It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, December 22nd. I’m Mac Watson.
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Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has received five clusters of complaints asking him to oust county officials from their offices. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that three former Wyoming governors say that number is unprecedented.
“Governor Sullivan, Governor Gehringer, and Governor Fruedenthal, and they were all like, we don't remember anything like this happening to us. And you would feasibly remember, because the governor himself has asked to do an investigation. It's his task…So it's just this thing now where Governor Gordon's had five, one of them, he did say, rose to the level of malfeasance, and the other one, he said, ‘No, it's kind of sloppy.’ And now he's got three that are churning right now that he's doing investigations on him considering.”
There are still 3 actions on the Governor’s desk that are still pending, including: three actions filed with his office are still pending.
• A complaint to remove two of the three Hot Springs County commissioners;
• A refreshed complaint against Hadlock that now includes claims she filed a false post-election audit;
• And a complaint to remove the entire, three-man Platte County Commission.
Read the full story HERE.
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About 3,200 of Lexington, Nebraska’s 11,000 residents work at a huge Tyson Foods beef processing plant — for another month. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the plant’s sudden shut down impacts the whole town, including healthcare.
“The hospital CEO wrote this huge scathing letter to Tyson's board about how it’s impacting not just the plant, but the whole town, trickling down healthcare…Healthcare is with so many fewer patients, all of these people at once, losing their company healthcare. What's the follow up going to be if a lot of these families have to move to find new jobs, there's not going to be nearly as much need for this rural health care, which is real, struggling to hang on anyway.”
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The new reality facing the University of Wyoming is to maintain its major Division I athletic programs, it needs to generate revenue that is paid to players. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that UW will have to build up a war chest to keep up with rival schools like CSU and BYU in this brave new world of collegiate athletics.
“We're all accepting this harsh reality that we're going to lose pure amateur college athletics, and there's going to be an entry fee. What is it for Wyoming? It could be at least 2 million bucks. And you know, how are we going to generate that? Well, it's doing a better job getting sponsorships, getting fans and businesses that know that their customers are fans, to get behind it with their marketing budgets. Wyoming's at a disadvantage because of the size of the population the ad budgets are in Wyoming compared to Colorado.”
Alex Jewell, UW’s assistant athletic director for development, tells Cowboy State Daily that “rising costs have affected everyone because scholarships cost more than they did 20 years ago. So the goal, Jewell adds, isn’t just recruiting, it’s retention.
Read the full story HERE.
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A new helium plant in Sublette County will boost Wyoming’s share of global helium output to about 30%. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the new plant will generate nearly $2 billion in taxes and royalties.
“It'll be about 10% of the world's helium supply. That's a lot for a single plant. The nearby Exxon Mobil owns a plant called, I think it's Shoots Creek, and that's about 20% of the world's helium supply. So that's 30 of those two plants together in Wyoming. Russia is the biggest global player in helium. It supplies about 40% of the world's helium supply. So that would almost put us on par with the largest global helium player in the world. Russia's still a little bit bigger, but so yes, that is quite a bit. And helium is a critical mineral for a lot of technology, technological devices, advanced technology.”
Blue Spruce co-founder, Andrew Moses, tells Cowboy State Daily that construction of the new facility will take three construction seasons and the reason for that is to minimize the impact to wildlife during the critical Nov. 15th - April 30th window.
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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U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis on Friday announced she is not running for a second term. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that according to the junior senator from Wyoming, Lummis says she just doesn’t have a second term in her.
“In Congress, we see a lot of constant debate and arguing and sometimes name calling and just information flowing constantly. And her statement said, ‘I just don't have six years left in me.’ So we went ahead and talked to a prominent politico, Liz Brimmer, who said that seat is Harriet Hageman’s, if she wants it. Hageman’s in the two year term cycle of the US House if she wants to run for the six year more solid, more steady term of US Senate. The conjecture is that she could probably swing that. She's had overwhelming victories recently in her house elections.”
Senator Lummis the first woman elected to the Senate from Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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After a month of above-average temperatures, below-average precipitation and intense windstorms, the same weather patterns that prevented snow from reaching Wyoming will continue through Christmas. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports forecasters are saying expect a brown Christmas.
“We still have that high pressure ridge in the Bering Strait that's blocking winter weather and sending it elsewhere. So if you're looking at the East Coast and wondering why they're getting slammed with snow and sub zero temperatures, that's Wyoming's winter. It's just being shifted eastward, and that high riser, that high ridge, that high pressure ridge, doesn't show any signs of breaking before Christmas. So what that means is temperatures are still going to be above average. The chances of moisture are very low. There's a chance that there might be some snow in Western Wyoming, and the mountains are still getting some snow throughout all of this. If you're dreaming of a white Christmas this year, keep dreaming.”
Meteorologist Don Day tells Cowboy State Daily that Wyoming isn’t really known for having a white Christmas. In fact, according to Day, Wyoming is more likely to have snow on Halloween than Christmas day.
Read the full story HERE.
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At 12, Haylee Cole’s father murdered her mother and tried to blame Haylee for the crime. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports the Lander woman has turned her family tragedy into help for others.
“She shares her own story, both as you know, what happened to her, what happened to her mother, and she sees herself as her mother's voice. And she made that conscious decision early on, she knew she couldn't bring her mother back, but she could speak for her mother and other domestic violence victims. So she made that conscious decision, and still does today and still goes on and does these presentations, both for high schoolers and for groups out across the country.”
Brad Reay was convicted of killing his wife, Tamara, and is serving life in prison with no possibility of parole.
Read the full story HERE.
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A cow moose nicknamed "Big Betty" has been calmly wandering around Evanston, delighting residents and avoiding trouble. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that wildlife officials say even though Big Betty is unusually peaceful, they’re still warning people to keep their distance.
“Apparently, big Betty, she got really popular on social media. And the one person I talked to said Big Betty was very well behaved. Didn't cause any trouble. I did talk to Game and Fish, and they said, ‘Yeah, they got some calls about her, nothing that sounded too grave or disturbing, so they kind of let her do her thing.’ She's apparently wandered out of town, at least for now. She's back in the countryside, but you know, she might show up again. You never know.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Green River regional wildlife supervisor James Hobbs tells Cowboy State Daily that it’s not unheard of for moose to venture into town from time to time and the Bear River corridor near Evanston, as well as the nearby Bear River State Park, are good moose habitat.
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.
