It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, December 24th. I’m Mac Watson.
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U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman on Tuesday announced her intention to run for the U.S. Senate. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Rep. Hageman says her choice to run for one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats sprang from calculations about doing the most good for Wyoming.
“The scuttle butt surrounding her office from late January till now, was she viable for governor. We saw a poll to that end. We've heard speculation from that end. And so a lot of people were watching to see if she would do that, if she would take on the at home trail boss seat. And so it actually surprised a lot of people Tuesday morning when she was like, I'm running for the Senate. But when I asked her about it, she said, look, a lot of the bad that's plagued Wyoming over the last couple decades has come out of Washington, DC. So if I want to curb that bad, I gotta stay in Washington, DC.”
In her media release, Hageman pointed to her two terms in the House, her service on the House Judiciary and Natural Resources committees, her prior career as an attorney and her experience with the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and putting Wyoming first.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sticking with politics as we enter 2026 and the mid-term elections, Wyoming education chief Megan Degenfelder on Tuesday said she is “strongly considering” a run for governor while other political figures are thinking about higher office too. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that while Degenfelder hasn’t committed, there are candidates who are campaigning to be the next governor of Wyoming.
“It could be a toe-in-the-water to see what kind of backing, what kind of support, what kind of constituent feedback you can get with a maneuver like that. But you know, often when we say someone says that it ends with a run of some kind. Senator Eric Barlow, who's also the former House Speaker, declared earlier this year and has been consistently campaigning and has raised a half million dollars. And then Brent B and who's beloved in multiple corners of the state. Reid Raisner had set up a governor's finance account for that office, but has not declared a run for that office. And at this juncture, Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who's political in a lot of his public messaging, remains a mystery as to just which office he's seeking.”
With five statewide elected seats up for election in 2026, as well as two Congressional seats with both incumbents departing, Wyoming is in for a shakeup this coming election season.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two Cheyenne teens facing attempted first-degree murder charges in a failed plot discussed their plans in a profanity-laced audio recording, police say. Cowboy State Daily’s Scott Schwebke reports that according to court documents, one suspect is recorded saying, “Imma kill him.”
“Apparently, three people in a Subaru went to this house and two teens, two are 16-and-17-year olds. One was an 18-year old, which he's being charged as an adult. Anyway, the youngest of the suspects got out of the car, and one of them had, like a I'm not sure they had, they had some ar 47 type rifles, and I'm not sure if that's what they used to what they used to shoot, but one of them shot into a Kia that was parked. Shot that a couple times, and then they, they took off, and they returned a while later, and then they, they, two of them stormed the house, got inside the house, firstly around the back, and they went into the front. They got in. They were looking for this one person. We're not sure who that is, but apparently that person wasn't there, and they were pushed outside of the house by someone else, and they left.”
The two teens haven’t been identified because they are juveniles, but a third suspect who isn’t heard in the recording is 18-year-old Michael DeHerrera of Cheyenne. DeHerrea, who is suspected of driving the other two — ages 16 and 17 — to a home where they believed the victim was, has been charged with the lesser crime of possession of a weapon with the intent to commit a felony.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming oil and gas operators are cheering a Bureau of Land Management announcement to delay a Biden-era 1,400% hike on bonding costs. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the huge increase threatens to shutter small oil and gas producers across the state.
“When an oil and gas producer goes out and drills a well on public land, they've got to put up a bond that basically protects the public from getting stuck with some cleanup bill down the road. There's been, long been a back and forth about how much that bond should be. Under the Biden administration, they really drastically increased it, and from their point of view, the increase was necessary because there were these big cleanup bills for abandoned or orphaned oil production. The Trump administration came in and really listened to the oil and gas producers, who said, ‘Look, this is just overly burdensome. It's going to harm small operators in states like Wyoming. Can you roll this back for us?’ And the way that the Petroleum Association of Wyoming put it was, it was like Christmas came early when the news came down that these overly burdensome, from their point of view, bonding requirements were drastically lowered.”
The Direct Final Rule delays enforcement of Biden-era regulations that would have increased bonding costs by 1,400% while the Trump administration works toward permanent solutions.
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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Cheyenne’s Historic 1892 Pumphouse is getting a reprieve from the wrecking ball. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the Cheyenne City Council is replacing a resolution that set a deadline for its demolition with one that calls for restoring it to use again.
“At that time, baths were not common. Water that flowed into your house was a new idea. And so, you know, for Cheyenne, this little upstart town in the west on the frontier to have a pump house that would deliver water into your home. That was truly magic, and it's part of why Cheyenne earned that nickname Magic City of the Plains, because they were doing things in Cheyenne that were practically unheard of in the west at the time, and the pump house was all part of that magic.”
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins tells Cowboy State Daily that the pumphouse, built in 1892, has the same architecture components as the Capitol and the historic train depot.
Read the full story HERE.
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Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone National Park has been active since its massive hydrothermal explosion in July 2024. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the pool recently and unpredictable erupted twice in two days.
“This most recent stretch, it erupted on December 18, and it erupted on December 20, and based on the readings, those were both of a similar size. So we're talking about water and mud being shot 30 to 40 feet up into the air. It's not like Old Faithful, where you can get a regular pattern of eruptions. They don't know exactly what's going on at Black Diamond pool. Now, that's not unheard of for a Yellowstone thermal feature, they're always changing. The bigger question is ‘What that'll mean to the National Park Service?’ because Biscuit Basin, where the pool is located, has been closed since the hydrothermal explosion in July 2024 and until they feel safe and confident that Black Diamond pool is doing something they can anticipate, they're probably not even going to think about reopening biscuit base and the visitors, and even when they decide that they want to, they have to replace all the infrastructure that was destroyed during the explosion.”
The Biscuit Basin boardwalk has been closed to Yellowstone visitors since the hydrothermal explosion. The National Park Service will decide when it’s safe for the thermal basin to reopen, but Black Diamond Pool’s ongoing activity is delaying that decision.
Read the full story HERE.
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It was Christmas Eve in 1888 when a father and his two young sons brought gifts to their neighbors — four outlaws hiding out in Salt Creek Canyon in the Wyoming Territory. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackie Dorothy reports that the family were almost shot before making friends with the notorious bunch.
“Hiding out in this dugout was a gain of Desperados. It was the Buck Handby gain who had fled as murderers from Kansas. Now, the local people had described them in the newspaper as long-haired, wild-and wooly-looking individuals dressed up in Calvary soldiers outfits. So what if they had murdered someone back in Kansas? People were needed here in the territory of Wyoming, and into this dugout walked a father and his two sons with one purpose, to wish these men, these Desperados, a very merry Christmas. So when this family were spreading their Christmas cheer, they were greeted not with open arms, but by the barrel of a gun, until it was realized that they truly were there just to say Merry Christmas. They ended up sitting down with the outlaws having a great conversation, and at the very end, they walked to their horses and gave them a gift of donuts and cookies from Ma back at home.”
The gang had built a half-dugout 16 by 20 feet wide on their homestead on the east side of Salt Creek Canyon and south of Red Butte, near what is now Newcastle, Wyoming.
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.
