It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, December 9th. I’m Mac Watson.
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The two men the Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested last week for kidnapping a teenage girl are wanted by ICE. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the men are still being held in the Carbon County Detention Center.
“I got court documents for 33-year-old Pedro Perez and 22-year-old Alexa Solis Gomez. And these documents allege that this girl told her sister she was being followed and that there was a photograph of someone pointing a gun at the home where she was staying shortly before this alleged kidnapping. I also learned last week from talking with ICE that they've issued detainers on the two men, which means that the agency believes they're here illegally and would like to process them.”
The Wyoming Highway Patrol arrested the two men who were traveling with a 16-year-old girl, on claims the two men were kidnapping her from her home in Wisconsin back on November 29th.
Read the full story HERE.
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Areas in the Snowy Range in Albany County received over 75 inches of snow in 40 hours over the weekend. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the wet, heavy snow has boosted the snowpack in Wyoming's southern mountains by more than 30 percent.
“The snow storm over the last weekend was great for the mountains, particularly in southern Wyoming, there were monitoring stations that detected up to 75 inches of snow on the western side of the snowy range, which is phenomenal. And there was a foot-and-a half or so that fell in Centennial over that period. So that makes up for some of the deficit that we had in November. It was warmer and drier than normal in November, and this snowfall helps make up for some of that deficit, not all of it, but some.”
A monitoring station above Centennial in the Snowy Range recorded 65.5 inches of snow in 40 hours. Another monitoring station on the west side of the Snowy Range recorded over 75 inches over the same period.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming lawmakers on Monday criticized the Wyoming Department of Health’s proposed emergency insurance program named “Bear Care.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that some legislators are pushing back on government health care.
“The Wyoming Department of Health is like, ‘Hey, we can start this with federal seed money and get a buy-in, self-sustaining program to offer an alternative on the marketplace so people can get this emergency care insurance without having to buy a Cadillac on the Obamacare exchange,’ basically, is what they're saying. And they're claiming that after the five-year expiration of Big, Beautiful Bill funds, that this program would be able to live on. But state lawmakers, including John Bear after whom Bear Care is not named, were apprehensive on Monday, saying, this is just more government.
If approved, the proposed program would give individuals and small business groups a government-backed option to provide insurance for catastrophes and emergencies.
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Two of Wyoming’s most influential historical organizations say they have finalized their split with the Wyoming Historical Society. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that The Wyoming Historical Foundation and WyoHistory.org say they will move forward together without the society.
“This has been a big drama. It kind of emerged in February that these guys were trading accusations. Big to do. There was a no confidence letter issued in May, in June, Wyoming Historical Society basically booted all of its society chapters out. These individual historical societies in each county had been like chapter members, and they just told them, they to go their own way. Basically completely changed the structure of Wyoming Historical Society, and there were still kind of arguing throughout the year about different things. They have finally reached an agreement now they are all three going their own separate ways.”
The Wyoming Historical Foundation had long been the fundraising arm for the Wyoming Historical Society, putting money into an endowment for them. Now, the Foundation is set to begin fundraising with WyoHistory.org to be among its new beneficiaries.
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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Despite being early December, most Wyoming anglers are still fishing open water due to warm weather. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that it may not be until the beginning of the year until ice fishing season begins.
“The simple fact, it just hasn't gotten cold enough, and stayed cold enough long enough to produce that really, you know, lock in the lake with that good, thick ice that's that's suitable for ice fishing…I talked to Don day, it's probably going to be the better part of a month before things really start freezing up and locking up hard to where people can go ice fishing in mass. So it's coming. You just have to be patient.”
Tony Valdez, owner of Buckboard Marina on the western side of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming, tells Cowboy State Daily that relatively warm and windy weather is forecast for about the next 10 days, making it highly unlikely that the reservoir will ice up during that timeframe.
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When Montana photographer Beth Moos heard elk were stuck in an icy lake, she grabbed her camera and raced to record the scene. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that what Beth captured was an incredible helicopter rescue.
“The Elk had been stuck in there since the morning. She got there about 3;30 in the afternoon, and 20 minutes after she got there, a helicopter showed up to kind of haze and guide the elk towards shore. It's kind of a motivational device, if you will. The Game Wardens had tried to haze the elk out of the pond, and they weren't budging. So the helicopter gave them more encouragement to start making their way back to the shore. All four of them survived.”
Moos, is a retired physical therapist and took up photography as a hobby. She’s ventured to Canada to photograph snowy owls and has shot bison in Yellowstone.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 21-acre Jackson estate has just hit the market for a little under $40 million dollars. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that this piece of property offers private Snake River frontage, as well as winding creeks full of trout.
“When you see the pictures, you just can't believe that it even exists. It looks like a fairy tale land. It's got a very cinematic view…Every bedroom has a view of the Grand Teton. You know it, if you're there, you wouldn't know where Jackson is, because it's like you've been plopped into this secluded wilderness where there's wildlife and trout fishing and seemingly nothing else. But Jackson is just five minutes downtown.”
The home, built in 1997, is almost six-thousand-square feet, and has Montana moss rock fireplaces, birchbark cabinetry, reclaimed wood floors, and custom ironwork.The property is surrounded by 300-plus acres of landlocked BLM land.
Read the full story HERE.
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The National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas is happening this week. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that Wyoming is well-represented with two cowboys named Brody.
“So our two Brodies are Brody Wells of Powell and Brody Crest of Hillsdale, and they got into rodeo because they're Wyoming cowboys. They live in our great state. They're celebrating our Wyoming heritage. And what is so exciting about Wyoming is that we actually are the only state with our own state sponsored rodeo team. Once you get on Team Wyoming, you've made it to the big time…both of these cowboys are saddle bronc riders, and they've been training and in the sport since they were teenagers.”
Also joining the Brody’s at the National Finals Rodeo is Meeteetse bullfighter Dusty Tuckness who's been invited an unprecedented 17 times.
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.
