It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, April 15th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A developer is asking Laramie County to build an 800-unit man camp to house up to 5,600 construction workers to build data centers. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that neighbors say they don’t want the crime that comes with it, while the county says the workers are coming regardless.
“This is a huge project. I spoke to the county planning director. He said, ‘Look, it's better to have them on site where they're not having this big commute, putting 1000s of cars on our streets and stressing our local rental market. He used the example of, ‘Hey, I'm looking after the guy who's working at the checkout aisle at Safeway in South Cheyenne. What's going to happen to his rent when these six figure specialists, construction guys who are pipe fitters and electricians and others who are making a really good wage, what happens when they flood into the local rental market? What does that do to our everyday wage earner.’”
Justin Arnold, director of Laramie County Planning and Development, tells Cowboy State Daily that the camp is a response to several approved mega projects now converging on Cheyenne, including Meta, the proposed Project Jade data center and Cowboy Solar.
Read the full story HERE.
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Five candidates to Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat are condemning President Donald Trump’s decision to post online a Jesus-like image of himself in Roman-style robes and other religious imagery. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that one lawmaker says there’s no debate about the image.
“This brought outrage from some on the Christian right, including Kevin Christensen, one of the 10 Republican candidates for Wyoming's US House seat, he came out bold Monday night like, This is blasphemy. What's wrong is wrong. What's right is right. Two more Republican candidates, John Romero- Martinez and Matt McGinnis both said that they agreed that the image was inappropriate.”
Trump’s post came after he clashed publicly with Pope Leo XIV over the war in Iran.
Read the full story HERE.
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Microsoft is announcing that it will buy 3,200 more acres in Cheyenne to build data centers, tripling its footprint in Wyoming's capital city while promising to limit impacts on power rates, water and housing. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the Tuesday announcement comes amid vocal debates about data center impacts to energy costs and water usage for the Cowboy State.
“There are, there's a contingent of Wyomingites who are very opposed to this. I talked with Senator Cale Case and he's wondering, are we being too easy on these data centers? They're getting pushed out of other places. Maybe we want to tamp that down a little until we get this figured out, because there are some big things to figure out. The thing is, you're using a resource. The more of that resource that gets used, the higher the price goes. If all of these data centers come in, bring their own power, great, but they're going to be using up a resource. That resource is going to get more expensive.”
The Microsoft land purchase involves two pieces of land, one 200-acre parcel located in Bison Business Park on Wapiti Trail east of South Greeley Highway, and an adjacent 3,000-acre parcel accessible from Wapiti Trail.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming American Legion Baseball started its 2026 season by combining the Double A and Single A levels together. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that some former coaches don’t like the move saying it stacks the deck for bigger towns.
“A lot of former baseball coaches see it as a bad thing for a number of reasons. The biggest one is that they feel that the smaller communities just can't compete on the same level anymore, both literally and figuratively, because when they've got a small community, it can be hard to put together a solid baseball team when you're competing against communities that are much larger, where they might have a much large, larger roster.”
When the 2026 American Legion Baseball season started earlier this month, the Double A and Single A levels were combined into a single Senior Legion level, which means all 23 teams will compete in two conferences, regardless of the size and skill of their teams.
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 mild winter has produced a bumper crop of Wyoming turkeys, and the territorial rituals have already started. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that seasoned turkey hunters are saying this will lead to a huge season.
“I talked to a couple guys, one guy who's here in Wyoming, and one guy who's good buddies with him from Montana that frequently comes down to Wyoming and hunts. We've had this weird, wacky weather, essentially, no winter. Basically, they said it's, all it's really done is, is kicked, put the turkeys into their mating behavior a little bit early, about a month early, the season opens on the 20th but they see the turkeys already. They said that probably shouldn't affect the hunting. The hunting should still be okay, and because of the mild winter, we'll probably have a bumper crop of young turkeys.”
Wyoming has both spring and fall turkey hunting seasons. The spring season opens April 20.
Read the full story HERE.
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The $140.9 billion Sentinel missile program is racing to catch up after cost overruns triggered a Congressional review and delays. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that officials say the stakes are high for national defense, and Wyoming and F.E. Warren Air Force Base sit at the heart of the push.
“This is the largest public works project since the highway system was built, $140.9 billion replacement of the Minutemen three missile system that is part of our nuclear deterrent approach. America wants to replace those because while we were flirting with the idea of, you know, reducing nuclear arms, the rest of the world didn't play along with that. China added technology and capability to its missiles. Russia did the same thing. And so, you know, we're realizing that we've got to modernize our missiles. Wyoming, again, is right in the middle of it. We are ground zero for this upgrade.”
Northrop Grumman’s Sentinel spokesperson Matt Dillow tells Cowboy State Daily that the acceleration push is coming from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Strategic Command. Dillow added that both entities are saying they need the operational capability of Sentinel as soon as they can possibly get it.
Read the full story HERE
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At least three rematches in the Wyoming House of Representatives have surfaced so far this campaign season, and one more looks likely. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that they all feature Republicans facing other Republicans and challengers aren't particularly complimentary of their foes.
“We'll have some of these kind of close races where that either that some of them were ousted House members, some of them are just, just fell short of becoming House members, and they're saying, Yeah, I'm doing it again. Like Exie Brown lost to Landon Brown by 17 votes, and he's been churning in that community since then. So he's decided, ‘Yeah, let's give it another go.’ Same thing with Edith Allen lost to now representative Kevin Christensen by like six votes in the primary election. And so you got these kinds of tantalizing losses that are rehashing themselves as rematches in the primary right now.”
Unlike other states, in deep-red Wyoming, the notable rematches feature Republicans and other Republicans.
Read the full story HERE.
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After a Laramie man totaled his car colliding with a moose in the dark early morning hours Monday, he and his fiancée hoped that they could at least claim the meat. But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that then somebody else came along and stole their roadkill.
“By the time they got back up there, somebody else had already messed with the moose carcass. Apparently, he said they looked like they put a winch cable around a snake and winched it like down a Forest Service road and ruined a bunch of meat by dragging along its side, took about a quarter of the meat that was still good, and then just left.”
Tim Wyland tells Cowboy State Daily that he woke his fiance, Lindsey Williams at 6AM to tell her that they lost their car, and then they lost the moose.
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.
