It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, August 15th. 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.
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One of the most famous trial attorneys of the 20th century and a proud son of Wyoming, Gerry Spence died Wednesday in his Montecito, California, home at the age of 96.
Spence was a legend among the trial bar, especially for his civil practice and criminal defense work. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland was notified of Spence’s passing by his family.
“Spence's stepson, Chris Hawks, texted me at midnight saying that he had passed, and I stayed up half the night reading his autobiography... And then first thing in the morning, I talked to his law partner of 25 years, Bob Schuster, Jim Fitzgerald, whom he mentored, former Governor Mike Sullivan, who was a friend and a law colleague and a little daunted at times by Jerry Spence during his law career. And you know, really, the prevailing theme was that Spence was successful because he faced his fears and he told powerful stories.”
Spence rose to national prominence through a series of landmark cases, including a $10.5 million verdict for the family of nuclear whistleblower Karen Silkwood; and the successful defense of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Cheyenne-born restaurant chain that brought the world Taco Tuesday and Potato Olés is quietly saying adios to Wyoming, and fully relocating its corporate headquarters to Minnesota, after 56 years in business.
A former Taco John’s Vice President of Marketing told Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison that the move was kept deliberately under wraps, given the strong emotional ties many maintain with the restaurant chain that started as a taco stand outside the entrance to Cheyenne Frontier Days - and now includes around 380 stores.
“Just as the soft taco shell binds to the hard taco shell in the Taco Bravo, the people of Cheyenne have an undeniable bond with this chain… You know, when you have a 56 year old restaurant, automatically there's going to be nostalgia. Nothing is more nostalgic than smells and tastes and tradition… Taco Bell is the real kind of gorilla in the room that really took over the world of fast food tacos. But you had these regional success stories… In Wyoming, parts of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, all the way to Minneapolis, you had Taco John's. And in fact, there's 200 something stores within driving distance of Minneapolis. And I think that was one of the major reasons that taco John's made the decision to break the hearts of so many Taco John's lovers.”
Despite corporate headquarters now calling Minnesota home, Cheyenne won't soon shake its love for Taco John's. It’s embedded in the community's DNA through decades of shared meals and memories.
Read the full story HERE.
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The health care landscape in Wyoming just became a little bit rockier with the announcement that one of the three health care insurers available on the Affordable Care Act’s health care exchange in Wyoming is leaving the state.
Mountain Health Co-Op, which insures just over 11,000 people in Wyoming, told its members on Wednesday that it is pulling out of the Cowboy State by the end of this year.
Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that that will leave the Wyoming network with just two providers, United Health care, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.
“We've had quite a few changes at the federal level, with the healthcare exchange markets… Several things have happened in the one big, beautiful bill, things like increased eligibility, documentation requirements… they're sunsetting the premium tax credits… the price of these plans kind of goes up quite a bit, makes them unaffordable, and Wyoming is already a pretty high cost state. And so mountain health Co Op had proposed a 32% increase in their premiums, and now they have decided to just pull the plug on Wyoming and exit the state.”
Consumers do have options. There are still two insurers on the marketplace, and hundreds of licensed insurance companies that sell various health insurance products in our state.
Read the full story HERE.
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Despite being removed from the official agenda of a legislative meeting in Casper on Thursday, a former speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives was allowed to testify there for nearly 30 minutes.
Tom Lubnau’s 28-minute remote testimony to the legislative Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee, followed his unceremonious removal from the agenda days earlier by Committee Co-Chair Christopher Knapp. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the legislator had voiced concerns with the acerbic nature of Lubnau’s weekly political column in Cowboy State Daily.
“In my experience, covering legislative meetings for a public commenter to be given a half hour testimony is almost unheard of, or at least extremely rare and and, you know, Chairman Knapp told me on Wednesday, he was like, Look, yes, he's taken off the schedule, but I mean, he's allowed to speak during public comment, and if I'm chairing that meeting, I'll even give him extra time in light of his great expertise in this area.”
On Thursday, Lubnau told McFarland that he was sorry that the controversy distracted from the real objective, which is making good laws in Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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For more than a century, mineral rights have been carved up, sold off and passed down through families across Wyoming, often leaving current landowners in the dark about who actually owns what lies beneath their property.
Now Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that lawmakers are proposing to let landowners reclaim long-abandoned mineral estates, resolving tangled ownership dating to the homesteading era, and protecting the rights of property owners.
“With the leadership of the Wyoming Mining Association and a working group the judiciary committee is considering this draft. And basically what it would do is create laws like we have for abandoned property… what this law, ostensibly, would do is revert that ownership to the surface owner and try and give them better standing and basically create a more easy to understand and clear path for these property owners.”
The draft legislation is modeled after a similar measure in North Dakota - but lawmakers and stakeholders say it still needs a lot of work.
Read the full story HERE.
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What was a small wildfire reported about 14 miles east of Thermopolis on Wednesday evening has exploded to an estimated more than 20,000 acres, as of Thursday evening.
What’s been named the Red Canyon Fire also has prompted evacuations of homes in the rural area, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson.
“Don't know exactly when it was started, but likely started when it was noticed, Wednesday evening. And when I first checked in on it Thursday morning, it was being estimated at about 300 acres - by five o'clock Thursday, it was 15,000 acres… it shows how by mid August, fire conditions are just off the charts. Everything is dry. There's fuel loads just ready to go. It doesn't take much, I think just a squirrel looking at you wrong, will set it on fire, and then it just burns.”
The fire is burning in the Red Hole, Kirby Creek and Buffalo Creek areas, which are included in the evacuation. However, while the smoke plume from the fire is visible in Thermopolis, officials say the town isn’t threatened.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cowboy Energy of Sheridan has invested millions of dollars and spent three years developing what would be one of Wyoming's first agriculture-friendly solar installations.
The project promises to generate badly needed property tax revenue for Goshen County while allowing agricultural operations to continue on the same land — putting the “farm” in solar farm.
But David Madison reports that there’s a catch: The company says there’s currently no feasible way to transmit that electricity to market.
“This company would love to get the project off the ground. They have the support of the economic development team there. I think there are also opponents to this as well… The plan appears to be mostly in place to get this very large solar farm up and running, except the crucial element of where do you transmit? … if you can't get your electricity to market, you don't have a project.”
Brian Young, CEO of Go Goshen Economic Development, said the solar project would generate needed economic benefits for the county of about 12,000 people.
Read the full story HERE.
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When browsing around the F.E. Warren Base Exchange store, one might do a double take when catching a glimpse of a silhouette of an African antelope on a T-shirt commemorating the Wyoming air force base.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that it was simple miscommunication between the store’s staff and a shirt-maker, when the store put in an order for roughly 50 shirts with an “antelope” on them.
“There are so many antelope - we call them antelope, but they're actually prong horn - on the FE Warren base. They wanted to have a T-shirt that kind of commemorated them, so they ordered a t-shirt with an antelope on it. What they got were T-shirts with the picture of an antelope on them, except it was an African greater kudu antelope, an actual antelope, and not a prong horn… The ordering manager said, You know what? We'll just be more specific next time. In the meantime, she said, I'm stuck with these shirts.”
Since they couldn’t send back the T-shirts with African antelope on them, the staff decided to make the best of it, adding that people really do enjoy them as a novelty item.
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 iconic wildlife photographer Tom Mangelsen. You can find the link to this inspiring and entertaining conversation on our website, on our YouTubechannel, 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.
