It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, June 26th. 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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U.S. Senate Republicans said Wednesday they have no timetable for releasing a new scaled-back proposal from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to sell public lands in the West.
The Senate referee had ruled his first plan violated the budget process by straying too far into policymaking. So Lee posted on X Tuesday that he is working on new language - and Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that Lee’s original provision of a mandatory selloff of 2 million to 3 million acres of public lands in the next five years has been highly contentious in Wyoming.
“The one big, beautiful bill, act is a sprawling tax and spending package, but Senator Mike Lee tucked in language to sell part of public lands, a huge, contentious issue in Wyoming. It was ruled out of order by the Senate parliamentarian… I spoke with John Barrasso’s people, Senator Cynthia Lummis’ people, I emailed other mountain west senators on Lee's committee. There's no guarantee anything's going to be in the bill, or what it's going to look like. The Senate leadership is racing to get this bill to the floor.”
Read the full story HERE.
But some Wyoming outdoor enthusiasts said Wednesday that there is no revision or new version of a proposal to sell federal public land that hunters and anglers will find acceptable. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz spoke to several outdoorsmen and women who say that Lee missed the point.
“I talked to Karlee Provenza, Owen Miller and Chris Steffen… Senator Mike Lee of Utah has reported he's trying to redo some rewrites, do some revisions, maybe get that introduced back in, but the bottom line with the Wyoming hunters, or at least what I'm hearing from them, is there's nothing they can do to make this acceptable. We'd say we don't want public lands sold anywhere, anytime period.”
Provenza, who is also a Wyoming state legislator, said that regardless of what happens with Lee’s proposal, she thinks the fight is far from over. She said attempts to sell off federal lands in the West are nothing new, and she expects Lee and others who favor that idea to keep trying.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bomb squad crossed South Pass on Wednesday in response to what looked like a pipe bomb along Lander’s idyllic Popo Agie River walk.
Fortunately, a number of law enforcement officials were in Lander for a conference, including the Sweetwater County undersheriff. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Lander’s interim Police Chief called on his colleague for a little assistance.
“So the interim police chief of Lander turns to the UnderSheriff of Sweetwater County and says, Hey, can you send up your bomb squad?... They X ray the thing. And then they use some physics tricks that they asked me not to share for safety reasons, to attack the device from a safe distance… in the process, they found out that there wasn't, like, a wire connecting a battery to some kind of detonation substance… I called Joey Correnti, who taught bomb disarming in the army, and he was like, yes, you have to show so much caution. Even if you think that they're fake, they might be decoy fakes, in other words, real.”
This marks the second time Fremont County residents have found mock explosives alongside rivers in the past three months.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming cattle ranchers stand behind the effort of a South Dakota Republican to narrow the use of “Product of the USA” labels to beef derived from cattle born, raised, slaughtered and processed in the United States.
But they aren’t fans of his push for mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef. Cowboy State Daily’s Matthew Christian spoke to representatives of Wyoming’s cattle industry who say instead that such labeling should be voluntary.
“They're very supportive of voluntary labeling, and they're definitely very, very supportive of the new law, or the bill, but they're also very concerned about mandatory labeling. They believe it's going to raise producers' costs, and that it could negatively impact their operations as well. And one of the biggest reasons that they said that was that it's hard to track exactly where cattle go, because some cattle are born here, but shipped to Canada for the summer, some cattle are born somewhere else and brought here, and so it's difficult for them to know exactly where they go.”
Country-of-origin labeling and protecting US beef producers has been a recurring theme with federal and state officials. In 2023, U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman sponsored a bill that, had it passed, would have prohibited beef sellers from passing off foreign beef as an American-made product.
Read the full story HERE.
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Powder River Energy wants to build a solar array in Moorcroft near the rodeo grounds, looking to generate its own solar power and store it in batteries until it’s needed.
But like many rural areas around Wyoming, Crook County doesn’t have a regulatory structure to permit solar and wind projects. So Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the county drafted a new set of rules, and has solicited the public’s input on them.
“The county said, Well, we actually don't have any regulations for, you know, managing this kind of project, and not only for solar, but for wind as well. And so I spoke to a county commissioner, and he said, you know what's going on with wind around the state, with the controversial projects that have made a lot of headlines in Cowboy State daily. You know, we figured it was time for Crook County to get their regulations up to date so they could handle this solar project. And then down the road, if should some wind project come along, they'd be ready for that as well.”
The draft wind and solar regulations up for public comment include notice requirements to landowners within one mile of proposed facilities, along with minimum setback distances from property lines, roads, and residential structures.
Read the full story HERE.
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Four people were arrested Tuesday after drag racing "multiple high-end luxury sports cars" in Grand Teton National Park.
Grand Teton National Park’s Wednesday statement on the incident did not say what makes or models the luxury cars were, nor who was arrested or how fast they were driving. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to an automotive expert, who posed the legitimate question, what would happen to a Lamborghini if it hit a black bear?
“To the chagrin of everyone, they're not telling us what kind of cars they were. Were they Lamborghinis? Were they Bugattis?... we do not know. So we don't know the top speeds. We don't know the survival chances of a bear. You know, what we do know is there can be some state penalties for excessive joyriding in a national park, like destruction of federal property if you hit a tree, according to Aaron Turpin. Fortunately, Aspen saplings aren't super expensive, so maybe it won't register as a felony.”
Automotive writer Aaron Turpen told Cowboy State Daily the national park’s curved roads are an irrational place for drag racing, since people with the means to buy luxury cars can hop over to Utah and pay to use a race track rather than risk obliterating a black bear with a carbon fiber car body.
Read the full story HERE.
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A more than 40-mile high-speed chase through Carbon County on Tuesday ended in Saratoga with the arrest of the driver and his passenger on felony drug charges.
Andrew Nollen and Erin Kampa are accused of leading law enforcement on a chase along Interstate 80 that began in Rawlins, then made a few loops through Sinclair before finally stopping in Saratoga.
And Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that during the extended pursuit, the couple could be seen tossing objects out of the window that were later determined to be drugs and paraphernalia.
“Part of the challenge for the troopers to put these cases together is to go back and locate those drugs. So in this case, it was easier for the trooper because they call out landmarks. So this time he could see it, they were throwing it out near a fire hydrant. So he could say, fire hydrant. And so then when they go back, they're able to, you know, more easily, find the drugs.”
This is the third high-speed chase in Wyoming within a week, including a Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper who rolled his vehicle Friday in pursuit of a homicide suspect fleeing Colorado as well as a chase in Riverton that exceeded speeds of 130 mph.
Read the full story HERE.
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As an Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, Hank Ward has seen a lot, but he’ll never forget the first time he saw a moose in the wild, in Wyoming a couple of years ago. The young bull moose almost stepped on him — but not on purpose.
And like many vets treated to Wyoming hunts, Ward wants to come back. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that a veteran-founded group called Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn is working to make that dream a reality for others as well.
“They're based in the south, but they're active in a lot of states, including Wyoming. They're looking for their hunts. This year, they want 10 elk tags, general over the counter. Elk tags, really simple. If someone wants to donate a tag, they do that through the game and fish department. Through the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, you can fill out a form saying, I would like to donate my tag to such and such an organization. And they qualify because they are a charitable non profit, that is, they're not trying to sell these tags. They're giving them to disabled veterans to come hunt in Wyoming.”
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department and wildlife agencies in other states allow residents to donate their hunting tags through reputable nonprofits like Vets 4 Huntn & Fishn.
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.
