It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, September 3rd. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom… Brought to you by Wyoming Interventional and Vascular Associates. WIVA offers the best solution for treating tired, aching and swollen legs, at Wyoming's only IAC-accredited vein facility. With virtually no downtime and minimal risks, if you’re ready for relief, see what WIVA can do for you. Schedule a consultation at Casper Medial Imaging dot net, forward slash WIVA.
–
A 13-year-old girl was killed and three people were injured and airlifted to care Monday, after a plane crash in the Bighorn National Forest.
Sheridan County Coroner Robert Byrd on Tuesday morning identified the girl as Amelia Palmer. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that she and three other family members were in a single engine plane that crashed in the Bighorn Mountains late in the afternoon on Monday.
“This all happened very quickly… the plane leaves the airport at like four, and it's down by 410, very quick, eight minute flight. And then someone is calling 911, to say there's injured people in the mountains just before five. So very quick, not a huge like days of of languishing there, but, but they did find the three survivors in serious condition, and had to air lift them out.”
The plane is a 1965 single-engine Piper Cherokee registered to a Sheridan man. Its recent flight log shows multiple trips between the Sheridan County Airport and Idaho in the past week.
Read the full story HERE.
–
His whip-sharp sense of humor is what New York Times best-selling author Craig Johnson most remembers about actor Graham Greene, who died Monday at the age of 73 after a lengthy illness.
Greene, a member of the Oneida First Nation tribe, had more than 100 television and film credits to his name. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that he played several roles that were either filmed or set in Wyoming - including Malachi Strand, a major recurring villain on the hit television series, “Longmire,” based on Johnson’s books.
“You know, Craig Johnson only met Graham Greene once on the set of Longmire… He was Malachi Strand… the main bad guy… and Graham green played the character to the hilt… he really gave it everything he got, which Craig told me, was really ironic, because when you meet him, he was the most affable, likable guy… Lou Diamond Phillips introduced him as, hey, Graham, this is the creator, meaning the creator of the show - but Greene immediately leaped to Creator of all life in the universe, right? And he's like, ‘Oh, I have some questions for you.’ Just, you know, deadpan kind of humor. And that's interesting, because Craig, that's the kind of humor he has in his books.”
Greene is probably best known for his role as Kicking Bird in Kevin Costner’s 1990 film, “Dances with Wolves,” which earned 12 Academy Award nominations, including Greene’s nomination as best supporting actor.
Read the full story HERE.
–
A Cheyenne city ordinance preventing RVs and other oversized vehicles from parking on city streets takes effect again Saturday, and will last until next summer.
The Cheyenne City Council voted last December to implement the seasonal restriction. Cheyenne City Councilman Scott Roybal, who was a key supporter of the ban, told Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker that the issue has proven highly divisive among city residents.
“The people that are enforcing this, are saying that it is a safety hazard to have RVs in the road because they block visibility, and they're also an obstacle for snow plows. But I spoke to some Cheyenne residents as well that feel that it's a little unfair. These streets are ours. We pay taxes for them. We should be allowed to park there because finding RV parking is kind of expensive.”
While the ban is lifted temporarily in the summer months beginning five days before Memorial Day, it is reinstated again five days after Labor Day. RV owners can apply for a temporary $15 permit which allows oversized vehicles to park on city streets for five days during the banned months.
Read the full story HERE.
–
The last of summer isn’t for another three weeks, but it’s taking a shockingly large chunk of its daylight before it goes.
After the autumnal equinox on September 22nd, Wyoming loses an average of 55 minutes a month. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that in the next 18 days, we will lose about an hour and 10 minutes of daylight.
“Between September and December, we lose several hours of daylight, but for the first two weeks of September, and really throughout the entire month of September, we lose daylight faster than we do at other points in the year, just because of the way the earth is positioned and its point in its orbit with the sun… So it isn't just a feeling. We are losing daylight faster and faster, up to three minutes every day as we go through the month.”
The loss of daylight will go hand-in-hand with the first bites of winter. Cooler nights, lower humidity, and the first snowfall of the season are all possible before summer’s officially over.
Read the full story HERE.
–
An 18-year-old Campbell County man who stabbed his mother in the back last summer was sentenced Tuesday to between 20 and 30 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder.
Tharles Smith and his mother Karla had an argument the night of June 10, 2024, at their home in rural Campbell County, over whether it was time for the teen to live apart from his family. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that when Karla went to bed that night, Tharles stabbed her in the back with an 8-inch blade, breaking her shoulder blade and puncturing her lung.
“The defense attorney said he's never seen a family dynamic like this before… he reportedly urged his mother to go to bed. They'd been arguing. There's this waiting, and then he stabs her in the back, but then, according to the defense attorney, while they were waiting for medical personnel to arrive, he actually held her in his arms. So it's just this, this tormented family situation where the judge actually, when he was going through the two sides of the story, he just sighed.”
At the time of the incident, Tharles was four months shy of his 18th birthday, and had already been committed to multiple mental health institutions.
Read the full story HERE.
–
Across Wyoming's sagebrush country, greater sage grouse hens are busy fattening up their chicks before winter sets in. At the same time, the Trump administration is moving to finalize plans for how the bird is managed in Wyoming and across the West.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the plan proposed by the Bureau of Land Management is drawing praise from state leaders, along with the oil and gas industry, while evoking concern from some working to protect the species.
“Wyoming has one of the highest, if not the highest, concentrations of sage grouse of all the western states. All the western states are getting reconsidered when it comes to the management of sage grouse with an amendment to a management plan through the BLM that the Trump administration has now put out… the governor's office has been advocating for this… It shows the result of a lot of collaboration between fish and game and the industry and the BLM and others who have tried to figure out a way to balance the needs of the oil and gas industry with the needs of this wonderful species. Now, there are conservationists who are really crying foul here, that they believe that the, you know, the habitats running out and any kind of future development can threaten the future of these wonderful birds.”
The comment period for the Resource Management Plan Amendment begins Sept. 3 and runs through early October.
Read the full story HERE.
–
The winter of 2022-2023 took such a ghastly toll on some of Wyoming’s premier mule deer herds that some hunters opted out during the following hunting season. Now, they’re expressing cautious optimism for fall 2025.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s 2025 hunt forecast offers some hope for mule deer hunters.
“Their hunting forecast says things are getting a little bit better, but numbers are still down kind of in many key areas around the state. There are still a lot of hunt areas around the state where they have point restrictions, which means you're not allowed to shoot a buck that doesn't have a certain number of points per side on their antler… The herds are still struggling in some areas. Some hunters are maybe going, Okay, well, maybe I won't. Maybe I'll try to get a white tailed deer. Maybe I'll just focus on elk.”
Joey Faigl, president/CEO and co-founder of the Muley Fanatic Foundation, said he’s hopeful this hunting season will be a good one. Those deer that survived the huge winterkill had less competition for food once spring finally arrived, and the winters since also have been relatively mild.
Read the full story HERE.
–
The driver of a Ford Mustang was lucky to get off the Beartooth Highway without serious injuries Sunday after taking one of the many hairpin turns on the mountain pass way too fast.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi points out that the Beartooth Highway can be a harrowing-enough driving experience at the posted speed limits, and speeding can quickly turn into a dangerous incident.
“According to the driver who spoke to the recovery guy who I spoke to, he said that he just lost control, the vehicle might have slipped the back wheels off of the edge of the pavement, or something else happened. Either way, he started drifting, and then he rolled and launched off of the pavement… Zach Beardall of Zach's towing and recovery, he said… the guy's lucky that he fell off the highway at the spot where he did - because there was a spot where he could get caught. At other spots, if the same thing happened, you'd go sheer over the side of a cliff, and then it'd be a much more tragic story.”
Incredibly, the driver only sustained minor injuries. He was flown to a hospital in Billings, Montana, and released later that day - but he was ticketed for reckless driving.
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.
