It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, July 16th. 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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A man is dead and a police officer wounded after a Monday shootout in Worland.
Officers were sent to the area under the New River Bridge to investigate a 37-year-old male subject whom the reporting party categorized as under the influence of an unknown substance. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that officers arriving on scene recognized the man from a call earlier that day - but when they went to arrest him, the man put up a fight.
“There was a felony property destruction case. They were investigating him, which he was allegedly involved. And so the as more of them are converging on scene, they're recognizing him, and he's, according to the police department, he's resisting and pulls a gun and starts firing on four officers, injuring at least one, and so two of them fired back, and he was stopped, and then he died on scene.”
Wyoming DCI’s officer-involved shooting team has been called to investigate what happened in Worland, and have determined there’s no continuing threat to the community.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday ruled to reject hugely unpopular changes to the state’s landowner hunting tag program.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz was at the meeting, and said that the decision came after the commission listened to hours of testimony from many among dozens of landowners and hunters who showed up at the commission’s meeting in Casper.
“The couple landowners I talked to after the meeting were pleased with the results. I mean, a lot of people showed up. You know, testimony went on for hours, and pretty much everybody spoke out against it, but nobody really seemed angry or particularly upset. It's interesting, because there's still two big unresolved issues out there, and that's whether there should be a cap at the percentage of landowner tags that are included in the hunting tag draw, and whether landowners should be able to put those tags up for sale.”
Each of those issues would require a change in state statutes, which is beyond the commission’s authority. Only the Wyoming Legislature can do that. Those topics might come up during the Legislature’s 2026 session.
Read the full story HERE.
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A U.S. House committee advanced legislation Tuesday sponsored by Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman to remove Yellowstone-area grizzly bears from the Endangered Species Act list.
Hageman, a member of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee, said Tuesday the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem grizzly population has fully recovered and now numbers about 1,100. Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports, though, that the legislation has a unique caveat.
“The US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2017 in the first Trump administration, took exactly this action, but a federal court stepped in and said, No, you can't do that. It halted the removal. So what happened is the Republicans, including Rep Harriet Hageman, were not happy about this, so this legislation reinstates the rule that the court threw out. But here's the catch. Rep Hageman put language in it to prevent judicial review of this rule.… all members of the Wyoming congressional delegation have said consistently that this bear is fully recovered, so they think that it's staying on the endangered endangered species list by mistakes, by activist judges and so on.”
The Committee voted 20-19 along party lines for the Grizzly Bear State Management Act. The bill now goes to the House floor.
Read the full story HERE.
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Dozens of people were exposed to bear spray in the claustrophobic confines of one of the enclosed aerial trams at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort on Monday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that although the exposure was relatively minor, the concentrated chemical had a strong impact on the passengers.
“Somebody got on the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort tram with the canister of bear spray in the pocket of their backpack. And when they set their backpack down, it triggered the mechanism, and a little bit of it sprayed out onto the floor... It wasn't a large amount of bear spray, and it deployed directly to the floor. But bear spray’s an aerosol, so it spread throughout the air in a confined space, people started coughing and choking. The tram operator realized what was happening, they immediately brought it back to the base and evacuated everybody. Everyone was cleared. No serious medical issues arose, and then within a few hours, that tram was thoroughly disinfected and cleaned… that just goes to show how powerful it can be, especially in a confined space like an aerial tram.”
Bear spray is designed to quickly spread a 1% to 2% capsaicin solution over a 30-foot area. When deployed outside, the spray dissipates into the air but can still impact anyone within range. In an enclosed space, the impacts of bear spray can be much, much stronger.
Read the full story HERE.
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After the governor’s office declined in May to remove the Weston County Clerk from office over a botched handling of some 2024 general election ballots, a legislative committee has decided to investigate the incident.
The subcommittee that the legislative Management Audit Committee chair is now forming doesn’t have the authority to prosecute or remove Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that rather, its focus is to review what happened and see if it’s time to change Wyoming’s laws in light of it.
“Committee leaders say is so that we can make better laws, right, because your legislative branch isn't prosecutorial. It's not here to prosecute you or remove you from office, because it's not the Enforcer. And so what they say is, we just want to look at this to make better laws, see what went wrong.”
Sen. Chris Rothfuss of Laramie says the Corporations Committee — not a task force created by the Management Audit Committee — is the appropriate venue for sparking election-code changes. Rothfuss said he doubts the motives behind the subcommittee’s formation, claiming that the move is, quote, “using Management Audit for political theater and political gain.”
Read the full story HERE.
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U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright arrived at Wyoming's newest rare earth mine Friday carrying more than ceremonial shovels. The Denver-based Liberty Energy CEO-turned-Trump cabinet member brought a comprehensive worldview that challenges much of the Biden administration’s energy policies.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison was at the groundbreaking for the Ramaco Resources mine near Ranchester, where Wright said Wyoming is key to President Trump’s energy agenda.
“The way that Secretary Wright sees the future, fossil fuels are going to get their due. You know, from his point of view, they've gotten a bad rap and that. He wants to restore coal to the forefront of generating electricity as we ramp up to this AI data center future… And so when I spoke with Chris Wright, you know, I asked him, I said, Where does climate change fit into… your priorities with the Department of Energy?... he assured me that science is what got him into this, and that he wants to continue to support that… it was a delight speaking to Secretary Wright. He is a intellectual force, very controversial in a lot of the stances he's taken.”
Wright said he sees Ramaco’s new rare earth mine as emblematic of his vision for domestic production rather than foreign dependence.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Tour de Wyoming rolled out for a loop trail around Sinks Canyon at about 6 a.m. Tuesday as the cyclists hit the event’s halfway point. Camped in Lander, riders in the exclusive 250-bike event told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean that the ride is one of the best in the nation.
“The Tour de Wyoming is not a race. It is named kind of after the Tour de France, but there's no racing really involved, and it's very long distances, like they went the long way around it, from Riverton to Lander yesterday, 80 Mile trip, 4000 miles of elevation up and then down. That's one long day, I would say, but I bumped into this fellow who was with the group, and man, he was just like raring to go, looking for more adventure in Lander… This is a very in demand tour. It's very popular. They turned away about 100 riders this year, where maybe other towns are losing their races… as they were all leaving, there was this rainbow up in the sky… I felt like it was kind of perfect for the morning, because these guys are, all the treasure they're looking for isn't gold, but adventure.”
The cyclists are halfway through their six-day ride that finishes Friday, back where they started in Riverton.
Read the full story HERE.
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Jay Richard, Wyoming’s “Pumpkin King,” is doting over the two perfect plants growing in his custom-built greenhouse in Worland. Each has a perfectly shaped orange pumpkin attached to it, and he couldn’t be more proud.
Now, he needs them to stop waiting and start gaining, so they can reach the goal weight of 2000 pounds. He told Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi that despite constant pampering and nearly 500 gallons of water per day between them, these pumpkins are “slow growers.”
“He's got two pumpkins that are growing very happily and healthily. They're perfectly shaped. They're nice and orange. The plants look fantastic. They're just growing slow. For a professional pumpkin grower, gaining 30 pounds a day during prime growing season is slow. That might seem exceptional to us, but that's slow to them. His pumpkins are averaging between 27 and 29 pounds per day, and he's not sure what the solution is… Could just be that he got some slow seeds this year, but as soon as he finds out what the issue is, he's going to address it, because he wants a 2000 pound pumpkin in the Big Horn Basin this year, and he's going to do whatever he can to get it.”
Richard reached a pinnacle in his pumpkin-growing career in 2023, when he grew three pumpkins that won weigh-offs in Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.
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.
