It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, February 11th. I’m Mac Watson.
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At a press conference on Tuesday, Gov. Mark Gordon said it was refreshing to see so many bills die. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the governor says he sees that as a sign that lawmakers are respecting their higher priority of passing a two-year state budget.
“It's a budget session. It's 20 days you're drinking from a fire hose. The chief function of it is to pass a two year budget. It's a really rigorous task in normal times, but we also saw drastic changes from the joint appropriations committee in January, complicating this task even further right. And so lots and lots of committee bills, even which normally have a little bit more deference, died. They didn't. They didn't clear introduction this week, even so far, on day two, and the governor said, hey, that's kind of refreshing. Honestly, I'm thrilled that the legislature is focusing on the budget, because that's what we're supposed to do during even numbered years.”
Gordon delivered these remarks during a round-table style press conference he hosted with reporters in the state Capitol Tuesday.
The Wyoming Constitution outlines a 20-day legislative budget session for even-numbered years, and a 40-day general session for odd-numbered years.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Torrington woman is accused of providing a young child to a now-convicted child sex predator for the promise of $5,000. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Angela Montoya denies the charges, saying the alleged acts were simply the predator’s fantasies.
“This woman is accused of basically, you know, allowing a young child, three to four years old, in her care to be used by a pedophile guy who is now a convicted former boyfriend of hers. The court documents are very vague about that, just saying that she had custody of the child. So we don't know what this woman's actual relationship with the child is. At some points she adamantly denies, you know, giving him access to a child and other parts she admits it says that she was, you know, felt very helpless and afraid of the guy that she didn't really have much at one point. They mentioned that he had offered $5,000 to her at one point, there's nothing in there as to whether any money actually was exchanged.
Her arrest comes after the October 2025 conviction of her boyfriend, 69-year-old Alvin Lee Syrovatka, for sexual exploitation of children and sexual abuse of a minor, according to a redacted affidavit of probable cause filed in Montoya’s case.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming cattle ranchers say they’re concerned over President Trump's executive order allowing 80,000 more metric tons of beef trimmings from Argentina to be sold in the United States. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that ranchers say it won’t lower grocery store prices and risks introducing diseases.
“We import really cheap beef, they're called beef trimmings, from other countries, so that we have a leaner product to mix in with the fattier meat that we produce. We have to do that in order to get the right consistency… Argentina has some of the cheapest beef in the world...But the other concerning aspect of Argentina's production is they're not as strict on the health protocols as our producers would like. They sometimes forget to report that they've had instances of diseases like hoof and mouth disease, and you know, so you risk introducing that in to the American herd by importing this kind of product from Argentina without concurrently requiring more inspections and better, and that they do a better job of
reporting it when it happens.”
Last week, President Trump signed the “Ensuring Affordable Beef For the American Consumer” executive order. Trump said that this will make ground beef more affordable for Americans.
Read the full story HERE.
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SUPREME COURT CLAIR
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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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A proposed constitutional amendment requiring public vote on nuclear waste storage decisions in Wyoming failed on Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that Rep. Bill Allemand, of Midwest, made an impassioned pitch Tuesday for House Joint Resolution 3.
“He was pushing this notion that for every time anyone wants to bring nuclear waste into the he was he was pushing this notion that anytime a company wants to bring nuclear waste to Wyoming, that it should be put to a popular vote. And I think that's popular, perhaps among his constituents, but, but it does create a real headache for any company who wants to expand Wyoming's nuclear industry, and so representative Lloyd Larson spoke out against it and said we need to be doing more to nurture our nascent nuclear industry and not throw up this roadblock.”
Ultimately, The resolution failed 32-30, short of the two-thirds majority required for introduction during the current budget session.
Read the full story HERE.
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A bill that would have allowed the sale of landowner hunting tags was soundly rejected for introduction to the Wyoming Senate. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that hunters hailed it as a victory while Sen. Tim French vowed to bring it back.
“Now, the bill got shut down hard. It didn't even make it through introduction. I think the vote was 6 for and 29 against. I mean, it just got solidly put down on introduction to the descendant floor, and those who oppose the bill, who were apparently successfully argued their case is that it basically amounts to putting wildlife up for sale, which is just that. That really goes against what they call the North American model of wildlife conservation. It's like the wildlife is a public trust. It belongs to all the people.…I talked to him, and he said, ‘Well, yeah, this is a defeat, but this isn't the end. We'll probably keep bringing back the attempts, you know, to allow landowners to do this.’”
Proponents of landowner tag sales argued that the revenue could provide just compensation for farmers and ranchers who provide habitat and forage for game herds. And supporters say that landowner tag sales are allowed in other states.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sleeping Giant Ski Area outside of Cody has a buyer but they aren't interested in re-opening it as a ski resort. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Dallas-based HMH Capital plans to reopen the resort as a summer recreational park in 2027.
“The visitation numbers are just not there. We don't have enough tourists in the winter, there are too many other good options for skiing…But we have fantastic, outstanding numbers for a summer attraction. You have 4 million families going to Yellowstone every year, and one of the common questions that they'll ask is, what else is there to do besides Yellowstone? They're evidently having a meeting Wednesday to talk about some of their ideas with the public. So there'll be more information after that.”
Sleeping Giant Ski Area near Cody, Wyoming, has been closed the past three winters and was listed for sale in 2024.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis was one of the members of Congress who got a look at the unredacted Epstein files on Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Sen. Lummis says she now understands what the big deal is and it was worth investigating.
“Of our delegation in Wyoming, Lummis is the only one who so far has gone to see some of those. And a reporter caught her coming out and got a statement from her, and she said, basically, you know, yeah, you can, it's, you know, I see why this is a big deal. She mentions that, you know, after seeing some of these things, that people are right to go after the people involved reached out to the rest of the delegation and Hageman says that it's the right thing to do to put these out, to be transparent about it. And she wants to hear from people who are in those files, explain, explain themselves, and mention, specifically the Clintons, that she is looking forward to seeing that. And then Senator Brasso was very blunt too. He said, You know what? I don't need to see the unredacted files. The redacted ones I've seen are enough to make me know that he's a quote, disgusting monster.”
A spokesman for Lummis says even though the junior Senator from Wyoming hasn’t been vocal about the Epstein files, doesn’t mean she hasn’t been paying attention.
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.
