It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, January 9th. I’m Reilly Strand, in for Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom brought to you by Visit Casper.
Visit Casper invites you to come enjoy the Casper International Film Festival, January 31 through February 2. A broad range of films from local and international filmmakers will be shown. Learn more and get your tickets at visitcasper.com.
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Federal officials announced Wednesday that Grizzly bears in Wyoming and the rest of the Lower 48 will remain under endangered species protection. In a statement released just after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announcement, Gordon implied it was a political move in the last days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
“Fish and Wildlife Services, they said their long term goal is still to get the grizzlies delisted someday, but it sounds like from their perspective, that's still quite a ways off. So some people think that's great that Grizzlies remain under protection. Some people think that that's terrible, that's poor policy, and it's not going to work for Wyoming. But the decision has come down. It is what it is. And I guess what we do now is we wait and see.”
Gordon stated he hopes the return of Donald Trump to the White House will revive efforts to delist grizzlies and hand management over to Game and Fish.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cody resident Kailey Kline learned a tough lesson on New Year’s Eve — don’t accept drinks from strangers. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that 23-year-old Kline nearly died after drinking what she and her family believe was a beverage poisoned with antifreeze by a stranger. She was celebrating the new year at the Silver Dollar Bar in Cody.
“Kline believes that her drink was spiked around last call at about 1:30 in the morning, and she hadn't been…crazy drunk or anything like that. Her fiance didn't think she was too out of her mind when he picked her up. And really, when the effects of the antifreeze started setting in, it really resulted in some serious side effects. She started foaming at the mouth and suffering seizures. So this is a really significant event, and if he had just sent her to bed, she might have died from this.”
Cowboy State Daily spoke with Kline’s nurse, who confirmed antifreeze as the most likely cause of her poisoning, but a definitive cause is impossible to determine due to her blood being drawn too late after the incident.
Read the full stories HERE
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On Tuesday, Trump riffed about “windmills” from Mar-a-Lago, calling the turbines economically unfeasible and harmful to wildlife, saying he wants to stop funding them all-together. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that many new wind farm projects are underway in Wyoming, which have caused controversy.
“So Trump is saying, I want a policy where…new wind farms [can’t be] built. And he doesn't specify, are they just going to cut the subsidies? Are they going to do a ban? Are they going to pause permitting? But so, there's a lot of projects that already have the gears going in Wyoming that they might be too late to stop, depending on where they're at.”
Wyoming Sen. Cale Case generally agreed with Trump, saying the market should decide if more wind farms should be built. A Wyoming clean energy consultant group disagreed.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s two favorite pro football teams are set to face each other in the NFL playoffs this Sunday. Cowboy State Daily’s Justin George reports the Denver Broncos have long been Wyoming’s pro football team, but the rise of Josh Allen, former star University of Wyoming quarterback and Buffalo Bills MVP candidate, has split loyalties.
“So the question is, who do they root for? And why is there this sort of division or split between some people, sort of fandom? And it just goes back to a few things. I mean, it goes back to who Josh Allen…He's a very likable, charismatic star quarterback. And then also that the Broncos during the past nearly decade have been just terrible. They've not been a good franchise to follow. And so those are some of the sort of reasons behind it.”
As popular as Allen may be, some believe Orange and Blue still runs deep in Wyoming, even seeing signs of a Broncos Country revival taking place.
Read the full story HERE.
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The City of Cheyenne is at it again -- cutting down more of its Cottonwood trees in Holliday Park. The city says they’ve been identified as “a hazard to the public,” but locals say there was nothing wrong with them. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the city says the trees are diseased or dying, but several locals think they have a lot of life left.
“It's kind of a little bit of a back and forth between the Cheyenne city forester and these neighbors of Holliday Park. They don't like seeing their trees cut down… It's part of their view. They love the park…The cottonwood is Wyoming State tree, and so they feel like…these trees should be shown more love.”
On the other hand, the city says it has to be proactive when it sees signs of hazard, since the public, especially children, use the park.
Read the full story HERE.
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Rocky Mountain Power announced last week that it’s cancelling the retirements of its Wyoming coal-fired power plants. But that doesn’t mean they’ll be burning coal long into the future. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports the power company’s adjustments were based on their Integrated Resource Plan, which was released last week.
“This is a pretty big deal for these local communities like Rock Springs, Glen Rock and Kemmerer and Gillette, who can expect…their local coal burning power plants, to have an increased life span now. Now that doesn't necessarily mean all these facilities will continue burning coal, but they are at least saying that they will keep them online to produce some form of energy, which is usually, in most cases, natural gas, if not coal.”
Rocky Mountain Power officials cautioned that none of these changes are written in stone and could change again in the future.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fewer newcomers made their way to Wyoming and Montana in 2024, but the stream of transplants continues into Idaho. That’s according to data reported by U-Haul. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that U-Haul compiles data for one-way rentals of shipping containers, trailers and box trucks, then ranks states based on departures and arrivals. Wyoming was one of the least popular destinations for renters last year.
“This isn't a scientifically perfect examination of migration between states, but it's really interesting to see trends…The number one state this year was South Carolina, and that fit a trend that shows people moving to the south… Texas, Florida, North Carolina…The number one state seeing U haul rentals leaving the state is California. So they ranked 50th, and South Carolina ranked first. Wyoming came in at 36. They're in this coming and going equilibrium.”
Montana has also slowed in recent years, spending the last six as a net-gain state or a break-even state.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office has put a hotel-like blinking “VACANCY” sign above its jail entrance. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak stated the red neon sign is meant to let people know the jail has room, and that deputies are willing to book people charged with crimes into the jail.
“It's a message that they'll book you. So during COVID, there was a two year stretch where they tried to keep the jail numbers down. This was a prior administration, but they oftentimes, if someone was charged with a property crime, even on the serious side, they wouldn't necessarily be booked into the jail... so this is according to Sheriff Kozak. This is him saying, yeah, we'll book you, and we have room.”
The jail has a capacity of about 450 inmates and currently houses about 170. Before COVID, the jail hit about 320 inmates, but that’s the highest Sheriff Kozak can remember its population being.
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. Thanks for tuning in - I’m Reilly Strand, for Cowboy State Daily.
