It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, October 3rd. I’m Mac Watson, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom… “Brought to you by the Wyoming Business Council. Wyoming youth are our future, but they're leaving the state at ALMOST TWICE the national average. What would bring them back home? Share your bold ideas with the Wyoming Business Council at wbc dot P U B backslash story."
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Two mountain bikers, who were deep into the backcountry of Idaho said they came upon a woman, who was alone, hungry, and said she had been looking to find her way out and back to safety for almost three days. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports, the woman is lucky to be alive.
“What had happened is apparently, some point during her ordeal, she'd lost her shoes, so she'd wrapped her her like her sweatshirt and her shirt around her feet to protect her feet. And he said they spent the better part of a couple hours with her before, you know, they're able to make contact in a a search and rescue helicopter arrived. But, you know, they said they they question her, but they they weren't trying to be rude or really pry. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to really want to talk much about the word he said is, she seemed embarrassed about how she ended up at that situation. They gathered that she had been out there for she was nearing the end of her third day. She's already spent two days and two nights out there, and was coming to the end of the third day, which would have led into the third night. And the the gentleman described the conditions that week had been getting pretty darn cold at night, like down to the 20s, but getting up into the 60s, even 60s or even 70s during the days and then no precipitation. And that's probably what saved her, because I double checked that with the search and rescue guy here in Wyoming, and he said, yes, if people it's surprising how cold of temperatures people can survive if they're dry, if they're wet, that's a whole load ball game, because then the hyperthermia sets in, and that kills a lot of people in the back country. So probably what it boils. Down to is this woman's saving grace was the fact that she was able to stay dry the entire time.
One of the cyclists, Shelton Robinson of Pocatello, Idaho, said it was random luck that he and his companion happened to find Heather Wayment at about 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 18.
Read the full story HERE.
– The junior senator from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis, has written a letter to President Donald Trump. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Senator Lummis is urging the president to pardon a Wyoming diesel “delete” mechanic who was just released from prison and living in Cheyenne.
“In the early 2000s 2010 era, those early emission systems are pretty clunky and could cause problems in your truck. And so guys were just like, well, I can make this run better. I can save your fleet. Let's delete them. And also, pretty soon after the EPA started pursuing criminal charges against guys that were doing that and the people that are embroiled in those cases, describe it as sort of like an unexpected thing, like, whoa. Why am I not just getting a stern letter or a seasoned desist or a civil penalty? Why am I now going to be a convicted felon? And so that was Troy Lake family man, 65 years old, 64 when convicted, is now a felon for doing these deletes. And Senator Lummis, in her letter, said this is unequal prosecution. This looks political.”
Lake, was been released early from the Colorado-based federal prison that held him for seven months. He is now on home confinement with an ankle monitor.
Read the full story HERE.
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The BLM announced its intent to amend the Rock Springs RMP and opening a 30-day comment period on Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that after years of being drafted, then declared finished, then put on hold, the Bureau of Land Management’s controversial plan for managing millions of acres in central Wyoming is again open for public comment.
“It was seemingly settled last December, but then we had a change in presidential administrations, and things kind of changed. They decided they were going to put it on hold, and now the latest is they're going to go ahead and the BLM has put it up for revision in public comment, there was a 30-day comment period that began today. …What folks are saying is that this leans more toward what a lot of people in Wyoming have said they want all along, just more, I guess, less restrictive on things such as energy development or cattle grazing or motorized access. A lot of people for years have said that the BLMs for full preferred alternative was just too restrictive and wanted to create what was essentially wilderness areas across much of that 3.6 million acres that centered around the BLM office in Rock Springs. So it's just the next, the next step in a process that maybe, after all these years, could finally be starting to wind up. So we'll see.”
Wyoming state Sen. Larry Hicks tells Cowboy State Daily that there’s reason to hope it will get done right this time, and the matter will finally be settled. However, some environmental groups criticized the move to revise the plan yet again, saying it should remain as it is when the BLM finalized in December 2024.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming weather is never boring. Friday temperatures will be scorching, but then a shift starts on Saturday. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports parts of Wyoming will see snow for the first time this season.
“So the winter weather that's coming into Wyoming, it's going to mostly stay at the higher elevations. But whereas in September, we were talking about elevations above 9000 feet. Now we're talking about as low as 8000 and in some forecasts, even as low as 6000 feet, and that's rain transitioning the snow. Because the air is cold enough that snow can begin to form. The Beartooth highway is closing at noon today, in anticipation of the weekend weather that's coming. Cowboy State daily meteorologist Don Day has already called for a longer, colder, snowier winter that's going to start sooner, and there's still the indication that we're going to start dipping into more of that winter weather as we get further into October. They do anticipate reopening, but it's a sign that there is a big seasonal shift that's happening this weekend. So we're going to get close to or record breaking high temperatures for October 3, on Friday, and then as we get into Saturday and Sunday, we're going to see drops of between 20 to 35 degrees in just two days.”
Laramie and Cheyenne could break their record highs for Friday with temperatures near or at 80, while Lusk is expecting to hit 83 . By Sunday, it could be 30 degrees cooler or more.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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The State Board of Land Commissioners approved two 50-year lease extensions for operating wind farms in Carbon County, but not before Secretary of State Chuck Gray and State Treasurer Curt Meier sparred over the merits of wind energy. Cowboy State Daily’s Steve Bohnel reports that each project had been operating under a 25-year lease before the board voted 3-2 Thursday to extend both of them.
“One of the people that was opposed was Secretary of State Chuck Ray. He's been well known for opposing wind energy for a while now, he said that extending these leases and using these forms of energy is not a smart move for Wyoming in general. The State Treasurer Kurt Meyer, disagreed with him, saying that, you know, this source of energy is just one of many that Wyoming needs to do to remain competitive with China. He mentioned that China's built many wind farms this year, over one gigawatt alone this year, and he said that neglecting to extend these leases would be a mistake, but that didn't sway Mr. Gray, who continues to call this form of energy woke wind, something that President Donald Trump is a phrase that's used. He's used himself. I actually caught up with Governor Mark Gordon, who ended up being the tie breaking vote…Because he told me, even if they didn't decide to approve the lease extensions, the wind farms will still operate, they just wouldn't be on state land or under state control. And what that means, essentially, is that they wouldn't be able to gain revenue from those wind farms for education, something that he thinks is within the board of land commissioners’ responsibility as from a fiduciary standpoint.”
Meier, Gov. Mark Gordon, and State Auditor Kristi Racines voted yes.
Gray and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder were the dissenting votes.
Read the full story HERE
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The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is announcing that next week over 3 and half thousand acres of federal coal reserves in the Powder River Basin across Campbell and Converse counties will be auctioned off. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports that this the first major Wyoming coal lease sale in a decade.
“The Bureau's expecting that there's going to be up to 365 million tons of coal available in that area that one lucky company is going to get the opportunity to claim…one local advocacy group told me, however, that they're concerned that this project is going to open up the area to a myriad of negative effects. These include pollution in the water, in the air, possibly harming the wildlife and, of course, presenting a major disruption to the people who live in the area. One coal expert, however, told me they feel that this issue is going to completely turn around the state of Wyoming's economy. It's going to completely improve a lot of different aspects of our energy economy and help us continue to stay competitive in a landscape that continues to demand more and more of our energy producers as we see cryptocurrency and AI rising in prominence.”
The agency said it will accept no less than $100 per acre for the coal, but hopes to only approve “the highest cash bid that meets or exceeds fair market value.”
Read the full story HERE.
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A person fatally shot Tuesday morning in Fort Collins, Colorado, was an airman serving in Cheyenne, the F.E. Warren Air Force Base. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports, this marks a troubling trend involving personnel from the base.
“So there have been at least four gunshot incidents resulting in injury or deaths and involving Wyoming based airmen. This year, the in in March, there was the incident where they were shooting targets, and they shot a Verizon cell phone tower worker. And then this summer, there was a fatality that was initially implicating a problematic gun, but then a person was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter for that. And then there was a shooting off base that resulted in a death, allegedly. And now the Fort Collins case of an airman dying in a gunshot incident Tuesday.”
The man who died was an airman, and the second person was not, 90th Missile Wing Public Affairs Officer Lt. Raegan Lockhart told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
Read the full story HERE.
–A big battle is coming in 2026 between all the states in America. The battle is for attention, and the stakes for tourism are high. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that since next year is America’s 250th birthday, many Americans will be looking for a one-of-a-kind experience and Wyoming is gearing up to offer some of the best.
“Wyoming is advantaged in so many ways when it comes to the 250th celebration year, you know, Americans are going to be seeking out iconic, once in a lifetime experiences for this occasion, millions of dollars are going to be spent. I think Wyoming has a great chance to collar a huge slice of that American Pie. Because, look, our history here is just so bound up in the formation of America, the westward expansion. I think Johnson County's tagline really says it best. Everything that ever happened in a western happened here first, and it did. It happened somewhere in Wyoming first. We've got all of the westward trails of expansion. …. When it comes to American iconic history, Wyoming has it and and you know, across the state, every community is planning something. I think Buffalo Bill, center of the West, told me they're going to have a documentary that's through the eyes of the buffalo, so you can see what the state was like in 1776…and so I think we have a great chance to capture huge economic benefit from the tourism if we approach it right.”
Meanwhile, every state already has an America250 Committee working on plans to deliver unique experiences that showcase the nation’s history.
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 Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
