It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, January 16th. I’m 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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Search crews that have scoured a mountainous region of Sweetwater County for a missing pilot and plane since Tuesday afternoon, found the pilot deceased at the scene of a crash on Wednesday.
50-year-old Kelly Melvin was the lone occupant of the single-prop Piper Comanche that left the Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport Tuesday morning. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the crash happened just minutes after takeoff, near Little Mountain, southwest of Rock Springs.
“I think that they were maybe holding out hope there was an emergency landing, but about 315 Wednesday afternoon, they confirmed that it was the crash, that he was found dead, and then it was that location that they thought, where
the plane location data and the cell phone ping data had last converged.”
A preliminary report will be available within 30 days; a probable cause of the crash along with any contributing factors will be detailed in the final report, which is expected in 12-24 months.
Read the full story HERE.
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Gov. Mark Gordon used his State of the State speech Wednesday morning as a promotion for his $692 million supplemental budget request to the Wyoming Legislature.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the governor framed the approval of this budget as playing an integral role in Wyoming’s future.
“He was really trying to kind of urge lawmakers to take an approach that recognizes conservatism but doesn't take a slash and burn approach to the budget. He's really trying to promote common sense fiscal decisions and pragmatism, rather than just doing rash mass cuts. So he made his arguments for that, and he basically said that, you know, this has been a pretty successful recipe for Wyoming, and there's no reason to upset the apple cart and, you know, rewrite the script, so to speak.”
Gordon said he appreciated the “seriousness and spirituality” of Tuesday’s opening remarks of the 68th legislative session.
Read the full story HERE.
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A large water feature that looks like a lake but is being called a “habitat pond” is among the more prominent of new features and structures proposed by billionaire Joe Ricketts for the former Granite Creek Ranch, which also lies in an important watershed for one of Wyoming’s best trout fisheries, the Hoback River, in the Gros Ventre Wilderness.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Ameritrade founder and Chicago Cubs owner Ricketts bought the ranch last fall, after abandoning a similar project in Bondurant called The Homestead Resort, where Ricketts had hoped to set up a posh resort that would cater to the wealthy, as well as showcase the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
“It's an in holding in the Bridger Teton National Forest. It's completely surrounded by the wilderness… he is going to build some new structures, a new main lodge, a naturalist center, a spa, a brand new habitat pond. To me, it looks like a big lake, but they said it's a habitat pond… And so I asked, you know, is it fair to say that this is the homestead resort by another name. And I was told that, essentially, that's correct.”
In Rickett’s proposal, Granite Creek Ranch also gets a brand-new name. It will be called “The Hawken,” a name derived from a muzzle-loading rifle popular during the Rendezvous era of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.
Read the full story HERE.
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A pair of bills advanced out of a House committee Wednesday that would put more restrictions on registering to vote in Wyoming.
The bills call for voters showing proof of Wyoming residency, 30 days of residency in Wyoming and of U.S. citizenship to vote. Secretary of State Chuck Gray said the bill represents a cornerstone of his election integrity plan, which includes requiring proof of U.S. citizenship and residency. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson has the report.
“The first one that was pretty significant is it would require proof of Wyoming residency to register to vote in Wyoming. Currently, it's just you're giving an oath to prove that residency. This would actually require a physical identification, proving that… The other bill that was passed by the committee requires proof for you to US citizenship, to vote, to register, to be able to register to vote in Wyoming. So this would include, like, a driver's license, a passport, a birth certificate, something to that effect. This doesn't make a whole lot of changes to Wyoming law. Kind of just clarifies this point.”
The bill passed on an 8-1 vote with Democrat Rep. Mike Yin of Jackson the only member of the Committee voting against it. Every member of the committee, except Yin, is either a member of the Freedom Caucus, or supports its ideology.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bill telling Wyoming’s government and courts to treat males and females according to their biological sex rather than their gender identity has cleared its first committee hearing, and now advances to the state House of Representatives.
The “What Is A Woman Act,” or House Bill 32, seeks to define terms like “woman,” “man,” “girl,” “boy,” “mother” and “father” according to people’s biological sex, rather than their gender identity, across Wyoming’s governmental systems. And Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that some controversy arose during the hearing.
“During legislative hearings, you often speak on the bill. But actually, the National lobbyist, Dr. Rich Guggenheim of gays against groomers, took a shot at Wyoming equality, which is the top LGBTQ advocacy group in Wyoming, and he basically accused the group of promoting gender transition in kids… And Sarah Burlingame, Executive Director, she fired back in a text that I then put in the story, saying, No, we're just, we're actually pro parental rights. We're just with exceptions for kids safety. And she said, we're just trying to do common sense advocacy, essentially.”
Opponents said the bill is overbroad, inconsiderate and technically impossible to enforce. Proponents said it’s necessary to protect women and girls in their private spaces and sports teams, and to protect males from awkward situations as well.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming needs a “Monument to America,” no less grand in scale than Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, according to a bill before the Legislature. But a task force must first decide where it should go and which historical figures it should depict.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that House Bill 106, which is pending before the Wyoming Legislature, proposes a modest first step, setting aside $40,000 to fund a task force.
“It would tentatively be called the Monument to America, which could include any number of… prominent folks from the 18th, 19th and 20th century, including tribal leaders. I spoke to the primary… sponsor of the bill today, and he said, Yes, it's it's important. We want to include the tribal leaders, because…there is still controversy surrounding Mount Rushmore, and the friction and kind of bad feelings it created with the tribes. So you know, they don't want that this time around.”
The goal is for the task force to have a recommendation for development for the monument ready for the governor’s office and key legislative committees no later than July 24, 2026. But no specific timeline is set for construction and completion of the monument.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming House committee advanced a bill Wednesday prohibiting all diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, government mandates and instruction in Wyoming schools.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that there have been a number of states that have initiated anti-DEI rules, and the bill’s sponsor, Representative Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, believes that will continue at the federal level in President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
“There was a lot of discussion during the meeting about how this would relate to free speech and discussing history and what could and what could not be discussed in the classroom… the people who supported the bill thought it was very obvious that this would not go against the teaching of history, and it was unanimously passed by the committee.”
The bill as amended by the committee also clarifies that nothing in the bill should prohibit any classroom discussions about historical topics or prohibit students from expressing their opinions about those events.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 31-year-old bodybuilder from Kalispell, Montana, is in hot water for manufacturing and selling a variety of bodybuilding supplements that didn’t have FDA approval.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that among the supplements that Tyler Hall’s company, Rat’s Army, marketed and sold, one claimed to cure an unwanted side effect of bodybuilding in men.
“It's alleged that rats army was selling a variety of supplements that are appealing to body builders, and among the many products, there were some that helped fix a problem some body builders face, and that is developing female like breasts due to A hormonal imbalance… This was a public health issue, because … with some of these drugs, when used outside the guidance of a physician, you can develop things like pulmonary embolisms and other life threatening issues.”
Court documents say that Hall made over $3.8 million dollars from the sale of unapproved drugs in interstate commerce. Hall pleaded guilty Jan. 9th, and will be sentenced May 15.
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 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel! Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
