It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, March 13th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A Wyoming windstorm with gusts reported as high as 109 mph has left a trail of destruction across the state. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that strong gusts have blown over dozens of commercial trucks, ripped roofs off buildings, and uprooted trees.
“It was sustained winds in the high 50s, low 60 mile per hour with gusts up to 90. Here in Cheyenne, they set a record at the airport with a 90 mile per hour gust. There was a 94 mile per hour gust registered at NCAR, which is the super computer location, and other reports had come into the National Weather Service over 101 and 109 out between Laramie and Centennial. The entire stretch of I 80 through Wyoming was closed. I talked to a trucker at a truck stop who is from Alabama, and he was just, he had like a deer-in-the- headlights look. He just couldn't believe this type of wind.”
For perspective, Category 1 strength hurricanes have sustained winds of between 74 mph and 95 mph.
Read the full story HERE.
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It’s being described as a showdown in Crook County as House Speaker Chip Neiman has announced he's running for Sen. Ogden Driskill's senate seat. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Driskill wasn't going to run again but changed his mind as voters tell him they don't want to see "the Freedom Caucus move to the Senate.”
“it's a former Senate President versus the state speaker of the house. So heavyweights leadership, big influences in legislature. This is the Senate seat in the northeast corner of Wyoming, currently held by Senator Ogden Driscoll, a former Senate President, and the current House speaker, Chip Neiman, is vying for the seat. So it's a showdown between an incumbent and a very successful House candidate who for years has been his counterpart in the house, and now is going to give him a run for his own seat.”
Driskill took the first swing Thursday upon hearing of Neiman’s state Senate bid, calling the Freedom Caucus long on rhetoric and short on results, prone to groupthink and clumsy. Neiman fired back, saying Driskill is broad-brushing him and the issues in general.
Read the full story HERE.
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A mild winter means easy living for Wyoming’s big game, but it also means hard times for predators. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that’s because of fewer weakened animals to hunt or winterkill carcasses to devour. “If the next four months, like this month through June, we don't see significant amounts of moisture, that could spell trouble. Because what people might not realize, in the case of bears, they're really dependent on fresh green grass. They get a lot of their springtime protein by you'll see Grizzlies walking out into metals and gorging themselves. Grizzlies, especially mama Grizzlies, with new cubs, become grazers. They eat as much or more grass than they do meat and other food sources.”
During the 2022-2023 winter, the brutal weather killed deer, elk and antelope by the tens of thousands. When the deep snows finally melted in the spring of 2023, landscapes were littered with big game carcasses, which was an all-you-can eat buffet for carnivores.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming state Senate President Bo Biteman announced on Thursday that he's running for the state's lone U.S. House seat. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Biteman describes himself as a “constitutional conservative.”
“Often lawmakers don't declare for higher office until that session is over, even while their competitors are able to campaign. it's one day after session and Senate President Bo Biteman said, ‘Yeah, I'm running for that lone US House seat in Washington, DC.’ He characterized himself as a constitutional conservative. I asked, ‘So what parts of the Constitution does Washington DC need a refresher on?’ He said, ‘All of it.’ He said that he wants to push toward a constitutional amendment that Washington DC, that Congress has to do single subject bills, so you can't pile lots of policy goals and do a big omnibus bill, and if you don't pass it, the government shuts down. He said Wyoming's government works really well, and I think that Congress could borrow that strategy and be a lot better off.”
The 47-year-old Biteman tells Cowboy State Daily that, if elected, he vows to protect Wyoming’s public lands from being sold off to private buyers and he’d like to see reform so that Wyoming could control the mineral leasing the federal government now runs – and the management of which vacillates with every presidential party change.
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 proposed three-quarter percent sales tax to cover ambulance services, public transportation, and commercial air in Fremont County could land on the August primary ballot. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that Fremont County Commissioners narrowly passed a resolution in a 3-2 vote.
“If it goes to the voters in August, it needs to be approved by a majority of the county's six municipalities and a majority of the county commissioners. So far, county commissioners narrowly approved the measure in a three to two vote, and three of the six municipalities have voted for it, one municipality, Dubois, unanimously voted against it on Wednesday. Fremont County Commissioner, Chairman Larry Allen said in the most recent county commissioners meeting that we're running out of time to get this on to the August 2026 ballot.”
Two remaining municipalities — Shoshoni and Pavillion — have yet to vote. If the measure makes it to the August ballot and county voters approve the tax increase, the tax would take effect on Jan. 1, 2027.
Read the full story HERE.
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Starting July 1, Wyoming 18-year-olds can get permits to carry concealed firearms. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports an 18-year-old Riverton woman plans to do so because it will make her feel safer in “sketchy” places like isolated roadside gas stations.
“I was able to track down an actual Wyoming 18-year old who does want to do that once that option is available to her on July 1. She wants to go get her concealed carry permit so she can start concealed carrying a handgun. And she acknowledges why some people are worried that 18-year olds, especially 18-year olds, like a lot of people she knows, who've never been around guns, have never handled them.”
Wyoming has Constitutional carry, meaning people over age 21 who can lawfully own firearms may carry them concealed without a permit.
That won’t change; 18 to 20-year-olds will still need permits to carry concealed weapons.
Read the full story HERE.
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A new 470-page history book, “Cowboy Soldiers,” has been released chronicling the Wyoming National Guard’s evolution from 1870-1945. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that even today’s Guard members are making history with recent combat missions in Syria.
“People don't know they were sent to the border during the chase of Pancho Villa under General Pershing. So there are lots of nuggets in the group in the book. So lots of cool stories in the book, and it coincides with some honors that were given to the Wyoming National Guard in the state budget session this year where they were recognized for their work in Syria with a Milt with the HIMARS rocket unit. So they received kudos from the Wyoming Legislature this year.”
Wyoming Adjutant Major General Greg Porter pointed out to legislators that the guard’s beginnings stretch all the way back before statehood and have been called on in its history to serve national needs.
Read the full story HERE.
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.
