It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, April 23rd. I’m Mac Watson.
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Wyoming’s notorious winds stole the show Wednesday in Kemmerer, as TerraPower opened its gates to the media for its nuclear plant’s first day of construction. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that once built, the Natrium plant in Kemmerer will become the nation’s first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant.
“This is a momentous occasion, I think for Wyoming, this will be the first commercial scale molten sodium cooled nuclear plant in America, at least, if not the world. I mean, there are some smaller plants elsewhere in the world. Terra Power is already working to commercialize this with Meta to potentially power some of its data centers, maybe even one in Cheyenne. Cheyenne is a quote, natural candidate, according to one of the company officials. So you know, just a very interesting and exciting day here in Kemmerer.”
Wednesday marked the first day of construction for the nuclear part of the project, which company officials say will be one of the first of its kind in size and scale in both America and the world.
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A Natrona County judge Wednesday didn’t rule on an effort to halt Wyoming’s Heartbeat Abortion Ban. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that an opposition lawyer called it “unconstitutionally vague,” while Attorney General Keith Kautz argued a heartbeat lets us “know there is a life to protect.”
“Judge Forgey took under advisement whether to block Wyoming's brand new, latest abortion ban. This one, the Human Heartbeat Act would ban abortion from the point a heartbeat could be heard. The pro choice plaintiffs call it vague, say it violates a woman's health care right, asked the judge to block it. They say that they're the plaintiffs of birthing-age woman, a couple, obese, an abortion clinic and a funding group will suffer harm if the law is not blocked. Whereas the state, the Attorney General said, ‘No, this, the state has this compelling interest to defend unborn life, and this time, after nearly four years of litigation, now we're going to prove it.’”
Judge Daniel Forgey told Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz representing the state and attorney Peter Modlin arguing for the plaintiffs that he appreciated the “quality” of the arguments.
Read the full story HERE.
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Bruno, one of Wyoming’s most popular grizzlies, had his face ripped open last fall in what many bear observers believe was a fight with another male grizzly. Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz reports that after being captured and treated for his wounds, he showed up fully healed this spring.
“So last year, Bruno, we don't know for sure what people think he probably got in a fight with another male bear had a big, old, gnarly, nasty gash down his face and was oozing, you know, all that good gooey stuff you get. You get in nature. But this year, he showed up looking pretty much like new ones, like, what the bear get plastic surgery? Well, it turns out what happens is the federal, uh, bear biology team, they were going to capture and color him anyway, and while they had him, you know, tranquilized, they went ahead and treated that wound.”
Wyoming and federal wildlife agents and scientists generally have a hands-off approach toward such things as wildlife injuries, preferring to let nature take its course.
Read the full story HERE.
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Some county Republican parties are asking the Wyoming Republican Party to consider loyalty tests for candidates and declare some state laws void. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the state GOP meets Thursday in Douglas, where it will review more than 100 proposed bylaw changes.
“The county parties have, by their own votes and maneuvers, proposed all sorts of bylaws changes, and the most significant of those coming from crook Western you and a Crook County is saying, ‘Hey, we should be treated like a private group. We should have this first amendment right to determine our own membership and association and throw off the state laws that govern us.’ And so those are pretty strong proposed changes. And then there was another change. There's more proposed changes, where they're asking the state party to develop loyalty, fidelity tests for political candidates who are seeking the party's endorsement or nomination.”
Many of those say that the state GOP has the autonomy rights of a private group, and doesn’t have to follow state laws dictating its processes and membership. That’s based on the assertion that, under the First Amendment associational right and prior court cases, the Wyoming Republican Party can function how it wishes.
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 man charged with being impaired when he drove a train loaded with 16,000 tons of hazardous materials across eastern Wyoming is in a mental health facility. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports during the Wednesday hearing, the judge said he didn’t want the case to fall through the cracks.
“Mr. Richards appeared for what was scheduled to be an arraignment, which is a plea hearing where he was scheduled to plead guilty, not guilty, whatever, instead, it turned into more of a status hearing where he didn't actually enter a plea. Why that's important is because he appeared via video from a live in mental health facility in his hometown in Nebraska. And the judge said, ‘Hey, we didn't do a plea today.’ These are misdemeanor charges, however, they involve quite a serious situation with a train carrying 1000s of tons of hazardous material. So the potential for danger there was pretty high. But the judge said, ‘Hey, we're not gonna let this slip through the cracks.’”
47-year-old Kristopher Richards was driving the train from North Platte, Nebraska, to Cheyenne on March 20th and reportedly acting aggressively and dangerously for about eight hours, to the point that the conductor locked himself in a bathroom near the engine compartment and called to report Richards, according to court records.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 19-year-old Casper man who allegedly held an 18-month-old child "like a shield" in an armed standoff over the weekend faces four misdemeanor charges for the incident. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that Brayden Randolph appeared in court Monday and is now free on bond.
“His court documents show that he's now charged with four misdemeanors and took an 18 month old baby stood at a door and challenged police and said, come get me. You've got weapons. I've got weapons, according to the affidavit. So four misdemeanors. He was in court for his initial appearance on Monday. He's out on $7,500 bond, cash or surety.”
Brayden Donald Randolph is charged with reckless endangerment, child endangerment, being a minor in possession of alcohol and interference with a peace officer. His next hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Read the full story HERE.
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The daughter of a Guernsey City councilwoman was kicked out of a council meeting Tuesday night after a resolution that would have banned residents from recording meetings died without a motion. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that before leaving, Melissa Howe, daughter of council member Penny Wells, had one final thing to say.
“As she was being escorted out of the room, she said, ‘Way to flip-flop, Joe.’ Howe tells Cowboy State Daily that she was very angry as she was being escorted out of the room. A lot of her anger was directed toward Councilwoman Joe Michaels, who she says has flip-flopped or been kind of shifty in his opinion on how the public is able to record the public meetings, he has been against it, Howe told us. But later in an interview with Michaels this week, Michaels told Cowboy State Daily that he thought the resolution was unconstitutional, was borderline unconstitutional.”
Mayor Ed Delgado tells Cowboy State Daily he was surprised that the resolution failed to get a motion or advance at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Read the full story HERE.
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A man who cut his own throat at the Albertsons grocery store in Jackson Hole last month, causing police to evacuate the store, has been deported, ICE told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that 33-year-old Salvador Catarino-Jacinto had been deported at least two times before, the agency says.
“Court documents say that meth was found in his blood when he was at the hospital, and so he was charged with drug use. ICE took him into custody eight days after that incident, and very promptly deported him. He had been, according to the agency, deported twice before, and that tends to speed things along. Often when someone has already been removed from the country, that order remains viable. That order for removal, and so you don't, you don't always have to restart the whole deportation process.”
The 33-year-old has previous convictions for illegal entry and illegal reentry, an agency spokesman told Cowboy State Daily in a Wednesday email.
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.
