It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Monday, April 28th. 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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An Air Force member is wanted by the federal government on claims he fled child pornography-related criminal prosecution.
27-year-old Airman First Class Branden Standifer was last seen April 19 outside the arrivals section of Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport. That’s according to a statement marked "urgent" that was sent to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation.
“Federal authorities call it CSAM, child sex abuse material… the statement said that the airman was facing allegations related to that material and fled his post, was declared a deserter and was last seen at the the Bozeman airport… they have an indication that he wants to kill himself in nature.”
The Air Force Office of Special Investigations is investigating the matter along with the U.S. Marshals Service and various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Read the full story HERE.
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Nearly a year after a University of Wyoming arts instructor disappeared on a mountain bike ride, there are still no clues as to what might have happened to him.
Nash Quinn is believed to have left his home sometime in mid-July of last year, never to return. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that despite massive searches encompassing more than 70,000 acres of area by law enforcement, search and rescue, Black Hawk helicopters, drones, cadaver dogs, volunteers and Quinn’s family and friends, no trace of him has been found.
“The timeline for when he disappeared is fuzzy, and the reason for that is he's a university professor, so in the summer, they university professors had looser schedules… The last correspondence that Nash definitely had was with his boss, Doug Russell, at the college on July 8… So then Nash was due to teach at a conference… the person organizing the workshop contacted Doug Russell and said… He hasn't checked in with his timeline to say when he was coming… And so that's when Doug Russell got very concerned, because that is not like Nash to be irresponsible when it comes to work. He and the people I spoke to described him as being somewhat of an introvert who might go off the radar for a few days, but certainly would never blow off a work obligation.”
Though there are no new updates in Quinn’s case, the Laramie Police Department is still actively investigating and urges residents to look for any clues – particularly his white bicycle – or any signs of Quinn in the Pilot Hill, Roger’s Canyon and Happy Jack recreational areas where he was known to ride.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to “drill, baby, drill” in a push for more oil and gas drilling on public land.
But Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that low oil prices have producers in Wyoming wanting to instead "chill, baby, chill,” in an attempt to boost the market.
“We've all heard the phrase drill, baby drill. It's become a political rallying cry for oil and gas industry wanting to cut the red tape of the federal government permitting new wells, and that's been an ongoing argument for a long time. The Trump administration has stepped in and tried to accelerate things, saying that it's going to cut what used to take a year down to 14 days, and what used to take two years to 28 days… so there's clearly pent up frustration in the industry. But is there pent up demand for more for more oil?... because the price per barrel of oil is around $65 that doesn't inspire a lot of new development of oil fields.”
This month, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted the price of oil will continue to dip by about 1.5% over the next year.
Read the full story HERE.
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With the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill in less than two months, and of America’s founding coming up next year, history buffs will be looking for places to see legendary artifacts of the American Revolution.
And Wyoming is home to one of the most legendary artifacts of the Revolution — the musket that fired the first shot at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the relic is housed at the National Museum of Military Vehicles in Dubois, owned by Dan Starks.
“Just after America had newly formed, they had drafted an army of volunteers. So this was the first official battle of the American army, June 17, 1775… It's the one where the general said, don't shoot until you see the white of their eyes… some historians have said that was because we were short on ammunition. Other historians have said… It was because, you know, we wanted the shock and awe factor… regardless of the reason somebody didn't follow the order, somebody fired a shot at a British officer at 54 yards away and started the battle prematurely… we didn't win that battle, right?... But we did so well. We shocked the British. We killed over 1000 of their men with poorly trained troops, poorly equipped troops who didn't know what they were doing, who were so undisciplined that they didn't even follow their commanders orders. That was a, it was kind of a morale boost.”
Starks paid nearly $500,000 for the musket which is housed at the museum’s Unknown Soldiers Weapons Vault. There are around 300 firearms in the vault, which span all the wars fought by Americans, starting with the American Revolution. But the musket from the Battle of Bunker Hill is particularly special and is the first weapon visitors to the museum see as they enter the vault.
Read the full story HERE.
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When a Newberg, Oregon, police officer started his night shift Wednesday last week, he had no idea he’d spend five hours on the phone with a barricaded man 1,000 miles away in Riverton, Wyoming.
Newburg resident Melissa Wear had found herself on a frightening video call with her cousin, Ron Allington, who had locked himself into a house with a knife and a BB gun after police had come to arrest him on an outstanding warrant.
Wear told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland that the Newburg police, tipped off by the Natrona County Sheriff’s Department, had sent officer Jeremy Pilon to support Wear in her hours-long attempt to reason with her cousin.
“He's next to her, and she's negotiating with her cousin, who's in the standoff, and she just off the cuff, goes, Do you want to talk to Officer Pilon? And he's like, Oh, I'm not a trained negotiator. And too late, she handed the phone over, and he ends up talking to Natrona County crisis negotiators at the same time. So he's feeding his phone call with Allington into those negotiators, and they're texting him on two more phones, like, Oh, here's the direction you should go. Here's what you should try. Give this a shot. And so it's just this giant collaborative marathon that lasts five hours.”
After the standoff finally ended, Allington was arrested without further incident. He faces two counts of aggravated assault, one count of possessing a deadly weapon with unlawful intend, one count of reckless endangering and police interference.
Read the full story HERE.
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The passing of Pope Francis has invoked a color wheel of emotion for Wyoming’s Catholics, a highly diverse group whose approach to the faith can seem as individual as the colored panes of a stained glass mosaic, and yet, held fast by ritual and community.
Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag spoke to several Catholics who reflected on Pope Francis’ legacy, and the future of the church.
“This really underscores how diverse the community of Catholics is in Wyoming… emotionally, there's sadness, there's hope, there's a sense of concern, there's a sense of gratitude... Francis was considered a pretty controversial figure… even within the so called Left, Right spectrum of where you fall within Catholicism, there isn't a clear dividing line on all of these political issues… some people who really love Francis, and they say he's about as good as it gets. I don't know that we can get somebody that's a better replacement than him. They're showing a little bit of concern… And then you have really devout people who are practically setting up second residencies and the church pews since Francis’ passing… and they're just feeling this moment so deeply, and they describe it as though Francis was a part of their home and their household.”
The coming conclave will see over 130 of the church’s Cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to cast their votes for the next church leader. For now, Wyoming parishioners are praying for Francis and meditating on the example and legacy he leaves behind.
Read the full story HERE.
For much of the past four decades, Casper businessman Mike Reid lived with a left ankle free of pain, despite an old ankle injury that required surgery 41 years ago.
But a recent diagnosis of osteoarthritis explained that chronic pain that had begun creeping into that joint about 18 months ago. However, Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that a new procedure available in Wyoming has rendered Reid pain-free.
“He was in constant pain, couldn't sleep at night. And he had a friend who was an interventional radiologist… he told him about something that was new and that he might be able to help him, and so he allowed this patient went ahead with the procedure. Took about a little over an hour, but what it involves is putting in what's called an embolic and it blocks the blood from going to the place where there was an injury… after he had this procedure, he said, right away, it helped. And right now he says it's like 95% good, you know, he doesn't have pain, he can sleep, he can use it fully. So it's a brand new kind of technology developed by a Japanese doctor.”
Dr. Charles Bowkley, who has practiced at Casper Medical Imaging for the past 15 years, said he first learned of the procedure at a medical conference two years ago. A federally approved research study confirmed that the procedure shows great promise in treating patients with chronic joint pain caused by osteoarthritis.
Read the full story HERE.
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And Steve Dallman didn’t think he was the type to go to hell and back for his hobby, yet that’s exactly what he did during a recent visit to Casper.
Dallman has traveled across the nation, visiting and photographing famous film locations. He told Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi that his recent adventure to Hell’s Half Acre, the setting for the 1997 film “Starship Troopers,” was one of his favorites.
“Starship Troopers filmed in Hell's Half Acre in the spring and early summer of 1996 and it's the only major film that's ever been filmed there. And… it's been blocked off for a while… So when the person I spoke to actually stepped down into the site, it's relatively unchanged… they were attracted to the location because it was so naturally alien and beautiful in its own way. But he did see clear signs of a Hollywood production there. He found shell casings. He found hundreds of nails that were probably removed from sets that they had built in that spot. And he also found giant holes where they had pounded one inch thick rebar to build a cave so that they could extract the the brain bug out of it, because there are no caves in Hell's half acre… there's going to probably be more people who are naturally just gravitate to Hell's half acre because of that small bit of cinema history.”
The 320 acres of Hell’s Half Acre are part of a 960-acre tract of land owned by Natrona County. It’s been closed to the public since 2005, but that hasn’t stopped people from hiking in the area, and groups like the Natrona County Outdoor Recreation Collaborative have advocated for reopening the site to outdoor recreation.
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.
