It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, March 17th. I’m Mac Watson.
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The prosecutor charging Rep. Bill Allemand on drunk driving allegations says he was handcuffed during his Buffalo traffic stop for safety reasons, not as part of an illegal interrogation. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the Representative made a "reckless movement" near a gun, the prosecutor wrote.
“Representative Bill Allemand had this argument like he was detained and then asked incriminating questions while he was detained. and that his case should be dismissed where the prosecutor fired back Friday saying, Well, yeah, the deputy handcuffed you for a bit during that traffic stop because you were moving around near a loaded gun. And so it was a safety thing, not an interrogation thing. The defense attorney, Mike Vang, is well known for representing people charged with DUI, and it's really his emphasis. And so he was saying, I haven't seen such a hefty counter motion in a misdemeanor DUI case across the state. And I asked him to theorize on why that is. And he said, ‘This is obviously important to both sides.’”
The matter is set for a March 25 hearing in Buffalo Circuit Court.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Highway Patrol confirmed one person died in a multi-vehicle incident that occurred on I-80 near Rock Springs on Sunday and another died near Lander on Thursday. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that of the 33 blowovers counted in just one day, 22 drivers were issued citations.
“That reflects that the drivers maybe they weren't being willfully ignorant, but they didn't either know about the closures or they didn't check on the status of the highways, and decided to go out there anyway. Aaron Brown, the spokesperson for the Wyoming highway patrol, said that's a really expensive lesson to learn, that if you go up against Mother Nature during a windstorm on Wyoming's highways, you will lose every time.”
The WHP’s initial report identifies the victim as J.C. Slaugh, 29, of Utah. He was driving a Chevrolet Trailblazer that struck a guardrail and rolled over and down a steep cliff after overcorrecting a turn.
Read the full story HERE.
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A new law aimed at shutting down illegal gambling halls in Wyoming bars rewrites the rules for every friendly poker game in the state. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that In Alpine, Yo’s Poker Palace continues to insist it's running a friendly — and legal — game.
“We're talking about poker here. It's synonymous with the West, right? You know, the swinging saloon door as you walk in and they're in the corner, is a game going on. And I don't think lawmakers were out to end poker. I think they really wanted to close this loophole where really big profits were being made by bars that were exploiting the friendly game loophole. That's what my sources in the legislature and at the Gaming Commission say.”
For years, Wyoming law has allowed poker games among friends — the kind of Saturday night kitchen-table affair where somebody loses 20 bucks and nobody walks away from the table flush with cash.
Some professional operators found a way to turn the friendly game exception into a business model.
Read the full story HERE.
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After a near-fatal December crash, Brittany Knop of Lovell is home recovering. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that Brittany was Christmas shopping for needy children when hit by two cars. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that when Brittany woke up in the hospital, she had one thought: did anyone get gifts for the Angel Tree kids?
“There were two kids at the bank she worked at that were part of this Angel Tree Project, their names were on her list. She wanted to get those ghost presents, and so she was headed out on a Saturday afternoon, and apparently hit some ice. She was hit twice, once head on, once T boned and her life, her blood, her body started bleeding internally, and she almost lost her life. Was taken to Billings Hospital and spent a month there. First thing she said when she woke up was, did the kids get the presents? One interesting thing was she had an Apple watch that had the crash. As soon as she went into the crash, it sent alerts to her parents. And her dad and stepmom just happened to be in Cody at the time, and so they were able to drive to the crash site.”
The Lovell 21-year-old, recovering from a broken pelvis, knee and other injuries, can’t yet get her body to do her favorite relaxation position after spending more than a month in a Montana hospital and then rehabilitation facility.
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 car plowed into a Cheyenne Subway store on Sunday, taking out a wall of windows and closing the sandwich shop. Cowboy State Daily’s Geg Johnson reports that employees say it's at least the fourth time it's been hit.
“Apparently people in Cheyenne really want this Subway location to have a drive in, but it doesn't, but they keep driving their cars into it. The latest happened on Sunday morning, car driving up on the road and not sure exactly what, whether is trying to avoid something or was just going too fast, but popped up the curb and right into the front of the subway building, which which is right on a busy corner, and it's mostly glass, so in this pretty tough glass, because it didn't actually break through the glass, it just pushed it in.”
The assistant manager of the Subway restaurant tells Cowboy State Daily that this is the fourth time someone has run into the front of the store. No one was seriously injured in the incident.
Read the full story HERE.
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Teton County said it miscalculated a $24,325 fee it charged a couple for building a home on their own property and gave them a refund plus interest. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Trey and Shelby Scharp sued Teton County in May 2025 over the fee they were required to pay to build a home on property they already owned.
“The Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution says that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation, meaning the government can't just take your stuff without paying you back. And in Teton County, they talk about the Fifth Amendment a lot because they have an elaborate Housing Mitigation Scheme where, if you want to build a house, you have to pay so much or provide so much housing for the workforce that the county theorizes your build is going to require. So the argument has been heating up since about 2024 the Supreme Court tightened its view on constitutionality of systems like these.”
In Teton County, advocates of the practice say it helps build affordable homes for the working class as ultra-wealthy transplants spike the housing market. The Wyoming Legislature tried and failed this year to ban such housing mitigation fees statewide.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Missouri man who was listed as a most-wanted FBI fugitive for more than a month was arrested in Los Angeles for his alleged part in a $220 million cattle fraud scheme. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that Joshua Link is the fifth and final person to be arrested on fraud allegations in connection to Agridime, LLC, a Texas-based company that offered customers the opportunity to buy and sell cattle without the actual day-to-day care of the animals.
“32-year-old Joshua Link of Stratford, Missouri, was charged with 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of money laundering, including wiring money to purchase real property. If Link is convicted, he could face up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud charge, 20 years for each wire fraud conspiracy charge, and up to 10 years for each money laundering charge. Essentially, if he's convicted, he could get life in prison.”
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a statement that thousands of unwitting investors, ranchers, and others in the cattle industry nationwide, were drawn in and victimized by this multi-million dollar scheme.
Read the full story HERE.
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Washakie County first responders mobilized to rescue a reported vehicle that had driven into the Bighorn River. Instead, they recovered a submerged smartphone with its flashlight turned on. “We were impressed that it was still on,” said the fire chief.
“There's an ongoing investigation in terms of who the owner of the phone is that has not been disclosed if they even know. The thing that everybody found kind of remarkable it's the fact that the phone was still on. It hadn't short- circuited in the water. Not only was it still on and operable, but it had the light still on, which is how the two teenagers walking along the Big Horn River got turned on to that in the first place. It was an unknown light glowing from the depths of the river.”
Worland Volunteer Fire Chief Chris Kocher tells Cowboy State Daily that law enforcement officers are still investigating the incident and trying to find the owner.
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.
