It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, April 25th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. “5 to thrive” is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.
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High school athletes in Wyoming may be soon able to make money off their athletic performance. That’s because the Wyoming High School Activities Association is considering a policy that would allow athletes to pursue Name, Image and Likeness, or NIL, deals under strict parameters in the Cowboy State.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the presence of NIL in college athletics has dramatically changed the overall dynamic, elevating those athletes from their previously amateur status.
“I spoke to WHSAA commissioner Trevor Wilson, who told me, tells me he doesn't think it's going to be a significant change in Wyoming at all, at most. He thinks only really some of the most superstar high school athletes are probably going to be able to take advantage of it. There's statistics that show that of the states that allow it, only 2% of the athletes competing actually take advantage of it, and then one person, less than 1% of that number actually make money from it. So it's a very kind of a marginal thing, I think, on the high school level, but it could be very interesting to see what these athletes do with it.”
While most schools support the idea, there are a few districts who say the policy is unnecessary. The Activities Association’s board of directors will consider a first reading of the new rules at its meeting next Tuesday.
Read the full story HERE.
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In her first town hall since she suspended in-person events last month, Wyoming U.S. Representative Harriet Hageman took questions from attendees in Buffalo Thursday evening.
Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson was at the meeting, which he said was conducted much differently than any of Hageman’s previous town halls - that was in response to a series of gatherings earlier this year that devolved into unruly shouting matches.
“People were asked to register online, go and submit their their information so they knew they were Johnson County people coming here… she did take a lot of questions that people submitted, but she didn't take them in person… If they had a question for her, it was written down and put it in a box, and she would hold the questions out of the box. Now… there wasn't any editing of the questions or anything. There was quite a few that were very critical of her, you know, asking her very loaded questions… as the question period went on… Some of the crowd did get a little more rowdy, but it wasn't nearly as rowdy as the others I went to the one in Afton that kind of started it all.”
Representative Hageman’s next town hall is scheduled for Friday evening in Sheridan.
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A former Rock Springs English teacher exchanged emails with a high school student about how to access LGBTQ advocacy websites without others noticing.
That’s what court documents show in the ongoing case of Willey vs. Sweetwater County School District No. 1. This is a civil federal case in which a Rock Springs couple is suing the school district, on claims that district staffers helped to socially gender-transition their daughter behind their backs. Crime and Courts reporter Clair McFarland has the latest on this story.
“In the discovery phase, the exchange of evidence, these emails between the student, the daughter, and a former teacher in the district, surfaced… The teacher is saying things like, if you get on the Trevor Project website, if you hit escape three times, it starts a new tab. In case you don't want anyone to know you're browsing that website. The student says something like, my friend got me a binder, which refers to a breast binder to flatten your breasts to make you appear more boyish. And so there's this exchange that verges on sexual orientation, gender identity topics, and so that the school district is now saying, Don't let these go to trial, because this teacher basically went rogue against our policies of professionalism, and that doesn't go to evidence against the school district.”
Trial is set for June 2, in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s landowner tag program allows qualifying property owners to apply for two hunting tags for each of certain huntable species, including elk, deer, antelope and wild turkeys.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that a proposal to boost the number of acres people must own to apply for landowner hunting tags in Wyoming could cut out smaller property owners across the state.
“I talked to a couple folks who own smaller acreages. I mean, we're, you know, they own like three 400 acres, and they're worried that it might the qualifications, they might push it up into the 600 acre or more range, which they argue would cut a lot of people out. That there are a ton of people who own those 100 200 300 acre parcels in Wyoming that they like to hunt on. And their concern is, if this goes through, that would cut a whole segment of people out from being qualified for landowner tags. So this is one, obviously we're going to watch and see how it keep see what develops the game.”
Not everyone is in favor of the program. Some are worried that people use the landowner tags to market Wyoming properties as essentially hunting preserves for wealthy out-of-staters.
Read the full story HERE.
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PacifiCorp confirmed this week it’s moving ahead with a plan that could ultimately retire the iconic smokestacks of its Dave Johnston Power Plant between Glenrock and Casper.
The energy experts contacted by Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison offered a range of opinions about the novel oxy-combustion technology and carbon sequestration plans unfolding at the Dave Johnston plant.
“So I sent our story out to a number of experts, including the Head of the School of Energy Resources at the University of Wyoming. And she happened to have worked on similar technology while working at Peabody Energy. And was encouraged. She she thought that 8 Rivers, the company that is developing this technology, with PacifiCorp, Siemens Energy and another company… they have a track record. They did some similar tech for natural gas burning power plants and so, yeah, let's, let's see what happens. It's worth trying… this depends entirely on an affordable way to sequester the CO2 that will come off of this technology in the plant. The technology promises to retire the smoke stacks. We got to do something with that CO2 that is is produced, and it could be really costly.”
PacifiCorp noted that the work happening at Dave Johnston is still in the feasibility phase, so a decision to build the facility has yet to be made.
Read the full story HERE.
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Conservative activist Charlie Kirk spoke to a crowd of about 1800 people at the University of Wyoming campus on Thursday night.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson was in the audience for Kirk’s first-ever appearance at UW. He reports that Kirk urged the attendees - made up primarily of college students - to cast aside liberal ideologies, including critical race theory and principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Kirk took lots of questions, many of which from less than friendly questioners, which was very interesting to watch. The back and forth. They talked about all sorts of topics ranging from immigration to race in America to federal cuts they've been brought by President Donald Trump's administration. Kirk, who's a firm supporter of Trump, the Trump administration policies, stood behind him… the vast majority of the crowd was certainly supporting his perspectives. But like I said, some of the questioners definitely pushed back on him.”
Kirk is the CEO and founder of the conservative youth activist organization Turning Point USA. He is on a tour of college campuses, and has a stated goal of, quote, empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.”
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Anatolian livestock guardian dogs are fierce enough to take on grizzlies and wolves, but gentle enough to babysit toddlers. That’s what happened in Arizona earlier this month, when 2-year-old Bodin Allen was led to safety by an Anatolian Pyrenees dog named Buford.
Montana rancher Lauren Stoddard told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that she wasn’t the least bit surprised by the account. After all, her huge dogs of similar breed, Anatolian Shepherds, are gentle with and protective of her own toddler daughter.
“A toddler, two year old boy disappeared from his house… but 16 hours later, he turned up. It turned out that a rancher's Anatolian Pyrenees Cross had found the boy and stayed with him and then led him back to safety. So I reached out to someone we've interviewed before who has Anatolian Shepherd dogs… It so happens that she also has a toddler daughter, and she says the same thing, that those dogs will follow her daughter around, if the dog they'll get between the kid and the hazard, or they'll put they'll even go so far as to push the kid away from dangerous things.”
Stoddard previously told Cowboy State Daily that her dogs aren’t the least bit afraid of chasing hungry apex predators off her property and away from her livestock. And she says that when it comes to doing their jobs, they’re smarter than humans.
Read the full story HERE.
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Memorial Day is almost a month away, which means the Montana Department of Transportation and the National Park Service have begun the monumental task of clearing snow off the Beartooth Highway, an iconic scenic byway that straddles the Montana-Wyoming border near Yellowstone National Park.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that MDOT started plowing from the Montana side of U.S. Highway 212 on April 18.
“They're making good progress, and they expect to have their side ready to go by the Memorial Day opening, which is when they prefer to open the Beartooth highway, whether or not they can. That's weather dependent, and they're still going to probably be temporary closures of the Beartooth highway once it's open, because it's at an elevation between 5010-1000 feet. So you're going to get some winter weather, regardless of what time of year it is… So again, weather permitting, we should be able to start using the Beartooth highway again at the very latest, by the first week of June.”
The Park Service will push from the Wyoming side until the Highway is clear and ready to open before the end of May. By the beginning of June, the 69-mile expanse between Cooke City and Red Lodge should be completely accessible - weather permitting.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news! For a deeper dive into the people and issues that affect Wyoming, check out The Roundup, conversations with the most interesting people in the Cowboy State. This week, I get to visit with Wyoming country music star Ned Ledoux! You can find the link on our website, on our YouTube channel, and wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, you'll find it in our FREE daily email newsletter!
Thanks for tuning in - I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
