It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, January 24th. 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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The Wyoming Freedom Caucus promised to make massive cuts to state spending when members campaigned last year. So far, the group has kept that promise, making about $195.2 million in cuts to the supplemental budget just four days into the 2025 session.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that although Wyoming is in a relatively stable financial position, many legislators feel that the state has been spending too much money at the expense of the taxpayers.
“One of the biggest cuts made on Thursday was 100 million from the Governor's Energy matching funds program… Representative John Bear basically said that he considers this kind of not a natural market and something that sets up Wyoming to be indebted to the federal government over… Raises for the state's school custodians was rejected as well, and then some wildfire restoration money was changed from our original proposal to be a grant program. A lot of the money was taken out of it, and it was made a loan program instead.”
More cuts could be yet to come as the budget still needs approval from both the full House and Senate.
Read the full story HERE.
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A pair of bills that would make Wyoming’s sheriffs partner with federal immigration agencies whether they want to or not are now pending in the Wyoming Legislature.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that even sheriffs who work well with U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement, or ICE, aren’t happy about it.
“They're going out of their way to strike ICE contracts that at this point they don't have to strike… or to deputize their own people for immigration investigations and to send their guys to training… And when they notice these pieces of legislation that would force them to do that… all the ones I talked to were like, Whoa, you know, what about counties that can't sacrifice two deputies for a six week training? What if, in four years, we hate the federal administration and don't want contracts? I mean, what if the contract parameters change? So they were just kind of like, even though they're all on board… for enforcing immigration law in their counties, they were really not fans of this legislation.”
Two county sheriffs who spoke with Cowboy State Daily also characterized the bills as overreach. If the contract bills became law as written, they could put sheriffs in a difficult position balancing state and federal funding alongside the immigration policing initiatives.
Read the full story HERE.
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Without a change in Wyoming law, people can potentially be tossed in jail for a year and fined $10,000 for trapping mice in their vehicles.
That’s why state Rep. Bill Allemand of Midwest is sponsoring House Bill 211. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the bill will clarify the law so people don’t get arrested for things like blasting at prairie dogs from inside their trucks.
“Now it, first of all, we need to clarify it is not under any circumstances legal to shoot from a highway or from a from a busy public road in Wyoming… it is legal to shoot predatory animals from a vehicle. Those are things like coyotes, jackrabbits… Apparently there's a weird loophole in the law, and this legislator brought it up because one of his constituents got nailed, or at least got a stern talking to from shooting prairie dogs from the cab of his truck off road on private property… this legislature took a step further and said, technically, you could get a $10,000 fine and or up to a year in jail for trapping a mouse inside your vehicle, because that is technically killing wildlife from inside a vehicle.”
Many animals, such as prairie dogs and mice, don’t fall under any specific classification but are still legal to kill. So, Allemand hopes that HB 211 will save people from potentially getting in trouble for shooting varmints from their trucks, or trying to control vermin.
Read the full story HERE.
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Tensions boiled over in the Wyoming House on Thursday when a state representative blasted one of her fellow Republican members for releasing the legislative positions of some of the leading conservative organizations in Wyoming.
Freedom Caucus Chair Rachel Rodriguez-Williams berated Representative J.D. Williams for what he said was an inadvertent mistake with a reply email. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that Williams apologized for the mistake by email to all of the House members and requested the House Democrats delete the link to the spreadsheet, but Rodriguez-Williams said she wasn’t having it.
“The voting positions, although, in really, most regards, were not surprising, they were still privately held by the organizations, and Williams inadvertently released them to the public and the House Democrats. When he sent his email on Thursday morning, he apologized for the mistake, 22 minutes later, but Rodriguez Williams was not having it, staying, stating that she did not accept his apology and that he let these grassroot, grassroot organizations down.”
Other Republican leaders say the purpose of the Republican House Caucus is to foster better relationships in Republican ranks, which is why they found the Williams incident unfortunate.
Read the full story HERE.
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A small-town Montana church pastor was convicted last week of sexually assaulting a child, and has been accused of another.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that Tony Shaw, a former pastor at Ruby Valley Baptist Church in Sheridan, Montana, used self-defense “karate lessons” he taught to get close enough to abuse his victims. The investigation began four years ago, and Shaw was found guilty this week.
“A citizen in Sheridan heard second hand about an incident witnessed in the basement of the local Baptist Church that put into motion a really detailed investigation… a prominent member of the of the community, of a local Baptist pastor, was found guilty on January 16 of sexual Assault and the MO kind of his his method of getting close to and getting physical contact with his victims was to purportedly teach them martial arts.”
Shaw now awaits a second trial because in the course of this investigation, another alleged sexual assault case involving a minor came to light.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bill that would eliminate gun-free zones in places such as the Wyoming Capitol building, K-12 schools and on the University of Wyoming campus easily passed the House on third reading Thursday by a 50-10 vote.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that several amendments were brought up, but they were rejected.
“Under this legislation, there was also amendments brought trying to exempt day cares from it, and also an amendment brought by Representative Steve Harshman that would have clarified that 18 to 21 year old high school students could not conceal carry their firearms to school. Those amendments were both rejected by the house.”
The bill as written does exempt state agency-operated health and human service facilities.
Read the full story HERE.
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The former police chief of Manderson is accused of texting his love-interest against a judge’s orders, after he was charged with helping her elude a drug investigation.
Charged in November with police interference and duty failure, BJ Kidgell became the subject of a new arrest warrant Thursday and was taken into custody Friday, according to Crime and Courts reporter Clair McFarland.
“He was rearrested on alleged bond violations. So the prosecutor says, whoa, he was texting this woman, and the judge told him to have no contact with her, so bring him back in here, and, you know, get him in court, and we'll talk about a hearing to discuss whether he violated his bond. And so they did. They they arrested him Friday.”
In the hearing Tuesday, Kidgell’s bond was re-set for $40,000 cash or surety. An evidentiary hearing on whether Kidgell violated the first bond order is set for Feb. 5.
Read the full story HERE.
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The next parade every Wyomingite should put on their calendar will start just after sunset Friday and Saturday. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will all be out and visible in the planetary parade.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the planets will make an arch across the sky, as seen from the surface of Earth.
“Going west to east, you'll see Saturn and Venus. If you have really good binoculars or good telescope, you might see Uranus. You probably won't see Neptune, but they'll both be in alignment. Jupiter will be at the highest point of the sky, and then Mars will be in the eastern portion. So you want to see it after sunset, because there will won't be dark until after sunset, but then Saturn's going to set around 830.”
Like any parade, there’s an optimal time and place to watch. Solar system spectators will want to get to the highest spot they can between 5:10 and 8 p.m. to see all six planets.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news! For a deeper dive into the people and issues that affect Wyoming, check out The Roundup, conversations with the most interesting people in the Cowboy State. A new episode drops tomorrow, when I have a conversation with Park County philanthropist Kyle Pasewark. You can find the link on our website, on our YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, you'll find it in our FREE daily email newsletter!
Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
