It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, October 14th. Bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily news center, I’m Mac Watson. “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."
– Radiant Nuclear announced Monday afternoon that it will build its first nuclear microreactor manufacturing facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, abandoning plans for a controversial project near Bar Nunn, after months of heated debate over spent nuclear fuel storage. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports the decision comes after Radiant repeatedly warned Wyoming officials that regulatory uncertainty could drive the company elsewhere.
“It's really shown a division between Republican legislators in Wyoming, Senator Ed Cooper was really… explicit about his criticisms toward the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, saying they're really going to have to answer…for erasing many years of economic development work. The Freedom Caucus responded and said, Hey, look, we're not against the industry. We're against waste.”
Radiant says they will build their new factory on portions of the historic K-27 and K-29 Manhattan Project sites, with construction beginning in early 2026. Read the full story HERE.
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A Crook County man was shot in the neck while working cattle near Sundance. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Chase White was working on The Snooks Ranch, separating calves from their mothers alongside two other cowboys on the morning of October 4th, when he felt a sharp pain.
“He felt something, and it made him faint, and he sat down, and then he passed out. And he called two other cowboys that were with him, and they called 911…it wasn't until the doctors, the personnel at the hospital in Sundance, did an x ray that they were like, ‘Have you ever been shot before?’because there was a bullet lodged in his chest. It had gone down through his neck, through both lungs, and came to rest near a rib.”
Authorities have no idea where the bullet came from as the investigation continues. Chase was hospitalized for a full week in South Dakota and even though doctors won’t remove the bullet from his ribs, he’s expected to make a full recovery.
Read the full story HERE.
–The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office on Monday announced it has arrested a man on claims he hoarded more than 100 animals kept in despicable conditions. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports all the animals have been taken to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter.
“Now, over 102 animals entered the animal shelter last Friday from this scenario, and this is really stretching the workforce at the animal shelter thin. There are dogs, there's cats, there's birds, there's tortoises, there's bunnies, all kinds of exotic animals, even a goat…I spoke to one worker today who said that they were at the shelter past midnight on that Friday night when all of these animals arrived. So the shelter workers are putting in a lot of hard work trying to keep all these animals safe and happy and cared for.”
Authorities say they executed a search warrant at a home in Laramie County and discovered over 100 animals being kept there, including 22 dead animals. The sheriff’s office is recommending multiple counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals against Michael Ohern.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s data center boom has sparked optimism about bringing jobs and money to the state’s coffers, but there are concerns about rising power bills for customers. Over the weekend, former state senator Anthony Bouchard channeled a lot of those fears and frustrations in one long Facebook post that attracted hundreds of comments. But Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports not everyone is worried.
“A lot of these data centers are bringing their own power. They're going to build out natural gas, for example, for the Casper facility and Evanston too. I believe they're going to use a proportion that's natural gas, as well as some renewables that they're building themselves. So they're adding to the electrical generation capacity building that infrastructure themselves.”
Wyoming’s growing sector of artificial intelligence and data centers have collectively announced 12.8 gigawatts worth of processing power so far.
Read the full story HERE.
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Four moose have been struck and killed within the past couple of weeks in Grand Teton National Park, including a famous bull called Elk Antler. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports authorities say the rash of killings come down to one thing.
“I talked to some tour guides and photographers, and they all said, you know, that the problem is basically the same, that people are just, you know, led footing it through the parks, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, driving way faster than they need to be…those are also vulnerable times for animals, like in the spring, a lot of times, they'll be migrating and crossing highways. And then in the fall, you have, you know, the mating seasons are on what they call the rut.”
Grand Teton and Yellowstone continue to draw record crowds of visitors every year. There’s also been a trend toward more people showing up during the previously-quite “shoulder seasons,” in spring and fall.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.
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A human skull has been found in a cave by a rock hunter near Needles Peak in southern Carbon County. Cowboy State Daily’s Scott Schwebke reports the find has touched off a mystery and a law enforcement investigation.
“Deputies responded, and people from the coroner's office responded, and they confirmed it was, in fact, a skull, and according to the sheriff of Carbon County, it could be 50 years old or older based on just how, how it appeared…there's no word whether it's an actual missing person from carbon county or where it might be. And they're getting anthropologists to help the coroners to try to identify the skull, if they can.”
The Carbon County Sheriff’s office reports that no other remains or items related to the skull were found in the cave or surrounding area.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Yellowstone outfitter and guide who loves exploring the most remote places in the national park says he’s grateful for his horses and mules. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports outfitter Kipp Saile says the animals aren’t just hardy companions, they gang up to chase away interloping grizzlies.
“He had this video of some of his mules and horses chasing a grizzly bear away from camp. And he said, Yeah, his stock, they're acclimated enough to the back country that they'll do that generally, you know, is as long as the bears are off on the periphery of camp and they're not causing any trouble, they leave the bears alone. But this one just got too close, and so the horses and the mules ran it off. And he said it was a young bear, which makes sense. The younger, less experienced bears.”
Saile tells Cowboy State Daily that he isn’t afraid of bears, as long as people are alert, respectful and follow basic, commonsense rules — such as keeping a clean camp — there’s little risk of trouble with grizzlies.
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.
