It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, November 27th. 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.
Within the past 21 months, the Teton County Sheriff’s Office has allowed 103 illegal immigrants to slip away from Immigration Customs and Enforcement, or ICE.
That’s what the agency told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland on Tuesday.
The statement countered earlier statements by Teton County Sheriff Matt Carr, regarding a dispute about whether Carr’s office has scuttled ICE’s operations in recent months.
“I still have a hard time reconciling what ICE says with what the sheriff says. The narratives are so different. You know, on the one hand, ICE says it would help if the sheriff would notify us when someone's going to be released. That way we can, you know, get our butts up there, and the sheriff says, I do notify them. And so I just as a reporter, usually, even when people are coming from diametrically opposite standpoints, you can find the you can find where they overlap. And with this story, not as much.”
Carr defended his decision to only detain people when ICE gets a judge-signed order, saying he’s concerned about getting sued for holding people too long.
Read the full story HERE.
The Bureau of Land Management has made it official. It will end coal leasing on the Powder River Basin by 2041.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports the decision to block off 48.12 billion short tons of coal in the Powder River Basin has attracted widespread criticism in Wyoming, including Gov. Mark Gordon - who has publicly pledged to fight the decision in court.
“The Bureau of Land Management… determined they really didn't need to issue any more coal leases, that there was plenty to maintain mine production levels into 2041 so essentially, what they've done is they've written off the Powder River Basin for any more coal leases, and basically written the funeral date for Wyoming's one of Wyoming's richest coal resources as 2041.”
On Tuesday, Gordon reiterated his intent to fight the decision, which puts a date to coal’s demise in the state. Wyoming has already spent $800,000 on a retainer, the high-powered Arlington, Virginia-based law firm of Consovoy McCarthy, which has argued multiple appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read the full story HERE.
State Rep. Martha Lawley of Worland believes it’s time for Wyoming legislators to make a strong statement and stand against transgender participation in female sports.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Lawley is planning to introduce an amendment to Wyoming’s 2023 Student Eligibility In Interscholastic Sports law to extend the state’s ban on transgender participation in female sports to the collegiate level.
“I spoke to Lawley about this bill, and she said that this was partially inspired by the recent events involving a San Jose State volleyball player… Lawley said that this issue needs to be addressed at the collegiate level, because the NCAA has not been effectively handling what she sees as a problem. Lawley is also bringing a bill this year that would… stop them from compelling use of female bathrooms by transgender people.”
She believes addressing the collegiate level may be even more important than youth because of the possibly increased safety hazards involved with an adult’s participation in sports, and the impact their competition could have on other players’ future professional opportunities.
Read the full story HERE.
The women suing the Mountain West Conference over its inclusion of a transgender player on the San Jose State University women’s volleyball team are asking a higher court to de-roster that player before the championship playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
They filed the emergency request Monday after a Colorado judge said Blaire Fleming, a San Jose outside hitter and top scorer in the conference, can play at the tournament.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals did not rule in the women’s favor.
“From Judge Cruz on Monday, we have this kind of hammered down, like absolute rejection. You. I will not change the the play situation, I will not do you roster Blair Fleming for you, because you haven't shown that you were harmed, and you are not likely to win this lawsuit… And the 10th Circuit said no, because you could have sued earlier if you were suffering all that much harm. But… these issues might have merit.”
The ruling by the appellate court upholds an earlier Monday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge S. Kato Crews, who concluded that the 12 women suing the Mountain West Conference waited too long to ask for an injunction and could have sued earlier if they were truly suffering harm.
Read the full story HERE.
A Wyoming ranch owner, who also is the founder of the Cardano cryptocurrency platform, has taken to social media to blast Wyoming’s process of creating its own stable token.
Charles Hoskinson told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean that the Wyoming Stable Token Commission hasn’t been transparent - and unfairly excluded his company.
“He feels that the requirements, what they wanted were was never published. So you know, his company was excluded from the pre qualified vendors for things he didn't even know that they necessarily wanted or needed, things that he said they could certainly have done had there been an open, public, transparent process. And he's angry because, you know, he's got here he is one of the top 10 blockchains in the country, he's hired hundreds of people from Wyoming, located his company here. He's the only one of the top 10 that's located in Wyoming, and he's excluded from the RFP process now, so he's pretty mad about it, and he's even threatening to sue over it.”
Wyoming Stable Token Executive Director Anthony Apollo said his office is working on an official statement about the stable token flap with Cardano, and declined an interview with Cowboy State Daily about it.
Read the full story HERE.
Three men are accused of beating their roommate and dumping him in a desolate and freezing stretch of Campbell County with no shoes or shirt Sunday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the men are Mexican nationals who have attracted the interest of immigration officials.
“What the claim is is that with premeditated malice, they drove this guy out into the middle of nowhere when the temperatures were dropping to 2019, degrees, with no shoes, no shirt, and left him saying, Well, he'll die. And so, you know, a lot of the violent cases, or homicide cases that I look at, there's a murder weapon, and there's a big fuss about this. With this one, the the murder weapon is just frigid Campbell County.”
The three have been charged with attempted first-degree murder and kidnapping in Gillette Circuit Court. Each man could face life in prison if convicted.
Read the full story HERE.
The Cheyenne City Council is getting blasted by local residents over its consideration of banning large RVs and other similarly-sized vehicles from parking on city streets, classifying them as a “nuisance.”
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the City Councilman who brought the resolution forward said the problem with RVs and other large vehicles parking in city neighborhoods has gotten so bad in Cheyenne that some streets would qualify as an RV lot.
“The overall sentiment from people who spoke against this resolution on Monday was that it was an example of government over regulation and infringing on people's private property rights. But various members of the city council responded to these concerns that city streets is not private property and that the city has a right to kind of regulate dangers, safety risks and things of that nature.”
The resolution would not make any changes to parking these vehicles on private property. And there will be another vote before it can be officially approved and put into effect.
Read the full story HERE.
Thanksgiving week, people seek an edge to cooking the best bird around, and for many that means brining their birds. But some Utah residents take that a little too far, putting their turkeys into the Great Salt Lake to brine.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the discovery of a wayward bird someone had left in the huge salty body of water prompted a warning post on social media by the Great Salt Lake State Park and Marina, that brining your turkey in the Great Salt Lake is a really, really bad idea.
“For those who are unfamiliar, brining any kind of meat is just when you soak it in water and salts with any other kinds of seasoning for hours before you cook it… The problem with the Great Salt Lake is one. It's too salty for a good brine. There's that factor. Then there's also things like magnesium and potassium and arsenic and heavy metals in capacities that you don't want to ingest… but the fact that they found a turkey on a beach suggests that someone might have tried. It was either that or a turkey cannon.”
Great Salt Lake State Park’s Thanksgiving warning is meant to be funny, but also “a forewarning” for any cook crazy enough to try a Great Salt Lake brine.
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.
