It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, January 20th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern's bid to create the largest rail merger in history was rejected last week by federal regulators. The decision gives breathing room to competitors who warned the deal would raise costs for Wyoming coal producers.
“I spoke to some sources about the Eastern link that there is a massive coal fired plant, the largest in North America, called plant shear in Georgia, North of Macon, Georgia and BNSF takes coal out of the Powder River Basin from a few different mines, and gets it part of the way there. Then it links up with Norfolk Southern, and Norfolk Southern takes it the rest of the way because they've got that rail. Well, if a merger goes through between Norfolk Southern, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, then BNSF could get cut out of that deal. And according to BNSF is a critic of this proposed merger that would be less choices for Wyoming coal producers when it comes to shipping their coal out of state, and so that could drive up prices, because they become a captive customer.”
On Thursday, the federal Surface Transportation Board delivered a unanimous decision that put the brakes on what appears to be the largest rail merger ever proposed. The federal agency rejected the merger application filed by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, finding it incomplete and ordering the railroads back to the drawing board.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming House Representative from Cheyenne unveiled a bill this month that, if it becomes law, would let people get the ivermectin without a prescription. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the Legislature may hear the bill in three weeks.
“Representative Gary Brown unveiled the bill this month, and he was like, other states are doing this…I did have one doctor who was just adamant, like, There's nothing good about this bill. There are side effects…And so on the other hand, I had a doctor who was like, ‘I'm not going to speak to the bill, but this drug has not been given a fair shake, like studies are suppressed on it for some reason, and people should answer for that.’”
Used in some cases as a horse dewormer, ivermectin garnered controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic when President Joe Biden’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration discouraged its use with slogans like, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y’all. Stop it.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Wind gusts of up to 87 mph swept across Wyoming on Friday, ripping the roof off a building at the Albany County Fairgrounds and a metal roof off another in Torrington. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that hurricane-force winds are nothing new to Wyoming, but these winds were unusual.
“The winds that swept across Southeast Wyoming on Friday were up to 87 miles per hour in some places, and these came from the north northwest, so a lot of structures maybe aren't as designed to handle winds coming from that different direction, which is why you saw roofs flying off, trees topple over. It wasn't unorthodox in terms of the intensity of the wind. Wyoming sees hurricane force winds all the time. What was different about Friday's storm is that they were coming from a different direction, and that changes the dynamic of the wind storm itself.”
The strongest gust recorded on Friday was 87 mph on Pilot Hill, east of Laramie. Gusts of up to 79 mph were recorded at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, and 69 mph wind gusts were recorded at Laramie Regional Airport.
Read the full story HERE.
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A state legislative committee has denied $6.6 million Wyoming Public Television requested to fill a massive federal defunding effort. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the decision, which isn’t final, includes $3 million for operations and a $3.6 million grant the feds rescinded.
“They still have so PBS still has its normal state money, like 3.5 million for every two years. They didn't gouge the normal state allocation to this program, to this outlet that's publicly funded, but they did say, No, we're not picking up the $3 million bill the Feds doesn't decline to pay. You guys, we're not picking up the $3.5 million grant that the feds pulled back after you had won. So basically, PBS was like the Feds left us holding the bag. Our request to you is tripled for these things that we need that we don't know how to pay for now. And the state of Wyoming said, No, if the feds are interested in paying for this stuff, then we're not going to do it.”
Wyoming Public Television CEO Joanna Kail tells Cowboy State Daily that without the money, the outlet is facing cuts of staff, programming or both.
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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Another wolf from Yellowstone National Park's famous Junction Butte Pack killed in Montana is being investigated as a poaching. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that this incident once again raises questions over wolf hunting near the park.
“But this flows into a larger issue. That this has been going on for a long time. Should these wolf hunts be allowed right outside of Yellowstone like literally this, you step outside the park boundary and the wolves are in a hunt area where they can legally be shot. And some people are saying, especially with the junction Butte pack, because they're so popular, they have people around them all the time. They just, they really don't have that fear of people.”
Wolf advocates argue that the Junction Butte wolves are so acclimated to crowds, they don’t fear humans, making them easy targets when they venture outside the park.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Hoskinson Health and Wellness Clinic in Gillette is cutting 40 jobs. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the clinic also is dialing back on expenses as the family behind it says the project grew too fast.
“The family is saying that they plan to continue, but they need to get their expenses in line with their revenues to make the project sustainable long term. And so they are cutting 40 positions this time…they're going to consolidate some of these things in with other departments, kind of restructuring. So that kind of, my impression is they intend for there to be continuity of care for people. You know, just because a particular practice is going away doesn't necessarily mean people won't be able to get care.”
So far, Charles Hoskinson has put $250 million into the health center without taking government grants or loans.
Read the full story HERE.
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Images of elk and deer with freakishly huge antlers touted as a “new world record” frequently pop up on social media. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the highly respected Boone and Crockett Club says those are probably captive animals that can’t make the official record books.
“The Boone and Crockett Club…They came out with a statement…just reminding people that animals that are raised or kept in captivity or fed supplements, things like that, do not count for the record books. It has to be a legitimately free range wild animal that is hunted fair Chase. You can't, you can't go into an elk ranch and shoot one, then an enclosure and try to enter that into our record books.”
Mike Opitz, vice president of the B&C’s big game records committee, tells Cowboy State Daily that the press release wasn’t issued to address a specific surge in people trying to fudge the rules.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyomingites could see the first colorful auroras of the year starting Monday night. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that a massive surge of solar energy has reached Earth's atmosphere which could bring the beautiful displays.
“A g4 severe geomagnetic storm wash was issued by the Space Weather Prediction Center on Sunday, after a massive coronal mass ejection was it's was detected coming off the surface of the sun and hurtling towards Earth, and it reached here in less than a day…according to the Space Weather Prediction Center, g4 geomagnetic storms are very rare, and the scale goes from g1 to g5 but we've had several of these over the last couple of years. The last g4 storm was in November of last year, and that was one of the best auroras that a lot of photographers I spoke to say they had ever seen in Wyoming.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G4 Geomagnetic Storm Watch. For reference on how intense that is, the scale peaks at G5, which means this is a particularly powerful CME.
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.
