It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, May 19th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A snowstorm shut down more than 200 miles of I-80 on Monday leaving motorists stranded for hours — some overnight — while killing power in Rawlins. .Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that in some places, residents are under 2 feet of snow.
“This storm seems to have caught everyone off guard. So everything that happened on I-80 on Monday. It started because there were power outages in Rawlins, and as a result, from what we're hearing, WYDOT wasn't able to fuel its plow truck, so they had to get their plow trucks to a spot where they could refuel, and then get them out. And these outages were occurring between 2 and 4am on Monday. We've heard reports of multiple accidents, including one where a snow plow was struck, possibly by a semi truck.” More than 200 miles of Interstate 80 were closed for most of the day because of winter conditions. As much as 10 inches of snow was reported in some places along the highway, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation was clearing 4-foot drifts by noon.
Read the full story HERE.
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The U.S. Senate voted 46-43 Monday to confirm Darin Smith as U.S. Attorney for Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the confirmation comes four days after the state's three federal judges ruled he committed "flagrant" misconduct.
“There were like 49 Trump-backed nominees for various federal offices. They were voting one in a block, and the Senate voted 4643 to confirm all of them. Among them was Darin Smith, who, since confirmation, is now US attorney for Wyoming for at least four years, and so there was a big controversy Friday when the three sitting judges, you know, not senior level, not magistrate, but the three sitting judges, the main judges of the federal court signed an order together in numerous, well, nine cases saying that Smith had committed flagrant misconduct that prejudiced the defendants.”
Smith said that he's deeply honored and grateful that the Senate has confirmed him and expressed gratitude to the President, and to Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, who both voted in his favor.
Read the full story HERE.
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Two more possible data center projects are on the horizon even as Laramie County planners have recommended approval of a massive 5,600-person man camp to house workers. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that one local resident says, “I did not feel like our voices were considered or heard.”
“Multiple county residents spoke out at that meeting in opposition to this man camp. Either it butts up against their neighborhood, it's too close to the schools, it should be farther out of town if we have to have it at all, and despite all the public opposition, the county commission, the planners opted to recommend it to the county commissioners for approval, so these residents who are speaking out are feeling like the decision's already been made, nobody hears what we have to say, and if they do, it doesn't matter, because they're moving forward regardless.”
The next public hearing about the proposed man camp will be on June 2nd at the historic courthouse in Cheyenne.
Read the full story HERE.
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Many Wyoming county clerks report a rush of last-minute crossover registrations to vote in the Republican primary. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the state Democratic Party is discouraging crossover voting, while some elected Democrats are encouraging it.
“A lot of county clerks, they would see, you know, dozens of crossovers from January 1st to the May 13th deadline to change party, and half or sometimes more than half of those crossovers would be in the last five days of that window, and so you, you know, people are cognizant of the deadline, and they are crossing over, and in some counties, Teton, Albany, Laramie, and Toronto, they're doing so in droves.”
The primary election for Democratic and Republican nominations is Aug. 18. The GOP primary election is generally considered the most decisive election in Wyoming, since it’s a supermajority state.
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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Over the past decade, Togwotee Pass between Dubois and Moran Junction in Wyoming has become a circus of wildlife paparazzi around grizzlies. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that one photographer says there’s arguing and even threats.
“I talked to some photographers that say the crowd can instantly can easily blow up to over 100 people in no time at all, and so you've got all kinds of problems, you got a busy highway, cars improperly parked, people wandering around on the pavement, maybe bears crossing the road, and then, of course, people getting extremely close to bears. The rule is stay 100 yards away from bears. It applies there just the same as it applies in the national parks, but I mean, if you see some of these photos or this video that the one person sent to me, these people are a lot closer than 100 yards from the bears.”
Officials say the growing mob over the bears is a disaster waiting to happen. It could be only a matter of time before somebody gets mauled by a grizzly or a semitrailer plows into people too distracted by bears to pay attention to traffic roaring by on U.S. Highway 26/287.
Read the full story HERE.
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A young person died of blunt force trauma Saturday after falling from a moving pumpjack in the Elk Basin oil field in Park County, according to the Sheriff’s office. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that a retired oil worker says in his experience, “It’s easy to forget how dangerous pumpjacks can be.
“Retired oil field worker Eugene Brown said that in his experience working in that area, in that oil patch, for over 20 years, it was not uncommon for those pump jacks to be out in the open. They were not fenced off. He said he saw youngsters playing on them, and that it is extremely dangerous.”
The Park County coroner's office confirmed that an autopsy was completed on Monday, but because the deceased is a juvenile, they will not be releasing anything about the name, age, gender, or identity.
Read the full story HERE.
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Facing the pointed questions of Riverton’s old-guard coffee group, known as “The Gentry," has become a proving ground for serious Wyoming political candidates. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that governor hopeful Eric Barlow told those gathered that people in government should “do your damn job.”
“The temperature of the room was mixed. You definitely had some Barlow fans there, and you had some harsh critics. You had Wayne Dick, gave him a grilling, Fremont County GOP chair, Ginger Bennett did as well, and so he fielded that, and he told me afterwards he thought it went well.”
The core group of The Gentry are men-of-a-certain-age who all drink black coffee, all run politically conservative and all live in the Riverton area.
Read the full story HERE.
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On his first day out black bear hunting in the Snowy Range Mountains, a Cheyenne hunter got his pickup hopelessly stuck. But, Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that on the second day, River Mossberg bagged a super-sized black bear.
“A guy was actually using spot and stock, that means you go out, put boots on the ground, and you look for a bear through binoculars or spotting scope, and then when you see it, then you’ve got to figure out how to get close enough to shoot. He said that the day before he was trying to show his dad a new hunting spot, and so, I got my truck just buried in the muck up there. So his entire first day of the hunt was wasted trying to get the truck out of the mud, but then on the second day everything came together and he got this nice huge bear.”
Mossberg tells Cowboy State Daily that when he spotted the black bear he said, "Holy cow! This sucker is size 5XL!”
Read the full story HERE.
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.
