It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, April 28th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A woman went from house to house pleading for help early Sunday morning, telling neighbors her husband “has a gun.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that a neighbor said Monday that the man “sprayed” police cars with gunshots for around 20 minutes before being shot.
“I talked to one of the neighbors, Elaine Kristiansen, who said a woman was outside sobbing, ringing her doorbell. Kristiansen rushed to the door. The woman had moved on to the next house, and the people in that home were calling the police. And then she said that she heard gunshots for around 20 minutes. She said this kind of tame statement from Sheridan PD, that shots had come from the home. She said that was an understatement. This was 20 minutes of pretty consistent fire, after which police shot him and he ended up hospitalized.
Kristiansen declined to identify the man shot, or his wife, publicly.
Read the full story HERE.
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A FedEx driver will be in court Wednesday to face a charge of aggravated homicide, accused of slamming into a stalled truck on the shoulder of I-80. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that one of two men trying to fix the truck was killed, while another suffered catastrophic injuries.
“A 63-year-old FedEx driver from West Jordan, Utah, was arrested on Friday, April 24th as he was driving a FedEx delivery truck when authorities say he veered off to the right side of the road, striking two men who were fixing their pickup truck. This was in Sweetwater County, around mile-marker, 112. Authorities say a camera inside of the FedEx truck showed Chris Shepherd, sort of bouncing up and down. The Wyoming Highway Patrol listed driver fatigue as a possible contributing factor, although that has not yet been confirmed.”
Shepherd is now charged with multiple crimes, including aggravated homicide by vehicle — a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He also faces a charge of aggravated assault and battery, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Read the full story HERE.
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Amazon is spending $4 billion this year to expand its reach with same-day and next-day deliveries to some of America’s most remote places, including in Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that for rural residents and small businesses, the fast deliveries are a game-changer.
“They announced a $4 billion investment this year into rural delivery networks.in their press person that I talked to, one of the things she noted in the email she sent me is that 60% of their platform or small business owners using it to sell. It's helped a lot of entrepreneurs get started with their business ideas in a much less expensive fashion than they'd be able to otherwise do.”
People who live in the middle of nowhere are showing their appreciation for faster rural delivery service by baking cinnamon rolls to thank drivers.
Read the full story HERE.
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Opposition to Cheyenne data centers is growing as residents become more vocal and sign petitions against them. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that one councilman says development has happened so fast, it’s “completely outstripped the ability of the county and the city to plan.”
“Councilman Lawrence Wolf said that he has heard there's a petition circulating that is calling for a temporary moratorium on data centers in the Cheyenne area. The argument they have is that data centers consume a lot of water, and there's concern about, you know, the coming water supply and the demand, there's concern that electricity costs will go up because data centers are coming in, and there's also concern about viewscapes being tarnished or destroyed.”
A meeting was held Monday night where the city council was considering a proposal to rezone about 12 160 acres of a former historic ranch. If they rezone it, it will be rezoned business to a business park,
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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John and Makayla Otto are bottle-feeding a belligerent baby bison on their ranch near Plaza, North Dakota. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the couple has become a viral sensation online as millions of people love watching the little guy bully John.
“From the moment that John saw this baby bison, it's had a personal vendetta against him. So he decided to film his struggles and post the videos on social media, and the videos of him being bullied by this baby bison to the point that it head butts him and knocks him onto the ground have been viewed millions of times. So he figured, if he's going to struggle with this little hellion, he might as well put it out there for the entertainment of others.”
Otto decided to share his struggle with Georgie the bison on social media. As of Monday, his videos of being headbutted and knocked over by the baby bison have been viewed more than 6 million times.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming law is about as friendly as it gets toward gun rights and self-defense. But, Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that even in Wyoming, the rules for opening fire on somebody are complicated and the wrong decision can land a shooter in big legal trouble.
“I just talked to a couple experts that said it's really important that people know the law and the parameters of when you can and can't shoot, for example, someone's running out of your house with the TV. You can't shoot them while they're retreating. Law enforcement experts say that anybody within like 21 to 30 feet with a handheld weapon can close the distance and take somebody out before they even have a chance to draw their gun. So that's considered a viable lethal threat.”
Experts warn that this isn’t the Wild West any longer. Even in the most justified cases of shooting in self-defense, the shooter will be investigated. And one wrong move or bad decision can land them in big legal trouble, or possibly prison.
Read the full story HERE.
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Now that the PRCA’s move to Cheyenne is official, local leaders are sketching big plans to turn the Hitching Post subdivision into a Western mecca for rodeo. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that could include hotels, a convention center and an indoor arena.
“They got a 415 acre, basically ‘Field of Dreams’ that they want to make rodeo central to America. They can do a lot of things with that. Rodeo is just one of the fastest growing sports in America right now. It's riding a wave of Western culture popularity. Cheyenne Frontier Days in 10 days brings, like, what, 55 million [dollars] to the community. Imagine having an economic engine like that year round.”
An agreement making the PRCA’s move official was announced with little public fanfare Friday afternoon, but there’s been lots of excitement behind the scenes about what the agreement means for Cheyenne and the state.
Read the full story HERE.
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Despite having the president’s endorsement, Harriet Hageman will not run unopposed for the U.S. Senate. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the Representative will be facing rancher Sam Mead and Jimmy Skovgard, both fifth-generation Wyomingites.
“Sam Mead, who comes from a pretty high profile political family. He's a lifelong rancher. He's a former mayor of Kirby, and so he told me just he's had some heartburn with what he's cast as a top down approach from our current delegation. He wants to get in there. Do more listening, do more fine tuning of these policies to the people of Wyoming. And then Jimmy Skovgard also spoke with me. He's got kind of a unique approach, where he wants to have a sort of a crowd source, real time voting site, where people can pitch in on issues in real time while their congressional delegates are fielding them, and he said that he would largely defer to that.”
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, an incumbent in the lower chamber who’s leaving her seat to vie for the Senate after Lummis announced last year she won’t run for a second term.
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.
