It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, March 11th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Noting the Trump administration backs his decision, Gov. Mark Gordon on Tuesday vetoed the Second Amendment Protection Act. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the bill would penalize Wyoming agencies that help with federal gun enforcement operations.
“Pretty much all Wyoming law enforcement and the Trump administration's acting ICE Director do not like this bill, and so what local law enforcement are saying is they could be caught in the crossfire of vague remedies. whereas the gun lobby is saying, this is making sure that local law enforcement stands against federal law enforcement when it comes to an issue of our gun rights. Gordon had a letter from the acting director of ice saying, this could chill other lawful operations and collaborations between state and federal law enforcement”
Senate File 101, which would impose $50,000 civil penalties on Wyoming police agencies that help with federal gun-crime enforcement operations against "law-abiding" citizens, or hire former federal agents who’ve conducted those operations, garnered massive controversy during this year’s legislative session – as all 23 Wyoming sheriffs opposed it.
Read the full story HERE.
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Laramie County School District 1 says it’s “aware” of a video showing a Cheyenne junior high teacher on his knees begging a student, telling her that, “I did something very wrong.” Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that one parent says the video is “creepy”
“Parents are still asking other questions, like, ‘Is this person still teaching at the school? Was there a suspension?’ The parents are just saying, ‘Look, we just want some transparency.’ We just want you to say, ‘Yes, something happened, and we're addressing it.’ The school did send out a statement about it to parents on their automatic system. And it basically says, ‘We're aware of this situation.’”
The Cheyenne Police Department has said it’s investigating a report about the incident, which involved a man, now confirmed to be an eighth-grade McCormick math teacher.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Cheyenne City Council voted on Monday to delay a final decision on forcibly annexing a farm that sells fresh, local produce. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports the council decided to delay for eight months after hours of testimony from concerned residents.
“50 people came and actually spoke at the meeting in favor of why fresh farms being able to continue to operate their business as they have, without having to abide by city code. This ordinance took up the bulk of the meeting, and the meeting overall lasted almost six hours. This part of it lasted more than four hours. At the end of it, the city council agreed unanimously to postpone the third reading to November, which gives the city eight months to work through some more definitions, especially defining what an urban farm is and putting that into city code.”
The proposed annexation has been a point of contention for months. It is part of a larger plan Mayor Patrick Collins introduced when he took office in 2021, intending to annex portions of the county that are surrounded by city land. The city council will meet again on Nov. 9th.
Read the full story HERE.
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Federal judge Tanya Chutkan threw out approval for Wyoming’s massive 5,000-well Converse County Oil and Gas Project over environmental flaws. But Cowboy State Daily’s Daivd Madison reports that drilling continues under a different plan as conservationists and industry battle over wildlife and revenue.
“This judge found that there were concerns around water, groundwater, specifically, and concerns around greenhouse gas emissions that weren't up to snuff, and so she vacated the whole Environmental Impact Statement. A lot of work goes into those things, so that's a huge move. However, she didn't prevent the BLM from issuing individual permits under this resource management plan that wasn't contested in court now, that could go to court one day, and these permits that are being issued right now could be challenged, but it's, it's a messy situation that's left no one really fully satisfied.”
Despite Judge Chutkan’s ruling, drilling permits are still getting approved in the Powder River Basin
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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A Wyoming judge rejected a new DHS policy that detains immigrants who have been living in the U.S. consistently during their immigration proceedings. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the judge also ordered a bond hearing for a detained immigrant trucker, who is now free while his case continues.
“This is just the latest in a wave of judges saying, ‘No Trump, this long standing federal law that has applied to people who are already in the country has guaranteed that they can, they can get a bond hearing, right? Whereas the Trump administration is saying, ‘Look, even if you're established here, we want to detain you. We don't want to give you a bond hearing. We want to detain you while your case is ongoing.’”
This was not Judge Skavdahl’s first time adhering to the older reading of federal immigration law. Back in November, he ruled that an illegal immigrant who says he’s been living in the U.S. for 20 years does not fall under the detention mandate the federal government historically applied to people just arriving in the nation.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Laramie County Sheriff’s office says a teen is in custody after a 41-year-old woman was shot in the back of her head on Friday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the woman was life-flighted to a Colorado hospital, where she died.
“The Laramie County Sheriff's Office put out information on Tuesday about a shooting that happened Friday. Doesn't say how many times she was shot, but, but that this juvenile was taken into custody at the scene. There's no word yet on whether this teen is going to be charged as a juvenile, as an adult, but until that decision is made, it's treated as a juvenile. They're also not releasing the name of the woman who was shot because that could potentially ID the juvenile in this case.”
The Sheriff’s Office reports that the investigation remains active, and further details regarding charges or the identity of the involved parties are being withheld at this time.
Read the full story HERE.
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The first official sighting of a grizzly in Yellowstone has been confirmed. Cowboy State Daily’s Jimmy Orr reports that Park officials say the male bear was, not surprisingly, eating.
“The first grizzly is usually spotted in northern Yellowstone in early March. And where the grizzly was spotted is not a surprise either, because he was feasting on a bison carcass. A grizzly was spotted by a photographer on January 26, but it doesn't count. Why? Because Yellowstone, it's got to be a Yellowstone spotting. And so they spotted this one, this one, this one counts the earlier one didn't.”
Despite an abnormally warm winter across Wyoming, Yellowstone’s first official grizzly sighting isn’t abnormally early. It falls right within the window of when biologists expect and typically do see big bruins emerging from hibernation to voraciously find and feast on whatever food they can find.
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.
