It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, October 6th. I’m Mac Watson, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily news center… “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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Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic in Gillette believes it can be the Mayo Clinic of the West. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean got an exclusive tour of the new facility and reports what sets this clinic apart is its mission statement: it’s all about the patient.
“It's a more personalized experience. They have different levels…There are lots of private procedures that insurance doesn't cover yet. They're quote, unquote experimental, but the studies have shown good results…like transcranial stimulation is an example that's shown great efficacy for depression and things like that…I don't think I've ever been to a medical clinic where there are so many conversation starters everywhere you look, it's almost like it's a museum plus a hospital.”
A spokesperson for the clinic tells Cowboy State Daily that like most medical facilities, saving lives is the primary aim of the Hoskinson Health & Wellness Clinic. They just want to do it in a much bigger way than most medical centers in the country.
Read the full story HERE.
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Hudson, Wyoming native Mike Dabich, AKA “Moose” remembers fondly crashing the boards in the NBA with basketball legends like Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that Dabich credits growing up and playing with Native kids gave him the skills to make it to the NBA.
“He grows up playing on the Wind River Reservation…And you know, learning to pass, learning to do the weave that there are these, these skills by necessity, that when you had outdoor courts on the reservation, it was a disadvantage to dribble because you might hit a rock or a rut. And so there was a style of play that really valued thinking a few steps ahead and doing quick think passes. And I think he credited that with some of the skills he took into the pros.”
Even though Dabich played in the NBA, traveling across the country and even played in Europe, he came back to his hometown of Hudson where he still lives today.
Read the full story HERE.
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More than 4 tons' worth of giant pumpkins were weighed at the 2025 Wyoming State Championship Weigh-Off and Pumpkin Drop on Saturday. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that tonnage was hoisted 200 feet into the air and dropped – exploding in spectacular fashion.
“The thing they don't prepare you for, is the immense hollow boom when a 1700 pound pumpkin is dropped from any height, let alone 200 feet, which is what happened at the Wyoming way off and pumpkin drop in Worland. It was a big event. People from multiple states brought their pumpkins, watermelons, Morrows and zucchinis to get weighed…And then the coup de grace was when these massive pumpkins were weighed to lift it up in the air and dropped on a swimming pool, an outhouse, which was the crown jewel of the whole event.”
The Wyoming state record for a pumpkin was set by Andy and Amy Corbin in 2023, with a 2 thousand, 62 pound gourd they grew in Cheyenne.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming Attorney General James “Jim” Barrett carried a briefcase and overnight bag as he climbed into the state-owned Cessna 206 on Thursday, Dec. 4, 1969, at Cheyenne Regional Airport for what he thought was going to be a routine flight to Riverton. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the flight was anything but ordinary.
“The pilot was looking out the window to the left, and he kept saying, you know, you okay. And then he actually grabbed him and looked at him, and saw that his face was all perspiration. Then his pilot starts, probably just dying, and his body is thrashing, and so now he's fighting off the pilot, and the plane dives down, over Rawlins several times, misses a bread truck. Takes off an antenna above the courthouse…He landed in a three-point landing in this field, not knowing anything about flying a plane, he landed the plane in three points… And then all of a sudden, the left wheel hit a rock, and it just flipped the whole plane over, and probably saved his life. And so he was hanging upside down. His head smashed against the cockpit. The dashboard broke his eye, bones all around his eye pushed his eye back in his socket,
Not only did Barrett miraculously survive and recover, he went on to be appointed as a judge on the federal appeals court for 40 years.
Read the full story HERE.
I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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For those who have noticed Wyoming’s pronghorn — aka antelope — running wildly back and forth lately, they’re not doing it for exercise – it's part of their mating ritual. Cowboy State Daily’s Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz says that during the mating season bucks will gather up groups of does, or harems, and fiercely guard them.
“If you ever watch it happen, it's not like how a sheep dog will round up sheep and keep him in one place. And it gets pretty intense, because, of course, other bucks come in and they want to get the does too. Sometimes the bucks will tangle with each other and fight, sometimes to the point of injuring each other.”
Wyoming Game and Fish biologist and pronghorn aficionado Rich Guenzel tells Cowboy State Daily that, ultimately, the females are the ones who actually choose whom they mate with.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming brother and sister are leading the charge for a new, “healthier” way of unplugging while staying connected with a new computer called the Daylight DC-1. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports Tristan Scott, who is marketing the new venture from a remote location in the Upper Green River drainage, and his sister Julia Scott, a second-grade teacher in Cody, have emerged as two of the primary messengers for a technology they believe could fundamentally change our relationship with screens.
“According to their research…the display technology in most screens that we use beams light at us in a way that affects our nervous system…The Daylight computer tablet tries to get rid of all the bad stuff about computers and keep the good utility part of it.”
The company got a huge boost when the device was praised by popular podcaster Joe Rogan earlier this year.
Read the full story HERE.
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A botched election in Weston County last fall has renewed calls among some Wyomingites to ditch voting machines and count ballots by hand. Cowboy State Daily’s Steve Bohnel reports that the faulty 2024 election in which House Speaker Chip Neiman received an erroneous slew of undervotes has now amplified this discussion.
“Some who support it say that the machines are not trustworthy, that they have the volunteers across the counties across the state to do the hand counting and who are willing to do this type of work. But those who are, you know, against hand counting, say, you know, hey, we're putting the cart before the horse. Maybe we should look at, you know, baby steps and whatnot, to make sure that, you know, we're not creating undue costs for counties, that we're not delaying results in elections.”
In this upcoming legislative session, lawmakers are expected to introduce a number of bills concerning counting ballots, even though the legislator’s prime focus will be on the budget.
Read the full story HERE.
–Cowboy State Daily Meteorologist Don Day has been studying and forecasting Wyoming’s wild weather for decades. But for the next week, Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Day will be helping to keep hundreds of hot-air balloons safely soaring over Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“Hot air balloons are the most sensitive aircraft to weather, so if you're going to have one air balloon going up, you want to know what weather conditions you're going to be facing, let alone the over 600 balloons that go up during the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque and Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day is in that perfect zone where he is not only an experienced meteorologist who knows Western weather and knows what to look for. He's also an experienced balloon pilot who knows the dynamics of how balloons work in the atmosphere. So he is the ideal person.”
Don Day will keep his eyes on the skies during the 2025 Balloon Fiesta, an annual event that attracts balloonists and enthusiasts from around the world.
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 watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
