It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, January 21st. 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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One of the most popular political topics in Wyoming is private property rights and how far, or not, they should extend.
On Monday, that topic took center stage in the Wyoming House over a discussion on a bill that would require the sale of all private property to the federal government in Wyoming be matched with a corresponding decrease in federal land.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that House Bill 118 would mark a significant change for those wanting to sell their land for recreation or other purposes to the federal government, and likely limit most of these transactions moving forward.
“There was a lot of back and forth discussion about this in the House on Monday. Very interesting. It basically came down to what should get a bigger priority, restricting the federal government's growth, or private property rights. At the end of the day, the Wyoming house chose restricting the federal government as his preference… They're really kind of trumpeting the horn of state sovereignty.”
The bill sponsor, Rep. Dalton Banks of Cowley, said just because federal land transfers have been accepted throughout Wyoming’s statehood doesn’t make it right. He also said his bill protects property owners from federal overreach and sweeping government mandates.
Read the full story HERE.
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All three of Wyoming’s members of Congress joined a body-jam of people in the U.S. Capitol’s rotunda as Donald Trump took the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States.
Sean Barry, reporting for Cowboy State Daily, says the 11th-hour change to the swearing-in ceremony, moving it from outside on account of cold weather, created uncertainty as to whether all lawmakers who wished to attend could actually fit in the circular indoor space beneath the Capitol Dome.
“Because there was a finite amount of space in the capitol rotunda, it was never clear whether all lawmakers who wished to attend would be able to attend, especially given the number of non lawmakers such as tech CEOs and Cabinet picks and former presidents and first ladies. There was never any question that Senator John Barrasso as the Senate Majority Whip, the second ranking member in the Republican Party in the Senate, whether he would be able to attend, certainly he would.”
Barrasso could be seen in the live video feed of the ceremony. A spokeswoman for Senator Cynthia Lummis, along with a spokesman for Representative Harriet Hageman, confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that they were there as well.
Read the full story HERE.
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The last few days have been extraordinarily cold. Lake Yellowstone reached minus 33, while the Northeast Entrance outside Cooke City, Montana, got as low as minus 37. And that was actual air temperatures, not wind chills.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Old Faithful set the bar at a bone-chilling minus 40 on Monday, while residents of Bondurant woke up to a chilling minus 36. But as cold as these temperatures were, they weren’t record-setting.
“You've got to put these things in perspective, because the coldest temperature ever recorded in Wyoming was also in Yellowstone National Park, and it was minus 66 that's the coldest that we can confirm it's ever been. And I spoke with Cowboy State daily meteorologist Don Day, and he said that that doesn't mean it hasn't been colder in Wyoming. That just means that it's never been documented.”
Read the full story HERE.
With the blast of Arctic cold that has plunged Wyoming into a double-digit deep freeze, most people stay indoors as much as possible. Not so for the state’s family ranchers.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy spoke to several ranching families who told her it’s never too cold for feeding the animals, and doing the outdoor chores.
“In fact, their chores have doubled because they have to chop ice and make sure that they have their water. They have to make sure that they have their feed and that they're in a good area where they won't perish from this extreme cold that's coming through.”
And despite the cold, the ranchers say they wouldn’t have their lives any other way.
Read the full story HERE.
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A trial jury could not come to a unanimous decision Monday on whether a Lander man killed a house guest with a metal bar, or whether he did so but was too mentally ill to rationalize what he was doing.
Fremont County District Court Judge Jason Conder dismissed the hung jury at noon Monday after two days of deliberation in the case of Michael Vigil (vee-hil). Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the jury dismissal brought a sense of uncertainty to the proceedings.
“I didn't get interviews with the attorneys or the judge, but I had this distinct feeling like they hadn't really been in this position before. They were like, Well, does the state refile charges? Does the State prosecute again on the original charges? I mean, at the end of the day, they decided, okay, this just takes us back in time, as if we didn't have a trial, and now we have to decide if we're going to have another trial or strike a plea agreement.”
In a hearing later Monday afternoon, Vigil’s attorney asked Conder to acquit Vigil based on the argument that no reasonable jury could convict him with the state’s set of evidence. Conder denied that motion and scheduled the case for a new trial, May 19.
Read the full story HERE.
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Three North Korean companies dissolved by Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray in May of last year were trying to raise money for the development of weapons of mass destruction.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that information was revealed as a brief mention during testimony Monday before the House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee on House Bill 69, which would allow the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office to more immediately dissolve companies owned by foreign adversaries.
“This was just a little tidbit during the hearing about how the Korean companies that Secretary of State Chuck Gray shut down last Maywere trying to raise money for their weapons of mass destruction… The only way that Secretary of State Chuck gray could shut them down was because they had filed some false information on their application. So if they had been truthful on their application, we wouldn't have had a way to shut them down immediately the way that we did. And so that's what this house bill 69 is all about.”
According to the FBI, the three North Korean companies were engaged in both money laundering and identity theft. House Bill 69 would make it possible for the secretary of state to take more immediate action.
Read the full story HERE.
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If its most recent version becomes law, House Bill 96 would let people sue any government-funded entity for up to $5,000 for every time that entity required people to wear masks, or be tested or vaccinated for COVID-19 to access any service that is public in nature.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that despite the fact that the bill sailed through its first legislative committee hearing, there are some entities that would find themselves caught between state and federal regulations should the bill become law.
“The airports and the health care facilities representatives both came to the committee like, oh gosh, we're going to lose millions in federal funding potentially if we have to comply with this state law. So they flat said we would rather pay the $5,000 Wyoming civil penalty than lose millions of dollars in CMS in the case of the health care industry, and the FAA in the case of the airports in Wyoming.”
The bill did not pass through the committee unanimously. Democrat Representative Mike Yin of Jackson was the lone nay vote, saying he couldn’t support the bill because, quote, “This bill chooses one person’s freedom over another’s.”
Read the full story HERE.
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In one of his final acts in office, President Joe Biden protected former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney against a potential criminal prosecution under President-elect Donald Trump.
Early Monday, Biden issued blanket preemptive pardons for Cheney, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci, and Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that none of the three have been charged with crimes, but they were believed to be among the targets that Trump has singled out for "retribution" in his second term.
“Trump has never said that he plans to direct his Department of Justice to go after Cheney, but it's very clear that he feels that she should be jailed, and the people he has put to lead the agencies that would lead investigation into Cheney are very sympathetic to his viewpoints, so there certainly was credence to that. Cheney has consistently maintained that she doesn't believe she has done anything wrong, and she's never said that she wants a pardon, but the work that she did on the January 6 committee definitely made her a target for Trump and made it many people theorize that he might go after her, as he is, vowed to seek retribution against all his political enemies.”
Biden also pardoned all of the members of the January 6th committee, as well as the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers who testified before the committee.
Read the full story HERE.
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Millions of tourists flock to the Black Hills in South Dakota each year to see the iconic four American presidents carved into Mount Rushmore. But many are unaware that these massive sculptures were intended to be more than just their heads. Or that a fifth head featuring Susan B. Anthony had to be abandoned.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that sculptor Gutzon Borglum had envisioned his humongous creation with full torsos of the presidents. But just their heads took 14 years and, if you’ll pardon the pun, a monumental effort.
“The original Mount Rushmore was actually supposed to be more than just the faces we're looking at these four presidents and their torsos are missing. They were supposed to be there. And if anyone goes and visits Matt Rushmore, you can see how these original statues were supposed to be. And the reason behind that is for actually threefold. One, lack of funding. Two, the Congress was focused on World War Two, which was looming, and the number three reason the sculptor died.”
Today, Mount Rushmore is visited by nearly 3 million people a year who flock to see the famous faces. This large surge of visitors is what prompted a Wyoming legislator to introduce a bill to build a Mount Rushmore-like monument in the Cowboy State.
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.
