It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, December 30th. I’m Reilly Strand, in for 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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In the wake of former President Jimmy Carter’s death on December 29, Wyoming leaders remembered him as affable and kind. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson spoke with former Governor Dave Freudenthal, former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Carpenter and bormer U.S. Senator Al Simpson about Carter’s legacy.
“The takeaway on this story is that although Jimmy Carter left a lot to be desired with his presidential skills and some of the things that took place during his four years in office, he more than made up for it with his…charitable acts after he left the Oval Office…He made it count where he could make a big difference in people's lives, and really dedicated a lot of effort to really trying to…make that difference throughout his life.”
Carter died at the age of 100.
Read the full story HERE.
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Tucked in the mountains near Meeteetse, Wyoming, a group of Carmelite monks are building a Gothic monastery with cutting edge technology. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that these monks are challenging medieval stereotypes with adapted high-tech computerized machines that carve stone.
“This thing looks like it's thousands of years old, but they are building it from scratch….they are using modern technology to do it…it's really kind of a neat story… When they got here in Wyoming in 2003 they had like, 400 bucks to their name…They're supported just by coffee sales…They're not making a huge amount of money off of that…They came here with this dream of building this Gothic monastery, and they're working with architects….and the minimum bid was $80 million…So they figured out that they could use CNC machines to carve the stone….they have just basically self taught themselves….how to build this monastery.”
It’s unclear when the Carmelite monks will be finished with their monastery, but sources say it could be as soon as 2030.
Read the full story HERE.
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Yellowstone National Park’s famous one-eyed wolf, 907F, died on Christmas Day after she succumbed to injuries she suffered in a fight with other wolves. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz spoke with Wildlife Researcher Taylor Rabe who tracked 907F’s final moments through a radio collar.
“She was nearly 12 years old, which is…more than triple the average wolf's lifespan…She was involved in a fight with some…wolves from a rival pack on December 22....lived for a few days…. then finally, perished from her wounds. I talked to…some people who'd been following her for years ... they said she was a remarkable animal, and it felt like a huge loss, especially right after we lost Grizzly 399 not that long ago.”
Wildlife experts say wolves fighting among themselves is one of the leading natural causes of death for wolves in Yellowstone.
Read the full story HERE.
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From above, the aftermath of this fall’s 98,352-acre Elk Creek Wildfire shows a barren scar that one photographer described as disheartening. While the aftermath looks bleak, Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that wildlife experts are hopeful.
“If you look on the Big Horn faces today, it looks terrible, areas completely burned…But then, when you look at it from the other perspective, the Forest Service went into the burn scar. They analyzed this area and what they realized that it actually isn't so tragic. At the end of the day, the fire burned ferociously, but it didn't stick around. It didn't burn through the organic layer of soil in most of the places where the fire burns. So what that means is new plants are going to have a fertile layer of soil to grab hold, to root and to grow.”
Although the Bighorns’ forests might take a generation or two to return to their former grandeur, officials say the worst case scenario was avoided.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Freedom Caucus unveiled its top five priorities going into the January 14th legislative session, calling it a quote “war on woke.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland looked into what the group calls the Five and Dime Plan, five bills that they hope to pass in the first 10 days of the 2025 legislative session.
“We're looking at a lot of …election and immigration crackdown, also what they call the war on woke where they would be limiting the University of Wyoming's ability to take things like race into account as they're hiring, as they're educating. And then there's also, lastly, a very stark property tax reform that Governor Gordon vetoed earlier this year.”
The Freedom Caucus also wants to ban the state from investing in funds that prioritize environmental, social or governance standards.
Read the full story HERE.
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A recent Center for Disease Control study shows that 27% of people who live in Gallatin County, Montana, drink to excess. That makes it the drunkest county in America. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison, who lives in Gallatin County, quizzed several Montanans on their theories on why residents drink so much.
“In a very unscientific but entertaining tour of people's opinions, I discovered that it's probably some kind of combination of being home to a large university, Montana State, plus two fabulous ski areas, Bridger Bowl and Big Sky, and then you throw in the River Runs Through It Inspired trout fishing culture, which we are overrun with, and you have a lot of reasons to celebrate… It really was a light hearted look at some really serious statistics about the health impacts and of over drinking.”
Besides the boozy hotbeds of Teton and Albany counties, Wyoming is saddled with a couple of real lightweights such as Johnson and Hot Springs counties, where around 15% of the population are considered heavy drinkers.
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 Reilly Strand, for Cowboy State Daily.
