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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Bonus Video 1: Friday, May 29, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

This is the greatest basketball game you'll ever see......

Bonus Video 1: Friday, May 29, 2026

 This is the greatest basketball game you'll ever see......

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, June 17th.  I’m Mac Watson

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A federal judge in Montana has thrown out more than 1.5 million acres of Wyoming oil and gas leases sold under the Trump administration. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that’s forced the state to return $50 million in payments. 

“Why is this case involving one and a half million acres of Wyoming oil and gas leases being heard in Montana and the and the answer, according to the oil and gas industry here in Wyoming, that I talked to, is these environmentalists have discovered a friendly judge in Montana who has ruled against oil and gas now three times on this issue, and so they're venue shopping. So, this group waited like years before bringing this suit, and finally they bring this suit. Well, some of these oil and gas leases have already been developed and are producing oil. They waited that long that some of these are already producing oil. It's enormously destructive to the industry.” 

The decision, issued by Chief Judge Brian Morris out of the U.S. District Court of Montana on June 12th, is sparking outrage in the oil and gas community. It’s the third time the Obama appointee has ruled against the U.S. Department of the Interior over the protection of sage-grouse habitat.

Gov. Mark Gordon on Tuesday sued his tax board for refusing to recognize a 4% limit on property tax increases. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the governor says the board exceeded its law-given authority, and the executive branch's job is just to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”

“The Wyoming Board of Equalization last week told they issued a public report that was also kind of notice to assessors, like, hey, this 4% cap on property tax increases from year to year looks unconstitutional. It's got these crazy results, and we're not going to certify your tax values if that's in the calculation. and so assessors were scrambling last week, like, how do we deal with this? Whom do we obey, state law or the board that has the duty to certify the taxes? And so Governor Gordon on Tuesday was like, let's just ask a court to settle this, so he filed a motion in court for the court to block the board's non-certification, and for the court to settle the issue. The constitutional dispute.”

Gov. Gordon also asked the court to block the actions of the State Board of Equalization.

With its stark white feathers and red eyes, what Audubon Rockies says looks like a rare 1-in-30,000 albino robin has been hanging out in the yard of a Cheyenne-area couple. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the homeowner says “It's following its mother around and begging for food.”

“Heather Wiseman lives outside of Cheyenne. She says by day she's an X-ray technician, and at night she's become something of an amateur bird watcher, so she was really excited when she came home and she found a white robin, which has since been confirmed to be an albino bird. According to Zach Hutchinson, the community science director with Audubon of the Rockies, when albinism shows up in birds like robins, they will be all white or partially white, but the key is that you'll notice they have pink eyes, and in this Robins case, it does have those signs.”

Heather and Eric Wiseman tell Cowboy State Daily that they’ve been keeping tabs on a snow-white fledgling robin with pink-red eyes since it first appeared in their yard June 6th.

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Wyoming's attorney general on Tuesday said he appointed two prosecutors to investigate whether Secretary of State Chuck Gray violated any laws by releasing sensitive voter data to the federal government. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that neither decided to charge Gray with a crime.

“George Powers filed a writ of mandamus, telling the court, hey, I don't think the AG is doing what he's supposed to be doing here. Can you make him, can you get a special prosecutor, High Court, and get this investigation going? Well, the AG fired back Tuesday, saying we already got two special prosecutors, and neither of them wants to charge Chuck Gray. So the high court now can decide whether George Power's writ of mandamus petition is moot, meaning irrelevant, and I suppose George Powers can look at his options.”

In April, George Powers, a semi-retired attorney based in Cheyenne, filed an official complaint with the AG’s office accusing Gray of violating a state election law that makes data like the kind Gray reportedly released – voters’ partial Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers – confidential.

I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

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Rail Tie, one of Wyoming’s most controversial wind projects, got a new five-year extension from Albany County on Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the lone commissioner who voted against the extension says the company is “fishing to keep the project alive.” 

“The Albany County commissioners voted two to one today to extend a permit for work on the Rail Tie wind project south of Laramie. The project has been controversial, it's on 26,000 acres and would generate 504 megawatts of wind energy. However, it's another big wind project. There are opponents arguing that it would play into this wind wall that we've been hearing about, the Wyoming wind wall, where all these big wind projects are connecting to each other in southeastern Wyoming, and kind of creating this massive wind farm.”

The vote allows developers to continue work on the 504-megawatt facility proposed on roughly 26,000 acres about 15 miles south of Laramie. 

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Hundreds of swallows are swarming and nesting in Angie Pitts' lean-to in Mountain View. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that she didn't mind until she saw the bird droppings covering her vehicles, which she describes as “gross.”

“In two weeks, it looks like all of her vehicles have been painted with white polka dots, and she's not particularly happy about it. Unfortunately, there's not a lot you can do. One thing she has been told to do, but has refused to – which is wise – because it's illegal, is to pull out the .22 and deal with the swallows that way. And while that's a very Wyoming solution to the problem, it is illegal to shoot swallows or do anything to disturb them while they're nesting, both by state and federal law.”

When Pitts pulled out her GMC pickup, she was “disgusted” by the number of bird droppings. Her red truck was so thoroughly covered, from hood to tailgate, that it looked as if she had painted it with white polka dots, but was quickly cleaned up with soap, water, and a pressure washer.

After years of watching lawn chairs and coolers appear earlier and earlier along the WYO Rodeo parade route, the Sheridan City Council on Monday banned people claiming spots too early. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports the police chief says this has been a problem for years.

“Police Chief Travis Kultiska has been asking residents for years to please set up just one day before the parade, rather than, you know, three or four days before, and he said rather than people complying, the problem seemed to get worse, where people were showing up earlier to claim their spots, and more people were showing up, so he felt like he had no choice but to approach the city council and ask for a resolution.”

The new rule prohibits anyone from placing personal property on public sidewalks, streets or alleyways along the parade route before 5 p.m. the day before the parade unless they receive authorization from the city.

A nonprofit in Mills, Wyoming, is training dogs to interrupt military veterans’ PTSD attacks. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that veteran Carol Salveson says after she lost her Green Beret son to suicide, she poured herself into a new mission. 

“She's a former Air Force, a veteran Air Force weather person, but when her son, a Green Beret, committed suicide, she decided she was going to train dogs. She just felt like I'm going to do this, and she started doing it on her own to help veterans. And then she found this organization, Project Kenny, which was started on the West Coast, and now it's centered in Casper, and she is their dog trainer, certified dog trainer.”

Salveson, who has always been a dog person, said her son also loved dogs and even when deployed to Afghanistan would find a feral dog to adopt. 

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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 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image 6 17 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wednesday's headlines include:
* Judge Tosses Wyoming Oil Leases
* Prosecutors Won’t Charge Chuck Gray
* Oh The Humanity! Bird Poop Everywhere!

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Daily Smile

When you thought you were getting a smart German Shepherd but instead you got one with one brain cell.....

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<title>Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Smile: Wednesday, June 17, 2026

[{"type":"text","text":"Frenchman describing his experience at Buc-ee’s....."}]

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<title>Bonus Video 1: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Frenchman describing his experience at Buc-ee’s.....

Bonus Video 1: Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"…and a cartwheel to celebrate the removal…"}]

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<title>Daily Darwin: Wednesday, June 17, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

…and a cartwheel to celebrate the removal…

Daily Darwin: Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Energy

A federal judge in Montana has thrown out more than 1.5 million acres of Wyoming oil and gas leases sold under the Trump administration, a sweeping ruling that Wyoming attorneys said will force the state to return $50 million in payments and imperil $180 million in future revenue for schools and other public services. 

The ruling also affects an additional 185,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana and the Dakotas.

The decision, issued by Chief Judge Brian Morris out of the U.S. District Court of Montana on June 12, is sparking outrage in the oil and gas community. It’s the third time Morris, an Obama appointee, has ruled against the U.S. Department of the Interior over the protection of sage-grouse habitat.

“The environmental group found a sympathetic venue in Montana to file their case and ultimately hurt Wyoming,” oil and gas landman Steve Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily. “I am hopeful the State of Wyoming will appeal this decision with everything they have. Other than a successful appeal, it’s my understanding we would need an act of Congress to overturn this injustice. I wonder how Montana would feel if a Wyoming judge hurt their state to this magnitude?”

Ryan McConnaughey, with the Petroleum Association of Wyoming, said it’s just the latest example of how activists are misusing the judicial system to attack industries they dislike.

“Anti-oil and natural gas activists have a sympathetic ear in Montana, which is why they continuously file cases there,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “The hard truth is that until Congress steps in to restore the original intent of laws like NEPA and the Endangered Species Act, every land management decision will be decided out of public view by the courts. It’s further proof that permitting reform is absolutely necessary if the United States wants to be a country that harvests energy and builds things again.”

Wyoming’s Bureau of Land Management office referred Cowboy State Daily for comment about the case to Montana’s office, which did not respond. 

It was not known Tuesday afternoon whether BLM will appeal the case, or what its next step will be for the leases.

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office was also consulted, but had not responded at the time this story was posted.

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At the heart of the case brought by the Montana Wildlife Federation, The Wilderness Society, National Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and Montana Audubon is how the BLM applied its 2015 sage-grouse conservation plans in Wyoming. 

The groups argued that leasing should have been steered first to areas outside of key habitat so the bird would stay off the federal endangered species list. 

The 2015 sage-grouse plan required the agency to “prioritize” oil and gas leasing and development outside of sensitive habitat, particularly in designated priority areas.

But, in 2018, the BLM issued a new instruction memorandum that effectively told staff to disregard those prioritization requirements when offering new “fluid mineral” leases in sage-grouse country.

Wyoming has a voluntary sage-grouse protection plan, one that guides development away from those areas without any prioritization on BLM’s part, Wyoming attorneys argued.

However, the judge ruled that the prioritization error “infected everything” that followed, making it infeasible for BLM to keep the current leases in place.

BLM offered about 1.25 million acres of oil and gas leases in Wyoming in 2019 alone, roughly 785,000 acres in its February 2019 sale and more than 493,000 acres combined in the September and December 2019 sales. 

Altogether the June 12 order affects about 1.5 million acres of Wyoming leases sold between December 2017 and December 2019. December 2020 sales were excluded because the judge found that no final agency action yet exists to vacate or remand those sales. 

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In court filings, Wyoming attorneys laid out what the revenue losses will mean to local and state governments providing public services. 

Federal defendants estimated that vacating Phase Three leases will require the return of more than $50 million in revenue that has already been allocated and spent. The state would also lose future severance, ad valorem, and conservation taxes on the leases, totaling at least $180 million over the life of the wells. 

Funding cuts due to losing these revenues will affect a range of public services in Wyoming, from employment, roads, IT, fire personnel, hospitals and other daily operations, Wyoming’s lawyers argued, and should prompt the court to remand without vacating the leases. 

In Campbell County, for example, oil and gas revenues help fund the senior center, homeless shelter and soup kitchen, domestic violence shelter, youth crisis and treatment home, and the Boys and Girls Club.

In Converse County, half the annual budget relies on oil and gas revenue, which helps fund senior services, the Humane Society, a youth crisis center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Douglas and Glenrock, a domestic violence and sexual assault survivors crisis center and shelter, a mental health crisis and intervention center, and more.

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Wyoming attorneys also argued that the state is already protecting sage-grouse habitat — so well that it was praised by the Obama administration at the time.

Since 2008, federal oil and gas leases in core sage-grouse habitat have declined 63%, Wyoming’s attorneys wrote, and reduced production in those areas by 48%. 

The state’s plan has also reshaped development, Wyoming contended. 

“From 2006 to 2012, vertically drilled well permits declined 65%, while directionally and horizontally drilled wells from outside core areas increased by 66% and 1,337%,” the attorneys wrote. “The trend continues with 95% of wells drilled in Wyoming from 2020 to 2024 being directional or horizontal, reducing sage-grouse disturbance.”

Horizontal wells disturb up to 3.5 acres, compared with 19 acres for vertical wells. 

“Thus, deferrals are not needed to guide development away from sage-grouse habitat,” the attorneys wrote. “In sum, the state’s strategy — adopted by BLM — has shifted development away from sage-grouse habitat and changed development patterns to meaningfully reduce impacts.”

Drilling in lower conflict areas is already preferred through the state’s sage-grouse mitigation plan, which protects habitat while allowing economic opportunities, they said.

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The judge in the case acknowledged disruptive economic impacts caused by vacating the lease sales, but concluded that BLM’s legal violations outweighed those considerations except in cases where a lease was already producing oil and gas.

Wyoming, Jonah Energy, and Continental Resources, which intervened in the case, argued that the judge should carve out an exception for leases for wells that have already been drilled and completed.

Jonah Energy told the court it had already spent $68 million developing its leases. Continental said it had spent more than $97.6 million for nine producing wells. 

“The considerations of equity require that the court not vacate the nine already producing leases stemming from the challenged Phase Three lease sales,” Morris agreed, likening the situation to a scrambled egg that can’t be put back into its shell. “Vacatur as to the producing leases could not restore the leases to the pre-leasing condition without further disruption.”

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<title>Montana Judge Tosses 1.5M Acres Of Wyoming Oil And Gas Leases, Costs State $50M | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A federal judge in Montana has thrown out more than 1.5 million acres of Wyoming oil and gas leases sold under the Trump administration, forcing the state to return $50 million in payments. “The environmental group found a sympathetic venue in Montana,” said a Wyoming landman.

Montana Judge Tosses 1.5M Acres Of Wyoming Oil And Gas Leases, Costs State $50M

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

In response to a Cheyenne-based attorney’s claims that the Wyoming attorney general must appoint special prosecutors to decide whether Secretary of State Chuck Gray violated any laws, the AG countered Tuesday that he has already appointed two special prosecutors, and neither wanted to charge Gray with a crime.

Upon a request by President Donald Trump’s administration, Gray sent sensitive voter data to the federal U.S. Department of Justice last year, public records show.

George Powers, a semi-retired attorney based in Cheyenne, who won a past public records case, started filing requests to learn about Gray’s actions.

 complaint with the AG’s office accusing Gray of violating a state election law that makes data like the kind Gray reportedly released – voters’ partial Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers – confidential.

Wyoming also has an umbrella statute that allows prosecutors to charge election officials who violate election law with a felony, if merited.

But Gray told the public that the AG’s office approved the release of voter data to the federal government.

So Powers, in his complaint, urged Attorney General Keith Kautz to offload the investigation onto a special prosecutor, because the AG’s office reportedly counseled Gray in this controversy. Powers suggested having a judge appoint the special prosecutor.

Kautz answered in a May 4 letter that Powers’ complaint would be handled in accordance with the AG’s office rules and state professional conduct rules for attorneys.

[{"type":"text","text":"Four weeks passed."}]

Powers filed a petition June 2 with the Wyoming Supreme Court, accusing Kautz of neglecting a clear duty and asking the court to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Gray.

Kautz parried with a Tuesday filing, which says Powers doesn’t have standing to wage that battle, and it’s irrelevant anyway, 

 the AG’s office has arranged two different, independent evaluations. And neither special prosecutor wanted to charge Gray with a crime, says the filing.

“One of those independent evaluations was conducted by a division of the Attorney General’s office – separate from the civil division – by the construction of a ‘Chinese wall',” says the AG’s Tuesday answer. “The other independent evaluation was conducted by a private Wyoming law firm in conjunction with a Wyoming county and prosecuting attorney.”

A Chinese wall is an informational barrier with an entity designed to prevent ethical conflicts.

The independent attorneys submitted reports – one before Powers asked the high court to intervene and one after – and “each independent counsel declined to bring criminal charges,” says the AG’s response.

“Mr. Powers filed his petition in this matter before the Attorney General could announce that no prosecution would be forthcoming,” says the filing.

As to the AG’s reticence toward Powers, the filing says the person reporting a crime doesn’t have a right to hear the prosecutor’s decision on it, and that Powers hasn’t shown he’s a “victim” of a crime to enjoy some rights under the state Victims’ Bill of Rights.

The AG’s filing emphasizes that Kautz didn’t involve Powers in the investigation, “but told him that investigations and charging decisions were not conducted in the public square.”

n Wyoming, prosecutors generally do not discuss their thinking publicly while they’re deciding whether to charge a crime. Often, especially in matters of high public interest, a prosecutor who decides not to charge a crime will issue a decision letter on why he made that choice.

Kautz’s office defended the reticence he displayed while the special prosecutors’ investigations were reportedly ongoing as standard practice, pointing to DOJ guidelines for keeping ongoing investigations quiet to avoid infringing the rights of the accused.

“Mr. Powers assumes the Attorney General’s lack of comment means that he is doing nothing, at best, and violating the Rules of Professional Responsibility, at worst,” says the AG’s filing. “Mr. Powers invites this Court to make the same assumptions, what is sometimes referred to as an appeal to ignorance.”

Prosecutors are required to address complaints in a “timely” manner, the AG’s filing acknowledges. But there’s no concrete deadline associated with that adjective, it adds.

As to announcing his decision to the public at the end of an investigation, the AG’s filing calls that a discretionary decision, not a requirement.

“It is obvious that Mr. Powers wants to be informed of how the Attorney General has addressed his complaint, (yet) a prosecutor has no duty to communicate with a complainant,” the filing says. “Instead, a prosecutor has discretion in deciding on whether to communicate about an investigation with the complainant or the public.”

That decision hinges on ethical considerations, such as if talking about a case publicly or with the person who reported it would botch some “eventual prosecution, should the prosecutor decide to proceed.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Team Powers Says "}]

Powers’ attorneys Ryan Semerad and Rob Shively issued a Tuesday statement saying that with his filing the AG “admitted for the first time that the complaint against Secretary of State Chuck Gray was reviewed in secret and that no charges will be brought against the Secretary for disclosing every Wyoming voter’s confidential information in response to a federal demand eight federal courts have found unlawful.”

“The Attorney General’s own filing proves our point,” says the statement. “He admits one review was done inside his own office — the office that represented Secretary Gray and claimed privilege on his behalf — behind what he himself calls a ‘Chinese wall.’ The other was done by lawyers he picked and deputized.”

The lawyers’ statement says, “That is not independence. The office that advised Secretary Gray has now cleared Secretary Gray. No one may judge his own cause.”

The lawyers demand that the special evaluators’ names and reports be made public. 

They contend the case is not moot, and question why Kautz did not air the special prosecutors’ work. 

“He cannot keep a citizen in the dark, force him to sue, and then call the lawsuit unnecessary,” the statement says. “Justice requires a truly independent review — by someone the Attorney General did not choose.” 

The statement concludes: “Elected officials are not above the law, and they deserve no special treatment when they are accused of misusing the power the people gave them.”

In a Tuesday text message, Gray said Powers' claims and filings have been "nothing more than lawfare and weaponization of the legal system by leftists and the insider media."

Gray claimed the media have ignored the states that have complied with the DOJ's request. 

Multiple courts have ruled that the DOJ's requests for sensitive voter data unsupported by federal law. 

"Powers (sic) false claims are an effort to undermine our work on election integrity," wrote Gray. "I have and will continue to stand for the truth, and I will continue to comply with the law and advance election integrity and voter list maintenance, which is pivotal to our elections." 

This story has been updated to include a post-publication comment by George Powers’ attorneys. 

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<title>AG Says Prosecutors Declined To Charge Chuck Gray With A Crime   | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming's attorney general on Tuesday said he appointed two prosecutors to investigate whether Secretary of State Chuck Gray violated any laws by releasing sensitive voter data to the federal government, but neither decided to charge Gray with a crime.

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