It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, May 29th. 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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Some retired and current National Park Service officials claim federal cuts will cause chaos in the parks this summer. However, others — including the person who used to oversee the National Park Service — say the parks will be just fine.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz spoke to Teton County resident Rob Wallace, who was assistant secretary of the Interior during the first administration of President Donald Trump. Wallace said things apparently went smoothly at Grand Teton and Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend, which traditionally kicks off the ramp-up to peak summer season.
“With everything going on with the federal cuts, staffing cuts and budget cuts to the Park Service and other federal agencies, there's been some concern. There's a coalition of retired Park Service officials who've… put out a warning from from their perspective, that this, it could be a pretty bad, even terrible, season for visitors in national parks across the country, because services could could be down. They said you could run into things like long lines, filthy restrooms, garbage not being emptied, things like that. Apparently, we haven't seen that, at least not yet in Yellowstone and Grand Teton.”
The parks rely heavily on seasonal employees to provide many of the basic services to visitors. And so far, that seems to be working, but as the season wears on, some of the seasonal staff will likely start to leave, particularly students who must get back to college. That will put more pressure on the full time employees, at a time when the Parks are still very busy.
Read the full story HERE.
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Things are beginning to come into focus for the CK Gold Project 20 miles west of Cheyenne.
U.S. Gold Corp., which owns the CK Gold Project located in Wyoming’s old Silver Crown Mining District, has its state permits in hand, a local permit process with Laramie County underway, and, as Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports, a gold market that’s exciting investors about gold in general.
“They're using a very conservative $2100 an ounce for their feasibility study… They're not relying on top dollar for gold to make this project work, and yet, here we are with $3,300 per ounce on the spot market right now. So you know, there's a lot of optimism and enthusiasm around this project right now. A New York analyst, for example, is rating them a buy… It's a good time to get in on the act, according to this analyst.”
A 2021 study of the asset projects a resource of around 1.01 million ounces of gold and 248 million pounds of copper over a 10-year lifespan - but the potential economic impact of the mine is huge. Estimates are that the project will create 2,600 direct and indirect jobs, as well as $70 to $80 million in taxes and royalties.
Read the full story HERE.
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The lone occupant of a cabin in Teton County was found dead early Wednesday morning after the cabin caught fire.
A 911 call came in to the Teton County Communications Center at 2:13 a.m. Wednesday, reporting the fire - but Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that it wasn’t until later that someone reported the cabin was occupied.
“Terse details so far, the fire department reporting, you know, there was a person inside. Person was found dead. A sheriff's deputy tried to go in, and the conditions wouldn't permit it. And I called the coroner, thinking, okay, maybe I can figure out the age or male, female, that sort of thing, and the coroner, sounding very rushed. Said, I don't know…
Overall, 33 fire department members helped with the suppression, and no first responders were hurt.
Read the full story HERE.
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The volatile Biscuit Basin in Yellowstone National Park is closed to the public for the summer tourism season as scientists continue to monitor the area after a thermal pool in the basin spectacularly exploded last July.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory is monitoring the area's potential for more unstable upheavals before allowing people to get up close and personal with Biscuit Basin again.
“Since the hydrothermal explosion of Black Diamond pool back in July 2024 there have been two observed explosions or eruptions in the pool between then and now… the explosion in July was so huge that geologists believe that it might have changed and permanently changed the behavior of the pool itself… these other eruptions weren't as big, but they still sent mud and rocks 30 feet into the air. Until there's a good handle on what Black Diamond pool is going to be doing in the future… biscuit basin is going to stay closed until they get the okay from geologists, and then the National Park Service can put the boardwalk back in.”
Biscuit Basin has been closed since July 24th, when Black Diamond Pool exploded. Because the thermal feature has continued showing erratic behavior since the explosion, a static webcam was installed so scientists can catch it in the act.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Cheyenne 21-year-old charged with shooting a 16-year-old Casper teen initially told a Natrona County Sheriff’s Office investigator that he tripped while playing a game, discharging the gun in a “one-in-a-million fluke kind of thing” that shot the boy in the head.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the arrest affidavit for Sebastian Belden tells a different story.
“The affidavit of the young man charged with shooting a 16 year old on Washington Street here in Casper shows that he initially told police that they were just playing a game and that he had his handgun in his hand and tripped and it went off, but when they interviewed his fiance and two minors that were there, they were told that he told them not to tell the police what actually happened. And it appears that during the day, they both were playing a game where he would pull out his pistol and point it at the teen's head and then at some point, around seven o'clock that night, when he pulled it out and pointed at his head, it went off.”
Belden appeared in Casper Circuit Court on Tuesday facing two charges of aggravated assault and battery stemming from the Mother’s Day shooting that sent the teen first to Banner Wyoming Medical Center for treatment and then to Children’s Hospital Colorado for extended care.
Read the full story HERE.
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While Flaming Gorge Reservoir might be the place anglers think to go for kokanee salmon in Wyoming, the Pathfinder Reservoir-to-Miracle Mile stretch along the North Platte River is a lesser-known salmon fishery.
The hitch is, according to outdoors reporter Mark Heinz, that anglers who catch them in the river during spawning runs won’t be rewarded with a tasty meal.
“If you're going to catch them during their spawning runs the game and fish guy I talked to said, Use brightly colored lures. You're not trying to elicit a food response from because they're not really eating at that point. You're trying to elicit what he said is an aggressive strike, so something flashy and colorful, and just be prepared if you catch them while, while they're making those spawning runs, they're probably not going to be very good. He said they're essentially dying. He described them as soft and mushy at that point. So not if you want to get good eating salmon. Catch them this time of year, in deep water, in the reservoir.”
The spawning runs typically last from August until October. During their prime, the kokanee are silver in color and are great eating - but at three years old, their urge to spawn drives them back upriver from the reservoir.
Read the full story HERE.
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A former Wheatland band teacher accused of multiple child sex crimes with a teenage girl is expected to be charged with another criminal case involving a second alleged victim.
Platte County Deputy Attorney Marel Bunker Roth told the court during a Wednesday bond reduction hearing that she intends to file a second case against 34-year-old Evan Bradley. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Bradley remains in jail while the Platte County Attorney’s Office prosecutes him on 19 felony-level sex counts that accuse him of committing sex acts against a girl under the age of 16.
“He's been in jail much of this year, but he had a bond hearing on Wednesday where he asked the judge, like, can't you loosen up this bond. You know, his attorney said he has no criminal history, he has ties to the community. He has a job. Bond isn't supposed to punish a guy. It's just supposed to make sure he shows up for court and the community is safe. And the prosecutor, during the course of all this, said, Well, I'm filing another case against him, so watch out for that. And you know that's rare. We don't, we don't usually get a glimpse inside of prosecutor head when she's about to charge someone with something.”
The judge refused to reduce the bond amount that is keeping Bradley in jail, but the judge did extend to the man the option to work with a surety bond company, if one is willing.
Read the full story HERE.
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Some of Wyoming’s most accomplished mountain climbers are split on whether using xenon gas to quickly acclimatize to high altitudes is the future of mountaineering or a performance-enhancing drug for the ultra-wealthy.
The debate is reaching a fever pitch in the mountaineering community with British mountaineers summiting Mount Everest in four days last week. To accomplish this feat, Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that they carried that secret weapon.
“Four British mountaineers climbed Mount Everest, up and down in three days, and they said the secret to their success was xenon gas… xenon gas is believed to increase the body's resistance to low oxygen environments… speaking to Wyoming mountaineers who have climbed Everest, the response is mixed. On the one hand, it's a life saving measure, if it's a means of getting to these summits quicker and safer, by preserving the body's integrity and preventing the risk of serious conditions that can manifest as a result of high altitude/low oxygen environments, it's a great thing. On the other hand, it's been called a performance enhancing drug, and that it takes away the sport of mountaineering, that if it's it's a shortcut in and of itself, and if you need it to get to where you want to go, then you're not mountaineering, and you have no business mountaineering in the first place.”
Now that xenon as a mountaineering tool has been thrust into the international spotlight, the discourse is more intense than ever. Climbers in Wyoming may be on opposite sides of the debate, but their conclusion is the same - there will be more and more people climbing Everest.
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.
