It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, November 27th. 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."
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Authorities reported Wednesday that Chance Englebert’s death was likely an accident by falling off a Scotts Bluff National Monument cliff. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the Englebert family and others don’t buy the cause of death.
“Chance's mother told me that they don't have a problem with the cause of death. They do believe that he, based on his injuries, that he did fall from the top of that cliff. However, what they do have a problem with is the fact that he would have gone out of his way to walk up that trail. It's several miles at that trail to get to the top of this monument. When it was a dark, stormy night and he was intending to head back to Torrington, that was his plan not to climb a monument in the middle of a storm and so, and then say, so the family has a problem with the term accidental.”
The Moorcroft, Wyoming, man was missing for more than six years before his remains were found in mid-October by a pair of hikers on a rugged cliff on the north side of the Scotts Bluff National Monument.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming U.S. Attorney Darin Smith dropped felony diesel “delete” charges Wednesday against Gillette-raised mechanic Levi Krech. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the dismissal, and a Trump pardon for another delete mechanic, may signal a less aggressive approach toward the practice.
“When the Trump administration took over this year, things kind of started to shift, and we can see that with the pardon of another delete mechanic Troy lake and then, on Wednesday, the Federal District for Wyoming, helmed by Darin Smith, went ahead and dropped its felony level case against Levi crutch. Darren Smith called it the best interest of justice. It's still illegal to delete diesels, but this administration has a very different approach to it than the Biden administration, and just some signs that there's a softer, potentially, stance on it.”
31-year-old Levi Krech was charged this summer with one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, and another of tampering with a monitoring device, in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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The ex-boyfriend of Wyoming Rep. Nina Webber is suing her on claims she cheated him out of $6,000 for an African hunting trip. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that a bench trial in the case is ongoing.
“It's a small claims lawsuit…well, small claims action. So it's limited to $6,000 it happens in the lower level court there in Park County…and so you have two very different stories at the heart of whether the state representative owes this $6,000 to her ex-boyfriend…Her attorney called it a political witch hunt, and she says I had nothing to do with planning this trip.”
The first day of the bench trial in Cody Circuit Court unfolded Nov. 12th, under Judge Joseph Darrah. The second day is set for Dec. 10th.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming chefs say they don't trust artificial intelligence to tell them how to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that AI is good for a general recipe, but sometimes artificial intelligence can miss key steps for that perfect bird.
“It's maybe not the best thing you could do, but it's okay, right? Well, so you get an almost right, just okay, recipe for Turkey. It's probably a good starting point if you didn't have a cookbook in the house or anything like that, you know, maybe it's a starting point. But the almost right things, I think, are what's really going to get the inexperienced chef, because they're not going to realize that what they're being shown, you know, isn't it's leaving some things out that they need to know in order to make that Turkey come out the best that it can be.”
Wyoming chefs tell Cowboy State Daily that AI turkey recipes miss key steps like brining and resting, so they still trust human expertise for a juicy, tasty turkey.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily, after this….
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The nation's Christmas tree that lights up the U.S. Capitol every year has come from Wyoming once. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that a 67-foot Engelmann spruce became the "People's Tree" in 2010, featuring thousands of LED lights and more than 5,000 ornaments from Wyomingites.
“A 67-foot-Engelmann spruce tree that was cut from the Bridger Teton National Forest, and it was trucked all the way across the country to go up at the US Capitol…Senator John Barrasso is the one that advocated for that tree to happen back in 2007 and he told me that it took a couple years for, you know, them, to be, for our state to be put in in place. So that was why it was a 2010 tree…and from what Senator Barrasso said, it's been since then, the greatest tree, the best looking tree that the Capitol has ever seen.”
This year, the “People’s Tree” for 2025 comes from Nevada, and the 53-foot red fir from the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest will officially be put on display on Dec. 2 during a ceremony that includes the speaker of the House and other dignitaries, who help throw the switch.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne couple is accused of torturing a 14-year-old boy. Cowboy State Daily’s Scott Schwebke reports that prosecutors say the teen was forced to drink gallons of water per day and live in a basement.
“The court records we obtained today show that allegedly that the couple had him living in the basement of their home in Cheyenne, was just like a sleeping bag, and he had to wash his own clothes in the bathtub by hand, and they obviously weren't feeding him properly. The mom says that, ‘well, he didn't want to eat because we wouldn't give him soda and candy and snacks and stuff.’ So now they've been charged, and the man is out on bond, and she's in jail under a $500,000 bond, and their court dates are coming up.”
Court documents show that medical doctors say the boy nearly died and showed clear signs of abuse and malnutrition.
Read the full story HERE.
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Montana authorities are searching for whomever shot a black bear cub and left its carcass to rot. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz says as far as wildlife crimes go, one game warden says this is as bad as it gets.
“The guys I talked to up there said it would have been there is bear hunting season is on up there. But of course, it's illegal to shoot any bear that isn't at least a year old. And they were saying, yeah, he was a little big for his age. But it should have been really, really difficult to not tell that that was too small a bear to shoot. But anyway, they, whoever shot it, just shot it there and left it late, just walked away. So, you know, kind of a terrible poaching case.”
The cub was illegally shot sometime between Nov. 20th and Nov. 22nd west of Stevensville, Montana, in the Missoula region, and reported to authorities on Sunday. No suspects have been found.
Read the full story HERE.
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Prior to the 1930s, Thanksgiving in Wyoming included jack-o'-lanterns, costume parties, and going door-to-door for what was basically trick-or-treating. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that The proper outfit was to wear a mask and costume to dinner.
“So historically, Thanksgiving was all about costumes, jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treating. Halloween actually stole those traditions from Turkey Day, and this occurred in New Castle, in Rawlins, in Cheyenne, and the newspapers of the day in the late 1800s all the way into the 1930s said that Thanksgiving was a day for kids to go wild, of all ages, from grown ups to kids. So everything that you think about on Halloween actually used to be celebrated on Thanksgiving.”
The proper dress code for a Thanksgiving party, according to the 1913 Cheyenne State Leader, was a dainty and becoming Pierrot clown costume complete with fluffy black silk pompoms and a pointed cap.
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.
