It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, June 10th. 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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Three women renewed their lawsuit against a sorority Monday over a transgender member allowed in its Wyoming chapter.
The civil lawsuit of a handful of Kappa Kappa Gamma members suing sorority leadership over the induction of a transgender member was filed as a proposed action Monday, with just three of the original seven plaintiffs remaining, according to crime and courts reporter Clair McFarland.
“The women who are suing Kappa Kappa Gamma, saying it breached contract, broke good faith to induct a transgender member back in 2022, they repackaged their lawsuit, and we kind of knew that was coming, because the they lost, and then the appeals court said, This doesn't look like it's in our court yet. You need to try refiling with the lower court… but the original seven dwindled down to six… is now at three, so there's three women left fighting this lawsuit that's just been a saga here in Wyoming.”
The lawsuit raises a question of how involved, if at all, University of Wyoming officials were in the transgender student’s induction. The University has said it was not involved in the student’s induction.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Los Angeles rioting over ICE raids has deepened political divisions on Capitol Hill, where the Senate on Monday resumed work on the massive budget bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The bill has dominated senators' time as of late, but Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that the riots have opened a new partisan battlefront.
“The major story on Capitol Hill is how the Senate's going to get through the one big, beautiful Bill Act, a giant package of tax cuts, spending measures… But this rioting out in LA has certainly gotten the attention of Wyoming's members of Congress… Wyoming's members of Congress have seized on the rioting in California… to try to draw a distinction between the two political parties… basically the Republicans are saying, Hey, we're the party of law and order. We're the party of getting tough on immigration. This sort of thing does not happen on our watch.”
The violence has gone on for days. Five Los Angeles Police Department officers were reported hurt Monday. Arrests have numbered in the dozens amid torched cars and looted stores.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Trump administration is pushing to move ahead with granting approvals for a 5,000-well oil and gas project in Converse County.
Despite a previous court order halting permitting for the project, which was approved in December 2020 under the first Trump administration, Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the Bureau of Land Management has found no significant new impacts to groundwater resources, opening the door for the project to move forward.
“One interesting point made to me by a county commissioner in Converse County is that this is a huge deal for the local industry, but you're not necessarily going to see more rigs or as many rigs as predicted, because the process started so long ago, the technology has changed. And so maybe, where you once had to put three rigs, you might just put one because of what's called lateral drilling. And so there's a lot of new circumstances to consider because it's taken so long to get this moving, they're going to start reassessing based on the current technology.”
According to the BLM, the project could generate between $18 billion and $28 billion in federal revenues and create roughly 8,000 jobs.
Read the full story HERE.
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For many locals, Shell Falls has been a must-stop when driving over the Bighorn Mountains on US Highway 14. The falls are gorgeous any time of year, but June is when they get truly beautiful with snowmelt coming down the mountains, filling the falls with white, rushing water.
However, anyone looking forward to a stop at the Shell Falls Rest Area east of Greybull will be in for an unwelcome surprise - the Falls are closed, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean, and will be for the next two years.
“If you're driving between Cody and Sheridan, it makes the ideal rest stop. You can stretch your legs, go look at the falls, enjoy a little nature, and then head back on your way. But not for two years… They are fixing some power issues so that the bathrooms will work again… They're going to fix it, but it's going to be closed for two years, up to two years, while they do that ... It's definitely a big tourist attraction. Usually the parking lot is jam packed with tour buses and tourists stopping along the way, but so this favorite site will not be open for that for a couple of years.”
That makes the now second major attraction closed in the Bighorns, as Crazy Woman Canyon on Highway 16 was unexpectedly closed this year for bridge replacements.
Read the full story HERE.
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At least 15 Union Pacific railcars derailed Monday near Walcott Junction in central Carbon County, prompting responses from law enforcement, the railroad and the local power cooperative.
At least three of the derailed cars were tankers, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“Scanner traffic said, and officials later confirmed there were two trains involved, and about 15 to 20 cars derailed. At least three of those were tankers. And you know, our correspondent on scene said that there was actually, like a propane heater that got hit and was leaking. So originally, the concerns were, whoa, we smell propane. Do we have a propane tanker leaking? Let's get some power shut off, and you know, the fire chief on scene said to our correspondent, no, it looks like there was a heater hit, and that's where that odor is coming from.”
Officials say there were no injuries, and the incident is under investigation.
Read the full story HERE.
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People born and raised in Wyoming who move to other states must pay expensive nonresident tag fees to come back to hunt. Nonresident hunting tags in Wyoming can be difficult to draw and are considerably more expensive than resident tags.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that legislators are considering lower-priced “nonresident native” hunting tags for them.
“Up north, across the straight line to Montana, they have what they call their come home to hunt program, which kind of offers - they're not as low as resident tag fees, but they're lower than the typical non resident tag fees… representative, JD Williams, kind of took up the cause, and so they're kind of pushing for a similar program here in Wyoming… So we can encourage more of our native people who grew up and then moved to other states to come back here to hunt where it's not costing an arm and a leg to pay for non resident tags.”
Williams told Cowboy State Daily that he might sponsor a bill calling for Wyoming nonresident native hunting tags. However, he’d rather the bill be sponsored by Travel and Tourism. Committee-sponsored bills typically move faster and have better chances of passing that individually-sponsored bills.
Read the full story HERE.
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On Dec. 21, 1866, a group of infantry, cavalry and civilians under the command of Capt. William Fetterman were wiped out after riding and marching into a trap sprung by more than 1,500 Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors, in what is now Sheridan County, Wyoming.
For more than 130 years, Fetterman was painted as an arrogant buffoon who directly disobeyed orders and ran over a ridge to his death. But Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that new research by a Wyoming historian is painting a different picture of the Civil War hero - and the story will be featured on History Channel’s latest docuseries, “Kevin Costner’s The West.”
“What has happened in recent years, over the last 20, is that people have been digging up these first person accounts and revealing Fetterman for who He really was, and that was an obedient soldier loved by his men, and compassionate and aware that the Native Americans were a worthy opponent.”
The story of Fetterman will be aired later this month and will debunk the myth that he was a callous, disobedient officer, and will share the story of how the Fetterman Fight helped shape the West.
Read the full story HERE.
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And a strawberry moon rises over Wyoming on Tuesday evening, and when it does, it will be at its lowest point in a 37-year span.
The full moon this month will rise only 21 degrees above the horizon in the southeast sky, which is about as low as it can go over the Cowboy State. That’s not unusual for this time of year, but Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that a full moon this low hanging only happens once every few decades.
“Typically during the summer, the moon is lower in the sky, anyway, because it's opposite of the sun… now, just because of the peculiarities of the lunar cycle and the way the moon orbits the Earth… when it rises on Tuesday night, it's going to be at its lowest point that it's been since 2006 and it's not going to be this low in the sky again until 2043 so it's a once in a generation opportunity to see the Strawberry Moon… so as the moon rises on Tuesday night, it could shine through the atmosphere and have a really deep red hue, so it might look like a Strawberry Moon.”
The full moon of June is called “the strawberry moon” because it’s (allegedly) when wild strawberries start to ripen. Wyomingites can expect to see the strawberry moon rise around 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, reach its highest point right after midnight, and set at 4:26 a.m. Wednesday.
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.
