It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, March 3rd. I’m Mac Watson.
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Despite compromises from all sides, Gov. Gordon, Senate leaders, and House leaders all claimed victory on Monday as the Wyoming Legislature passed a $9.9 billion, two-year budget. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland the budget falls $143 million under the $10.13 billion draft Gov. Mark Gordon recommended.
“The governor called it a win for Wyoming. It's the $10 billion budget, 43 million shy of his recommendation. So it's a win for us too. Wyoming public media remains funded. Wyoming public television, and so yeah, he was casting as a win. So, too, was Ogden Driscoll. Senator Ogden Driscoll in the State Senate said, ‘Yeah, good job holding the Senate's position,’ whereas House Appropriations Chair John Bear was like, ‘Yeah, but we still shaved 143 million from the governor's recommendation. So it's a win for us too.’ University of Wyoming gets their $40 million block grant from the state with a twist. So, they have till December 1 to chart out a road map showing how they might save $5 million and the final 10 million of that 40 would be released to them after that point. So yeah, 30 million right out the gate, the last 10 million of that 40 you can have once you show us a road map to savings.”
The state Senate voted 28-3 in favor of a compromise draft between its budget negotiators and those from the House of Representatives, while the House voted 59-1 in favor of that same compromise.
Read the full story HERE.
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The 70-year-old Fort Diablo in Glenrock was gutted by a fire on Sunday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson spoke to the owner who says he’s not sure if he can rebuild the historic restaurant.
“It's a total loss. The fire chief said, even though it didn't, burn totally to the ground. Everything has smoke damage, there's heat damage, and it's just, it's just gone. It happened during Sunday's breakfast service. They noticed then everybody got out. They don't know what caused it. They're still investigating it. The owner, he suspects it might be one of the old pieces of neon that may have sparked, sparked the fire, but he's not sure.”
Owner Kevin Tate tells Cowboy State Daily that Fort Diablo, known to locals simply as “The Fort,” has been the go-to place for date nights, family dinners, celebrations, and lunches featuring killer French dip and Reuben sandwiches since the 1950s.
Read the full story HERE.
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A vocal minority in the Wyoming Senate tried and failed Monday to resurrect a housing bill linked to the "CheckGate" scandal. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Senate President Bo Biteman said the bill was “tainted.”
“So, prodded by some senators who wanted to resurrect House Bill 141, Senate President Bo Biteman said, ‘Sure, I will make a movement to suspend the rules, to resurrect this, but I'm not voting for that, because this bill is tainted.’ Reason, he said that is because it's at the heart of now two bribery investigations, one by a House committee, one by Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak. Senate President Biteman was like, ‘Look, I pushed for this policy in the past,’ and he lamented that, because of the controversy, senators who favor that policy have to choose between voting against the bill because of the controversy or but, but betraying their, you know, their policy conscience in the meantime.”
There was no rule against the act itself at the time, though the House, Senate, and governor have all responded by banning the exchange of campaign contributions in the Capitol.
Read the full story HERE.
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Rep. Chris Knapp’s effort to repeal Wyoming's carbon capture mandate failed on Monday as it was the final day for bills to advance out of committee. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the bill’s death extends the debate over whether carbon capture helps or hurts Wyoming’s coal industry.
“Chris Knapp, a Republican from Gillette. He says it's a yoke around the coal industry. And given all of the enthusiastic moves that the Trump administration has done, that this legislature has done. Let's get rid of this last yoke. Let's get rid of this requirement on carbon capture. It's been the subject of vigorous debate, but it has moved through the legislature this year, and Knapp at the beginning of the hearing this afternoon, said he hopes this is when it finally will get over the hump. Well, it didn't get over the hump. There was no vote. It simply ran out of time.”
House Bill 56, which would have repealed the Reliable and Dispatchable Low-Carbon Energy Standards created by House Bill 200 in 2020, died after the hearing ran out of time on the final day for legislation to advance out of committee.
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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If lawmakers in West Virginia are successful in legalizing fully automatic firearms, Wyoming could follow suit. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that one law professor says he could see Wyoming and Montana adopting similar laws.
“They're working on a bill in their legislature that would basically, it would create a new department. Within their state police department, there'd be a new sub-department through which…the state could issue machine guns or fully-automatic weapons to civilians. The way they're doing this work around is that the state is issuing you the firearmYou're not going out and buying it yourself.”
The West Virginia bill was authored by Gun Owners of America. Johnson County resident Mark Jones, a GOA national director, tells Cowboy State Daily that similar legislation is “doable in Wyoming” and might be introduced during the 2027 session.
Read the full story HERE.
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Bills making child stalking and grooming stand-alone felony crimes are headed for the governor's desk. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the legislation came from a high-profile case out of Glenrock.
“The first bill HB 8 originates, kind of the impetus for that was a very nefarious stalking case out of Glen rock in which a 41 year old woman, Marcy Smith, stalked two teens. The other bill adds legislation where there was none before. Prior to this bill, there was no legal recourse for law enforcement to intervene during the grooming process. This now puts a mechanism in place where they can actually charge grooming as a crime.”
Both bills easily passed their final hurdle Friday and are heading to Gov. Mark Gordon’s desk to be signed into law.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 53-year-old Jackson man who drove his SUV about a mile up the Gros Ventre River is scheduled to plead guilty to his fifth DUI in 10 years on Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Christopher David Eickhoff almost hit a fisherman before getting his vehicle stuck in the middle of the river.
“This guy's driving his white Chevy Tahoe into the river, driving up the river. Fisherman says he almost ran over him, so he called and reported it. When deputies got there, he was gone. He was up the river about another mile or so, and they hiked up and found him. The report is that he failed a series of sobriety tests, even though he claimed that he wasn't drinking any alcohol.”
Eickhoff will plead guilty to driving while under the influence in a deal with prosecutors in exchange for the dismissal of a charge of possessing a controlled substance and a recommendation of two to four years in prison, according to a copy of the deal in his court file.
Read the full story HERE.
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After a Powell McDonald's made international headlines last week for banning a farmer who used a drive-thru with a team of horses, the man said the franchise apologized and reversed its ban. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that team driver Allen Hatch says, “The support across the state has been staggering.”
“What started out as just an interesting photo opportunity quickly turned into an international story. Several international publications picked up what Hatch was doing and found it interesting enough to make a story out of it. And a lot of Wyoming businesses have reached out to say, ‘We are horse and wagon friendly, so you're encouraged to bring your horses and your wagon down to us.’”
Hatch said he was contacted by a representative of Yellowstone McDonald’s, and received a “personal, private apology" and was told he and his horses are welcome back.
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.
