It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, November 22nd. 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.
Frederica Lefthand held a doctorate degree in education. She was part of an outreach program supporting Native American nursing students. Lefthand served as dean of admissions at Little Big Horn College on the Crow Indian Reservation.
Then she fell into the clutches of a drug cartel. And amid a recent bust of a meth ring in what’s now referred to as the “Spear Siding” case, Lefthand and 26 others were prosecuted.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that her story is just one heartbreaking tale in a larger narrative of how drugs have devastated Native communities.
“There are several reasons why the story about Frederica Lefthand is tragic. One that the community has lost her as a leader. She used to work at the college as a dean of admissions. You have the sheer number of people who receive sentences, 27 in this wave alone. And then you have on top of it, the name Spear Siding brought into the story, which is a sacred site where they perform a Sundance.”
Lefthand’s rise and fall as a drug queenpin of the meth ring based in a small community just north of the Wyoming border also reveals details about the role women now play in the hierarchy of reservation crime.
Read the full story HERE.
When drugs and evidence started vanishing from shipping boxes on their way from Rawlins to the Wyoming State Crime Lab in Cheyenne, Rawlins authorities called the Laramie Police Department to investigate.
Though Laramie police originally scrutinized the Rawlins PD and the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, the case soon shifted to a UPS worker, in whose house they found electronics, drugs, toys and other items, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“The Carbon County Sheriff's office and the Rawlins PD both had boxes with drugs and evidence on their way to the Wyoming State Crime Lab, where the boxes showed up at the crime lab, missing everything, or nearly everything. And so they're like, oh, we gotta get an outside cop here, because this starts at the cop shop. So they called in Laramie… and then he's thinking, their chains of custody are different, right?... how can there be a… common thief in law enforcement, if there's different chains of custody. So then he's like, Okay, where do these packages meet up? That was at the lumber store, where that's also a UPS pickup site.”
32-year-old Deseree Martinez faces one count of felony theft, and if convicted, could spend up to 10 years in prison and have to pay $10,000 in fines.
Read the full story HERE.
Even if the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees won’t allow concealed handguns on campus, the Wyoming Legislature will probably override that decision.
That’s what board Chairman Kermit Brown told a crowd mostly opposed to concealed carry Thursday during a meeting of trustees. Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz was at the meeting.
“Once again, there was a kind of a packed house, standing room only, of people that came to speak to the trustees… The vast majority of people were against it… However, the President of the Board of Trustees… upon announcing that they were going to postpone the decision at least until tomorrow, he also raised what I think was a really interesting point, that guys, it doesn't matter what we end up doing, because in the end, this could very well be decided by the legislature.”
A bill to eliminate Wyoming’s gun-free zones passed both chambers of the Legislature during the 2024 session, but was vetoed by Gov. Mark Gordon.
Read the full story HERE.
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso said he believes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could bring a fresh perspective to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration if his nomination is approved by the Senate.
President-elect Donald Trump has nominated RFK to serve as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA. And Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Barrasso, a doctor, is well-known for the health reports he’s delivered on TV stations across Wyoming for about 40 years.
“RFK has gotten some criticism for some of his conspiracy theories that he's promoted related to vaccines and AIDS and fluoride and water, but he supported Trump's campaign after he dropped out as a presidential candidate himself this summer. And more than anything, Barrasso says it's just time to get maybe a fresh perspective when it comes to running America's health agencies and the FDA.”
If confirmed by the Senate, RFK would have authority over the nation's agencies responsible for public health, government-funded health insurance plans, Medicare and Medicaid services.
Read the full story HERE.
When severe drought in 2021 made ranchers in Crook County desperate to secure hay for their cattle before winter, a Kansas man spotted an opportunity and designed a scheme that preyed on stockgrowers worried they wouldn’t have enough cattle feed.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the scam involved hay bought in Nebraska, shipped by a company from Kansas and caused ranchers in Wyoming and Montana to lose more than $100,000.
“A guy named Jory Parks from Kansas, had a new trucking company. He was going to pick up the well priced hay in Nebraska and bring it to ranchers in Wyoming and Montana. But according to prosecutors with the US Attorney's Office, in Billings, he really came into that whole arrangement with an intent to short these customers and to exploit the high price of hay.”
Judge Susan Watters spared Parks a prison sentence of up to 20 years so he could pay restitution to his victims. Parks was given 20 years to make $500 monthly payments against his $103,721 dollar debt.
Read the full story HERE.
Laramie County Sheriff’s deputies arrested two women Wednesday after one of them managed to bypass a safety feature on a patrol vehicle and steal it.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that when deputies received word of the stolen patrol pickup, they thought they were looking for just one perpetrator.
“There's this car chase, and there's a blown tire, and the truck comes to a stop, and the driver takes off running… but they kind of do a check, like, oh, the truck. Oh, is anyone else inside it? …And the person hiding is not a large person as I understand it. And so they they missed her… the person ducked in the truck gets out, and, according to the sheriff's department's account, steals the deputy's SUV and so, and then she, you know, chases after somebody and shows the deputy's gun to that person in order to secure a new car.”
After apprehending both suspects, Mandy Miller was booked into the Laramie County Detention Center on charges of driving under the influence of drugs, plus vehicle theft, aggravated robbery, eluding and a host of other offenses. Tiana Quin also has multiple charges pending.
Read the full story HERE.
Skiers have been complaining about the cost of season passes for years, and this year’s no different.
An Epic Pass, which gives you unlimited access to more than 40 ski resorts across North America, Europe and Australia jumped from $909 last season to $1,107 this season. Aspen-Snowmass in Colorado, one of the nation’s most expensive resorts, offers a season “premier” pass for $3,599.
And then there’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, which this week offered an exclusive luxury season pass for $10,000, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Justin George.
“Now it's a luxury pass, and you ask, what do you get with that? Well, you get early access to the mountain so you can get all your runs in before a lot of people come. You know, people have been talking about the crowds up there. You get access to a lounge, you get private ski storage, you get a continental breakfast, and you get lunch reservations at trappers, which is the restaurant at the resort.”
The season pass for Snowy Range Ski Area, just down the road from Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, is $449 for adults - that’s less than 5% of the Jackson Hole pass.
But again, the Snowy Range pass doesn’t come with a continental breakfast.
Read the full story HERE.
Anyone who scoffs at the notion of what’s considered “modern art” got the ultimate wake-up Wednesday when a banana duct-taped to a wall sold for $6.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction.
Titled “Comedian,” the piece was created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, and it wasn’t the first time he’s sold a banana on a wall for big bucks. Three previous editions of the single banana attached to a white wall with silver duct tape sold for more than $100,000 each. But Wednesday’s sale was different, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi.
“He was a cryptocurrency guy, which I think makes a lot of sense when you look at the facts. He just bought a certificate of authenticity that says when he tapes a banana to a white wall with silver duct tape, it can be called “comedian,” and that is worth $6.2 million… So it wasn't the banana or the tape or the wall that were the valuable asset. It was this certificate of authenticity, which our Wyoming artists found profoundly amusing.”
Sculptor Chris Navarro said he sometimes takes a year or more to create some of his lifelike bronze works of art. When a piece that took only a few minutes to create sells for millions of dollars, he sees it as a reflection of the buzz created around it, rather than the piece actually having that monetary value.
Read the full story HERE.
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 De Shann Schinkel with Wyoming Senior Olympics. 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.
