It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, February 12th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Senior Olympics! Experience the excitement of the Winter Games, February 20–22 in Pinedale, and support the SAFE Initiative. For event details and the full schedule, visit wyoming senior olympics dot com.
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A Byron woman who shot her four children — killing three of them — and then shot herself Monday, has died.
Neighbors identified the woman as Tranyelle Harshman, who with her husband Cliff and their four young daughters, had moved to Byron a year ago.
The Bighorn County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 call at 1:30 p.m. from a woman who reported that her four daughters had been shot, and she believed the girls were dead. Then the woman told dispatchers that she was going to shoot herself, and could be found in her upstairs bedroom.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland traveled to the town of less than 600 people in rural Bighorn County on Tuesday. She spoke to neighbors, and to law enforcement agents who responded to the tragic scene.
“I had an exclusive with the sheriff, and he also allowed me to speak to a deputy and a sergeant who were early on scene. The sergeant was first into the home, and it was very tense at that point, because they didn't know whether there was going to be, you know, possible, a dangerous situation they were walking into. It turned out that the mother had shot herself moments before they entered, but they didn't know that at the time… the next door neighbor, his name is Larry Foster, he was having a hard time coping on Tuesday. He was emotional and tearful, and even though he didn't know this family very well, he said everything looked great from the outside, and he said that the little girls would come and pet his dogs… I was interested to find that Tranyelle… wasn't very close with the neighbors I talked to. So there was this idea like, well, we've seen her. They've been here about a year, but we don't know her very well.”
A 7-year-old girl was still in critical condition Tuesday after having pulled through a surgery, and her family was cautiously optimistic. The 2, 3, and 9 year old children died of gunshot wounds on scene.
Read the full story HERE.
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If Wyoming taxpayers are going to put $90 million toward rebuilding the failing LaPrele Dam near Douglas, some legislators are arguing they should get something in return – perhaps recreational access and hydroelectric power.
The LaPrele Dam is 115 years old and was built with an expected lifespan of 50 years. Huge new cracks were discovered in the dam late last year, and the current plan is to start construction on a new dam by 2026, possibly completing it by 2029.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that much of the land surrounding the LaPrele Reservoir is private. However, the House rejected an amendment including a guarantee of public access in House Bill 143, which funds the dam project.
“What was brought up today on the House floor is okay, if the public is putting that much money into this project… we, as the public, should get something out of it, probably definitely more public access to the reservoir as well as perhaps, the idea was floated, maybe the … new dam could be used to generate some hydroelectric power.”
Because the bill was on its second reading before the House, legislators say there’s still time to work in language regarding public access during its third and final reading.
Read the full story HERE.
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Gov. Mark Gordon isn’t ruling out he may still have a future in Wyoming politics after his second term is over next year.
During a wide-ranging interview with Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday, Gordon was noncommittal about what his political future may hold.
“You're entering your last kind of stretch here as governor, you're looking at the last two years, so to speak. What are your big goals and big, big priorities entering kind of the last stretch?”
“You never say never. Let me just put that out. I've never looked at this like you've got to get something achieved in a certain period of time. You know, ranching is always this is a year. Let's make hay when we can. Let's make sure we do the right things when we can, the things that I've really focused on in education. How do we give our schools the opportunity to have a little more flexibility in energy, just giving us a platform being able to drive forward on nuclear, reinvigorating what has been a traditional industry for Wyoming, I think one of the things that I focused really intensely on was, how do we diversify our economy? You know, the issue that I have really focused on, it's still a black mark on Wyoming is we have far too many suicides, and mental health is something that we need to continue to address.”
You can watch the full interview on CowboyStateDaily.com.
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The $2 million dollar 30-second University of Wyoming Super Bowl ad touting former Cowboys quarterback and National Football League MVP Josh Allen caught a lot of eyeballs Sunday.
Just how successful the ad has been for promoting Wyoming’s only public four-year university is too early to tell, though. That’s what UW spokesman Chad Baldwin told Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck.
“They saw a bump on their website, and they know it was shared in social media all over the place. Sports Illustrated did a story on it. So in terms of media coverage, in terms of eyeballs seeing this ad, they think brand awareness … is a success. In terms of enrollment, well, that's going to take a while to see. You know, may they will know their the number of students admitted, and then you know the bottom line is September, when people show up to class.”
Baldwin estimates that about 10 million viewers were projected to see the ad in the markets where it ran.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Kalispell, Montana man will spend two and a half years in prison for pointing a laser at airplanes.
32-year-old Nolan Hamman was arrested in November of 2023 and charged with knowingly aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft in the air, which is a federal crime.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that Hamman was caught by the very pilot he was aiming his laser pointer at.
“Imagine you're a flight instructor, and you're flying over the city of Kalispell, and suddenly your cockpit is filled with the eerie green light and you cannot see your instruments. Something like that happened to a flight instructor back in 2013 and instead of panicking or or just landing the plane, immediately, she had the presence of mind to call 911, and then track the truck from where the laser was coming and guided law enforcement in for the arrest… We had in Cheyenne a spate of similar incidents that we covered back in 2024 and that's really par for the course, every state is dealing with this.”
In this case, court documents say Hamman targeted planes due to a methamphetamine-fueled paranoia that the aircraft were following him. He eventually pled guilty, and was sentenced last week to over two years in prison.
Read the full story HERE.
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Tesla, TripAdvisor, Meta, Dropbox - those are just a few of the major tech companies choosing to leave Delaware, part of a potential exodus of tech companies that had incorporated there.
“Dexit,” as some are calling it, follows backlash against Delaware Judge Kathaleen McCormick’s decision to side with a shareholder for a second time against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion compensation package.
That has some in Wyoming wondering if the tech exodus could be a boon for the Cowboy State, according to business reporter Renee Jean.
“I talked with Secretary of State Chuck Gray about whether Wyoming is capturing any of this traffic that's leaving Delaware. Musk only mentioned Texas and Nevada. Meta is looking at Texas. Ackman, I think, is looking at Nevada. So, you know, it seems like Wyoming is getting left out of the national conversation, which is interesting, because Wyoming has supplanted Delaware as the largest per capita place for incorporations… it's just a no brainer to come to Wyoming. Really, you get some of the best asset protection that you can possibly get in the lower 48 the fees are less than Nevada and and Delaware by a lot.”
Wyoming has long touted its business friendly environment and regularly makes the top of national lists for best business tax climate, given that it has no income tax. Wyoming is also where the ever-popular LLC was invented.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sheridan’s annual WYO Winter Rodeo attracted a different kind of high-society cowboy this past weekend, when five expensive Rolls-Royces rolled into town.
The luxury vehicles might have seemed out of place in a small Wyoming community, but they cruised along the snow-covered roads quite well, especially after being equipped with snow tires.
And Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the flashy vehicles made quite a scene on social media, as well.
“The thing that's surprising about the Rolls Royce fleet in Sheridan is the outcry that it inspired on social media, just the fact that these luxury vehicles were in town, and suddenly people were saying that Sheridan was Jackson light and that it was … kind of like a big money takeover of Sheridan. But that wasn't the case. It was a promotional thing, if anything. The Sheridan county Travel and Tourism wanted to add something to their winter rodeo, so they asked Rolls Royce if they could bring some vehicles up the Sheridan, and they brought five of them, and they cruised around in the snowy conditions, and it was just a fun thing for people to see.”
The director of Sheridan’s tourism office said the Sheridan WYO Winter Rodeo was very successful, especially with the bonus of Rolls-Royce coming to town. He hopes the exposure to the winter elements will increase Sheridan County’s visibility as a winter destination.
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! 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.
