It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, March 3rd. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Senior Olympics, thanking the participants, volunteers, supporters, and sponsors of the February winter games in Pinedale. Visit Wyoming senior olympics dot com!
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Traffic crashes involving large commercial trucks have been on the rise since 2016, and some in the industry are pointing to a simultaneous rise in non-English-speaking truckers.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 2016 was the year the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration issued a memorandum telling safety inspectors not to suspend commercial drivers for failing to communicate well in English.
“People who work in the industry are noticing like, Oh, that one didn't speak English, that one didn't speak English, that one tried to order fuel and couldn't speak English… from talking to truckers, people who work with truckers all the time, it's been kind of in the back of their minds, like, how can he read the signs if he can't order fuel? But then the dots really connected when I talked to Shannon Everett, who runs a group representing American truckers, and he said… in 2016 the federal government said, Okay, inspectors stop suspending truckers for non English proficiency, because before they could… pull you from your operation if you could not read the signs, communicate with the general public and log your own reports in in English and and then in 2016 there was this memo saying, Oh no, don't suspend them for this anymore. So after that, the fatalities really started to climb.”
Wyoming is no stranger to deadly large-truck crashes, and had the most per capita of any state in 2022. At Wyoming’s Evanston-based port of entry, it is “not uncommon” for Wyoming Highway Patrol inspectors to encounter truckers with non-citizen licensed commercial driver’s licenses.
Read the full story HERE.
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With President Donald Trump’s promises to “drill baby drill,” many Wyoming oil and gas service business owners are hopeful that an energy boom is waiting around the corner.
But for now, though, it’s been a game of hurry up and wait. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that operators are still having a hard time getting permits, although Some activity has picked up, with optimism riding high.
“the more you produce, the bigger the supply is. What happens to price. It goes down. So if you get below that $60 per barrel oil, you're not going to drill a new well… So companies stop drilling when the price goes down… I think the other contributing factor, permits are still taking a long time to get right. Trump's only a month into his administration. There are a lot of regulations that would have to be streamlined or lifted or changed in order to speed that up significantly.
Additionally, Jean reports that the industry’s own success is making new wells unnecessary. Oil and gas engineers are learning how to enhance the oil recovery and make their wells last longer, so they don't have to drill a new well as often to keep the production high.
Read the full story HERE.
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With the repeal of Wyoming’s gun-free zones, it’s become one of only five states allowing people to carry concealed weapons in K-12 public schools without requiring special permission from school authorities.
Effective July 1, adults age 21 and older with concealed carry permits may also take their weapons into public schools in Wyoming, with the passage of House Bill 172.
Gov. Mark Gordon allowed the bill to pass into law without his signature late Thursday, although Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports he also expressed his opposition to it.
“I guess you could say under protest, Governor Gordon allowed the repeal of gun free zones to pass into law without his signature… Near as I was able to find out, Alabama, Oregon and Utah are the only states that currently allow people with concealed carry permits to take their weapons onto public school grounds without first obtaining special permission from school administrators or a school district. And so Wyoming will become the fourth state to allow that when this law takes effect on July 1… I touched base with the Wyoming Education Association. Of course, they're less than thrilled about it. You know, they're concerned about… how do we control… the flow of guns into our schools, say during parent teacher conferences, things like that.”
However, private property won’t be affected by the new law. Any private ventures can still choose to prohibit civilians from carrying firearms there.
Read the full story HERE.
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There are dozens of important and much-visited petroglyph sites throughout the American West, so it takes a lot for one of those sites to stand out. That’s what makes the White Mountain Petroglyphs north of Rock Springs one of the most unique, hands down.
The site features an extensive series of images from indigenous people covering a vast stretch of history, depicting warriors, wildlife and battles. But the site's most intriguing feature is a soft sandstone pillar in front of the main face. Several handprints have been deeply elongated and embedded on all sides of the pillar, and Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that it’s a petroglyph that archaeologists have yet to understand.
“There are theories about what these hand grooves might have been. They could have been a source of obtaining power. One of the more controversial theories is that they're actually evidence from birthing sites of women actually grasping onto the pillar while giving birth. But the fact that is the one thing that archeologists can agree on is that there's nothing quite like them in Wyoming or anywhere else for that matter, their unique structure that obviously have some kind of important significance. But unlike other petroglyphs, where you can see the same images at several sites and get an idea of what's being depicted. These groups are unlike any other petroglyphs, and their symbolism or what they are or what they aren't, remains unknown.”
Thanks to social media, the handprints have become the most recognizable feature at the White Mountain Petroglyph Site. Archaeologists hope increased visibility will increase awareness and responsible visitation of the unique site.
Read the full story HERE.
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It was a tragedy that captured the world’s attention, when a 22-year-old aspiring YouTuber from New York disappeared in Wyoming in August 2021. Gabby Petito’s remains would be found less than a month after she disappeared near a campsite in Bridger-Teton National Forest. Her fiance, Brian Laundrie, left a note admitting to killing her before taking his own life.
Now Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the spotlight once again falls on Wyoming with the recent release of the three-part Netflix docuseries “American Murder: Gabby Petito.”
“I think still resonates with people, because it was such a tragic incident. And, you know, it's a young person, and they were living their dream, and they came to Wyoming, which was one of the places on their lists to go, and the way that ended is just so tragic. But what I like particularly about the Netflix Docu series is the way it ended. It ended with the family all coming back to the exact spot where she was killed in the Spread Creek dispersed camping area, and they had a celebration of life for her, and the parents commented on how beautiful this area was. So it wasn't a … scarred area for them, you know, it was this really lovely experience.”
The docuseries has sparked renewed interest in the case, as the world again tunes in to discover the details of the couple’s lives and the unraveling of their relationship in their short time traversing the country in a white Ford van.
Read the full story HERE.
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A study recently published by ViewHomes puts Montana, Alaska and Wyoming as the top three states for fastest-selling real estate, based on 150,000 Zillow listings and what percentage are still on the market after 30 days.
But Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison spoke to real estate agents and mortgage lenders in these markets, who say despite what is considered a slow time for real estate sales, home sales from the Canadian border to Cheyenne are still moving.
“These Rocky Mountain markets and the Pacific Northwest market is still hot. Montana leads the pack, and a lot of that has to do with the appeal of the state. Because of the show, Yellowstone, reached such a massive market, it was the number one show in the world. That has realtors smiling, and a lot of locals kind of grumbling. I just spoke to a loan officer who said that the trend that he's seeing is that homes below $600,000 and really expensive homes over a million and a half dollars, those are still moving pretty well.”
Madison found that Montana and Wyoming might have a low percentage of homes that stay on the market past 30 days because there’s a small inventory of homes for sale. Plus, these states are attractive to those still buying homes, even with mortgage interest rates hovering between 6% and 7%.
Read the full story HERE.
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When he was 16, Gary Dickinson snuck Hot Rod magazines into his classrooms at school and fashioned his first speed machine. Now 72, Gary Dickinson has collected 5 acres of rusted, faded and diamond-in-the-rough classic cars on the old rail right of way northwest of Glenrock.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck took a trip out to Dickinson’s junkyard. From above, it looks like the ultimate “before” photo of dozens of rare and coveted vintage cars just waiting for someone to restore them for the “after” shot.
“It's a classics junkyard. So that means that it has cars going back 100 years and through probably the 60s. He has some from the 70s and 80s as well, but mostly, you know, 60 year old cars that a lot of people would look at as diamonds in the rough. Guys that restore cars would go to his junkyard looking for parts. They also go looking for an actual … body that they can take out of there and restore and make it a treasure… he's still restoring his own cars. He's got a race car he's getting ready for, for the Casper raceway this year. And he's also got a 1944 that he's restored that is going to be his ride for the summer.”
Among his prizes are a 1949 Pontiac, 1946 Mercury, a 1958 Chevy Biscayne and a Packard. Dickinson also has a Kaiser model from 1950, with a buffalo symbol still adorning its hood.
Read the full story HERE.
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Happy Valley near Cheyenne has something no one would ever expect to find. It’s a medieval-style mead hall in the king’s old English, built using an ingenious, near-extinct construction method called a “cruck” - giant trees that form a natural arch, cut in half lengthwise, facing each other, forming an arch that holds up the roof.
The home was built by Cyning (Cooning) Meadowcroft, who came to America from England for health reasons, and settled on Wyoming as his forever home. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean spoke with Meadowcroft, who said building Anglecoon Hall has been a lifelong journey.
“He came over here from England. He was a furniture maker and carpenter, and he had gotten kind of fascinated with these crucks through his work with historic preservation, and he had been designing a home made out of crucks. And so when he came to America, he landed in Happy Valley. It was a place that didn't have any zoning laws. You could find land that wasn't in a homeowners association, because he knew he would have a hard time explaining crucks to Americans… he knew this was going to take him a while to do. Normally, when you stand these crooks up, you gotta think about a tree that's 250 years old... it's a three story crook. And you're going to stand that up to the sky. Well, he's just one guy. Normally, when you do this… you build the crook on the ground, and then 100 people would lift this up. But he just had himself… and I just think it's kind of amazing when you go into this house, that there's no clue on the outside, really, that this home has something different about it…
Meadowcroft isn’t finished with his home yet. He expects that he’ll always be working on it. But it is finished enough to feel like home. One man’s castle in a Happy Valley, a place where anyone can live like Alfred, King of Wessex, happily ever after, into a new golden age.
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, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. And remember 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.
