It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, April 29th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A Powell City councilman is suggesting on Facebook that Wyoming start “hanging bad judges” after a judge blocked the state’s most recent abortion ban. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that multiple retired state judges and one retired Wyoming Supreme Court justice are outraged.
“I talked to retired Wyoming Supreme Court justices, retired judges. Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Bill Hill said that this man is an idiot. The retired Chief Justice Kate Fox sought to remind everyone that people work in courts are real people taking care of their families and handling the issues. One said there's no faster way to get rid of your freedom than to attack or eliminate the judiciary. Powell Mayor John Wetzel said that he stands with the rule of law and didn't support the statement.”
Since the landmark case of Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Wyoming state judges have blocked all four of the Legislature’s attempts to ban abortion, citing a section of the Wyoming Constitution that promises health care autonomy for competent adults.
Read the full story HERE.
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A driver caught towing a boat on I-25 near Wheatland at 104 mph got a ticket, but didn’t go to jail. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the Wyoming highway patrol says there’s no set threshold that triggers automatic jail for speeders, but towing a boat in triple digits could kill you.
“He was ticketed. But Highway Patrol notes that he was lucky. This could have been catastrophic if he had blown a tire. Steve Stadelmaier, of Glendo, Wyoming, is a sales manager at Belmont Boats. He recently towed a boat over 1,200 miles from Texas to Glendo Wyoming, and he says that towing a boat over 100 miles per hour is just asking for trouble. Most tires, by the way, aren't rated to go over 80 miles per hour.”
The Wyoming Highway Patrol adds that the traffic stop likely added about 20 minutes to the trip and resulted in a $180 fine.
Read the full story HERE.
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A federal court has ruled that firearms parts without serial numbers could be protected under the Second Amendment. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the decision is good news for Wyomingites who build or customize their own guns.
“The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Second Amendment, in other words, your right to bear arms, extends to those parts. And basically, with the 10th Circuit Court, what they did was just affirm that a state can't, because what Colorado tried to do is they tried to pass a ban on any firearms parts that didn't have serial numbers on them.”
In June 2023, Colorado enacted a law prohibiting the purchase, sale, transfer, and possession of un-serialized firearms, firearm frames or receivers, and the like, according to 10th Circuit Court documents.
Read the full story HERE.
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In a sharply-worded letter to Cheyenne attorney George Powers, the Wyoming Attorney General's office says Sec. of State Chuck Gray doesn't have to release the legal advice he may have received before handing sensitive voter data to the federal government. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Powers is pushing Gray what legal advice, if any, prompted him to hand voters’ information to the federal government.
“George Powers has long asserted that Gray waived attorney client privilege and that his communications with the AGs office should be public record because Gray has gone public about relying on the AG and has claimed that the AG approved the release of the unredacted voter rolls. The AGs office fired back on Monday, telling powers that his reading of the law is wrong, and then the cases rather support the notion that Gray retains his attorney client privilege.”
Last year, Gray gave the U.S. Department of Justice voter registration records for Wyomingites that include birth dates, driver’s license numbers, or the last four digits of Social Security numbers, public records indicate.
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 former manager of a Rock Springs hotel accused of embezzling nearly $200,000 through fake guests and cash deals for long-term stays has been arrested. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Melissa Fran Hutchison was bound over to felony court on Friday.
“When the former owner of the hotel saw what was going on, the affidavit says he went in and he kicked all these guests out and fired Miss Hutchinson. According to law enforcement, she was also making up fake guests. She was using the same names, the same addresses, and some remote addresses, addresses from Alaska, things like that. They kept showing up over and over again.”
Hutchinson’s April 20th arrest came nearly a month after a warrant was issued for her on allegations that she adjusted legitimate invoices at the Comfort Inn & Suites Hotel from 2023 through the beginning of 2025, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in her case.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming had another month of below-average moisture in April, which worsened the abnormally dry to exceptional drought situations across the state. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Meteorologist Don Day says he's more "gun-shy" about forecasts than at any other point in his career.
“April wasn't as dry as March was, but it was pretty close. If it weren't for this last week of winter weather that we had, it would have been pretty dismal across the state. But Cowboy State daily meteorologist Don day, even he says that he's not optimistic, and his stance is, if you want to ask him what the weather is going to be like today, ask him 10 days from now, because at this point, the models have promised so much and delivered so little from what the reality actually has been so we could get more moisture as we get in the May and June, it could get even drier as it stands.”
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, the entire state of Wyoming is abnormally dry, at best.
Read the full story HERE.
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Flaming Gorge Reservoir is being drawn down up to 1 million acre-feet to supply water to thirsty downstream states. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that the possibility has some worried that Wyoming’s Fontenelle Reservoir, upstream from Flaming Gorge, is next.
“I did double check with the Bureau of Reclamation, and they said at this time, there's no plans to draw down from Fontanelle. And the reason that question came up is because Fontenelle is the next reservoir upstream from Flaming Gorge. So if they're pulling a bunch of water out of Flaming Gorge is Fontenelle next as of now? No, but again, this is part of that broader story of what's going on with the Colorado River. And it's really not looking good this year.”
According to the Bureau of Reclamation, Flaming Gorge Reservoir will be drawn down between 660,000 and up to 1 millionacre-feet between now and April 2027.
Read the full story HERE.
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Dozens of angry Cheyenne residents spoke out Monday against a 1,200-acre annexation and possible data center before the City Council tabled the decision. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that one woman says the landowner's motive looks like a huge money grab.
“Dozens of residents expressed concern over this proposed annexation and the potential data center that could come as a result. Common concerns again were the use of water with these data centers, the use of electricity. One man expressed concern about light pollution caused by these data centers. Another woman asked about potential long term health effects of having a data center in the vicinity of her neighborhood.”
The council unanimously agreed to postpone the annexation decision until its September 14 meeting.
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.
