It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, January 19th. I’m Mac Watson.
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As federal subsidies phase out for new wind energy projects, wind developers and opponents are regrouping. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that in Wyoming and Nebraska, residents against large-scale developments say the fight has just begun.
“I spoke to national experts looking at the wind market, looking at this post subsidy world for wind and solar, where there's no longer going to be new federal subsidies for those two sectors of the of energy…The industry is moving into a new space. And so we got some analysis on what that means. Can they compete in the marketplace for different power? Those backing wind would say, ‘Yes, we can, because we can get new generations to market faster than other methods. That it takes maybe four years to build a natural gas plant, we can be up in one or two years generating electricity.’”
After 33 years of federal tax support, this corner of the energy sector remains in transition, which U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright made clear in December when he told Cowboy State Daily, “We cleaned out a ton of subsidies, over a half a trillion of energy subsidies.”
Read the full story HERE.
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The 94-yard-long underground wine cellar at the Brush Creek Ranch in Carbon County has over 30,000 bottles of wine and is the 4th largest private collection in the U.S. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that it has some of the rarest bottles of wine anywhere.
“Bruce White started Brush Creek Ranch, and he started this wine cellar, and it is the fourth largest in the US. private collection is the seventh largest in the world. As far as private wine collections go, it's a 94 yard tunnel, 30,000 bottles of wine down there, selection of over 2000 so you know, just a lot of very interesting wines down there, old wines, rare wines, expensive. One of the bottles of wine is a $34,000 bottle of wine…It's like a Wizard of Oz experience…it's a magical experience. And I have to admit, when I went and did the wine cellar tour, it indeed, is a magical experience. I don't know any other way to describe it. Really, they have secret rooms down there. You push a panel to the right of the secret painting, and a door slides open, and inside is this glowing wall. Speak Easy, and each of these little windows has a different bottle of a different spirit in it that's luminous because the light in each locker.”
Big wines are a feature of the collection, in part because they age so well. The late Bruce White’s collection includes many bottles in the 6- to 9-liter range. The largest bottle in the collection is an ultra-rare 27-liter bottle of Jygantor 2016, a primarily Cabernet blend touted for its spicy oak and dark fruit flavors.
Read the full story HERE.
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State Rep. Daniel Singh left the Wyoming Freedom Caucus last month. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Singh says he wants to emphasize his independence, but still believes in the Freedom Caucus’ mission.
“Daniel Singh has always been a little different from the Freedom Caucus majority, a little more libertarian leaning. And I asked him, ‘Why are you leaving?’ And he said, ‘Look, it's about emphasizing that I'm independent.’ He said that no one in the Freedom Caucus told him how to vote, that they're not as group think, as has been alleged in some news outlets, but that he wanted to reassure his constituents of his staunch independence…He does deviate from them once in a while, like when Freedom Caucus members voted to ban lab grown meat. Sing was a nay there. And so, yeah, there's, there's minor deviations but he said it's, it's really just about reasserting his independence.”
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a group of socially conservative Republican lawmakers in the state House of Representatives.
Its supporters cast it as the true voice of the state’s political right, while its detractors cast it as a source of clumsy legislation fueled by groupthink.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Casper father continues to grieve the death of a son he says would still be alive if only someone close to him had called 911. Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag reports that a legislator from Casper is introducing a bill that would make it a crime for bystanders to not call 911.
“Steve Harshman is proposing to make bystanders criminally liable if they do not seek help for somebody in emergency situations, and that is something that could be a misdemeanor charge with penalties of up to $2,000.06 months in jail in some cases…Other states have done similar laws. So this is moving the Good Samaritan laws in a slightly different direction by trying to encourage people to be more proactive about getting help for people in these emergencies.
In May of 2025, 27-year-old Casper resident Kohlman Claney died from a peculiar case of acidosis, a condition in which excess body acids result in cardiac or respiratory failure.
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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“Bueno,” a Riverton-based search-and-rescue dog, is no ordinary K9. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that this incredible canine goes all over the country responding to disasters, but the dog needs a $25,000 surgery to save his life.
“Brandy Eggman said that her dog, Bueno, needs the surgery because there was some sort of bacterial infection going back maybe a year and a half, two years she thought she had it taken care of when she was living in Virginia. She moved to Wyoming, to her area about a year ago, and she said she started noticing this past Thanksgiving that it was coming back in her dog. And in December, she said it was like full bore. He could barely walk. So she took him to a vet in Montana, and he's telling her that she's going to need $25,000 for a surgery and for an MRI that's associated with that surgery. So what they plan to do is take out a disc and put in some metal in the dog's spinal column, and after that he should be, you know, back at full strength and able to do his job as a cadaver dog.”
A friend in the search-and-rescue community suggested she launch a GoFundMe as a means to raise money, save him, and allow Bueno to work again. As of Sunday, Bueno’s GoFundMe is at 31% of its $9,000 goal.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming gun advocates are applauding Thursday's U.S. Dept. of Justice opinion that says a 1927 law banning the practice of mailing handguns is unconstitutional. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that UW law professor George Moscary says hold off on taking that handgun down to the post office to mail. It’s complicated.
“The Department of Justice, US Department of Justice, released an opinion that that law is unenforceable and it's unconstitutional. So what it might mean is that you might be able to mail a handgun through the US Postal Service like you'd mail any other package. Again, the person I talked to at UW is a legal expert. He said, “Just because the DOJ released this opinion and gave their opinion, don't run down to the post office with your Glock and mail it to your uncle just yet, because it’s a really complicated gray area of the law. There's a lot to work out.’ This process is just getting started, but it could have interesting implications.”
Historical records indicate at the time, the law was deemed necessary because the current system of background checks for firearms purchases wasn’t in place, Moscary tells Cowboy State Daily.
Read the full story HERE.
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After UnitedHealth left Wyoming's ACA health insurance market, Torrington's Roger Huckfeldt tried to find a new provider for his 85-year-old mother. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that after weeks of robocalls, hangups, and 45 hours on hold, he's still waiting to get mom an insurance policy.
“His United Health left Wyoming's Medicare Advantage plan. So what happens then is you get a letter that says you're eligible to switch carriers. You get, like, a one time exemption to do this thing well, so since they had bought a drug plan, he thought he would not be eligible to get any other plan. He's kind of roped into this one, right? So he's just doing his best to just get through this and get his mom signed up for insurance.”
UnitedHealth is one of multiple carriers that left Wyoming’s Medicare Advantage health insurance marketplace amid rising health care costs, changes to federal policies, and the expiration of federal tax credits.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 91-year-old Nebraska woman thought her rare 30-gallon old Red Wing crock almost sold it at a garage sale for $20. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that instead, a local auctioneer spotted the treasure and sold it for her for $32,000.
“The last person in the room to keep bidding stopped at 19,000 and this buyer who interrupted a pheasant hunt – he's an anonymous buyer, but we're told by our sources that he was in the middle of a pheasant hunt, bid this thing up to $32,000 and so you have to be a collector to understand the passion and love for Red Wing pottery…There's only maybe five of these left, according to the experts I spoke to. And that’s why this anonymous buyer was able to fork out $32,000.”
For much of its life, this crock dwelled in obscurity. It was an exceptionally heavy afterthought, left in the shed or out on the porch or by the grill. It was shaped by clay pulled from the earth around Red Wing, Minnesota, and fired in a massive kiln sometime in the late 1800s.
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.
