It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, January 28th. 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.
–
The Wyoming Legislature is currently considering a bill that would restrict Wyoming’s investment managers from investing in any company that supports environmental, social and governance, or ESG, policies.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that although both State Treasurer Curt Meier and Secretary of State Chuck Gray oppose ESG, they expressed significantly different opinions about HB 80 and ESG on Cowboy State Daily’s Morning Show with Jake on Monday.
“When you peel past the surface, Meier is definitely more agnostic on the topic than Chuck Gray. Meier kind of believes in taking a hands off approach to it and just kind of focusing on what makes the states most the money possible, whereas Gray is totally, totally in support of taking a hard line stance against ESG and sacrificing money if it needs to, as he believes it in the long run, will decimate Wyoming.”
The ESG policy as proposed is already enforced under current state rule, but the bill would codify it into law.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Nearly 50 people were nabbed in an early morning raid at a private party in the Denver Metro area on Sunday morning, including illegal immigrants with suspected ties to a Venezuelan gang.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the raid also included the seizure of drugs, cash and weapons.
“They arrested 49 people. Of those 49, 41 were illegal immigrants, and an unknown number also had ties to the TdA or Tren de Aragua gang. They weren’t releasing the numbers of gang members or suspected gang members… they also seized an unknown amount quantities of drugs, and that included cocaine, crack cocaine, and something called Pink cocaine… And they also seized guns as well as cash.”
Sunday’s bust culminated from a months-long investigation that began last August, and is part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to target cartel drug operations throughout the country and in Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A Wyoming doctor urged state lawmakers Monday to pass a bill preventing doctors from being fired or stripped of their licenses for doing what he did - prescribing Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine to COVID-19 sufferers.
If it becomes law, House Bill 164 would block employers from firing doctors, pharmacists and other prescribers who prescribe drugs to patients for off-label uses, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“Ivermectin is the easy example, because it was vogue to prescribe off label for COVID, during COVID, and there was a push against that, certainly nationally. And we did see doctors penalized either for or after doing that, including one in Wyoming who talked to the committee and said, Look, I was unexpectedly fired, and I thought the treatment was working, and I was watching it work in my patients.”
The House Labor, Health and Social Services Committee did advance House Bill 164 on a 7-1 vote Monday.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Two Wyoming Department of Transportation snowplow trucks were struck and damaged in southeast Wyoming this weekend, taking them off the highways during a snowstorm. And a sander was also damaged in one of the crashes.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that there have been nine snowplow strikes in Wyoming so far this winter, resulting in totaled plows and extensively damaged commercial vehicles.
“There's 22 WYDOT snowplow trucks covering the Laramie area. Three of those trucks were out of commission as of Monday because they had sustained some sort of damage… 22 plows in the Laramie area. That sounds like a lot, but three trucks down for a period of days, that's 14% of WYDOT’s truck fleet and their workforce in that area that's not clearing the roads at the time when it's needed most… and people should really internalize that, because it does have an impact on their travel and safety.”
Collisions with plow trucks can cause tremendous logistical issues for WYDOT and the Wyoming Highway Patrol. If a driver sees a snow cloud hurtling towards them, they should anticipate the snowplow behind it and drive accordingly.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Despite former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney receiving a pardon from former President Joe Biden during his final hours in office, presidential pardons come with the caveat that they remove Fifth Amendment privileges for the recipient.
So if she gets subpoenaed, Cheney would likely have to testify before a new U.S. House subcommittee that’s investigating the events that took place before and after Jan. 6, 2021. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that a subcommittee member has said that is likely to happen.
“Representative William Timmons, a Republican from South Carolina, said that all pardoned January 6 committee members should expect to get a subpoena soon from this new subcommittee… what's interesting about the Constitution is that if someone gets pardoned by a president, it removes their fifth amendment privileges. So if Cheney is subpoenaed by this committee, she will have to testify, because she is pardoned. It's kind of an interesting loophole, if you will, in the law.”
Cheney has consistently defended her work on the Jan. 6 committee and never publicly requested a pardon from Biden or said she wouldn’t testify on the topic in the future.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A proposal to allow landowners to put their hunting tags up for sale could essentially make hunting in Wyoming the sport of kings.
That’s what opponents of Senate File 118 told outdoors reporter Mark Heinz. Under current regulations, the landowner may not put their tags up for sale. Senate File 118 would change the regulations, allowing landowners to put their tags up for sale, so long as those tags haven’t already been issued to a family member.
“If you own enough of a certain type of property, a type of property that does provide food, shelter and water for wildlife, you know, the game and fish… wants to give something back in return for you having provided that habitat for the wildlife… a landowner they can apply for up to two tags per species, for elk, deer, turkey or antelope every year as these landowner tags, and they can either keep the tags themselves and hunt with those tags on their property, or they can transfer them to an immediate family member… But a lot of people are balking, if we allow them to put these things up for sale, for anybody that's going to basically turn hunting into a rich man’s sport, where whoever can tempt the landowner with the biggest price tag for their hunting tag will get exclusive access.”
But an agricultural spokesperson countered that allowing landowners more discretion in how they transfer those tags to other people would be a just reward for their contributions to wildlife conservation.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Wyomingites have long known Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis as the “crypto queen” for her support of the digital asset sector, but now she’s become crypto queen of the nation.
Lummis is set to chair the nation’s very first Digital Asset Subcommittee, and she told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean she has planned an aggressive agenda for her newly minted panel.
“She's already introduced some legislation in the previous years related to crypto and digital assets, so she's really going to be able to hit the ground running with some of that. A lot of it is pulling on Wyoming's framework. Wyoming has invested many, many hours in creating a regulatory framework for digital assets that had kind of run aground with the SEC kind of cracking down on all crypto as if it's all bad, no good actors, Nobody's allowed to play in the sandbox, kind of attitude. But it's a new day.”
Lummis will be working closely with the Trump White House on a strategic bitcoin reserve bill. A long-time advocate of such a reserve, Lummis had introduced legislation to create a bitcoin reserve late last year, but now, with the Republican Party ascendant, there’s new life to the idea.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Paradise Valley Elementary School in Casper is the only public school in Wyoming that offers Mandarin Chinese in a dual-language immersion setting where students spend half the day learning that language and the other half in English.
The program has been in place since 2013. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck spoke to proponents of the program, who believe the program remains a worthwhile investment for the school district, despite struggles finding teachers or any current concerns about national geopolitics involving the U.S. and China.
“The program is now at the place where the kids that started it are juniors in high school… and the program has been a success. Some of the students that began in the program back in kindergarten are taking college level Mandarin, not just language, but like business classes in Chinese at the University of Wyoming… And then some of the kids, I was told are are taking Spanish… so that they might be able to get the bilingual designation from the state when they graduate in two different languages.”
The district’s immersion program in Spanish is similar to programs in Albany, Campbell, Laramie and Teton counties. But Natrona County School District’s immersion Mandarin option is one of just 367 Mandarin DLI schools in the nation.
Read the full story HERE.
–
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! And don’t forget to drop in on the Cowboy State Daily morning show with Jake Nichols, Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 a.m.!
Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
