It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, July 9th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days. Ten days of rodeo thrills, Xtreme Bulls, live concerts, carnival rides, western heritage, and unforgettable cowboy spirit in Cheyenne, Wyoming! Don’t miss the 129th Daddy of ‘Em all July 18-27th.
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Two women are suing a former Wyoming cosmetic surgeon and others on claims the surgeon left them disfigured — one after a bout with necrotic breast tissue and maggots, and another after months of infection.
Afton Jennings and Casi Duncan filed their civil complaint Sunday in Natrona County District Court against Dr. Christopher Stewart and three other individuals, as well as the business New Beautiful You, along with Memorial Hospital of Converse County and Summit Medical Center. That’s according to Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland.
“One of them had a breast reduction surgery, and the other one had what they call mommy makeover, a set of interventions to restore a pre child bearing figure. And as they're alleging, devastating consequences followed. One of them saying that her breast basically split and the flesh became necrotic, and they prescribed maggots to eat away the dead flesh. And so she had maggots feeding on her breast and falling out of her shirt while she was at work… and the second one basically said she had this mommy makeover, and she had just infections and issues for months afterward, and didn't get the kind of care that she needed.”
The women are asking for damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs and attorneys’ fees, exemplary damages and any other relief the court deems just.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fans of Raspberry, one of Yellowstone National Park’s most beloved and popular grizzly bears, fear that she’s dead, perhaps killed by another bear.
Wildlife photographer and Raspberry devotee Deby Dixon told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that Raspberry apparently hasn’t been seen in about two months.
“Raspberry… she's kind of on the level of being the 399 of Yellowstone. She's gone missing… in early June, there was a female bear carcass found in Yellowstone National Park, apparently killed by another bear. So some folks are putting two and two together and they're afraid that they've lost Raspberry… this comes right on the heels, of course, last fall 399 was hit, and then one of her cubs was hit in May, and then also in May, Grizzly 1063 lost two of her cubs. So, been kind of a rough period for our Grizzlies.”
Dixon said that if the female grizzly carcass is Raspberry’s, it’s thought that she died defending her cub. Large male grizzlies will sometimes kill cubs that aren’t theirs, and a boar grizzly is reported to have been spotted near the female grizzly carcass.
Raspberry also was suffering from an old hip injury, Dixon said, which might have hampered her ability to fight.
Read the full story HERE.
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The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed July 4 is already making waves in Wyoming's coal-rich Powder River Basin.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that industry advocates see new opportunities on the horizon, even as uncertainty hovers over future demand for more coal.
“The President is very fond of the coal industry. He's doing all he can to revive it after, you know, a leasing ban that was in place by the Biden administration... Sources I spoke to today, this is just further proof that there's a real 180 going on when it comes to leasing land for coal development on federal land. The question remains, and we spoke to a number of experts today, is there the demand that can really rise to exploit this huge resource of coal in the Powder River Basin?”
According to people tracking Wyoming’s coal industry at UW, as the market for coal continues to evolve, the recent legislation appears to emphasize keeping open coal leasing opportunities, whether or not there’s an immediate need.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Ukrainian man who was driving a commercial truck through Wyoming when he caught black ice and crashed into another truck — killing its passenger — was sentenced Tuesday to 90 days in jail and one year probation.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports Borys Bakhtiarov was also fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $220 in court costs and fees. The sentence was for vehicular homicide, a misdemeanor to which Bakhtiarov pleaded no contest Tuesday.
“His attorney talked about him coming here from Ukraine on kind of a humanitarian visa, because he was having a hard time finding work during the war. Was from a lower economic strata, and, you know, all these struggles. And ultimately, he did get the 90 days… it's not a very hefty charge, penalty wise, if you have this crash into someone and they die situation… the defense attorney referenced the political firestorm that was erupting around the time Bakhtiarov was charged… to pull non English proficient truckers from the roads.”
Bakhtiarov came to the United States in 2023 under a “U4U,” or United for Ukraine, visa designed to offer humanitarian, temporary refuge for people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
Read the full story HERE.
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At least for now, an unpopular proposal to increase the number of acres people must own to qualify for landowner hunting tags is apparently off the table.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the Wyoming Game And Fish Department recommended against the proposal, leading up to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission’s meeting July 15 in Casper.
“Those changes, at least for now, as far as the Game and Fish Commission, are off the table, that's not going to happen. That doesn't mean this topic is going away. It's still open. The legislature could still take it up, both this proposal to raise the acreage required to get a landowners hunting tag and then also in a separate but related manner, the legislature also might take up whether folks can put their landowner tags up for sale, which is another extremely controversial idea.”
The Game and Fish landowner tag program allows qualifying property owners to apply for two hunting tags for each of certain huntable species. To qualify for tags, one needs to own at least 160 contiguous acres in a draw-only hunt area for each species being applied for.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two Glenrock 4-H Club families say the local community has rallied around them after a Saturday fire claimed a shop they relied on that housed 4-H supplies, animal feed, a boat and other possessions.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the community’s generosity means that for one of the families with children planning to show pigs at the Converse County Fair starting Saturday, the show will go on.
“They had had friends over that had kids, and they had sparklers and little firecrackers, and they had thrown the refuse into a garbage can in the shop, and then that started a fire. And they lost a lot of things, but among them was 4H kind of things - feed for pigs, and other things that a family that was having their pigs on their property, and they were helping with 4H, lost… A lot of people have come out of the woodwork to lend them 4h supplies, so that by the time the converse fair comes around on July 12 that these kids are going to be able to show their pigs.”
GoFundMe campaigns for each family have been set up by the Sand Creek 4-H Club. A one-day fundraiser at Sips Coffee on Monday across multiple locations in Wyoming also aimed to help the families with a percentage of sales.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two men and one woman with Ecuadorian passports were arrested Saturday on claims a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper caught them speeding through Sweetwater County with around 80 pounds of illegal drugs, ranging from meth to heroin.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the two men, 22-year-old Edgar Narvaez Vega and 21-year-old Pedro Narvaez Vega, also are both wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
“According to the trooper's narrative, the scent of raw marijuana just overwhelms him as he's approaching the vehicle, and he sees marijuana. So then he gets to search, right? Because marijuana is still illegal in Wyoming. And so he gets to search, and according to the affidavit, there's so many drugs in there that he's like, Whoa, let's get this back to the ranch, and then we can weigh and test and process everything. And there were, there were allegedly around 80 pounds of illegal drugs, mostly hard drugs, like like 75 pounds of methamphetamine, and then the rest rounded off with heroin… and cocaine and fentanyl, and then a little dusting of marijuana.”
The Sweetwater County Deputy Attorney charged the three Monday with drug-related felonies.
Read the full story HERE.
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And people across northern Colorado are mourning the sudden and shocking death of a local celebrity struck by lightning on the Fourth of July.
Larry, a 15-year-old camel owned by the Aurin Family, was a regular fixture at public events in northern Colorado for more than a decade. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that public events in the Steamboat Springs area won’t be the same without Larry the camel.
“He appeared in live nativity scenes and parades. He visited local senior citizen centers to just brighten their day. He was hand reared by a family down there, and so he had a really gentle disposition that made him safe around kids and around old people… the people I talked to, they felt it was, like tragically fitting that he died on July 4, because… people who remember him, a lot of them probably remember him from the Fourth of July parades in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where he was a central feature.”
It appears that Larry was instantly killed, which is some small comfort for everyone who had come to love the compassionate camel.
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.
