It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, March 6th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show With Jake! From 6 to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, host Jake Nichols brings you news, weather, sports AND in-depth interviews with news-makers from across Wyoming - presented with Jake’s unique humor and lively commentary. Just click on the Cowboy State Daily homepage and join the live broadcast!
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Dick Cheney has been on President Donald Trump’s political hit list for some time, and now a federal building named for the former vice president may be on a Department of Governmental Efficiency hit list to be sold amid a federal downsizing frenzy.
The federal building that houses prosecutors, U.S. Postal Service operations and other workers was the only Wyoming building on a U.S. General Services Administration list of federal buildings to liquidate, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“In some ways people are praising Trump for staying so busy, and in some ways, skeptics are like, whoa. This is a rocky rollout of a lot of things at once. And so it does look a little confusing here, because what you have is the Dick Cheney building, which houses federal prosecutors and postal service operations and a bunch of other things, was up to be sold. And so that was, you know, earlier this week, and then the GSA instantly turns around and removes that list of buildings that are going to be sold from its website. So I didn't ever get an answer from them… Casper locals were speculating like, does this have to do with the long time Trump-Cheney feud? No one I talked to confirmed or stated that that was the case.”
The 55-year-old four-story structure at 100 E. B St. provides space for 151 federal employees from more than 20 federal agencies. It was built in 1970 and renamed the Dick Cheney Federal Building in 1999 to honor Cheney, who graduated from Natrona County High School in Casper.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Mark Gordon’s veto of a bill requiring women to get ultrasounds before receiving abortion pills in Wyoming. The override was one of five the Legislature has issued to Gordon’s vetoes so far this session.
The legislation passed both chambers with a large majority before the governor vetoed it Monday night, calling the ultrasound mandate a “personally invasive” and an “often medically unnecessary procedure.” But Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that both the Senate and House voted to override the veto.
“Some of the senators who even still supported the override and supported the bill and who considered themselves pro life and abortion, even they expressed concern about this bill and what it could do, some like Senator Gary Crum, a Republican from Laramie expressed concern about the effect that this will have on women. He brought up, you know, the fact that this will require most women to get a transvaginal ultrasound, which could be very intrusive to a woman who's already experienced harm, such as a pregnancy by rape or incest… But then the others, like Senator Laura Pearson, a Republican from Kemmerer, said it's just simply about protecting the life of the unborn baby and the mother.”
HEA 35 is one of two abortion bills passed during the 2025 session. The other regulates surgical abortion clinics as ambulatory surgery centers in Wyoming. Immediately after Gordon signed this bill into law it was challenged in court.
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Another surge of snow and cooler temperatures will hit Wyoming between Wednesday night and Friday afternoon.
Every corner of the state will be affected to some degree, reports Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi, with as much as 20 inches of snow expected in the central and northwest mountains and more than a foot in Casper, Douglas and the rest of central Wyoming before it's over.
“As we move through Thursday, we're going to be encountering walls of winter weather, which means that instead of continuous snow, there's going to be breaks where we get a lot of wet, heavy snow, because it's a moist winter weather pattern that's moving across Wyoming, and then periods where there's not much going on, but you shouldn't rest on your laurels. By the time we get to the other side of this, which won't be until Friday, there could be upwards of 20 inches of snow in the high elevations, in places like Casper mountain and South Pass, and even the lower elevation areas like lander, Cody, Casper Douglas and a bunch of other places that desperately need water, could see themselves getting between four and six inches of snow and possibly more.”
The only parts of Wyoming that the storm won’t severely impact are the northwest and northeast corners. Yellowstone National Park and the Black Hills could still see a few inches of snow, but the most significant impacts will be spread out across central Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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A proposed Wyoming law to ban sanctuary city immigration policies cleared its final legislative hurdle Wednesday and is headed to the governor’s desk for passage or veto.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the milestone happened the same day a U.S. Congressional committee grilled four Democratic mayors of major cities about their own sanctuary-style governance – an indication that Congress, like the Wyoming Legislature, is bracing to battle local policies that limit federal immigration enforcement.
“Congress and the Wyoming Legislature are often with both being Republican LED now they're often working on the same things at the same time. And so that's what we have here the day the sanctuary cities bill passes to Governor Gordon's desk in Wyoming, Congress on the House side in DC is shaking down for supposedly sanctuary city mayors of major cities like look at what your policies are doing. Talk to us about why you're doing this. So it's an indication that that really, on the state and the federal level, the same issues are turning all the time.”
If it survives Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk, Wyoming legislative House Bill 133 would ban all the state’s local governments from passing policies restricting their employees from working with federal immigration authorities, like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Read the full story HERE.
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And now let’s take a look at today’s weather, with Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day.
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You can get Don’s full forecast on the Cowboy State Daily website. I’ll be back in just 15 seconds with more news.
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It’s official: Wyoming homeowners will receive a 25% reduction off their taxes now that Gov. Mark Gordon has signed Senate Enrolled Act 60 into law.
SEA 60 will cut residential property taxes by 25% on fair market home values up to $1 million. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that all residential property and associated land will be eligible for the tax cut starting this year - but another bill still being considered by the Legislature could provide as much 14% of additional relief starting in 2026.
“With property tax relief already on its way that's guaranteed with the governor signing into law, they should probably be paying attention to see what more is thrown on top of that, and what comes of that. Because a lot of these local entities, like local governments, fire districts, EMS, services and schools, are very concerned already about what the 25% cut will do to the revenues, and now the state legislature is considering 14% more on top of that… It's kind of like two different approaches. So the first approach is literally just shaving 25% off everybody's tax bill, up to $1 million home value. The second option that's still not passed into law is the assessment rate.”
Senate File 153, a bill that reduces the property tax assessment rate for owner occupied primary residential properties in Wyoming from 9.5% to 8.3% starting in 2026, passed by a 51-9 vote in the House.
Read the full story HERE.
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A rabbit species thought to be extinct for 120 years was recently re-discovered in Mexico, creating a stir that mirrors the excitement over finding black-footed ferrets near Meeteetse long after they were assumed extinct.
Rediscovering animals long thought lost is rare, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz, who spoke to wildlife biologists who were involved when the Meeteetse black-footed ferrets were discovered in 1981.
“They found a species of cotton tail rabbit that they thought had been extinct for over a century. There had been, you know, rumors or legends of locals talking about it, but they didn't have any verification that these things still existed, but… they got video of one, so they know that they're actually still there. So I talked to a wildlife biologist here in Wyoming who just so happened to be one of the folks that was involved back in 1981 when they found or rediscovered the black footed ferrets that they thought had been wiped out for several years… And he said, like, the scientists in Mexico had suspected the rabbits were still around, but they just couldn't find any. Said it was kind of the same situation.”
Much like what happened in the aftermath of discovering the Meeteetse ferrets, scientists will be scrambling to determine what to do next.
Read the full story HERE.
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An Evanston woman could face up to 22 and a half years behind bars, accused of driving away with a police officer hanging from her car after a grocery store refused to sell her prescription drugs.
Diseree Zacher is charged in Uinta County District Court with two counts of felony police interference, one misdemeanor interference charge, reckless endangering, and trespassing, according to crime and courts reporter Clair McFarland.
“The affidavit says that she was at this myth, trying to get prescription drugs, but they don't want to serve her because they had the feeling she'd been cycling through some different doctors and pharmacies trying to get things that maybe she wasn't supposed to. So they called Evanston PD, and you know, the officer arrives, trespasses or says you're not allowed in the store. The court documents say that she wouldn't leave the property, and at one point the officers were trying to get in the truck to get her out of there, because she was refusing to leave the parking lot. And she is said to have driven off. And you know the one sergeant is like, rescuing the officer from being dragged and then later on, they get an entangle in her truck and they and she's driving off with them in the cab.”
The affidavit says officers pulled Zacher out of the truck and arrested her while she screamed about police brutality and her various medical ailments.
Read the full story HERE.
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The full moon will be covered in a blood-red shadow during a total lunar eclipse directly over Wyoming just after midnight March 14.
The moon will pass between the Earth and the sun, darkening its bright surface, and Wyomingites are in a perfect position to take it all in, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi.
“A total lunar eclipse is an all night event. If you step outside at, say, around 10 o'clock, you're going to see part of the Earth's shadow on the surface of the moon. And as you go through the night, you're going to see the shadow increase and increase to get that spectacular blood red moon, which is when the moon is fully covered by the Earth's shadow that's going to peak about 1am our time here Mountain Standard Time in Wyoming… Dave Bell Pinedale photographer said it's kind of like watching grass grow, but it's a phenomenal experience all the same. And in this case, the eclipse is positioned perfectly over Wyoming, so we'll be able to see the whole thing in all of its glory, and watch it from beginning to end without any interruptions, and see that full, beautiful blood red moon.”
Total lunar eclipses are more common than total solar eclipses. While the last total solar eclipse visible in Wyoming was in 2017, followed by a partial solar eclipse last year, there were two total lunar eclipses in 2022.
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. Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
