It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, December 5th . I’m Mac Watson.
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A trucker accused of shooting at a pickup with a child inside claims the pickup driver actually fired first in a road rage incident. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports a judge found probable cause Wednesday to send the case to district court on multiple felony charges and the defendant chose to do testify - a rare decision.
“I don't cover every felony in the state, and then there's only a few that rise to the level of statewide interest. I don't recall seeing it in the preliminary hearings I have covered, and that's because at that phase of the case, the defense attorney has very little information. He hasn't gone through discovery yet. He hasn't gotten his arms around the constitutional situation yet, and so it's rare, it's unprecedented, but it's also a bold move.”
59-year old Rabindranath Bunsee faces one count of attempted second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of reckless driving, two counts of reckless endangerment, one count of property destruction, and an eighth count of using a radar detector.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s leaders, past and present, are mourning the loss of former Superintendent of Public Instruction Judy Catchpole, who died on Thursday at the age of 81. Cowboy State Daily’s Jimmy Orr reports that Catchpole is remembered for her boundless energy, sense of humor and advocacy for children.
“She was truly a happy person. Every single person I spoke to and spoke to, governors today, Senators today, leaders of all sorts and just regular people who knew Judy well, they all said the same thing. She was genuinely happy, she was funny, she just bring joy wherever she went. I mean, she was so different from other politicans…she's one of those people where, if you saw her in a store, you would go seek her out, and you would go give her a hug, because you knew she was generally genuinely happy to see you.”
Catchpole served as Wyoming’s highest ranking education officer from 1995-2003.
Read the full story HERE.
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After being rescued from what officials called an “abhorrent” hoarding situation 2 months ago, the Cheyenne Animal Shelter has found homes for all 103 animals that were rescued. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the ability to get over a hundred pets placed is an amazing achievement.
“None of the 103 animals rescued from the hoarding situation back in October are at the Cheyenne animal shelter. Now, they've either been adopted or they've been sent to other facilities where they can receive treatment and care and rehabilitation to get them ready for adoption. They had a giant Mastiff that got flown to Idaho, and within two weeks of reaching his new foster family in Idaho, he was adopted as well. So it's a really tremendous accomplishment for everyone involved. I mean, you can't really be prepared to take on that many animals, let alone that many animals who need urgent care, and then have them all in better spots within two months.”
Kayla Hahn with the Cheyenne Animal Shelter tells Cowboy State Daily that the quails were the last of the 103 rescued animals to find a home.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cheyenne’s Outlaw Saloon is part dive bar, part honky-tonk and known for hosting music, boxing and even little people wrestling. Cowboy State daily’s Greg Johnson reports the landmark bar is closing this weekend after the bank foreclosed on it to recover $1.7 million owed.
“The Outlaw saloon is closing this weekend. On Monday, at 10am, the bank is having an auction. There's a there's a public auction foreclosure sale. It's only been called the Outlaw since about 2019 when the current owners bought it. But for decades before, it was called Cowboy South. And it's a huge place, over 22,000 square feet. At one point, they had three working bars and a bowling alley in there, all at the same time. And it's got a real reputation as as the place to go. It was a honky tonk, it's a dive bar. And people, people loved it.”
The Outlaw bar was bought by Curtis and Shelby Crowton and their limited liability company Bullseye Operations, has been the go-to hangout in Cheyenne since the early 1970s.
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 USGS estimates 4.7 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas remains under southwest Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that combined with other recent assessments, federal scientists have identified enough gas to supply the entire country for a long time.
“So, significant amount of undiscovered natural gas resource was announced by the USGS today, but to them, it wasn't a surprise. They have been doing so many studies of southwest Wyoming, it was kind of expected. I think I said, I asked the researchers, you know, were you pleasantly surprised by this? And she said, No, you know, it really fits a pattern that every time we've looked, we found more. And it's basically saying, this is what the inventory is. It's a pretty solid resource that could generate as much as you know, it could generate enough natural gas to power the whole country for 18 months.”
The assessment marks the fifth oil and gas study in the area released by the USGS in the last two years, following assessments of the Lewis Shale in July 2020, the Mowry Composite in May 2025, the Niobrara Formation in June 2025, and the Phosphoria petroleum system in August 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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The daughter of the Rock Springs, Wyoming, police chief was sentenced to 42 days in jail and ordered to pay over $2,000 in restitution Wednesday for poisoning her roommate’s dog, leading to its having to be put down. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Allie Erspamer pleaded “no contest” Wednesday to the misdemeanor version of that charge.
“The county attorney, Clayton Malinkovich, that covered for Sweetwater County in this case, wrote a statement saying, like ‘probably, had she been convicted by a trial, the judge after that would have given her probation.’ And so this way, he was able to secure some jail time, because he wasn't confident about whatever sentence she would have gotten, even with the felony level conviction, which she dodged. And he said, but he recognized that nothing could make up for the loss of the dog and the other things that the dog's owner went through.”
The restitution amount Erspamer must pay is for cremation and veterinary costs, the deceased dog’s owner, Hallie Blake, confirmed Thursday to Cowboy State Daily.
Read the full story HERE.
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When John and Tucker Bass moved from Tennessee, they were unsure about Wyoming’s bass fishing. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports then 12-year-old caught a world record-setting largemouth bass in Fremont County.
“Tucker is the Son, and this summer they were fishing, fishing on a lake that's colloquially or locally known as Bass Lake, and Tucker caught a world record breaking bass in so far as it was, it was the New World Record for the junior class on four pound test line. So it was the largest large mouth bass that's ever been caught by someone in the junior division on a four-pound test line. John, the dad, told me that to his knowledge, there's never been a record large mouth caught in Wyoming, because Wyoming really isn't known for bass fishing.”
Dad says that they plan on eating the fish for a world-record dinner now that they have the official approval. Tucker said they plan to cook it his favorite way, “deep fried.”
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.
