It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, August 6th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Converse County Tourism Promotion Board! Discover Douglas and Glenrock in beautiful Wyoming, where rich history, outdoor adventure, and welcoming communities await. Feel the Energy of Converse County at www.ConverseCountyTourism.com.
–
If anyone could survive a week alone in the rugged Cloud Peak Wilderness of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains, it’s Grant Gardner.
That’s what his family believes, and what his wife, Lauren, told Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson. Lauren is holding onto hope that her 38-year-old husband is still alive after his solo ascent of Cloud Peak on July 29.
:44 “Naturally, she still feels pretty shocked, everything felt surreal to her. But she said that what gives her hope is that her husband is an outdoorsman, that’s where he lives, he’s out there all the time. He has a lot of skill, he has a lot of equipment, he’s very meticulous in how he prepares, he maps everything out. She feels confident that when he went out, he was properly geared up. She said if anyone can survive out there for a week, he can.”
That he’s an experienced hiker is one reason Bighorn County Sheriff Ken Blackburn said the effort “very much” remains a search and rescue operation, not search and recovery, which would assume he had perished.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A federal judge on Tuesday issued a ruling ordering the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider wolf policy in Wyoming and other states, which could open the door to wolves being relisted as an endangered species.
Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the Fish and Wildlife Service broke the law last year when it denied a petition from a coalition of environmental and animal welfare groups calling for wolves to be re-listed as an endangered species. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the agency has been ordered to reconsider whether to grant wolves endangered species protection in Wyoming — as well as in Idaho, Montana and parts of Washington, Oregon and Utah.
3:44 “This doesn’t mean wolves are going to be delisted right away. What this means is the judge saw value in the plaintiff’s complaint and ordered FWS to go back to the drawing board and come back to the court with a better reason why wolves should remain off the endangered species list.”
In Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, wolves were removed from federal protection in 2011 and management was handed over to the states. It’s legal to hunt and trap wolves in all three states.
Read the full story HERE.
–
The brother of a concessionaire employee who was shot to death while firing upon Yellowstone National Park rangers in July 2024 has no claim to the deceased shooter’s car — which the government wants to keep.
That was the ruling Friday of U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott Klosterman in the legal action by which the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Wyoming seeks to seize the gunman’s 2021 Nissan Rogue. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the government claims the car was an integral part of an attempted mass shooting scheme.
1:23 “Across Wyoming courts, we have this mechanism called asset forfeiture, where the government actually accuses an object of a crime. They actually say, this object is guilty, challenging it as being a component in a crime… 1:52 The courts have generally upheld asset forfeiture, even though it sounds unusual to the layman. But if the government can prove that this object was involved in the furtherance of a crime, and there’s no legitimate claims that overcome that, then the government gets to keep your stuff.”
Noah Fussner had laid no claim to his brother’s guns, magazines and ammunition that were inside the vehicle. In a court filing, he wrote that he hoped those would be sold as a small token of reparation to the NPS officer injured on the line of duty.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A new COVID-19 booster shot is coming out this fall and is likely to be unpopular with most Wyomingites, even as the approach of cooler weather signals the onset of cold and flu season.
A Health policy research firm released the results of a survey last week showing that 59% of Americans will "definitely not” or “probably not” get the booster - and Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports that these results largely fall along political party lines, with Republicans being far less likely to receive the jab than Democrats.
1:57 “Obviously in a state like Wyoming, a decision like that is going to prove highly controversial… 2:12 It seems to be a very push and pull situation between the people and the state. Obviously the Wyoming Department of Health is very in favor of people receiving this booster shot and staying healthy, whereas some Republican lawmakers however are pushing back against it, saying people should have the right to choose whether to receive this shot.”
But Dr. Alexia Harrist, the state health officer, says that whether Wyoming residents elect to get the new COVID booster, the Wyoming Department of Health will be ready for everyone.
Read the full story HERE.
–
I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
–
Before and after school in Jackson, traffic on the pathways around town can play out like a scene from the apocalyptic road rage film “Mad Max” — if all the characters rode e-bikes.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison spoke to a representative of the advocacy group Friends of Pathways, which is working with local schools and law enforcement to bring order and safety to Jackson’s extensive network of bicycle and walking trails.
2:06 “It’s an incredible system, and folks in Jackson are making the most of it, going to work on these e-bikes, going to school… 2:32 but it’s gotten so crowded, and those machines have gotten so fast that there’s a lot of concern for safety… 2:48 it’s kind of intimidating, you come out right before school or right after school and you’re faced with fifty middle schoolers on these e-bikes coming at you at 15 mph… 3:21 they’ve allocated some extra money to create an ambassador program so there’ll be kind of a referee out there.”
The safety program now aimed at the bike paths includes teaching youth and parent bike skills through the public schools, removing illegal vehicles and employing traffic calming measures in congested areas.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A rash of garbage fires this year outside Rock Springs that a landfill manager linked to lithium-ion batteries foreshadow the potential for large-scale disasters.
That’s what concerned public officials told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland. The general manager at the Rock Springs Landfill said there have been six fires there in the past year, all attributed to lithium-ion batteries bursting into flames.
3:24 “The manager at the landfill was like, these batteries, six times in the past year have burst into flames in this dump, and then they’re catching garbage on fire, and one time this was in the evening when we weren’t there watching…4:08 and the implications as you get bigger and bigger batteries, all the way up to vehicle batteries, electric cars and such… 4:27 it can take like 20-50,000 gallons of water to put out a burning electric vehicle, for example… 4:27 it begs these larger societal infrastructural questions.”
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are prolific. They’re in cellphones, laptops and electric power tools, to name a few devices. If one of the tiny cells within a battery overheats, so too do all the cells in its vicinity and so on, leading to a rapid fire that can reach up to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Wyoming is not an easy state for allergy sufferers, and there’s a reason for that. That reason is sagebrush, and it’s a huge contributor to the state’s overall pollen counts.
According to data from pollen.com, Wyoming ranks sixth in the nation for average pollen counts. And Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the state’s hay-fever capital is Evanston, which clocks in with an average pollen concentration index of 6.65 on a scale of 10.
“On average, Evanston is the hay fever capital of the cowboy state, and the reason is sagebrush. Now, sagebrush grows all over Wyoming, of course… it has really lightweight pollen that travels a long distance in the wind, which Wyoming has plenty of… And so you have these plants which are all over Wyoming, just pumping out pollen and traveling on the wind everywhere… it's not just the pollen that can be allergenic, but those aromatic compounds that sage is known for that make it smell so great, those can also be allergenic, if you get those on your hand and rub your eyes, and your eyes start to swell. It's kind of a little poison ivy type of reaction there.”
But moving away from the Cowboy State isn’t necessarily the answer. Pollens aren’t the only things people can be allergic to, and moving can expose them to a whole new slate of problematic things, like dust, mold and animals that can make one’s allergy bucket overflow.
Read the full story HERE.
–
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.
