It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, October 27th. 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."
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Former Wyoming Secretary of State Kathy Karpan has passed away at the age of 83. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that she spoke with Karpan back in November of last year, and even at 82, she was tough as nails.
“She took fire from the right. She took fire from the far left she
was a woman in Wyoming politics in the 80s…even talking to her when she was 82 she was still sharp. She would still push back on you if you had something slightly wrong. And so I think that that toughness was through the mind, through the body, through the career for her.”
Longtime friend and political colleague Rodger McDaniel says Karpan maintained an avid curiosity throughout her life, and she especially loved history.
Read the full story HERE.
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A fiery head-on collision that killed two people last week is the latest deadly crash on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Fort Collins. Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag reports that the 65-mile stretch of highway has been so deadly over the decades that it’s earned the nickname “Highway of Death."
“It is a notorious highway. It is a highway that has claimed dozens and dozens of lives over the years, fatal incidents, drunk driving, accidents, driving at night. It's got all the hallmarks, really, of a dangerous roadway. It's got undivided lanes. You have extreme weather, winter conditions, blind turns, everything you can think of. And then you add to that, the tendency of some people to take risks because it's a rural highway…But…there are also some elements that are kind of just inexplicable. I mean, you look at the fact that they have made improvements to this road in the last two decades, they've widened areas of it that are dangerous, they've added passing lanes, and yet it still continues to claim lives.”
According to statistics provided by the Wyoming Department of Transportation between 2015 and 2024, the stretch of highway from Laramie to the Colorado border saw a total of 545 crashes, including 11 fatal crashes resulting in 13 deaths.
Read the full story HERE.
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There is plenty of speculation that a body found two weeks ago in western Nebraska is that of missing Moorcroft man Chance Englebert. But Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that former FBI special agent Tom Myers explains that the process to determine the cause of death, not just the ID of the person, takes time.
“Some of the injuries would be very easy to determine, such as, if there was foul play…What is more subtle, however, is say that this person either jumped from a cliff above, or was pushed from a cliff above, that's basically impossible to determine, because you can't determine, you know how a person, if they did, fall from above based on certain injuries in the spine and legs and other injuries that are telltale signs of that particular fall. However, it's the subtleties that you're not going to be able to determine.”
The DNA analysis is a straightforward process, Myers says, and can now usually be extracted from any bone, even those exposed to the elements for six years.
Read the full story HERE.
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As October wanes, it’s time for Wyoming’s grizzlies to start settling into their winter dens for hibernation. But, Outdoors Reports Mark Heinz reports that people shouldn’t assume it’s all clear to hike without worrying about bears.
“Basically where they're just, they're packing on as many calories as they possibly can to build up that fat for the winter. But that process is starting to wind down. And as the weather changes and you're getting, you know, more snow in their food sources start to, you know, diminish the plants they've been eating. Or, you know, the hundreds of piles have been gone through, so there's no more food, then you're going to start seeing them go to bed. So the short answer is basically any time within the next month or so, you're going to see Grizzlies getting a lot more scarce.”
Heinz also points out that there's no hard-and-fast rule about grizzlies as it’s possible to see bears even in the winter because some grizzlies, especially mature males, are known to sometimes come out of their den in the middle of the winter, looking for food. So always be Bear Aware.
Read the full story HERE.
I’ll be back with more news, right after this…
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Film star Darren Dalton grew up in Worland, Wyoming, chasing sugar beet trucks. He then became that “other guy” on screen with Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, and Rob Lowe in movies like “The Outsiders” and “Red Dawn." Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison caught up with the actor who still appreciates his Wyoming roots.
“He doesn't have the same kind of high profile roles that he had on screen at the beginning of his career, but he is making a documentary about the making of the outsiders… and he hopes to come back to Wyoming…And he hopes that that a future project, a script he's written, it's a Western based in the 1860s set in Wyoming, gets made. You know, it would be something of a tribute to the place he had his early formative years.”
Dalton has many credits to his name as an actor, writer, and director. He’s made guest appearances on popular television shows like "Quantum Leap," "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," and "Highway to Heaven."
Read the full story HERE.
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Real-life game wardens say author C.J. Box has elevated their profession across America, while also educating people on all the real-world issues they face. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports game wardens welcome the exposure.
“The game wardens talked about how it's an instant connection point with people they meet. Often, people know who Joe Pickett is. You know CJ box is the best selling author, New York Times best selling author. He's had a television series with Joe Pickett in it, so millions of Americans know who Joe Pickett is. These guys, when they introduce themselves as a game warden or talk about what they did, you know, before retiring, people are like, Oh, you're so you're Joe Pickett, so it's like an instant connection point for them. Really helps them, I think, connect with people where they’re, you know, doing their work, but also helps their families understand them a little bit better.”
Box tells Cowboy State Daily that he never intended to create a series about game wardens at all, saying “I didn’t think the world was just waiting for a Wyoming game warden book.”
Read the full story HERE.
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A Big Horn County family is mourning the loss of their five dogs after they escaped through a fence and ate poisoned meat placed on BLM land to kill predators. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that owner Trina Widdison said her dogs had to be euthanized and her children have been traumatized.
“Her fence got broke, and their dogs got out, went on to BLM land and ate some meat that had been put out there and was poisoned. So the dogs over the weekend, five of her dogs…died as a result of that, started having convulsions, and by Sunday, they were dead…So the family just struggling with the law, she told me. The mom told me that she has two kids with special needs, and both of them are really struggling with the loss of these pets, and so they're at a friend of theirs put up a GoFundMe to help the family, because they had to put down the dogs.”
Poisoning predators on public land, and having it affect pets, has been an ongoing issue in Wyoming. In 2023, the BLM banned the use of spring-loaded M-44 cyanide bombs, which had been staked in the ground and topped with bait.
Read the full story HERE.
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Each day in the month of October, Cowboy State Daily publishes a spooky tale that has Wyoming ties. Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag reports Wyoming state government workers swear clients of the century-old morgue in the basement still haunt the 1883 Idelman Mansion across from the Capitol.
“It began with Max Idleman, a Polish immigrant who was a liquor baron, and he had a reputation to the minds of some for dabbling in the occult, and especially his daughter, Bella Idleman, was someone who may have been consorting with Cheyennes occult elements back in the day, and they hosted some functions to this effect…So right off the bat, it's got this aura to it. And on top of that, over the years, it's been repurposed, and for a time, it was functioning as a funeral home and a morgue. So you ask some of the people in this building, and they will tell you that the prevailing theories are these specters, these poltergeists, these paranormal happenings, whatever you want to think of them as they are, either stemming from the spirits of the idle means, or potentially from some of the people who have passed and were processed in the morgue.”
The ambitious design of the mansion came with a steep price tag. With a construction cost of $55,000 in 1883, it was more than double the expense of any other mansion in Millionaires Row when it was completed.
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.
