It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, February 17th. 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 7-year-old Byron girl who had been fighting for her life after her three sisters were killed in a murder-suicide last Monday, died Saturday afternoon.
Olivia Blackmer’s family confirmed that the girl held on for six days after she and her sisters were shot by their mother, Tranyelle Harshman, in their home in Byron on Feb. 10. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland has been keeping in contact with the family throughout their ordeal.
“They were in a desperate state, putting on a public Facebook last Thursday evening, like, if you have a pulse, pray for her. They were worried about brain swelling, but it had gotten to a point where it wasn't safe to remove part of her skull. That would have been catastrophic, according to black nurse post at the time, and so they were just trying to get by on medication, and ultimately, the things they tried failed.”
Olivia’s three sisters died on scene: 9-year-old Brailey; Brooke, who was almost 3, and Jordan, who was 2. Their mother died Tuesday in a hospital in Billings, Montana.
Read the full story HERE.
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Less than two days after Friday’s disastrous and fatal Green River Tunnel collision, responders are still working to clear an unknown number of piled-up vehicles.
The ongoing efforts highlight the grievousness of an incident that has little precedent in state history. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the rescue and recovery effort will be a long and uncertain process.
“There were 26 vehicles involved in this crash, and they've upped the fatality count to at least three, and they've also confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that there's two people hurt. However, those numbers aren't final… As of Sunday afternoon, they're still had like 10 vehicles that they still hadn't gotten out of the tunnel. And what's really striking is the photos that they put out from inside the tunnel… It looks like a nuclear wasteland in there. I mean, it is amazing that anybody got out of that… the fire was so hot. I mean, they couldn't even get into the tunnel to see what was going on for for hours, and they've been working around the clock to clear it out…. as to what caused it. They're not saying yet… and it might still be a while before we really know. People are speculating all over the place. I would just caution you know you don't you don't really know until they tell you.”
A trucker who narrowly escaped Friday’s explosive pileup in the Green River Tunnel described the horror inside and posted video footage of the immediate aftermath on social media.
(video clip)
“then, along with the trucker, a … local woman who lives in Green River also posted some videos that really gives us some of the first looks… inside the tunnel. She was allowed to go in and check on her car with officials to see if she can get as she could in… But her voice, I mean, she's very emotional… she describes in there, you know, making her way out. It was filled with smoke, and how she ran her hand along the along the wall, to get out.”
The bridge and tunnel inspector with the Wyoming Department of Transportation said the tunnel isn’t going to collapse. He noted extensive fire damage, fallen concrete, exposed rebar, and debris on the ground, but said the mountainous rock itself isn't collapsing.
Read the full story HERE.
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Nearly a year after the torture and death of a wolf in Daniel, Wyoming, drew worldwide scorn, running predators down with snowmobiles remains legal in the state.
Representative Mike Schmid of LaBarge told Cowboy State Daily that Wyoming needs to “close the door” on the practice of using vehicles as weapons against wolves and other predatory animals. Schmid sat down for an interview with outdoors reporter Mark Heinz on Friday.
“Is it your understanding and your sentiment that as long as that door is open, as long as this practice is allowed in Wyoming, it's going to be a stain on the state's reputation?”
“I don't think it will stop until that activity is made illegal to use that machine as a weapon to maim or kill any wildlife. And like I said earlier, I just I'm really concerned about the long, long term consequences if we don't do something… I know people have done it for decades… But all the hunting technologies and weapons of choice we have today, I mean, it's just not necessary anymore to use a machine as a weapon.”
Read the full story HERE.
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The University of Wyoming is trying to improve its public image.
The school has come under fire from the Wyoming Legislature over the past year for issues like diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs on campus. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson spoke to UW President Ed Seidel, who said the school is launching a “Wyoming First” agenda for teacher education, and putting more effort into actively promoting its Wyoming-focused programs.
“The school is engaging a number of kind of collaboration and partnership efforts with teachers around the state, K through 12 teachers. And it's kind of a mentorship program that the university is engaging … with its staff and with teachers, to kind of help with the efforts of keeping teacher retention and from having them quit, and hiring teachers as well… The school also recently spent $2 million on a 30 second Super Bowl ad celebrating Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and his connection to the university. So they've really been trying to kind of push against … some of the negative narratives that have been brought out about the school.”
For more than 30 years, UW has operated on a block grant funding model with the Legislature, which means that the state approves funding for the school, but the school, unless specifically noted, decides how it will spend that money. However, a number of legislators want to explore the option of potentially changing that funding model so the Legislature has much more scrutiny over how UW makes its budget.
Read the full story HERE.
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It’s been almost seven months since anyone has seen or heard from Natasha Requejo. The 41-year-old mother of seven children disappeared last July from her home in Lusk, a small rural community of around 1,445 people in the southeastern corner of Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that her boyfriend at the time, Tim Ober, said Requejo left town on her own, and Lusk police tend to agree. Her friends and family, however, say they are concerned and said there’s no way Requejo would not have been in touch with them by now.
“She was actually reported missing in July, by the end of July, and her case was entered into DCI. The reason I am just now covering it is I had trouble finding people to speak to me on the record… it's a risk to come forward. So her friends were very brave in coming forward, and they were able to share her story… the police, the chief Gordon, who I spoke to, believes there is no criminal element to this missing person case, and he believes adamantly that… she left Lusk because she was sighted in Casper two weeks later, and that was an eyewitness testimony by a convenience store clerk who said he recognized her by her missing person poster. However, she was never verified missing on surveillance cameras.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lusk Police Department or DCI. Tipsters can also report anonymously on DCI’s website.
Read the full story HERE.
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There’s an ancient deep-sea adventure — no scuba gear or submarine required — in Wyoming, at 7,300 feet above sea level.
The adventure is in Yellowstone National Park at Monument Geyser Basin, where there are some of the world’s most unique, cigar-shaped smoking stone cones on the planet. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean spoke to a geologist who explained that normally, to see these kinds of “smokers” would take a trip 6,900 or more feet under the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
“When he sees these above ground in Monument Kaiser basin, he's like, how, how did this happen?... there would have been a shallow sea across that area, millions and millions of years ago. But after that, the Ice Age moved in, right? And that just scours everything clean…. so you know, thinking about how might that have happened, the thermal activity was continuing to happen there in Yellowstone, the ice is maybe, you know, up to two miles thick. It's melting under there. It's creating like a little glacial lake under the ice where these smokers could have formed. And then when the Ice Age kind of melted away, you're left with these underwater cones where they really shouldn't be up way up high, you know, 7000 feet above sea level.”
Yellowstone is one of the most unique places in the world, with half of the world’s geysers in it. So, if there’s a place in the world where smokers would somehow magically appear above ground — where no smoker should be — Yellowstone would be it.
Read the full story HERE.
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And two rare 79 Series Toyota Land Cruisers were spotted near Laramie on I-80, and photos of the collectors’ vehicles caused an uproar among auto enthusiasts.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that these particular vehicles aren't legal in the U.S.- and are often seen in the Middle East equipped with rocket launchers, machine guns, and other weaponry.
“You can't get these 70 series Land Cruisers in the United States. You can't legally import a lot of the ones that people want, because there's a 25 year moratorium, if you will, on importing foreign cars… if someone was really determined and really wanted to, they could… fly down to Nicaragua, buy one for $60,000 and drive it all the way through Central America and get it to Wyoming. There's nothing saying you can't do that because you're not importing it. You'll never be able to get license plates for it, but you can have it in Wyoming if that's what you want to do.”
Toyota started making the 70 Series Land Cruisers in 1984. Production continues uninterrupted to this day, making them among the most popular vehicles in the world.
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.
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