It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, June 6th. 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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Wyoming lawmakers on Tuesday advanced a state Constitution amendment proposal that, if enacted and approved by the voters, would remove the Constitution’s structures for property taxes.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that when the two chairmen of the Joint Revenue Committee looked back two days later, they said that draft takes the call for property tax reform too far.
“Senator Bob Ide on Tuesday, was like, I want to make a draft to get rid of property tax out of article 15 of the Wyoming constitution… There's lots of talk, especially among Republicans, some Republicans in the Wyoming Legislature about getting rid of property tax in favor of something like a sales tax hike. And so that's the trend. But… I believe what the chairman of that committee cast as maybe unintentional, or maybe too far is then doing that would also get rid of, like, industrial taxes, mineral property taxes, not just focus on the little old lady who can't afford to live in her own house.”
Property tax reform was a top voter issue ahead of the 2024 General Election. Property tax collections in the state for fiscal year 2024 were $2.057 billion dollars.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday kicked a lawsuit against a Cheyenne hospital over a little girl’s death back down to a lower court.
Cheyenne Regional Medical Center had asked the high court to dismiss a motion its lawyers had filed seeking immunity against a lawsuit the family of a 7-year-old girl had filed against the hospital.
Cowboy State Daily’s Justin George reports that the hospital is basing its argument on the Wyoming Governmental Claims Act, which affords public institutions legal protections.
“The lawsuit stems over the death of a seven year old girl, Amelia Young, who died in 2021 from tracheitis, which is a pretty common illness, but one that can be fatal with children if it's not treated. Her attorney claims that she was misdiagnosed and was sent home from the ER without treatment, and she died the next day. So the family has sued Cheyenne Regional Medical Center but, but what's interesting about this case is that the hospital is fighting it, mostly on the basis that it's not liable under Wyoming law because it was contracted physicians assistant and nurses who worked on and examined the little girl. So that's what makes this case different than most.”
The hospital had asked the courts for total immunity, which was denied, and the hospital appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. In recent months, the hospital asked for that appeal to be dismissed as its legal strategy had shifted, and the justices granted that motion Thursday.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two weeks out from the latest deadline for the Chinese owner of TikTok to either sell its U.S. operation or go dark, a Wyoming entrepreneur remains optimistic about buying the popular social media app.
Reid Rasner, CEO of Omnivest Financial, has been making a push to stand out among a list of heavyweight contenders for TikTok that includes Amazon, Oracle, Perplexity, Microsoft and the owner of OnlyFans. But Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Rasner has said that his investor group’s $47.45 billion bid is $20 billion ahead of the next highest bid.
“There's two weeks left on the deadline for Tiktok to sell or get shut down… and that puts… Wyoming entrepreneur Reid raisner in kind of overdrive trying to push his bid against pretty some, some pretty big names… all vying to the buy the US version of Tiktok… from the Chinese owned company. And the reason for that is for national security… if he's successful and brings Tiktok to Wyoming, I mean, that could be a huge, a huge get, business wise, economy wise for Wyoming.”
He said his bid is the only one that allows the Chinese company, ByteDance, to still be part of the business, although that would be a minority stake and wouldn’t have any authority.
Read the full story HERE.
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Optimism around Wyoming uranium continues to drive investment in the state, with a $76 million merger announced Thursday highlighting the state's re-emergence as a uranium exploration hotspot.
Premier American Uranium Inc.'s acquisition of Nuclear Fuels Inc. creates one of the largest uranium exploration companies focused exclusively on American deposits.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the transaction centers on Nuclear Fuels' Kaycee Project in the Powder River Basin.
“It seems that every week there is news about companies merging, combining forces and really expanding the footprint of uranium mining in Wyoming. This just happened at KC recently. It was … a multi million dollar merger, and it's going to mean more mining activity in Wyoming. It joins a bunch of other really bullish activity around uranium across the state.”
The company describes the Kaycee Project as unique among Powder River Basin properties because it’s the only one where all three historically productive ore formations are known to be mineralized and potentially suitable for in-situ recovery mining.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back in just 15 seconds with more news.
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By a 3-1 margin, the State Board of Land Commissioners on Thursday denied the renewal of six leases related to a long-contested proposal for a gravel mining operation at the base of Casper Mountain
This marks a major victory for local residents who waged a 14-month battle against the development by Prism Logistics.
Sec of State Chuck Gray, State Auditor Kristi Racines, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder voted in favor of the motion. State Treasurer Curt Meier voted against it. And Gov Mark Gordon did not vote.
Cowboy State Daily’s Zakary Sonntag reports that the decision represents an about-face from the board’s initial vote to unanimously approve the leases.
“It may come as a surprise to some people, considering that the board had supported it in the past, and now, a few years after the project was brought, they decided not to renew the leases, and a lot has happened since then. You saw the county commissioners rezone this area to preclude it from allowing mines like this, and there are questions being raised about whether or not they had the authority to do that, if they would grandfather in this project, or if it would be moot. That's currently being heard in the state district court.”
The change in opinion was encouraged by an army of residents and citizen scientists who brought new findings showing the threat of water and dust contamination to be greater than believed.
Read the full story HERE.
A prominent Wyoming legislator says residents should be compensated for “loss of property” when huge wind, solar, minerals or other energy projects displace wild critters.
Toward that end, Sen. Larry Hicks of Baggs is proposing a bill calling for companies to provide off-site compensation when “there’s an impact (to wildlife) that can’t be mitigated” on-site during energy development. Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz explains.
“Like, if somebody builds a 500 acre solar panel field, and there's just simply no way to mitigate the effects of wildlife there, why don't we have those companies pay into a fund, then that money could be used to do compensatory or some sort of equal mitigation elsewhere in the state… there were some people from like, the energy side of things, who were saying, Yeah, we can see the wisdom of this. But if we put too much of a chilling effect on energy development, we could lose out.”
Cheyenne attorney Cindy DeLancey, speaking on behalf of the American Clean Power Association, pointed out that competition is stiff among Western states for big solar, wind, minerals and other energy-related projects, and Wyoming risks losing its “competitive edge” by adding more conditions to the permitting process.
Read the full story HERE.
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A federal court judge has dismissed the case of a Wheatland man who sued Platte County Sheriff’s Deputies last year, for sending him to jail rather than the hospital despite his high blood-alcohol content.
Bryan Hays had a withdrawal seizure in the jail’s shower, sustaining brain damage and facial damage, according to his lawsuit filed last year. Court records show that Hays should not have been booked into jail without a medical release because his blood alcohol content was above 0.300%, according to jail policy. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Judge Scott Skavdahl took issue with what he characterized as shortcomings in the laws around cruel and unusual punishment.
“He was, you know, normal, clear speaking, not having balance issues, answering questions. Said he'd only had two or three beers. So even though he has this crazy high BAC at like, I think, .357, he gets into the jail. And so he later has a withdrawal in the shower where he alleges he fell, damaged his face, sustained brain damage. Was in a coma for a week, and had to relearn how to talk… so Skavdahl, sifting through the laws around cruel and unusual punishment… he was struggling with the case law saying, okay, you know, the guy didn't look like he was having a medical emergency when he was admitted. So probably qualified immunity applies, because there's not this clear crisis. But yet it seems that the law does disfavor chronic alcoholics who might look perfectly normal and suffer far more severe withdrawals later on.”
Skavdahl judged half of the case in the deputies’ favor last week, saying Hays’ claims of false arrest and deputies’ alleged “deliberate indifference” toward his health didn’t carry enough evidence to overcome the deputies’ legal defense of qualified immunity.
Read the full story HERE.
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There was a lockdown in Rock River on Thursday morning. All because of a heated exchange between a wanted man and an annoying rooster.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that, apparently, two individuals were frustrated by the crowing of a “well-known” rooster, so they attempted to silence it with a shotgun.
“6:18am, Albany County Sheriff's Office gets a call of shots fired in Rock River. They respond to the scene. They find two individuals who are upset with the rooster, and they were so upset with the rooster that… they shot it at least once with a shotgun. So one of them was cited for reckless endangerment with a firearm, but the other one who shot the shotgun at the rooster, turns out he had outstanding warrants in Texas, so he was arrested. So the lesson is, I guess, never shoot at a rooster within city limits, because you'll get cited for that, and you shouldn't play with guns where people are, but especially if you've got outstanding warrants.”
Sheriff Aaron Appelhans said at least one shot was fired, but nobody was injured. The rooster, which had been living under a camper trailer, escaped unscathed.
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, my guest is Mike Keller, general manager of Xanterra at Yellowstone National Park. 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.
