It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, April 1st. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show! From 6 to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, we bring you news, weather, sports AND in-depth interviews with news-makers from across Wyoming - and this week we’ve got a fantastic guest host, Charene Herrera, who will keep the conversation lively! Just click on the Cowboy State Daily homepage to join in.
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Wyoming may have lost a legend with the death of former U.S. Senator Al Simpson, but the 6-foot, 7-inch man who stood larger than life is surely not forgotten.
Simpson died March 14 at the age of 93. On Monday, Simpson’s family and friends gathered at Christ Episcopal Church in Cody for his funeral service, the final event in a series of honors that started at the state Capitol last week. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson was at the service.
“What really struck me was kind of the range of emotions that we saw, everything from laughs, tears, points of inspiration, uplifting things, kind of little, little sand anecdotes, just fascinating stories, hilarious one liners and quips… I found Pete Simpson Al's brothers speech probably the most emotional… it was kind of that brotherly connection, and it brought me to tears, for sure, especially when he said that, you know, I'll see you soon. I think that was extremely moving… I think it just truly encompassed his life, and it was a wonderful send off.”
In addition to Simpson’s family, around 150 of his closest friends were also in the audience, including U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, Gov. Mark Gordon, Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly, and University of Wyoming President Ed Seidel. Country music star Clint Black was also in attendance, and sang a song in Simpson’s honor.
Read the full story HERE.
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18-year-old WyoTech student Riggin Schaffer checked in with his mother Stephanie on Sunday, March 23rd at around 7 p.m., and told her he was in for the night.
But the young man’s plans changed - just a few hours later, Schaffer was killed in a tragic accident 30 miles away from his apartment in Laramie, helping a stranded motorist on Highway 130.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison spoke to Schaffer’s family about the details surrounding the young man’s death.
“According to what the Highway Patrol told the family, Riggan was out on this road at 1030 at night on a Sunday, helping another 18 year old who apparently had crashed their car and was stuck perpendicular, blocking one lane of traffic when a 50 something year old motorist came upon the scene and tragically crashed into the crash site, and so Reagan was standing right there and took the blow and died instantly. The other 18 year old was reportedly taken to the hospital as well. The driver of the car who came upon the scene apparently was not injured, but it's a really sad situation, and in talking to the family, it was in keeping with Riggin’s character. He was always looking to lend a hand. It was part of his personality to go out of his way for people he just met.”
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has not released details about the incident and the drivers involved, but the family was told it is being investigated as two separate crashes.
Read the full story HERE.
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The brother of a man who died last summer after shooting at National Park Service rangers in Yellowstone National Park is asking a judge not to let the government keep all the man’s things.
28-year-old Lucas Fussner died in a shootout the morning of July 4 in Canyon Village after taking a hostage for several hours, making statements about committing a mass shooting then shooting a park ranger in the foot and firing at others.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Fussner’s possessions were part of a plot to commit mass violence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and that allows the government to take possession of them.
“Over time, the United States has decided that if your property is involved in a crime, the government can seize your property, but other people with potential claim on it can also argue about that in court whether the government should have it. So Lucas Fussner’s brother Noah, is asking the court like, don't let the federal government take all his stuff. We shared a lot of this stuff. We shared the car that he traded in to get this car, you know, and I helped him build his computer… Noah is contesting some of the particulars too, where the government is saying this car is part of the crime because it's a getaway car. It's backed in, and Noah is saying, Well, no, it's parked way across the parking lot.”
Noah Fussner hopes the guns connected to the shootout will be sold to offer restitution to the park ranger who was shot.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Powell Police Department is requesting the public’s help in locating a local man who has been missing for nearly a week.
52-year-old Clint White was last seen on surveillance video leaving his home Wednesday, March 26, just before 2 a.m. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher spoke with the Powell Police Chief, who has been coordinating with White’s family.
“The police chief met with the family Monday morning to discuss their next steps, and at this point, the police chief said they've kind of exhausted what they could do in terms of forensics, as far as searching his or trying to ping his devices, because he had his location turned off on his devices, and that would be at least a cell phone, maybe an iPad that he probably had with him… he was seen on video surveillance, leaving his home with a blanket and a generator… the family is monitoring his financial transactions, and so far, he hasn't made any but they're closely monitoring his accounts.”
White’s family, in coordination with local faith groups, are actively searching for him outside of the Powell city area.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two men suspected of hacking into at least three Wyoming ATMs in mid-March are in custody in the Denver jail, waiting for extradition.
34-year-old Yohandri Ramirez and 27-year-old Yonaiker Fernandez each face up to 70 years in prison if convicted of multiple felonies against them in Big Horn County, including felony theft, hacking, and conspiracy to commit theft.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the pair used sophisticated hacking tools to trick ATMs in Lovell, Greybull and Thermopolis to spit out a total of about $54,200 on March 15th and 16th.
“The affidavit describes it as a software manipulation, which means that they're actually getting there, telling the computer to do things, in this case, to spit out several thousands of dollars of cash, according to court documents. And so this spree is said to have happened, well, started in Montana, and then they sort of wound down into Wyoming, before ultimately, two of them, not all of them, but two of them were found at an apartment in Denver.”
Greybull Police Chief Travis Davis said at least two more suspects were involved, though at this juncture he knew of just two in custody. Authorities are looking for others.
Read the full story HERE.
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Observers watching Yellowstone National Park’s Old Faithful webcam got quite the spectacle on Monday afternoon. A bison herd decided a wandering grizzly got too close for comfort and sent it scurrying through the snow.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that grizzlies might be the apex predators of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, but bison are bigger.
“Grizzlies routinely walk through bison herds. It's not that big of a thing. You can see it happen all the time, but it only takes one bison with a chip on its shoulder to decide that the bear is threatening or that it's not moving fast enough. So in this incident, a grizzly, presumably a male grizzly, because those are the ones that are awake and active at this time of year, wander through a bison herd and the Old Faithful guys and the Upper Geyser Basin at Old Faithful and the bison seemed like they were just going to let it pass, but then, and before you knew it, they had joined together, and you had about 20 bison chasing after a grizzly, and the grizzly took the hint and ran off.”
It was the latest amazing wildlife moment captured on the Old Faithful webcam for its international audience. A recording of the entire incident was posted on the GeyserTimes Dashboard as one of the day’s highlights.
Read the full story HERE.
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Plenty Unlimited received what was, at the time, Wyoming’s largest ever economic development grant to build what would have been the world’s largest vertical farming research center in Laramie.
But now the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the ambitious plans for its 60,000-square-foot Project Jupiter are on indefinite hold.
“The company wasn't willing to talk really about what went on or what caused the bankruptcy, but I think in just looking at some of the moves that the company made, it just seemed like they were trying to do an awful lot quickly… in 2017 they purchased the Bright Agritech company, was a startup by a University of Wyoming student Nate Storey, and his vision really was… how can we grow more food? And one theory is, you know, growing it indoors, vertical farming, that way, it's maximizing space, it's providing ideal conditions for the plant and boosting yields… Plenty bought Storey’s startup in 2017 it raised about 200 million in capital at the time and announced a big vertical farming facility in Seattle Washington… 00 farms in China, a couple of farms in Japan, and then two farms in California.”
A company spokeswoman told Cowboy State Daily on Monday morning that the business does plan to keep two locations as part of its reorganization — the vertical strawberry farm it opened in Richmond, Virginia, in 2022, and the already existing Wyoming plant science research and development facility in Laramie.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sometimes the only way to spread awareness about how to schedule VIN inspections is to Make. VIN. Inspections. Great. Again.
That’s the punchline behind the Sunday-morning video release by the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office, in which a deputy who could almost-kinda pass for President Donald Trump, gives locals a speech on how to arrange vehicle identification number, or VIN inspections, with sheriff’s personnel. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to Sheriff Brian Kozak about this unconventional public service announcement.
“The Laramie County Sheriff's Office is known for shenanigans, but there's a rationale behind this one. They wanted to do a video telling people, like, here's how to do a VIN inspection. Here's how not to. Here's why you should, kind of like, if we just do an informational video, no one's going to watch it, so we have to call in deputy Drew Harrison, who does mad Trump impersonation, and he's going to do a presidential announcement about VIN inspections. It was, it was over the top. It was funny.”
And as it turns out, it’s also a way to get a statewide news outlet to write about VIN inspections.
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.
