It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, September 11th. 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 Medical Imaging dot net, forward slash WIVA.
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Wyoming’s congressional delegation and state political leaders are horrified and devastated by the fatal shooting of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.
Kirk, the founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA, was speaking at Utah Valley University when a single shot rang out. U.S. Sen. John Barrasso told Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker in a statement that the shooting is one of several instances of political violence impacting the United States.
“Wyoming's Republican federal delegation on Wednesday spoke out very forcefully against the killing of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk… it ended up sending shock waves through the political world. I mean, this is a figure who engaged students in regular debates. He was somebody that was making regular appearances on these college campuses. And, you know, such a tragic event, obviously, was forcefully condemned by these federal legislators.”
Kirk visited the University of Wyoming in April as part of his American Comeback Tour, a series of events in which he engages students in debates on hot-button political and social topics. His Wednesday event at UVU was also part of that tour.
Read the full story HERE.
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If you ask the prosecutor who tried a Haitian trucker this week for killing an EMT with his truck nearly three years ago on I 80, 46-year-old Saviol Saint Jean was trying to “thread the needle” through a crash scene where everyone was going too slowly for him.
But if you ask Saint Jean’s defense attorney, the former Haitian police officer and newly-trained commercial truck driver was, rather, navigating a chaotic scene for which Wyoming authorities should have closed the road but didn’t.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland was in the courtroom for day 5 of the trial, and said Saint Jean’s fate is now in the hands of the jury, who have to decide which version of the events they’ll side with.
“We have these fiery closing arguments from the defense and the prosecution today, just very searing, both sides. We have a very fastidious account from Joe Hampton, the defense attorney, and a very impassioned account from Danny Eramouspe, the prosecutor… there's no deliberation going on tonight, which perhaps makes for a very long night for the defendant and the victims families.”
Closing statements ended about 4:20 p.m. Wednesday. Jurors are set to return at 8:30 a.m. Thursday for deliberations.
Read the full story HERE.
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A five-hour standoff involving an armed Mills man who barricaded himself inside his home and fired at police has been resolved.
That’s how Natrona County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Kiera Hett described the outcome of the hour-long event that she characterized as “an active situation” that closed a quarter-mile of a Mills neighborhood street. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck has the story.
“What we understand is that Mills police went to this residence to serve a felony warrant. The person there barricaded himself in his house. He was alone in the house, and that was about 11:30, 11:15, and then at about one something… there was a shot fired. Police did not respond. Natrona County special response team showed up as well as Casper police. There was a standoff until 430 and now the Natrona County Sheriff's Office is saying that the situation is resolved, but they're not saying how it was resolved.”
The investigation is ongoing.
Read the full story HERE.
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Saying there was no point in continuing to debate a raft of tax increases for Wyoming’s online sports betting and other gaming platforms, a visibly exasperated state Sen. Tara Nethercott called out Wyoming House members as being obstructionist, then the committee abruptly adjourned Tuesday.
Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Nethercott, chairwoman of the Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments, said the writing was on the wall.
“The Committee voted against the monitoring system, then they heard debate and voted against basically what would have been a doubling of the tax on online sports betting… then seeing that there was really no point in going forward and talking about the other gaming related bills, because… they all knew they're going to fail, the committee adjourned and didn't hear… the last two bills, the committee's chairperson, Senator… Tara Nethercott from Cheyenne, expressed frustration that nothing is being done.”
Nethercott aid she’s frustrated that “the last two or three years” have seen attempts to better regulate gambling and gaming, but without any results.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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A member of the Campbell County Cemetery District Board of Trustees is sounding the alarm over what he believes are improper payouts to several Gillette-based nonprofit groups.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports that board treasurer Dean Vomhof was recently surprised to learn the board allocates about $10,000 a year to local charities, which have nothing to do with cemetery operations.
“He argued that this isn't necessarily the responsibility of the cemetery board, but other members of the board told me that this is just being a good neighbor. Now, if the cemetery board is going to receive tax dollars from the community, they argued that they should be reinvesting in their community and being a good neighbor… I spoke to one Campbell County Commissioner that said that this issue might be worth taking a look at for a potential misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
While the money represents a small portion of the cemetery district's $44 million budget, Vomhof said this money would be better used for cemetery beautification and hiring maintenance workers.
Read the full story HERE.
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After hearing hours of testimony overwhelmingly in favor of protecting the “Path of the Pronghorn” antelope migration route, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Wednesday voted to recognize it as a designated migration corridor.
The Path of the Pronghorn is a network of migratory routes that thousands of antelope trek every spring and fall, as they move between summer range near Grand Teton National Park and winter range near Rock Springs.
However, Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that, the authority to designate the path of the pronghorn as a protected migratory route doesn’t rest with the commission, but instead with Gov. Mark Gordon.
“It's a pretty significant chunk of land, and really important for tens of thousands of Antelope as they move back and forth. And the testimony before the Game and Fish Commission was overwhelmingly in favor of going ahead with that designation for Wyoming, recognizing it as a protected migration corridor… this is just a first step, the Commission doesn't have the authority to officially make that designation, that falls on the governor.”
The next step will probably be for Governor Gordon to appoint a working group to delve into the details of a possible designation.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Interior Department announced Wednesday it intends to get rid of a 2024 Bureau of Land Management conservation rule, a move welcomed by Wyoming’s congressional delegation and condemned by environmentalists.
Cowboy State Daily’s Sean Barry reports that the regulation, which is officially called the Conservation and Landscape Health Rule, was characterized by Wyoming’s congressional delegation as yet another example of government overreach that fails to reflect the interests of rural westerners and the region's backbone industries, such as energy and livestock.
“What it actually currently does is it allows the government to close off hundreds of 1000s of acres of public lands under Interior’s control to oil and gas, coal, grazing and even recreational uses… along with timber harvesting, so it basically cuts out all uses of land in order to restore the landscape… Wyoming's lawmakers saw this as just another example of overreach from Washington people not knowing about these industries and about cattle and livestock raising.”
In the wake of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s announcement, the next step is a 60-day comment period on the proposed repeal.
Read the full story HERE.
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Several University of Wyoming football fans are expressing frustration after facing long lines at last weekend’s home opener against the University of Northern Iowa Panthers.
Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker spoke to several fans who had trouble just trying to get through the stadium gates.
“I spoke with three attendees at the game who said that they dealt with long delays, short staff and issues with getting ticketed into the stadium. Now I spoke to a representative from the university who said that this was due to a myriad of issues, such as one of the entrance gates being closed and some staff not having the necessary training on these ticketing services, but he promised that for the big matchup this week against Utah, these issues will hopefully be smoothed out.”
The Cowboys notched a convincing 31-7 win over UNI on Saturday to go 2-0 on the year. As the Cowboys look ahead to a major matchup against the 20th ranked University of Utah Utes this Saturday, fans and university officials are hoping for a better fan experience.
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.
