It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, May 15th. 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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Charges are expected in at least one of two shootings in Casper on Sunday, while the family of a man killed at an apartment complex there is pleading with the city’s young people to, quote, “put the guns away.”
Anicio Bernard was killed in a double shooting at Foxhill Apartments early Sunday evening. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that in a message on a GoFundMe campaign page, the family is asking the city’s youth to take this opportunity to change their lives for the better.
“The parents of the victim who was shot and and killed Sunday night is pleading with the young people in the community to get rid of their guns, come out of the darkness and choose life… saying that their son had made bad choices… they said that he was trying to do better, but he couldn't get out of the situation he was in. We don't know what that was, but we know that they said that if other young people in the community continue down the same path, they're going to have the same result, and they're going to leave families in the same situation they are, you know, trying to pick up the pieces.”
Meanwhile, a Natrona County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson said Wednesday that she expected charges will be filed against a 21-year-old man involved in a separate shooting near the same time Sunday on South Washington Street.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Democratic senator from New York said Wednesday he knows what’s best for Wyomingites to avoid higher energy prices.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was taking aim at Republican-led House legislation on the U.S. budget, citing Wyoming as a state that will see up to 30% higher energy prices if Republicans move forward with current tax and budget legislation in the U.S. House.
Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that, needless to say, his remarks did not go over very well with U.S. Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso of Wyoming.
“Chuck Schumer is a minority leader in the US Senate… on the Senate floor, there's legislation to cut wind and solar power tax credits… He says that's going to drive up energy prices, most notably electricity bills… He's citing a report that it's a little vague. He doesn't really go into the report much. He cites a 30% increase in costs for Wyoming residents if this Republican led legislation goes through… Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming is having none of this. He he listens to this speech, and then he gets up there, and it's an impromptu rebuttal, and just says, Listen, you know, it's Joe Biden. The Democrats. They're the ones who caused the increased energy prices through their climate change policies, by stopping oil and coal production and so forth.”
At least two House committees have bills with energy-related provisions that might wind up in one final package to be considered by the full House and Senate.
Read the full story HERE.
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Bills that would lift restrictions on firearms suppressors, as well as short-barreled rifles and shotguns, were stalled in a U.S. House committee this week, leaving gun rights advocates livid.
After the House Ways and Means Committee failed to insert two gun-related bills into its budget reconciliation bill, Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America, told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that that amounts to Republicans on the committee breaking their campaign promises related to gun rights.
“They feel as though they were promised that by the Republican delegates, was that those are going to be put in. They didn't get put in ...people associate suppressors or silencers with, like what you see in the movies, pew, pew assassins, killing people. Actually in real life, they're commonly used by hunters or target shooters for practical reasons. Number one, they do reduce the noise. They don't make guns silent, but they reduce the noise so you're not blasting your eardrums out if you're out in the field shooting in an elk or something. Number one, and they also really do help reduce a recoil. So people who maybe are a little skittish about recoil on a high powered hunting rifle would appreciate a suppressor.”
Wyoming’s Republican Congressional delegates, Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, and Representative Harriet Hageman, stated on Wednesday that they support the bills.
Read the full story HERE.
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The mother accused of letting her son have her guns before he reportedly killed a Sheridan Police Department sergeant, and launched a two-day standoff, established a plea agreement Wednesday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 71-year-old Eileen Hurley is set to change her plea Friday in the Cheyenne-based U.S. District Court for Wyoming. But the public can’t see what that plea agreement says, since the U.S. Attorney's Office for Wyoming keeps those documents private.
“The claim is that for three of the 13-ish guns that were found in or near or associated with William Lowery at the time of his death, that she furnished three of those. And at some point during the investigation, she said, No, no, he's stealing things from me. But the prosecutor was not convinced, and now we have this plea agreement.”
Hurley was indicted Jan. 15 in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming on three counts of transferring a firearm to someone who isn’t allowed to have them, and one count of making a false statement while buying a firearm.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fans of a prominent female grizzly in Grand Teton National Park were shocked and saddened when two of her cubs were apparently killed and cannibalized by a large male bear.
Grizzly 1063 had emerged from hibernation with three yearling cubs this spring. The carcasses of two of those cubs were found early Tuesday in a closed area of the Park south of Colter Bay, and showed signs of depredation by a larger bear.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that, while brutal, it’s what male bears do.
“You'll see the same behavior sometimes in lions in Africa too. If a male senses that cubs aren't his genetically, if he's given an opportunity, he will kill those cubs, and sometimes even partially eat them, in hopes that it will throw this time of year, in the spring, will throw the female back into heat so that then he can subsequently breed her with his genetics. In other words, as gross and as horrible as it sounds from our point of view, from the animals points of view, it's just one male trying to give himself a genetic advantage.”
The U.S. Geological Survey’s Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team has tracked and reported grizzly mortalities in the Greater Yellowstone area for years. The tally of grizzly deaths from 2015-2023 notes several instances of cubs being killed by other bears.
Read the full story HERE.
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It will be six to nine months before the Wyoming Supreme Court’s newest incoming justice can participate fully in deciding cases. That’s because Wyoming Attorney General Bridget Hill, who will soon be sworn in as a Wyoming Supreme Court justice, has represented the state on at least half the appeals the high court hears.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that while it’s not unusual for prior conflicts to follow an attorney entering the role of Supreme Court justice, for Hill, the number of conflicts is more than usual.
“Conflicts do follow you when you go to the bench, but for someone who has represented the state, it's at least half the cases. You know, there's Criminal Appeals, there's Civil Asset forfeitures, there's other things involving the state. Like, for instance, the state and Teton County just had a clash, and so those things the court estimates for the next six to nine months, Hill will have to recuse herself, and then in the meantime, I mean, she, she will have other cases to preside over. They do other civil cases that don't involve the state.”
On the cases Hill can’t hear, Wyoming district court judges will fill the void - and retiring Chief Justice Kate Fox may also be recalled to help decide some cases.
Read the full story HERE.
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The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation introduced by Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman on Tuesday that requires federal agencies analyze the economic impacts of reduced hydropower generation at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona.
It all comes down to a conflict of priorities, according to Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison. Does the federal government prioritize power generation for a growing population, or prioritize supporting a native species of fish?
“There have been some previous policies with the Biden administration where they were going to divert water that could go towards electricity, but instead, we're going to use it to try and nurture a population of humpback chub, a native fish that has this very prehistoric look to it… Hageman's legislation comes in now and says, Hey, time out. Let's talk about this. Because every time you take water away from electricity generation, you're putting a burden on the consumer, saying you've got to go get that electricity from somewhere else and perhaps pay more.”
Hageman’s success in passing her "Upper Colorado River Basin Fund" bill comes weeks after she chaired an April hearing of the U.S. House Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee focused on hydropower, which she called "the backbone of our region's energy future."
Read the full story HERE.
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Ranchers in Montana claim they saw an Army National Guard Crew illegally land a chopper on private land so they could hop out and grab shed elk antlers. They allege that the chopper was landed without prior notice to or permission from the landowner – either to be on the property, or to collect shed antlers there.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that if the report turns out to be true, the troops who did it could face stiff penalties.
“Alleged eyewitness reports in… the Crazy Mountain area of Montana that on May 4, folks claim they saw an army, Montana Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter touchdown on private land without permission, and the crew get out and start grabbing elk antlers, shed elk antlers… the commanding general of the Montana Army National Guard, he sent out a statement that was sent to us, basically saying, We don't know if this this is true. We're looking into it. If it turns out to be true, it's obviously disgraceful, and the people involved will be punished… Shed elk antlers can actually be worth a lot of money… there is a legitimate market for them. Furniture makers buy them. Artists buy them. Some people buy them to make dog chews … if you get enough elk antlers or deer antlers that are in good shape, you can make big money.”
According to local reports, potential charges could include trespassing and theft, although such charges have yet to be filed against any suspects in the case.
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.
