It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, January 6th. I’m Mac Watson.
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After Gov. Mark Gordon recommended funding WYDOT’s $282.8 million budget pitch; Cowboy State Daily’s Claor McFarland reports that lawmakers met on Monday in Cheyenne and asked questions amid budget shortfalls.
“They're anticipating somewhere between 400 to 600 thousand dollar shortfalls, in coming budgets. And they're asking for like 282 million for the upcoming biennium, which is about a $30 million increase from their most recent biennial budget. And Governor Gordon backs it. He supports this request. The Wyoming Legislative Joint Appropriations Committee, which is the tip of the spear in crafting the budget, didn't subject WYDOT to some of the just gouging questions that certain other agencies endured, but they asked a few things like, ‘Does it really cost this much to outfit troopers with tasers? How are you doing hiring snow plow drivers? What would our turnover look like if we didn't give people raises?’”
The meeting of the state Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee at the state Capitol in Cheyenne marks the start of week three, in the committee’s four-week budget-planning marathon. The full Legislature will also help craft the state’s budget at the start of the Feb. 9 session.
Read the full story HERE.
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Trump's move to rebuild Venezuela's oil industry after Nicolas Maduro's capture could put downward pressure on prices, squeezing Wyoming oil producers already operating on thin margins. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison spoke to industry leaders and they are saying many questions remain unanswered.
“Given Trump's recent statements about upping oil production out of Venezuela, we asked the question, ‘Is Venezuelan oil the new Argentinian beef?’ in that here you have a president promoting a product from another country that could, that could conceivably compete with oil drilled right here in Wyoming. The answer is not quite as clear cut as it was with beef. The oil markets are more complicated. It's a different kind of crude oil coming out of Venezuela, but in talking to experts, a couple things came to light. One, is Venezuela's oil going to hit the market probably at some point, but it could take years, maybe 10 years, and maybe 100 billion in investment to get them up and running again at full capacity.”
In October, Wyoming ranchers joined a national outcry when President Trump proposed importing more beef from Argentina to lower grocery store prices. Now three months later, Wyoming's oil industry wonders if it’s facing a similar threat.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 75-year-old man died Sunday when his Chevy Cruze plunged off Wyoming Route 310 into Wheatland Reservoir No. 1 after going airborne for 90 feet. Cowboy State Daily’s Scott Schwebke reports that divers recovered the victim after two hours.
“According to the Highway Patrol, a 75-year-old-driver who's driving a Chevy Cruze at a high rate of speed, for some reason, went off the highway. His car went airborne for about 90 feet. It struck the shore that it went into the water reservoir, one and a fisherman who happened to be nearby heard it, and guess walked over and saw the car slipping under the water, and the Sheriff's Department responded. They got divers on the scene, and you know, it wasn't visible at first, where the car was, but they used a kind of sonar tracking, which, you know, you use for fish and large objects in the water. They were able to locate it. It took about a couple hours, and they're able to hoist it up and inside they found the victim.”
The Wyoming Highway Patrol tells Cowboy State Daily that the man was the only occupant in the vehicle and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Read the full story HERE.
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Espi’s Restaurant in Cheyenne is famous for its green chili, breakfast burritos, and irreverent roadside messages. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that on Monday, people were stopping to take photos of its latest: “I am so broke, moving to Minn. and opening a daycare.”
“It's a family joint Mom and Pop. They don't take things too seriously. You said, You know what? In Wyoming, people take things with a grain of salt. They don't. They don't fly off the handle at every single thing. They don't. They're fine if something's a little bit politically incorrect, and it's okay to he says, you know, it's okay to poke fun at stuff…but it does sometimes bring people in, he says, people who have said that they they stop out of curiosity to find out what's behind the comment on the sign.”
Espi’s owner Todd Espinoza said his humorous take on the scandal isn’t a political statement and so far, he’s hasn’t gotten any complaints about poking a little fun at another state’s problem.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily news continues now…
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United Airlines dropped Gillette’s flight guarantee, proving Wyoming’s subsidy program works as airports mature toward self-sufficiency. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that other communities like Cheyenne seek more state money amid rising costs and legislative hurdles.
“United is flying there on their own dime…it's a great success story for the whole program. I think the next one probably in line to achieve that is probably Cheyenne. Their flights are pretty full. They're about 80% full most of the time. Maybe they need a few more people buying premium seats. That really helps, if people want to know how they can help their community airport get better. That's one of the ways is not to go for the cheap seats.”
It’s not just tourism, though, that benefits. It’s also local businesses, quality of life and health care access, too.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming has had 97 snowplows hit by vehicles over the past five winters, including 15 last winter. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Wyoming Department of Transportation officials said Monday that being a plow driver can be dangerous, but higher pay can help keep those jobs filled.
“I talked to Jordan Young, the Public Information Person at WYDOT like, ‘Is there another factor besides just how bad the winter is that you've identified?’ And she's like, ‘No, we didn't pin down other factors.’ So far, the correlation we're seeing is, the worse the winter, the more this, the more strikes there are. ...So the big change, the big experiment right now, is they're keeping the amber lights, but they're switching out the blue lights with green. They think that it permeates the mist and snow better.”
Like last month, last year’s winter brought mild weather in Wyoming, but not mild enough to reduce vehicle-versus-snowplow crashes back to the single-digits like they were before 2019.
Read the full story HERE.
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In 2025, hunters fought public-land access challenges in the courts and even by helicopter. While some legal issues about “corner-crossing” are settled, Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the tension over hunters accessing public lands remains into 2026.
“We had the Supreme Court essentially settling the whole years long corner crossing debate by basically refusing to hear it. In other words, you know, whenever a case comes before the Supreme Court, they have to decide whether they're even going to hear it, and they decided, ‘No, we're not going to hear it all. The lower courts had decided in favor of the hunters and against the landowner.’ So that essentially settles it, that settles the matter that corner crossing is legal in Wyoming now, a lot of the what people call land-locked public land, which is land that's behind or adjacent to or surrounded by private land. A lot of that can't be accessed by corner crossing because of the manner in which it's surrounded.”
While corner-crossing seemed settled, many hunters noted that there are still millions of acres of “landlocked” public ground in Wyoming in the West.
Meaning, isolated sections of public land completely surrounded by private property, making them inaccessible, even by hopping corners.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bronze sculpture of "Lazy Days," of a rabbit in downtown Cheyenne became the latest to be hit and damaged during a Sunday multi-car crash. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that this is the third time a driver has taken out one of Cheyenne’s 100 bronze sculptures.
“Two vehicles collided into each other, and one careened and hit this one with enough force to knock over the stone pedestal and batter the bronze bunny that was lying on top of it. So there no one who's involved is deterred by this, by these accidents, as Harvey disomes put it, until they installed bronzes in Cheyenne. Nobody was hitting bronzes in Cheyenne. So it's just, it's an accident. Accidents happen…The bronze sculptures have been unscathed or just very minorly damaged. So if you drive your vehicle into a bronze sculpture on a stone pedestal that is not a fight you are going to win.”
Cheyenne art dealer Harvey Deselms tells Cowboy State Daily that he had to send an awkward text to Mayor Patrick Collins on Sunday. He says he “I told him we’re going to need the city to come rescue a bunny.”
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.
