It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, June 30th. I’m Mac Watson
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Winter is back in Wyoming as a late June snowstorm closed the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's Dunraven Pass. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that at 9,400 feet, the Top of the World store recorded three inches of snow.
“Several inches of snow was reported on the Bear Tooth Highway and in the interior of Yellowstone National Park. It's a significant amount of snowfall, but that's not unusual, especially at high elevations, people forget how high Yellowstone is, let alone the Bear Tooth Pass, which is getting close to 11,000 feet up there. So, when you get a cold front moving in with moisture that manifests as snow, and you're hard pressed to pick any month of the year where there isn't at least a possibility of snow in Yellowstone and on the Bear Tooth Highway.”
Lance VandenBoogart with the National Weather Service office in Riverton said that’s not unusual for northwest Wyoming or Yellowstone, even in the last days of June.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 75-year-old Goshen County man told investigators he shot a pair of Rottweilers and dumped them in the North Platte River because he feared for his livestock. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that a neighbor told authorities why they disposed of the dogs in the river.
“The guy claims that they were threatening his livestock, they're threatening his neighbor's livestock, and he said that he shot one of the dogs, and then another dog, he said, came after him, so he shot it as well. However, the officer in charge of the investigation wrote his affidavit saying that the facts don't really support that, and what was interesting is that there was an accomplice who told police that they put the dogs in the river because they were quote ‘too lazy’ to bury them.”
David Cronk made his first court appearance Friday on two charges each of felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor unlawful disposal of a dead animal so as to pollute.
Read the full story HERE.
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An older Colorado couple have been identified as the two people killed in a Friday multi-vehicle crash west of Casper. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that a Jackson woman who was among those who stopped to help the couple and others hurt in the crash, telling Cowboy State Daily, “We made sure she wasn't alone.”
“74-year-old James Cox and 69-year-old Susan Cox were coming from Golden, Colorado, on their way to their house in Ennis, Montana, when they got into a crash about 45 miles northwest of Casper on Friday afternoon. The Natrona County Coroner, James Whipps, confirmed that they were dead on Monday afternoon. Krista Nethercott from Jackson is a funeral director and a mortician. She arrived at the crash site just moments after the collision happened. She said that James Cox was behind the wheel. He was dead immediately. Susan Cox was still alive, and Nether Cot said all she could do was offer some comfort, and made sure she was not alone for her final moments.”
By the time emergency crews reached U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58 Friday afternoon, two people were dead, seven others had been injured, and strangers were comforting survivors, checking on children, searching for fire extinguishers and handing out bottled water.
Read the full story HERE.
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A new political group called the 'Common Sense Republicans' have erected six billboards urging voters to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Rep. John Bear, a well-known member of the Freedom Caucus, says he “loves” the billboards.
“The Freedom Caucus fired back with Bama's been there against a lot of the popular things, you know, like protecting women's sports and an election integrity and keeping illegal aliens out of the country, and the pack came back and said no, we're focused on really local stuff like funding EMS. one of the members of the PAC said that, you know, indicated that the Freedom Caucus doesn't like the billboards, and bear came back and said, 'No, we love this, we love talking about our agenda, and so you've got this, it's a very direct political battle.”
Casper-based attorneys Emily Madden and Scott Ortiz co-founded the Common Sense Republicans for Wyoming political action committee (PAC) in March. The PAC has raised six billboards across larger Wyoming towns urging people to “STOP The Freedom Caucus Agenda” and vote in the Aug. 18 primary election.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily News continues now….
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Abe Yoder moved his Amish family from Wyoming to Iowa after he says Crook County officials threatened him with stiff fines and removing his children over outhouse permits. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that county officials deny those claims and say they only sought wastewater compliance.
“Abe Yoder is really at the center of this. There was one other family who left, and they went to Wisconsin. The rest of the community, the people whose outhouses were found to be not in compliance, did end up complying and following regulations, doing what the county asked them to do. Yoder told Cowboy State Daily that he's more disappointed in the community itself not taking a stand and not fighting back than he is in the county being persistent with its regulations.”
Yoder recently moved to Iowa, selling off much of his Hulett-area estate and taking his wife and nine of his 11 children with him.
Read the full story HERE.
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It has already been a busy year for human-bear conflicts in Wyoming, Montana, and across the West. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that bear observers say it could get worse thanks to drought and other factors.
“One of the people I spoke with was our friend Ken Fisher up in Alberta, she's a human bear conflict specialist, and in monitors things not only in Canada, but you know, kind of all through bear territory, even down here in the lower 48 and she said, ‘Yeah, it could be, you know, that because of dry conditions and more people going out, just there's more potential for conflict, we could be seeing a little bit more.’”
Large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson tells Cowboy State Daily, that from
the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s perspective, it’s essentially been a normal year.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sweetwater County School District No. 1 apologized Saturday for what it called the error of a staff member. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the staffer released a campaign message for gubernatorial candidate Eric Barlow through the ParentSquare messaging app.
“It was addressed to a group of students that are involved in studying public services, and so the my understanding is that they, that it was presented, or it was understood as a volunteer public civic engagement opportunity, and then when it hit, there was this reflection, like, oh, maybe that was political, since it singled out one candidate.”
Former state House Speaker and now-Sen. Eric Barlow is running for the Republican primary nomination for governor against Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Col. Brent Bien, and Curt Blake of Centennial.
Read the full story HERE.
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Greta, a German shepherd with a platform of “more belly rubs for all,” is getting huge support in Park County since a “Vote For Greta” sign went up in Cody. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that one voter says, “She certainly can’t be worse than, like, half the people running.”
“I did talk to the Park County clerk, who said that, despite being a dog, and Greta actually is deceased now, he missed the deadline to register as a candidate doesn't say what office she's running from, but it doesn't matter to some, some of the people I talked to, they said it doesn't matter what office I'll vote for her, because she's better.”
Greta was the beloved pet of Elizabeth Jenkins’ parents, who said she made up the campaign sign as a joke. She put it out near the Cody Post Office along Stampede Avenue in Cody late last week with a host of other signs from political candidates. Then she posted a photo of the sign to a local Facebook page.
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.
