It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, January 10th. 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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At least three sheriffs in Wyoming are working to help enforce immigration laws, now that a federal program that fizzled under President Joe Biden is expected to revive under a second Trump presidency. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the sheriff’s offices of Laramie, Sweetwater and Campbell counties all are seeking to strike or expand contracts with U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement in the coming weeks.
“I think this is kind of significant, because ICE over the Biden administration was not striking new deals of this nature with local sheriffs, and Trump announced in November that he's going to revive that program... It's sounding like the sheriff's are in talks with ice, which is interesting considering Trump hasn't been inaugurated yet, but it's definitely a signpost of things to come.”
With the exception of the Teton County sheriff, Wyoming sheriffs generally will hold ICE detainees for up to 48 hours past their ordered release. Becoming a contract ICE detention facility lets the jail hold those inmates much longer.
Read the full story HERE.
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According to a bill set to go before the Wyoming legislature, corner-crossing — hopping between public land parcels at points where the parcels’ corners meet with private land — should be legal in Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Rep. Karlee Provenza’s bill would clarify if corner crossing is legal. Right now, the rules are murky.
“Is it legal to step across that corner from one public parcel to the other? Some people say yes. Other people say no. We just had that big case that dragged on for years outside of Elk Mountain, where a rancher tried to claim some hunters trespass on his land by crossing the corner. The courts ultimately ruled no…This house bill would put it in Wyoming law, in black and white, no questions asked.”
Supporters of Provenza’s bill also want to get ahead of a potential problem– wealthy landowners who are buying up land where it’s checkerboarded with public parcels.
Read the full stories HERE.
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Continuing a 30-year tradition of Wyoming’s congressional delegation, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis filed a bill this week seeking to protect the name of the iconic Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that if passed into law, the bill would permanently designate the national monument as Devils Tower.
“Simply by filling the bill, whether it passes into law or not, actually protects the name, because the US board of Geographic Names is not allowed to do anything with the name change while it's being considered by Congress. So this is really kind of a political move at the Wyoming delegation…The push for the name change has come from more than 20 Native American tribes that believe the Devils Tower name is offensive and does not actually represent the historical way that Native Americans referred to the tower. Many of them believe that it actually used to be called Bear Lodge.”
Former President Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed Devils Tower as the first national monument in 1906.
Read the full story HERE.
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Residents in the unincorporated Happy Valley neighborhood of Laramie County, Wyoming, aren’t so happy about proposed changes to county zoning laws, calling them a “land grab.” Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that county commissioners say they are just trying to be responsive to complaints, but residents aren’t happy with rules like limiting a home’s number of visible vehicles, or restrictions on businesses hours of operation.
“Commissioner Gunnar Malm… what he said was… they’ve had a number of people come in complaining about businesses moving in next door that are maybe not compatible with the residential neighborhood, things like trucking companies, mechanic shops…So, then they want to know, why can't the county stop that? And the answer to that is because…not every place is zoned. So those unzoned areas, if you haven't zoned them, you really can't restrict what goes in them.”
Jean reports that officials will hold public hearings to get input from residents later this month.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce harshly criticized a Biden administration decision to keep grizzlies under federal endangered species protection. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Bruce believes the decision dismisses the work Wyoming has put into managing bears.
“They really wanted to see the Grizzlies delisted. From Game and Fish’s perspective, they have put in a ton of work and a lot of money managing bears now for years and years, and they feel that they are able to take the helm and manage bears in Wyoming from Wyoming.”
Others praised keeping grizzlies protected. A region-wide coalition of environmental groups, including Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, stated that keeping grizzlies listed is the right thing to do.
Read the full story HERE.
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A federal judge on Thursday struck down President Joe Biden’s rules granting accommodations for transgender students, such as cross-sex bathroom usage, into federal education laws. Detractors have called the Department of Education’s rules reinterpreting Title IX a “rewrite” of the law, because they tried to open other pathways.
“A federal court went ahead and vacated Biden's interpretation of Title IX, which is a federal immigration law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex. Now this law is decades old, but Biden's interpretation was kind of novel, because it sought to rope in transgender and sexual orientation status into the term of sex, which extends protections that are controversial and that are always under debate.”
Title IX rules are especially pertinent to institutions that accept Title IX funding, like the University of Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Jackson cocaine kingpin was sentenced to 80 months in prison Thursday for running a large-scale cocaine network in Teton County. He was accused of selling at least 10 kilos of cocaine that netted him more than $400,000. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Marlon Forrest almost got a more lenient sentence, but at the last minute, US Federal Court Judge Kelly Rankin decided he didn’t qualify for it because he managed others also dealing cocaine.
“Long story short, he ended up having to be sentenced for more time in prison than what he was originally going to be considered for. It was probably a few more years... We don't know exactly what Rankin was about to go with, because he never actually said it out loud… One other thing that's interesting about that is Forrest really lived kind of a double life while he was selling cocaine…He also had a regular job that he worked in addition to selling cocaine on the side.”
Wolfson reports that Forrest wasn’t an avid cocaine user, instead, he was more interested in making money. However, he expressed remorse before his sentencing on Thursday.
Read the full story HERE.
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Last week, a young Colorado bull elk tried taking a shortcut up an icy, near-vertical slope but became trapped when his antlers got tangled up in rope and was left facing a slow, painful death. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the bull got lucky— wildlife agents and ice climbers teamed up and pulled off a creative, and dangerous, rescue.
“They tranquilized the elk, and then rigged him up with some ropes and lowered him back down the slope. And he recovered from the tranquilizers, apparently, got off and walked off. So all's well that ends well…I'm amazed that he was able to climb that slope to begin with, much less somehow managed to get his antlers tangled in the rope.”
The bull was stuck at a popular ice climbing spot near Lake City, Colorado, where a rope was installed to help people hoist themselves up the steep slope.
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.
