It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, October 10th. 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 forward slash story."
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In an interview with Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker, the Evanston, Wyoming, Mayor Kent Williams on Thursday confirmed that the city plans to discontinue the use of its gas chamber to euthanize animals.
“Evanston, Wyoming was the only remaining city in the US to still use a gas chamber…the mayor actually told Cowboy State daily that they are going to disband the use of their chamber…This decision is a huge win for animal advocates who felt that the use of a gas chamber to euthanize animals was cruel and inhumane. Now, Chief of Police, Mike Vrainish told Cowboy State daily, however, he still feels that the gas chamber was a humane way to treat animals, especially given the alternative of a lethal injection.”
The move by the city of Evanston comes after a unanimous Tuesday decision by the Green River City Council to ban the use of its chamber.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Outdoors Heritage Coalition, a Montana-based sportsmen’s group, and two legislators have filed a lawsuit against the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports some hunters and lawmakers are saying if Montana doesn’t loosen wolf hunting and trapping restrictions, the predators can’t be killed fast enough to put a significant dent in the state’s wolf population.
“We reported previously that a lot of people bulked over their proposal to up the the kill quota for the hunting and trapping season this year in Montana, up to 500 they settled. They lowered a little bit to 452, but now there's kind of a counter suit, an actual lawsuit has come out to Montana legislate legislators and then a a Sportsman's Coalition group up there are suing the state, saying that the regulations are too restrictive, and they need to be able to kill more wolves faster in order to get the population knocked down. And Montana is sitting the best estimates right around, maybe just shy of 1100 wolves right now.”
The lawsuit is the latest move in ongoing disputes over Montana’s wolf management policies.
Read the full story HERE.
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A man accused of conspiring with his friend to kill a 23-year-old Big Piney man with a compound bow back in February agreed last week to plead guilty to a lesser charge than the one filed against him seven months earlier. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports this means the death penalty is off the table for the 19-year old defendant.
“Prosecutor dropped his pursuit of the death penalty so he was facing life in prison, and rather than go to trial, he struck a plea agreement last week in which the prosecutor would drop that down to the second degree conspiracy, which is 20 to life, and the the prosecutor and the defense attorney would agree on a 54 to life recommendation.”
Orion Schlesinger was charged in February with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which is punishable by life in prison or the death penalty, and with felony theft, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Read the full story HERE.
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After a Natrona County High School senior said her First Amendment rights were potentially being infringed upon for trying to start a club affiliated with Turning Point USA, the state’s top education official backed her publicly on Thursday. Cowboy State Daily’s Steve Bohnel reports the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Megan Degenfelder, issued an official Wyoming Department of Education statement on the matter.
“She told me today in an email, that she's confident that the local school board and school district leadership are going to handle this. So it remains to be seen how that's going to play out. But, you know, they both, Kylie Wall and the superintendent went to the school, so there's a personal connection there.”
Superintendent Degenfelder also stated that administrators and teachers must foster environments that are safe for ideas and debate, not closed classrooms where only certain viewpoints are tolerated.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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So far, most of Wyoming’s data center announcements have revolved around Cheyenne. But Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports there’s plans for a new data center in the state announced by a familiar company.
“This data center is headed for a completely different location. Casper has not gotten as much traction in the data center area. This will be the first major data center to be announced for Casper. This one in Casper, which is also a Prometheus Hyperscale project. So Evanston and Casper are both Prometheus hyper scale. This is the third project that Prometheus has announced.”
The data center will start with a minimum $500 million investment for an initial 200 megawatts, but could scale up to 1.5 gigawatts in all, with up to 600 employees and overall economic impact of up to $3.1 billion, based on an economic impact study commissioned by Prometheus Hyperscale for a similar center it’s building in Evanston.
Read the full story HERE.
– The Wyoming Supreme Court on Tuesday denied the state’s request to overrule a lower court and let a new school-choice scholarship program go into effect, at least while the case against it is ongoing. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the program, for now, is put on hold.
“So this school choice scholarship program is paused during Wyoming Education Association's constitutionality challenge against it, and the Wyoming Supreme Court was asked. The state asked the higher court like, hey, undo this pause so these families can get access to these scholarships while this case is ongoing. And the High Court, with not really any explanation, which is common, they're fairly terse orders said, No, we're not going to undo the pause during the case, but the case is still ongoing and the constitutional questions remain.”
Scheduled to have begun July 1, the act would have allocated up to $7,000 per year, per child to qualifying families on a first-come, first-served basis to spend on approved private school and homeschool programs via state-held scholarship accounts.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 60-year-old Casper man facing sentencing Thursday on child pornography and drug charges fired his attorney, then got him back, and learned that his attempt to withdraw his guilty plea would not be granted by the judge. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports defendant Mark Chanez gets to spend some more time free on his $75,000 bond after his re-appointed defense attorney told Natrona County District Judge Catherine Wilking that he was not prepared to represent his client at the sentencing hearing.
“He filed a motion he was supposed to be sentenced, but he filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, and he also tried to fire his attorney. His attorney had submitted a motion to withdraw his services for this individual, he's charged with six counts of child porn…he apparently wanted to extend his time he's on bond. He's on a $75,000 bond, so he appeared in court and challenged the representation of his attorney. He said that his attorney didn't consider that some Google Doc and some Spectrum connections show that somebody else put those child pornography photographs on and videos on his phone.”
The judge said that Chanez’s attempt to withdraw his plea came late in court proceedings. Chanez on June 18 entered a plea deal with Nelson where he pleaded guilty through an Alford plea — which allows defendants to admit guilt to charges while maintaining they are innocent of the crimes — to six counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of a controlled substance.
Read the full story HERE.
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Hunters who spend extended amounts of time in the woods often take their haircut business with them. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports some Wyoming barbers welcome the break, and then look forward to getting much furrier customers back at the close of hunting season.
“A lot of barbers see a lull during hunting season when most of their male clients go away, seclude themselves in the wilderness and seek different kinds of animals. Now, when they return after this period of time, these men have gotten incredibly hairy… and they need haircuts to be presentable to their families. So barbers tell me that they often see a surge in business after this lull, and it's a great time to reconnect with these customers.”
One barber told Cowboy State Daily that at the end of the hunting season, he sees his clients return with full beards and long hair. These cuts are often “not as fun” due to the excessive hair growth.
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.
