It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, May 7th. 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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Guy Edwards ended a long day of working his sheep ranch north of Wright a little after midnight Monday morning. About five hours later, he watched in disbelief and anguish as his large barn, and the 170 pregnant ewes inside, burned.
Edwards told Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson that he didn’t have a chance to let the sheep out, because the fire was so hot.
“It's like, really early Monday morning, he got done with the sheep. He had them all in the barn. Went in to get a little sleep. About 4: 30 his wife came in, and his wife came in and checked on the barn, and everything was fine. And then just less than an hour later, like 5:15 he went out, and he said the barn was fully engulfed, so intense, so hot, he couldn't even get close to it to open. It is really devastating for this family… That was his entire lamb crop… He said it took them years and years to breed the genetics of these lambs that they had. And now that's all gone. ”
Now, Edwards said he feels a little shellshocked as he deals with the aftermath, which includes the burned remains of 170 ewes, along with cleaning up. Edwards said he believes all those sheep died from breathing the smoke from the fire before they burned.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fans of Wyoming’s beloved Grizzly 399, still saddened by her death from a vehicle strike last fall, were dealt another blow on Tuesday. An offspring from her world-famous 2020 litter of quadruplet cubs was confirmed dead after apparently being hit by a vehicle days earlier in Grand Teton National Park.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Grizzly 1058, a 5-year-old male, was found dead near Highway 26 inside the park.
“Park Service did not report the exact date when they think he was actually hit by the vehicle, but apparently he made it a ways off the road and died in the brush. And they found the carcass, and they were able to confirm the identity today that, yes, it was, in fact, Grizzly 1058, that's another one of grizzly 399’s quads… we're still to this day, not certain about her last cub, spirit, that was with her when she was struck and killed. We don't know if he's still alive.”
Now, only two of Grizzly 399’s famous 2020 quads are thought to still be alive. Another male from the quad litter, Grizzly 1057, was killed by wildlife agents in July 2022 for displaying “dangerous behavior” toward humans.
Read the full story HERE.
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In a lengthy Senate floor speech Monday evening, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren claimed that a cryptocurrency bill co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis needs “critical fixes” to prevent corruption such as bribery, in light of President Donald Trump and his family’s recent involvement in meme coins.
Trump on Monday used his Truth Social platform and an associated website to encourage purchases of his meme coins, for a chance to join him for a gala dinner May 22 at his D.C.-area golf club.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that Lummis does not agree with Warren’s call for major changes to the GENIUS Act, which stands for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins.
“The bill had strong bipartisan support in committee, but ever since Trump started selling meme coins, it's now become a really hot topic in Washington. There are a lot of lawmakers who are wondering what this all means, and so you have this legislation about cryptocurrency that is sort of caught in the crosshairs of what Trump is up to.”
Other Democrats are lining up with Warren on the issue as the floor vote looms on the GENIUS Act.
Read the full story HERE.
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Eleven current and former University of Wyoming athletes and one San Jose State volleyball coach sued the Mountain West Conference on Nov. 13, and SJSU and its umbrella organization in the federal U.S. District Court for Colorado, accusing those entities of violating the law with their inclusion of transgender volleyball player Blaire Fleming in women’s volleyball competitions last autumn.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that this week, a Colorado-based federal judge has denied those athletes the opportunity to appeal his transgender pronoun usage rule — and his involvement with the case — to a higher court.
“The women that are suing the Mountain West Conference say Judge Crews has this local rule in place to where we have to use preferred pronouns, and we think that's a sign that he's pre judged the case. Since the question of this case is, is a transgender athlete, a woman under Mountain West rules, under federal law, under equal protection, and the judge came back and said, okay, but I've never actually made you comply with that rule, so you don't really have a complaint here, since I let you use whatever pronouns you want, and I've told you that many times. So finally, late last week, the judge denied the women's request to appeal.”
The University of Wyoming volleyball team forfeited two of its games against San Jose State University after it became known Fleming is transgender.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming and southeast Asia aren’t exactly two peas in a pod, but the cowboy culture has a way of bringing together people of disparate backgrounds.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that a handful of small Wyoming companies are expanding their businesses to Taiwan and southeast Asia, and are experiencing great success there.
“One business that has been able to see a lot of success in growing their operations into Taiwan, is Big Lost Meadery… Another company that has a Taiwan connection is LEO Verification Systems. These are gluten testers, so that you could basically take a swab on a dish of food… and it'll tell you if the food product has gluten in it to 95% accuracy… they're collaborating, working with a Taiwanese scientist and entrepreneur named Leo Chen to facilitate these tests… Laramie resident Sal Coca has his own shoe company called Hypo Footwear. He was contacted to collaborate with a Taiwanese shoe company called DK shoes, one of the biggest shoe companies in Taiwan.”
A big reason behind this success can be credited to the Wyoming - Asia Pacific Trade Office, which was established in Taiwan in 2018 to help promote exchanges in agriculture, technology, tourism and education. Gov. Mark Gordon toured the region last week and said the small to medium nature of these businesses blends well with the Taiwanese economy.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Hot Springs County Commission is fighting over whether to become the only member to pull out of a group that represents all Wyoming's counties.
The chairman of the Commission on Tuesday disagreed strongly with the vice-chair’s plan to break from the board’s statewide lobby group. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the issue stems from the vice-chair’s qualms about what he calls the association’s “socialist” tendencies to grow government.
“Hot Springs commission Vice Chair, Bob Aguilar, said, We need to withdraw from the Wyoming County Commission Association, because it's growing government, and it's forcing consensus, and it spends our money. And you know, the chair of the commission, Tom Ryan, came back during a meeting Tuesday after hearing at length from the Association. He came back and said, No, because if we were going to lobby the legislature and the Feds for things like local control and and good revenues ourselves, it would cost, I think he was saying, like, dozens of times more, like an exponential - from $7700 to $200,000 by his reckoning, because they figured they'd have to hire their own pretty much full time lobbyists and legal analysis.”
The WCCA generally pushes state lawmakers to defer to local, county governance, and to protect county revenues for local services.
Read the full story HERE.
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A prolonged legal battle over a Hot Springs County teepee tourist retreat continues, with the county being sued for the second time in four years, over a resort that commissioners originally blocked from operating commercially.
The main objection the neighbors have against the Tipi Retreat is its customers' use of a private road that’s also used by three other landowners. And Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that both sides of this dispute have been lobbying with factions of the Hot Springs County Commission over the last four years to try and get their way.
“The Hot Springs County commissioners, back around 2021 rejected a proposal from the teepee resort to be able to offer their teepees in a commercial glamping type venue. What this resulted in was the family that owns the resort suing the commissioners over that decision… the commissioner board turned over, and they had a change of one member that was a kind of a critical change… and early this year the commissioners decided to revisit the permit application… they ended up approving for the original use that was sought out… even the county attorney recused herself from kind of giving advice and participating after the commissioners rejected her advice, telling them that they shouldn't even take up the vote.”
The original lawsuit cost Hot Springs around $167,000, a price tag that will now increase even more considering the county had to hire outside legal counsel from Sheridan for the new fight.
Read the full story HERE.
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Bob the barrel has made landfall after finally breaking through the ice of Fremont Lake. Bob making his way to shore is the unofficial beginning of spring in the area, showing the ice has melted and the lake is warming up.
Bob’s journey also means the Pinedale Lions Club has more resources to share in the community. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that a long-running fundraiser for the Pinedale Lions Club, the Fremont Lake Ice Off Guess, has a winner.
“They don't know when Bob reached shore… the barrel might reach shore at midnight. It might have reached shore at 6:25am, that morning, when they went to check. And there it was. But it doesn't matter, because the last bet is valid until the next bet. So the guy who put in his bid that Bob would reach shore at 6:35pm on Saturday won, because his was the only bet until 11:30am Sunday… the winner gets $500 it's one of the smaller, but important fundraisers for the Pinedale Lions Club. But what's cool about this year is that the winner won the $500 and donated it back to the Pinedale Lions Club so they can continue doing their community programs, which that's that's a win for everybody.”
All proceeds go toward the club’s community programs, such as providing free diabetes testing or vouchers for eyeglasses and exams in Sublette County.
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.
