It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, June 13th. 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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With “No Kings” anti-Trump protests scheduled for at least 13 Wyoming towns Saturday, Gov. Mark Gordon indicates he doesn’t expect the fiery scenes flowing out of Los Angeles, because, quote, “Wyoming is not Los Angeles.”
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the Wyoming Democratic Party called on Gordon this week to reject any attempt by the president to federalize the Wyoming National Guard against protest and dissent.
“Gordon… didn't really offer what he would do if Trump took over. But he was like, Look, this isn't Los Angeles. People protest here all the time without incidents. I guess if I felt I needed to deploy the guard or had a formal request that would evaluate the need for that, but people protest pretty much without incident here.”
In a Tuesday statement, the Wyoming Democratic Party said thousands of Wyomingites are preparing to protest peacefully, and called using military force against American citizens unconstitutional and un-American.
Read the full story HERE.
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The utilities providing electricity to Wyoming residents responded with cautious optimism to Wednesday’s news that the Environmental Protection Agency plans to roll back Biden-era emissions rules for coal-fired power plants.
The move comes after clashes in federal court between the state of Wyoming and the EPA under Biden. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the reversal of the rules is hailed by Wyoming leaders as good news for utility ratepayers and the state’s coal industry.
“Critics are really sounding the alarm about air quality, and proponents like former Wyoming legislator Cyrus Western, who's now an EPA Administrator, saying this is going to be really good for Wyoming, for Wyoming's economy, and for residential ratepayers… I spoke to several representatives from utilities providing electricity to Wyoming residents… They were withholding judgment for today, but some said that, you know, this is definitely a good step in the right direction. It's not like flipping the light switch and completely changing the marketplace.”
Basin Electric and Montana-Dakota Utilities told Cowboy State Daily they are still assessing the situation following the EPA announcement Wednesday.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s U.S. senators were cheering Thursday as President Donald Trump signed legislation throwing out the so-called California EV mandate, which called for a phase-out of gasoline-powered vehicles that Republicans said would have had a nationwide impact.
Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that With Trump’s signature, the three new laws overturn California air quality standards that had been copied in whole or in part by 17 states.
“Wyoming's members of Congress are real happy President Donald Trump signed into law today a bill to throw out California's electric vehicle mandate... all new vehicle sales by 2035 had to have zero emissions, meaning they could not be gasoline powered. And since California is a huge state, and many of the other states that copied it have very large populations, it influences the entire auto manufacturing industry… a huge argument is that California was setting auto manufacturing policy for the whole country… 12 states have copied them, including New York and some others. Those states comprise a very large portion of the country's population, so naturally, they're going to influence auto manufacturing decisions.”
California and 10 other states immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the laws enacted Thursday.
Read the full story HERE.
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A former Wheatland band teacher originally accused of committing sex acts on a girl younger than 16 last summer, now faces another 78 felony-level charges, on claims he committed near-daily sex acts with a different, 17-year-old-student during his last two semesters on the job.
34-year-old Evan Bradley was charged in March with the first 19 counts in a case involving a girl younger than 16 years old, which is set for an Aug. 11 trial. With the additional charges, Clair McFarland reports that Bradley faces the potential for more than a millennium in prison if convicted.
“The new charges are with a girl who was not as young. She was 17 when these alleged sex acts happened, like a near daily affair over half the autumn 2023 semester and throughout the spring 2024 semester… the charges pertaining to her reference the fact that he was in a position of authority… he was her band teacher for starting in sixth grade… rom what I could tell, the 17 year old alleged affair was from like autumn 2023 through at least spring of 2024 and the girl younger than 16, according to the charges, that alleged affair was primarily summer 2024.”
Bradley could face over eleven hundred years in prison on the second case alone, and more than 400 years on the earlier case.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back in just 15 seconds with more news.
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The rift between Wyoming’s historical groups appears to be growing, with Wyoming Historical Society giving all its county chapters the boot, telling them to go their own way.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the chapters will have to seek nonprofit status on their own, and that the society will no longer provide any administrative oversight to the chapters that had been part of their organizational structure for decades.
“The way it worked is, all of the members would pay their annual dues to their local chapters, and those dues included dues that were sent to the State Society… It'll be a big hit to the Wyoming Historical Society budget, you know, like Platte County alone, that those dues tallied up to around $3,200 a year… so, you know, over $30,000 from these chapters that was supporting the Wyoming Historical Society… And then, of course, the severing of its fundraising arm, the Wyoming historical foundation has an endowment that's been sending them $15,000 a year, that has not been sent this year.”
Milward Simpson, who worked under two Wyoming governors overseeing several cultural and historic preservation agencies, told Cowboy State Daily that in all of his experience, he’s never seen anything like what’s been happening with the Wyoming Historical Society.
Read the full story HERE.
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After withholding funds for about three weeks, the Sublette County Commission on Wednesday released its final $2.7 million in pledged grants to the Sublette County Hospital District, and let the district divorce itself from a requirement to provide the county with a Public Health office.
That’s in exchange for the transfer of a 1.87-acre plot of land out of the hospital district’s hands, into county property. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the deal breaks loose a very public impasse between the two entities.
“The Sublette county commission wasn't giving $2.7 million in pledge grants to the hospital district to go ahead and finish up that hospital to get it over the finish line… And the hospital was like, we haven't breached any agreement yet… And so they negotiated for like, three hours Wednesday night, and they came out of it like, okay, the county is going to take care of public health, which was the hospital's responsibility for a few years, and the hospital's gonna hand over some land to the county.”
Hospital leaders had delayed the facility’s opening from July 1 to the beginning of August, in light of the county’s withholding of the necessary funds. Aug. 4 is still the anticipated opening date.
Read the full story HERE.
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WE Soda, the world's largest producer of natural soda ash, confirmed this week that it’s downsizing 26 positions following a $1.43 billion acquisition of Genesis Alkali's two Wyoming mines.
The company and a union spokesperson remained upbeat about the move, but told Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison that they recognize that it’s a blow for those impacted employees.
“A British company bought some trona mines in and around Green River, and now it's the biggest trona operation in the world. Well, they're also streamlining, and they announced this week that 26 positions were downsized. I spoke to the head of the Union, and those were positions that he represents, and he said that the 650 union members he does represent are working hard, trying to set records for productivity and efficiency… it's to be expected when you have a $1.4 billion merger between this British company and these mines that there would be some redundancy and some shake out of staff.”
The reduction affects less than 3% of the overall workforce at the Green River operations.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Dubois guest ranch is denying wrongdoing in a lawsuit of an Irish woman who accuses its lead wrangler of wrongfully bear spraying her horse during a ride, causing her foot to be crushed.
Lorraine Learmont filed a lawsuit in March against Triangle C Ranch, alleging that on a 2024 guided horseback riding excursion, the lead wrangler mistakenly grabbed her bear spray rather than her water bottle, and sprayed Learmont’s horse’s eyes. Clair McFarland reports that the ranch is denying that they are liable.
“At the very start of this lawsuit, they noted that the the woman from Ireland whose foot was injured had signed a release before going on the horseback ride. And they of course, pointed to Wyoming's recreation Safety Act, which says that you're responsible for anything that happens to you during record recreation, except if somebody does negligence. So the Irish woman is saying that the ranch was negligent, and they're saying, No, we weren't. And so it'll be interesting to watch this one going forward.”
The ranch’s answer also notes that Learmont presented herself as an experienced rider, and asserts that Learmont is not entitled to any monetary damages.
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 Jackson Hole broadcaster Scott Anderson. 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.
