It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, July 15th. I’m Mac Watson
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Some Teton County county commissioners say putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense due to the housing shortage. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the coroner's office is strongly against it.
“So the coroner Brent Blue of Teton County is saying this. ‘Who would want to live above a morgue in an industrial area?’ Maybe consider temporary housing if you're going to push the issue. County commissioners, conversely, are saying, ‘To get two, maybe more housing units for a million bucks by stacking it on the morgue plans that are already underway – that's amazing for Teton County, which is riddled with dire housing shortages for workforce, including county employees. Why would we not?’”
Chief Deputy Coroner Russell Nelson, who’s running to lead the office, was less subtle, comparing it to being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit at the Transfer Station.”
Read the full story HERE.
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The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent. But Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark.
“Wyoming's Representative Harriet Hageman voted against the measure, saying it would rob farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight. HR 139 would make daylight savings permanent if it is passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Donald Trump. The Senate has not yet scheduled to vote on the Sunshine Act. We reached out to Senator Barrasso. He told reporters, we'll see when it gets here.”
The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent. Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round.
Read the full story HERE.
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The photographer who shot video of the Yellowstone bison attacking the 65-year-old grandpa ran after the animal when he saw it standing over the man. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi spoke with professional photographer Mike MacLeod who says, "I just started running at the bison, yelling, jumping in the air, trying to be intimidating.”
“He rushed at the bison, trying to make himself as large and loud and intimidating as possible. But he didn't really frame that as heroic or brave. He said that was just what needed to be done, and he acted kind of instinctually. And when McCloud was with McDaniel waiting for Yellowstone EMS to arrive, he gave him a 9.5 out of 10 in terms of the landing after being tossed in the air, and McDaniel said, "Well, if you'd caught me a couple years sooner, I would have stuck it.”
Thankfully, other observers followed MacLeod’s lead, yelling and running toward the bison which was enough to send it running.
Read the full story HERE.
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Despite promising a press conference this week to address the Meta data center contamination of Cheyenne’s wastewater system, the Board of Public Utilities now says it won’t. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the company is opting instead to release a statement addressing questions.
“I did talk to City Councilman Pete Laybourne, who expressed disappointment in the decision and said, you know, it's not really fair to lead people on thinking there's going to be this, and then to about face and say no, we're gonna we're gonna do something different. So city council, you know, Pete Laybourne is frustrated. Exie Brown, who's running for a house seat, also expressed disappointment and said, you know, it it sounds like the city is or the board of public utilities is just trying to be careful with their answers and don't necessarily want to be you know blindsided by follow up questions.”
The public outrage over the contamination has built for weeks after the BOPU made the contamination public months after it happened.
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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Why can a project as massive as Microsoft’s planned 3,500-acre expansion avoid Wyoming’s Industrial Siting Council while wind farms and other major industrial facilities usually cannot? Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that it’s not a loophole or a data-center-specific workaround. It's state law.
“Some of the folks were clearly under the impression that this is a requirement, and that data centers are somehow illegally skipping that. But it's not the case. It's not illegal. and it's not a loophole, quote unquote. The state law created a carve out for projects that are meeting a certain set of standards by being in a certain zoning. And so if the city creates that zone, then data centers can locate there. They are still subject to the same requirements that they would have been subject to, but they don't have to do an additional step.”
The biggest piece in the package was a 3,500-acre annexation called the Highlands, the largest annexation in Cheyenne history.
Read the full story HERE.
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The judge in state Rep. Bill Allemand's ongoing DUI case may hit his defense attorney with a contempt charge for missing a hearing. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the attorney says he “did not intentionally fail to appear” and calls the no-show a scheduling mishap.
“The magistrate Jeremy Kisling is saying to Alaman's attorney Mike Vang, "Hey, you missed a hearing. Get in here and show why I should not hold you in contempt for doing that. Vang said that it was an inadvertent scheduling glitch. The hearing didn't make it on his calendar. He didn't see it at the bottom of the order. In the meantime, Vang and the state's prosecutor Josh Stentis are having kind of a smackdown in the court filings, where Vang is saying that Stensis has deprived him of important evidence, and Stensis has said no. Here's my emails to your secretary.”
Allemand, a Republican from Midwest, Wyoming, was charged late last year with a DUI, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines. He’s set for trial Sept. 16th.
Read the full story HERE.
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With northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, the state Game and Fish Commission on Tuesday cut the wolf hunt limits by more than half. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that some advocates said that’s not enough, arguing to suspend hunting wolves altogether.
“There's a wolf 1050F. That's a pretty famous wolf, the oldest known living wolf in Yellowstone. That pack has denned outside the park on the Shoshone National Forest in an area that falls within one of these wolf hunt areas. They expressed their concerns with Game and Fish that if the hunting seasons were designated as proposed, those wolves could potentially be hunted.”
An outbreak of canine distemper and other setbacks has left northwest Wyoming’s wolf population at a 20-year low, so the quota for the upcoming wolf hunting season is less than half of last year’s.
Read the full story HERE.
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Despite a Wheatland police officer running out of gas during a chase of up to 112 mph through two towns Sunday, the driver of a white BMW failed to elude law enforcement. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that the driver, 27-year-old Taron Hunziker-Ford, at one point looked at pursuing officers and shrugged.
“He had apparently had already eluded state state police in Colorado and was driving up by 25, made it all the way to Wheatland. But what's interesting is at one point, while they were in Wheatland, the original officer who was closest to him was the one following this guy. Yeah, he ran out of gas, and he details in there that he ran out of gas the police chief came and picked him up in his car because he was in the pursuit too, and they continued the pursuit. he is only charged in Wyoming with two misdemeanors, one for eluding police and one for reckless driving. However, it seems that he has much bigger troubles in Colorado because the Wheeler Police report that they have warrants for him on multiple felonies out of that state, so we'll see how fast he gets back to Colorado.”
Hunziker-Ford was arraigned Monday and remains in the Platte County jail on a $3,000 cash bond, according to court records.
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.
