It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, May 11th. I’m Mac Watson.
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The proposed 5,600-worker man camp south of Cheyenne would be larger than 84 Wyoming towns. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that notices were mailed to more than 200 landowners describing it as a “secured, temporary workforce housing campus” supporting “large-scale infrastructure projects.”
“If you talk to people with Laramie County who are thinking about this, they're planning for it. They're seeing that all these workers are coming, and we need a place to put them. And in the words of one person I talked to, ‘we need housing yesterday.’ You talk to the city and Mayor Collins told me it's maybe not that urgent, but the people certainly are coming. They're trying to move forward with this proposed plan. Now the the camp where this place would be is in County area, not city limits, but the right now, they're trying to figure out how, you know, how can the county and the city work together so that maybe this property could be on city water and sewer but still not be annexed, necessarily?”
Notices were mailed March 25 to more than 200 landowners within a mile of the proposed man camp site. Some residents have reacted with alarm to the size and potential impacts of such a large man camp, including increased crime.
Read the full story HERE.
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New leads could help crack the 25-year-old murder of a Casper man who was beaten, run over and left to die in a Wyoming roller-skating rink parking lot. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the man’s sister says “Danny’s death destroyed our family and somebody knows something.”
“Danny Moser was 27 when he was savagely beaten outside of a roller skating rink in Mills, right outside of Casper. Authorities say somebody has come forward with new information that they find promising. Danny's family has been devastated by his murder and the lack of answers, and you can't understate the generational trauma this family has suffered as a result of not having answers. And the family's optimistic that finally, this might be the break this case needed.”
Ryan Cox, commander at the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation who also oversees the agency’s cold case team tells Cowboy State Daily that despite the years that have passed since he was killed, Danny’s case is an open and active investigation.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming U.S. Attorney Darin Smith is set for a U.S. Senate confirmation vote Monday as a controversy heats up over allegations he prejudiced a grand jury. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that eight defendants are now challenging to dismiss their cases, including one for first-degree murder.
“They're saying that Darin Smith, the top federal prosecutor for Wyoming, was calling defendants murderers, talking about the cases being slam dunks, saying they did what they're accused of. The prosecutor's office, on Friday, fired back, saying, ‘Okay, some of this was ill advised. Some of this commentary was ill advised. But it's not so severe that it prejudiced these grand jury proceedings and sacrificed these cases.’”
President Donald Trump nominated Smith, whose official confirmation vote is set for Monday in the U.S. Senate.
Read the full story HERE.
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After winter essentially didn’t come to Wyoming, and drought and rising temperatures persist across the region, there are concerns the 2026 fire season could be like 1988 all over again. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that the Greater Yellowstone Fire Action Network says “it’s spooky.”
“A lot of people are starting to say that a lot of the conditions that led up to that we're seeing again, and particularly after this winter. The pine beetles go through and kill a bunch of trees, and you get a bunch of trees that are still standing up, but they're all dead and on and, you know, dry as a bone. The pine beetle epidemic peaked around the 2010’s and then went down, but the last couple years is kind of going back up again. So you kind of have this perfect storm of all these beetle-killed trees everywhere, and a winter that really wasn't a winter. A lot of people are kind of gritting their teeth.”
Back in the fall of 1988 was when Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area went up in flames. More than a third of the park — 793,880 acres, became a hellscape and in some nearby communities, the pall was so thick it was difficult to see across the street.
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 paleontologist said Heather Zamora's discovery of a small dinosaur skeleton near Alpine, Wyoming, is one of the best fossils he's ever seen. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that what makes the fossil discovery so exciting is that every bone is articulated.
“Oryctodromeus is actually the state dinosaur of Idaho, and most of the specimens that have been found of this particular animal have come not far from the Wyoming/Idaho State Line. So this specimen, it's possible that it's not in Wyoming. It was found near Alpine but that's kind of a nebulous area. But if it is in Wyoming, it would be the first specimen of this particular dinosaur ever found in the state, and one of the best ever found period, because the entire block contains parts of the arms, the back, hips, legs and part of the tail that are all are that are all articulated, which means they're in life position as they would have been when this 100 million, 100 million year old animal was alive.”
The dinosaur’s name in Greek means “running digger,” because it’s one of the first dinosaurs that shows evidence of digging and living in burrows.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming’s Kindness Ranch is rescuing 70 dogs and cats from a Colorado research lab this week — one of its largest rescues. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that the director believes this is the first of many closures as he's hearing it's no longer financially feasible to use beagles and cats.
“With the shutdown of some of the country's largest Beagle breeding facilities, on top of public outcry against using dogs and cats in animal testing, John Raymer is hearing that they're likely phasing out this type of testing in the coming years. And they called him when they were decided to shut it down, and said, ‘Hey, can you want to come get these 70 animals?’ John saw this as an enormous win, that he was called, and that the effectiveness of his relationships, that he's formed, that he's the guy they call now.”
The sanctuary has also taken test beagles from China that would have otherwise been filtered into the illegal Chinese meat trade, and in one case rescued 10 shell-shocked refugee dogs from the war-torn West Bank.
Read the full story HERE.
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A day after two brothers were mauled by a grizzly in Yellowstone, a dimwitted tourist was spotted five feet from a bear taking video on his phone. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that retired biologist Gary Gaston said the scene was “so absurd” he had to leave.
“This was not a grizzly, this was a black bear, but same old story. People were crowding it, and then one guy in particular basically walked right up to it, trying to get cell phone video. But he said at one point, this guy leaned over the hood of a car and was almost like he said, could have been five feet away from this bear. So the bad behavior continues.”
Retired biologist Gary Gaston tells Cowboy State Daily that the mob gawking at the black bear at Lamar Canyon on Tuesday might have mistakenly thought that black bears aren’t that dangerous.
Read the full story HERE.
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A rescued miniature donkey named Miguel has become one of Wyoming’s most in-demand wedding bartenders by wandering through cocktail hours with beer strapped to his sides. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the beer burro business owner, Alexis von Gontard, says “It’s a great conversation starter.”
“Wyoming, preschool teacher von Gontard and Sheridan started rescuing donkeys across the country, and now one of them, named Miguel, is quickly becoming the state's most in demand bartender. She's capitalizing on a business that's growing in popularity. One of Van Gontard's friends was getting married, and asked if they could borrow her donkey. And that's when she got the idea to start a business, and now, for $400 an hour, you can have a donkey carrying baskets of cold beer at your party.”
Beer burros like Miguel are becoming increasingly popular around the Cowboy State.
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.
