It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, November 18th. I’m Mac Watson. This newscast is “Brought to you by the University of Wyoming Center on Aging. Did you know that 1 in 3 Wyoming adults have pre-diabetes, and most don’t realize it? Are you tough enough to know your numbers? Take the quiz at: Find Out WY dot org."
Gov. Mark Gordon is asking the Wyoming Legislature for a little over an $11 billion dollar biennial state budget, up about $755 million from the prior budget cycle's $10.38 billion. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the governor’s budget has nearly $3 billion earmarked for the Department of Health.
“It's an increase for the Department of Health, and that's while there's a subcommittee devoted to gouging the Department of Health. And so, Governor Gordon wrote in his narrative like, we need healthcare access. We need seniors and vulnerable populations to be healthy, to empower this state. Ken Pendergraft, who chairs the subcommittee that is reviewing the Department of Health's budget said, looks like an Overton Window, like maybe the governor and his agency are trying to set a higher normal than would naturally occur, so that the cuts aren't as as severe when they do come.”
The governor’s proposed budget increase from the 2025-26 biennium to the upcoming one represents a boost of about 7.27%.
Read the full story HERE.
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Rancher Travis Clyde, 47, was severely burned and injured in an explosion in July. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that despite suffering from third- and fourth-degree burns, Clyde is now back on his Jeffrey City ranch, thankful to be alive and all the support the community has shown him.
“They've been doing a family ranch for the past 16 years…the family didn't know about medical insurance, but obviously he, spent more than a month in the hospital in Salt Lake City in a burn care unit. So family and friends did some fundraisers, and they actually raised more than $100,000 for the family. And he is so appreciative of everybody who reached out, all the cards, he said, the prayers, the phone calls, and he said he's kind of a reserved guy…And self reliant, independent rancher. But he just says this whole thing has been humbling, you know, and he's so appreciative of how everybody has helped out his family.”
Clyde tells Cowboy State Daily that he’s back in the saddle already, but he still can’t ride as long as he would like as he recovers.
Read the full story HERE.
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Accused of poisoning her roommate’s dog so it had to be put down, the 19-year-old daughter of the Rock Springs police chief is charged with felony animal cruelty. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the dog's owner doesn't agree with backlash against the chief, saying he's a "good person."
“It's newsworthy that the police chief's daughter is charged with a felony, but in interviewing the alleged victim, the owner of the dog, she said, you know, this is devastating. I've lost my friend, I've lost my dog, but her dad's a good guy, and he's always been kind to me…Court documents touch briefly on possible motives, saying the dog bit but did not break the defendant's skin. And court documents also say that the defendant took a dislike to the dog after she moved in.”
Allie Erspamer, who is the daughter of Rock Springs Police Chief Bill Erspamer, is slated to appear in court Nov. 26 for a preliminary hearing, where she will have the chance to argue that the state does not have probable cause to keep prosecuting her.
Read the full story HERE
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Two horses have been missing north of Moran in Wyoming’s backcountry since late October. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison explains that while a search for the pack animals continues, a thermal imaging drone pilot from Rexburg, Idaho is ready to help find them if called.
“I got in touch with Alex at Keystone Operations…So I said, you know, Alex, how do you go about finding a horse in the wilderness with a thermal imaging drone? Well, he's done this before. He got a call from a family from Utah that was looking for their horse that had disappeared into the back country, near Hoback junction. He rode a horse into the back country, launched his drone. He's got a system where he can fly forever. You know, he can charge remotely, and he's got enough batteries where that he flew for four hours. And his thermal imaging is so accurate that he can tell the difference between an elk and a horse by the length of their neck, by the length of their legs.”
Alex McElligott is a professional mover and operates a side business using a $20,000 thermal imaging drone to find lost animals throughout the region.
Read the full story HERE.
I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….
Bill Schilling helped create Wyoming’s Hathaway Scholarship, opening college doors for thousands statewide. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Schilling started with an idea that was inspired by the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students or TOPS program.
“Bill Schilling is the one who brought a representative of the Taylor Opportunity Program to Wyoming to talk about it, to Wyoming business leaders, and so that's where the Hathaway scholarship got its start…Bill was kind of the instigator in bringing this guy from the Taylor Opportunity Program to Wyoming. The ball got picked up and carried by Steve Harshman.”
Wyoming’s Hathaway scholarship is the only program in the country that’s protected by the state’s Constitution.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming oil field worker said his heart sank Saturday when he saw an exhausted bull elk trapped in a barbed wire fence. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz spoke with Mitchell Wolfe who says the elk was facing a slow, miserable death, so he stopped.
“He noticed that this bull was still breathing. So he's like, ‘Oh, I gotta do something.’ So he got out and got his tools, and spent about the next 15 or 20 minutes freeing This bull's leg from the barbed wire. And said, you know, he poured some water on his face and kind of petted it and talked to it, and the bull didn't react too much like it's ears flickered a little bit. That was about it…he just said a prayer and left the bull there. When he came back again, Sunday morning, it was gone.”
Wolfe lives in Rock Springs and loves bowhunting for elk. Like many hunters, he feels a deep respect for and connection with the animals.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming Republican Party leaders adopted a number of resolutions at their meeting in Torrington on Saturday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that one of the resolutions is asking the legislature to ban the mandate or use of certain vaccines in Wyoming, for humans and animals.
“Scott Clem, the former state legislator, said, why would we do this? We didn't like when people tried to ban ivermectin. He said, I'm not putting that stuff in my body, but I don't see why we have to ban it. The counterpoint was from someone who said, ‘Yeah, but for livestock, specifically, if it's going into our meat, we have no choice but to consume this.’”
The party passed a motion to have Mark Koep, of Crook County, distribute a survey to state party leaders to produce a list of seven legislative priorities going into the lawmaking session that opens Feb. 9.
Read the full story HERE.
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Almost every color of an aurora could be seen as far south as Mexico during last week's "best ever" atmospheric event over Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the science behind all those brilliant pigments and shades.
“So when coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, interact with Earth's atmosphere. They excite the electrons of the various gasses in their different layers of the atmosphere. So it's very complex, but the basic thing is the different gasses that are excited by the solar energy, the different colors you get. So when you look very low to the horizon, you see blues, because that's nitrogen being excited in the atmosphere. As you get higher up, you see more oxygen and yellow, green is the most common color you see for auroras, because that's where the most abundant oxygen is, and there's a lot of oxygen in the atmosphere, believe it or not, and the solar energy excites those electrons, and then they output this color, which is that yellow green. And then the further up you get where there's less oxygen, that's where you get the really deep red.”
Auroras occur in the ionosphere, the layer of Earth's atmosphere that spans from 30 to 600 miles above the surface.
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.
