It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, April 2nd. I’m Mac Watson.
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The Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council decided Wednesday to add more ethics training for state legislators. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the move comes in the wake of the House CheckGate controversy this past session.
“They talked for about 11 minutes. Representative Mike Yin, who's minority Floor Leader in the House, said, ‘Well, this Investigative Committee had three pieces of guidance for us the Management Council.’ One is take on some more training. Another is consider signage at the entrances to the chambers, and another was to look at what other states are doing for policies in this area and possibly amend our rules further. And so they did go ahead and just say, ‘Yeah, we're gonna add hours of training to our legislative orientation for ethics.”
This need for more ethics training stems from an incident that happened during the year’s lawmaking session when Teton County-based conservative activist Rebecca Bextel handed out $1,500 checks to at least four state House of Representatives members on the House floor Feb. 9th, the first day of this session.
Read the full story HERE.
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One of Campbell County’s oldest homesteading families is proposing a land swap and sale that could unlock 250 million tons of coal on Wyoming state land. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that supporters pitch it as a win-win for the ranch and the state, but it won’t be easy.
“This is really the first step in a long, complicated process that's part of an even longer, complicated process for the family. It goes back to the 1970s and before, when they were trying to develop the property and were shut down by essentially had their coal condemned by this federal law from the 1970s and so they're sticking with it. They're trying to move it forward. They're working with their neighbors who are advocating for them, and went before the commission to ask for their support. But the skeptics would say, hey, look, there are federal coal leases out there that aren't really even being bid on. Is there really a demand?”
The proposal, presented to the Campbell County Commission on March 18 by McKenna Sorenson and her father Charles, would have the state buy the Hall family’s condemned coal rights and use them as leverage in a federal mineral exchange that could unlock up to 250 million tons of coal currently stranded in state school trust land.
Read the full story HERE.
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Former BP chief Bernard Looney has been named CEO of Wyoming startup Prometheus Hyperscale, which plans two AI data centers totaling $30 billion. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Looney says Wyoming’s energy edge makes it the right place for the buildout.
“Prometheus Hyperscale is getting ready to kick things into a higher gear. this guy that they have tapped, Bernard Looney, he's kind of a halfway famous oil and gas executive. He was BPS executive, CEO. This guy's undeniably talented. He handled multi-billion dollar projects for this company all over the world. He built $44 billion projects like that was like an everyday routine for him, and so for Prometheus Hyperscale to be able to tap this guy to lead their company, that's pretty significant.”
Looney has been involved in many other huge projects for oil and gas around the world — Papua and Indonesia, West Africa, the United States, and Trinidad.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association says rodeo champions being celebrated at the White House for the first time in more than 40 years is a huge boost for the sport. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association says “It's a good time to wear a cowboy hat,”
“There were 10 rodeo champions who came to the White House. Most of them represented the PRCA. Some of them represented the Women's Professional Rodeo Association. All of them were athletes who had won World Champions in their event. As the nation will celebrate its 250th birthday this year, the President is focused on celebrating the nation's independence and the grit of America. and that includes states like Wyoming.”
Paul Woody, chief marketing officer for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association tells Cowboy State Daily interest in the sport has been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic because it was one of the few activities that was able to continue operating and gave communities an opportunity to get together.
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 Natrona County transgender woman is challenging the What is a Woman Act in the Wyoming Supreme Court to change the sex on a birth certificate. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Judge Josh Eames denied the new birth certificate last year.
“A Natrona County District Court judge told, KR, ‘No, the law doesn't support me ordering the Department of Health to issue a new birth certificate for you, in part because of the definition of birth certificates and how we gather them, and in part because of the What Is a Woman Act.’ KR last month, filed an argument with the Wyoming Supreme Court, saying the judge got it wrong. The law does support issuing this new birth certificate. And KR also argued that the What Is a Woman Act is unconstitutional and discriminatory.”
Challenges to the law’s constitutionality form just a portion of the many legal arguments a transgender Natrona County resident raised last week before the Wyoming Supreme Court — in favor of changing the sex and name on a petitioner’s Wyoming birth certificate.
Read the full story HERE.
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Powell resident Pete Pepping says he did everything he could to avoid hitting a 200-pound dog on Highway 14A on Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Pepping says after hitting the Great Dane/Mastiff mix, he pulled over right away and called 911.
“Apparently, the dog's owner said that he let the dog loose for a moment, and then he didn't expect it to escape. But this 200-pound Great Dane Mastiff mix got away from him. It ran out onto the Powell Highway, and the driver who hit the dog said he did everything he could to avoid hitting it. And even the Park County sheriff who responded said he didn't see any way that he could have avoided that circumstance. If animals have a mind of their own, and sometimes you can do everything right and still lead to a tragic outcome.”
Pepping’s truck, a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado, was severely damaged in the incident. The grill was shattered, and the front bumper was buckled inward in the middle.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming agriculture has grown into a $1.6 billion industry. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the numbers show cattle is the largest driver.
“In terms of agricultural land, Carbon County ranks first in the number of acres used for farm and ranch land, and the acreage tops 2.8 million in Carbon County. The numbers come from a USDA census. The USDA census comes out every five years. The latest one was in 2022 and the Wyoming Farm Bureau used those numbers to create this map that shows, by the numbers, the Wyoming counties that contribute the most in agricultural value and that have the most agricultural land. So Carbon County tops for agricultural land. And Goshen County is number one for agricultural production in dollars.”
Wyoming Ag may be 93% family-owned farms and ranches, but the numbers show just how fundamental it is in a state where cows outnumber people by more than two to one.
Read the full story HERE.
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And finally, a Wyoming feature from Dale Killingbeck…
In 1884, 34-year-old Gilbert Leigh, a member of the British Parliament, traveled to Wyoming during a legislative break to hunt sheep in the Bighorn Mountains. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the trip turned tragic as Leigh fell off a cliff more than 100 feet into Ten Sleep Canyon to his death.
“On the very last day, he failed to show up in camp, and so that began a search for him that took a week, and they finally, when they were about to give up, they found a hat, and then they found his body, and he had been broken. His body was all broken up. He had apparently fallen from a ledge about 150 to 100 to 150 feet up, and a friend of his went and found where he slept, and said there was gravel, really loose gravel there. And he apparently just didn't understand, you know, what condition the footing was on that ledge. And so he lost his life.”
A member of British Parliament and of England’s upper crust, the Honorable Gilbert H.C. Leigh’s father was a lord, his mother a lady and his brother, Dudley, a successful sheep farmer in California.
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.
