It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, March 20th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Some lawmakers say the Legislature didn't ask voters to settle whether abortion is health care. Cowboy StateDaily’s Clair McFarland reports lawmakers claim it’s because they fear the pro-abortion lobby will flood Wyoming with out-of-state money.
“I think most people went into this year's legislative session thinking that an abortion amendment Proposition would come out of it would head for the ballot this fall, and ask voters, do you want to codify this? Right? And that didn't happen. I talked to some lawmakers who said, ‘Yeah, but you got to really amp up for that, because other states have had lots of out of state money come in when they have this ballot question, and then all this public messaging starts, and they can't they, they end up with that right codified instead of reversed.’”
Changing the Wyoming Constitution would take a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate, then a majority vote by the people at the next general election, which is Nov. 3 of this year.
Read the full story HERE.
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Without cold winter temperatures to keep them subdued, Wyoming's summer could be dominated by mosquitoes. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that one entomologist says prepare for more flies and mosquitoes.
“Wyoming's winter has a direct impact on the life cycle of insects, and now that we've had an abnormally warm winter that could lead to a much more buggy summer with swarms of insects, the term but the ones that are going to thrive in those conditions are the ones that people don't like. It's too early to say whether we're going to have swarms of insects this summer, but the conditions are already set up for a lot of insects to thrive, as it wasn't that cold this winter, so a lot of insects that would have stayed dormant or suppressed during the colder months are already active and out and about. You're going to see more filth flies, and you could see more mosquitoes.”
University of Wyoming Extension’s entomologist Scott Schell tells Cowboy State Daily that the earlier mosquitoes hatch, it could lead to a higher transmission of West Nile virus which can affect livestock and humans.
Read the full story HERE.
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Police say the former CEO for the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce admitted to writing herself more than $77,000 worth of checks drawn on a chamber account. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Amanda Knotwell’s case was elevated to felony court on Wednesday.
“Anything over $1,000 is felony. So $77,000 is more than that. What's interesting is that the police chief did his accounting from the bank records, and came to an amount a little over $77,000 when he asked the former chamber president. how much she thought it was, he pulled out a spreadsheet. Apparently she had anticipated figuring this out. She pulled out a spreadsheet and gave him a number that was only $25 off from what he had found.”
If convicted on the single charge of felony theft, Knotwell could face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Read the full story HERE.
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Bar Nunn’s mayor said it was “sleazy” that a Reid Rasner defamation lawsuit was served against a councilman during a public meeting Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the mayor said it was probably the lowest thing he’s ever seen in his life.
“So Mayor Peter Boyer told me, yeah, I said I've never seen anything worse. That was on the hyperbolic side, but he still reiterated his point that he found it sleazy. He said those council meetings are for the business of bar none, not for someone to serve a civil suit on one of the council members. Sabrosky’s next step is he can file a motion to dismiss if he believes that the evidence pled doesn't uphold the legal mechanisms that are also alleged. And then if the judge isn't swayed and keeps the case alive after that, then they would exchange evidence. And if the evidence then doesn't support the claims, then he can file a motion for summary judgment.”
Bar Nunn Town Councilman Dan Sabrosky was sitting in a public council meeting Tuesday when a man served him with a defamation lawsuit from Wyoming congressional candidate Reid Rasner during the public participation part of the meeting. That’s according to a video of the incident and an interview Sabrosky gave to Cowboy State Daily.
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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According to a report to the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission earlier this week, there were more than 6,000 human-grizzly conflicts in Wyoming from 1982 to 2025. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that neither attack last year resulted in life-threatening injuries.
“The Game and Fish Commission sat down for a meeting in Torrington, and the Game and Fish department's large carnivore section gave their yearly report some pretty interesting things. Conflict has to involve an actual attack on a human, actual attack on livestock, a human illegally killing a large carnivore, or a carnivore causing significant property damage. So, all told, there were more than 6000 of those sorts of things involving grizzly bears between 82 and 2025, and then in 2025 I think there were around 220.”
Brian DeBolt, Game and Fish large carnivore conflict coordinator, told the commission that conflicts are defined as incidents involving human injury or death, the illegal killing of predators, agricultural damage/loss of livestock and property damage.
Read the full story HERE.
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A family who moved to Powell in 2025 with their four dogs are pleading to the city council to reconsider an ordinance that allows only two pets per residence. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that they vow not to take two of them to the shelter.
“The ordinance is that the city of Powell allows only two pets per resident, so not two dogs, not two cats, two pets per household. They have four. So the question becomes, what do they do with their dogs? If they can't, you know, legally have them in town. So the Pittmans went to the Powell city council meeting earlier this month and basically pleaded with the City Council to let them keep their dogs, and their plea included asking the city council to extend the ordinance to allow for up to four pets, the city council unanimously voted to send the consideration to the city's planning and zoning committee, and that committee will review it on March 30.”
Mayor John Wetzel told Cowboy State Daily, “Whenever we start talking about people’s pets, there’s emotion involved.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams has entered the race for Wyoming Secretary of State. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the representative supports Chuck Gray’s conservative platform but said she'll collaborate well with clerks.
“She certainly aligns ideologically with Chuck Gray. She said that was a fair characterization. He was in the Freedom Caucus when he was a lawmaker. She chairs it. Now you're going to see, you know, a lot of emphasis on election Security reform, that kind of thing. And so she said, Yeah, I aligned ideologically with him, but my leadership style is a little different. She talked about working with different personalities. She talked about her work in nonprofits, her willingness to listen.”
Robert Short is also vying for the GOP nomination, and Bryan McCarty's running as a Democrat for the Wyoming Secretary of State position.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming fish hatchery is expected to churn out well over 1 million walleye per year, and anglers are excited. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission on Wednesday approved putting over $9 million toward a massive upgrade of the Dan Speas Fish Hatchery near Casper.
“The Game and Fish Commission, that's the commission that has oversight over the department, approved the last roughly 9.5 million of that budget. They went ahead and said, Okay, here's your 9.5 million to get up to budget so that project can get underway. So they’re hoping to start construction in September and start turning out fish in April of 2028 and I talked to a couple walleye fanatics here in Wyoming, and they're stoked.”
The total estimated budget for the project is roughly $25 million. Construction is set to begin in September and end in October 2027. The upgraded facility is scheduled to begin hatching its first walleye fry in April 2028.
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.
