees.
Read the full story HERE.
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In a reversal of its long-standing gun policy, the University of Wyoming might allow people to carry concealed firearms on campus.
Upcoming public forums will provide information about the content of the draft rule, which would allow, quote, “law-abiding and qualified people to carry firearms in many university buildings.” That’s according to Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz.
“The firearms Research Center on the UW campus has come up with a, supposedly a draft to allow at least some concealed carry on the UW campus… as it is now, I mean, unless you get it a special exception from the UW Police Department, you can't carry a firearm on campus… There's people with strong opinions on both sides who are all for it and very adamantly against it.”
UW’s Board of Trustees is expected to consider the draft rule during their meetings Nov. 20th through the 22nd.
Read the full story HERE.
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President-Elect Donald Trump has announced a plan that went viral over the weekend to ban transgender-related treatments for kids. He also wants to denounce male participation in female sports and pull federal funding and support from transgender treatments for all ages.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to both a supporter of the plan and a detractor of it, and each say Trump is likely to succeed.
“I asked a woman on the side, where she, you know, she advocates for LGBTQ causes. And she said, Yeah, I think he can do it. She said, I don't love our chances in court. A lot of this can be done by executive order. The rest of it may be just a friendly Congress… But I also talked to state senator elect Darren Smith, was an attorney out of Cheyenne… And he was confident that the congressional delegates that Trump is going to be relying on.”
In the video now widely circulated on X, formerly Twitter, Trump listed a multi-step plan involving issuing executive orders, working with Congress and sending strong warnings to hospitals and school districts that rely on federal funding.
Read the full story HERE.
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The digital asset framework that Wyoming has been setting up has been hailed by digital asset companies as innovative and cutting edge — but it was facing huge headwinds from an unfriendly Biden administration, with a forecast of decidedly stormy clouds ahead.
That weather forecast now, however, looks like it might be changing to sunny and clear skies ahead. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that president-elect Donald Trump’s administration promises to be much friendlier to cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.
“Trump, at one time, had said he was against crypto currencies and called it a scam on the dollar, but he has since backtracked on that, and his sons have even started a crypto business. So he has kind of embraced cryptocurrency and digital assets, and he's eyeing a lot of people for his administration who are friendly to cryptocurrencies and digital assets.”
Trump has promised on “Day 1” to fire SEC Chair Gary Gensler, who has attracted the ire of the digital asset industry by arguing that digital assets didn’t really need any new rules tailored to their unique properties.
Read the full story HERE.
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A West-Yellowstone, Montana, man said his dashboard camera captured an extremely rare sight early Tuesday — a wolverine barreling across a snowy highway.
Even though the video is blurry and poor quality when zoomed in, a wildlife biologist who viewed it told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz that it’s probably legitimate footage of one of only a few wolverines known to exist in and near Yellowstone National Park.
“ a wildlife photographer I've spoken with a few times before, was driving his wife to work, and on their dash cam, they caught an image of a critter speeding across the highway, and he says he thinks it's a Wolverine. And he ran it past a biologist who's actually worked with Wolverines in Alaska, and I talked to her as well, and she said, Yep, that's probably a Wolverine. I mean the footage, it's distant and and or blurry, so it's tough to tell, but they're both saying, just by the way the animal moves, low to the ground, kind of loping sideways, really, as it did, it’s probably a Wolverine.”
Wolverines are mostly solitary creatures. Each one claims a huge territory, and they like to travel. Population studies conducted by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department indicate that Wyoming overall might have a grand total of about 15 wolverines.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Torrington man already accused of brutally beating and disfiguring his ex-girlfriend has been charged with yet another felony, this time on claims he threw his victim’s phone, laptop and guns in a canal while he was on the run.
27-year-old Andrew Atkinson was charged Nov. 5 with felony property destruction. The charge is in addition to Atkinson’s earlier charges.
“He was wanted in 2016 on claims that he had robbed a woman's vehicle and tried to strangle another woman that he was with… and then in August, his ex girlfriend ends up in the hospital with severe, severe injuries… But during that time span when he was wanted, he according to him, his account rendered in court documents, he threw her guns and her laptops and her phone in a canal over in the garbage… so this brand new felony, just to pile on, you know, pile on all the other felonies.”
The felony property destruction charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Read the full story HERE.
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Public elections are all done in America this election cycle but still yet to come are leadership selections for the U.S. Congress and state legislatures across the country.
Many people are now paying close attention to the leadership elections for the now Republican-majority U.S. Senate.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that senators and senators-elect will vote by secret ballot Wednesday to determine their party’s leadership.
“Some were saying that Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis is going to be supporting South Dakota Republican Senator John Thune in that election. Lummis called that report fake news, and she said she is still undecided who she's going to support. The race between John Thune… Texas Senator John Cornyn and Florida Senator Rick Scott should be very interesting to see as far as the direction of the Senate moving forward.”
The stakes of this election are high as the new Senate majority leader will have significant influence over the party's ability to push through Trump’s judicial nominees, cabinet appointees and key legislative priorities.
Read the full story HERE.
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The adage that the three most important things in real estate are “location, location, location” couldn’t be more true for a local house that kept getting hit by cars.
For the house at a T intersection in the 1300 block of 13th Street in Casper, that location has meant vehicles misjudging the road and plowing into the house. Multiple times.
That is impossible now, though, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck - because the house is gone.
“I was there in March where a vehicle had run into not just into the house, but through the house and almost to the back of the house, and now that house is gone… the front part of the lot is now empty, so one of the most dangerous intersections for vehicles in Casper is now a place where maybe there will not be so Many House car crashes.”
Now the lot only has a small building in the back and mobile trailer, but cars going through the intersection would have to travel further and dodge a tree before striking a small structure in the back of the property.
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.
