It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, September 17th. 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 new top federal prosecutor asked for a delay in the case of a Gillette man accused of tampering with diesel emissions devices.
Levi Krech faces one count of conspiracy to violate the clean air act, and one of tampering with a monitoring device, in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming. Each is a felony.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Krech’s defense attorney says the delay signals a nationwide backing-off from federal criminal “delete” prosecutions under the second Trump administration.
“Levi has been fighting the Feds for like, three and a half years, and then all of a sudden, you have the Trump administration 2.0 and they're doing all these things that signify that they're backing off some of this criminal enforcement… his defense attorney, a well known defender in this space said, Yeah, we're hoping he doesn't have to plead guilty at all, because we're seeing so many changes on the federal level, and federal prosecutors being more willing to not pursue this criminally, that we're just holding out hope in Levi's case.”
Krech’s defense attorney said other cases around the nation are leaning the same direction: they’re in negotiations where dismissal is a possible outcome.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 29-year-old hiker sustained serious injuries after being attacked by a bear in Yellowstone National Park.
According to Yellowstone officials, the incident occurred on the Turbid Lake Trail, near the northeastern shore of Yellowstone Lake, on Tuesday afternoon. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the victim was hiking alone when he encountered the bear two and a half miles from the Pelican Valley Trailhead.
“The species of the bear has not been identified, but park officials say that based on the location and the evidence they've collected, it was probably a grizzly. The grizzly attacked a man. He was seriously injured in the chest and one of his arms, and he wasn't able to deploy bear spray until the bear was on top of him, and once deployed, the spray drove the bear off, and he was able to walk out with National Park medics and taken to an ambulance.”
After being taken to the Lake Medical Clinic, the victim was flown to a nearby hospital. Tuesday’s incident was the first human-bear incident resulting in injury in Yellowstone in over four years.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Laramie County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday denied a hotly contested energy development proposal following a lengthy debate from about 50 county residents.
Up for discussion on the commission’s agenda was the Laramie Range Wind Project, a wind development backed by Spanish energy giant Repsol. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker was at the meeting, in which community members shared concerns about the project, which they have claimed could disturb local wildlife and become an eyesore.
“The meeting was pretty lengthy. There was a lot of discussion, and at the end of it, three of the four commissioners present sided with those that felt that way, only one Commissioner, the acting chair, Troy Thompson, was in favor of approving the project. He argued that holding Repsol to such a high standard and then only to deny them, was cruel and it wasn't very fair to them. Regardless of this, the will of the people prevailed.”
In siding with the landowners, Thompson had said that too many Wyomingites are opposed to the project only because of the proximity.
Read the full story HERE.
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Robert Redford, legendary actor and advocate of Wyoming’s outlaw history, died at his home in Utah on Tuesday. He was 89.
Redford is known internationally for his acting and directing, which spanned more than six decades, as well as his deep love for the Western way of life. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that he had significant connections to Wyoming, as well.
“He helped preserve Wyoming's history in many different ways, and it was all from the films that he did based on outlaws and the mountain men of Wyoming… what Robert Redford did here in Wyoming was he helped with the reburial of one of our mountain men who he portrayed in the famous movie all about Jeremiah liver eating Johnson. He also came back to Wyoming to buy a bar in the 1990s.”
As Redford is remembered for his tremendous acting and directing talent, in Wyoming, his legacy is about preserving our history for the next generation.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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A 22-year-old stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base faces a felony charge after allegedly pulling a pistol and threatening to kill another airman during a drinking game off base.
The incident involving Dionido Bauzon happened more than seven months ago, in February at a Super Bowl party, but the Air Force has just turned the case over to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office because it did not happen on the air base. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the altercation was sparked, according to court documents, by another person telling Bauzon that he looked like “Diego off of Dora the Explorer.”
“What we understand is there was a bunch of Airmen… were playing beer pong, and apparently someone, someone, started doing a little bit of trash talking… And apparently someone said something about him resembling a character in a cartoon show. And so he pulled a pistol and put the laser on another airman's chest… put the laser, according to the affidavit, on his buddy's chest that was playing beer pong with him and then threatened to kill everybody in the room.”
Bauzon faces a charge of aggravated assault and battery.
Read the full story HERE.
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Campbell County Commissioners are considering a ballot resolution asking people to vote on whether storage of nuclear waste should be allowed in the county.
Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the potential for building small nuclear reactors in the county has sparked heated community debate over whether to allow spent nuclear fuel to come back to the area.
“It's gotten people upset with each other on the commission. I think that was clear in the debate back and forth, but they seem to work things out as they talk through… whether to put forth a resolution that says yes or no. Campbell County wants to be in the nuclear waste business. That's not something a lot of communities have gone out of their way to say in the United States, and that's why we have, still don't have a permanent repository for atomic waste.”
Whether to put a potential ban on nuclear waste to voters also was debated by county commissioners Tuesday, who could decide on the resolution next month.
Read the full story HERE.
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The carcass of a buck pronghorn, apparently killed and stashed by a mountain lion, made for a gruesome discovery near the Thermopolis Golf Course on Sunday.
A mountain lion advocate and an experienced mountain lion hunter both told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that stashing food so close to humans seemed typical of a young, inexperienced cat.
“That's what they do. They kill things and cover them… They call it cash. They cash their prey, you know. But what was unusual just the location. It was… pretty much, right in town… I talked to a guy who's been hunting mountain lions forever, kind of, up in the Jackson area…they said, This sounds like typical behavior of a sub adult male, you know, a young male that doesn't have a lot of experience, maybe was getting pushed out of the primaries by more dominant males and didn't have any choice. So that's why he ended up down by the golf course.”
Wyoming Game and Fish personnel confirmed that they trapped and relocated a young mountain lion that evening.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fall doesn't start for another week, but Wyoming's trees are already bursting into vibrant colors. The window of opportunity to see it all is small — but spectacular.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that anyone who wants to see Wyoming at its most colorful will want to plan and prioritize.
“As you follow the map, and as you follow as these trees reveal their colors, it starts high and it goes lower. So when the aspens have already peaked and there's no color in places like Yellowstone and Grand Teton, that's when the cottonwoods and the dogwoods are going to be reaching their peak colors in Eastern and Central Wyoming and the Big Horn Basin. So there's no one specific time to and no specific place to go to if you want to see peak fall colors…So it's a kind of a smorgasbord of options, but if you plan and prioritize, you can see fantastic color anywhere you go, but some places, as I said, already peaking. So sooner the better.”
The most colorful time of year doesn't last long in Wyoming, so it's best to get out and about before it's too late.
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.
