It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, July 21st. I’m Reece Cowan, filling in for Mac Watson
This newscast is brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair. Wrap up your summer at the Wyoming State Fair, August 11th through the 15th in Douglas!
Rodeo, Demolition Derby, live music, entertainment and fair food await. Learn more at W-Y State Fair dot com. See you at the fair! This ad was paid for by Converse County Tourism.
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Wyoming Republican Party State Central Committee met Monday, running late into the evening. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports they made the controversial move to endorse candidates for statewide and federal offices.
“Technically, under state law, the major parties aren't allowed to financially back one candidate over another in the primary election, that has been interpreted as a ban on endorsing candidates. So they passed a bylaw here back in April, flouting the state law, saying we will endorse whom we will endorse. In the meantime, their state central committee meeting Monday evening, unfolded, and they chose to endorse Brent Bean for governor, Harriet Hageman for U.S. Senate and Chuck Gray for U.S. House.”
Delegate Richard George expressed disagreement with the process, saying “If there's anybody in this state that needs to vet the candidates, it's the people. The people are going to do a fine job at it.”
Read the full story HERE
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Two tourists got dangerously and illegally close to Grand Prismatic Spring on Sunday in Yellowstone. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that Montana resident Tanya Saueressig, who filmed them taking selfies right next to the scalding water, said she "was so furious" she had tears in her eyes.
“Grand Prismatic Spring is 160 degrees, and it's just over a year ago, that we witnessed a bison fall into the pool and essentially get poached to death. So, it's something to take seriously as a entity. But that wasn't enough to deter two unknown women from strolling straight out there. They were seen walking along the edge of the pool, taking selfies, and really not considering the damage that they were doing with every step.”
Several people have been seriously injured or killed after getting too close to Yellowstone’s thermal features. One would think a high risk of death might be enough to dissuade tourists from tempting their luck.
Read the full story HERE
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A Rock Springs man accused of holding his girlfriend captive for days while torturing her has pleaded not guilty. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that court records allege he warned her: "I will murder your cat. I will murder your family if you get the cops involved."
“20-four-year-old Jake Canestrini pled not guilty on Thursday to holding his ex-girlfriend captive for several days in Rock Springs, beginning on May 30th until she escaped on June 2nd. Canestrini is being held at the Sweetwater County Detention Center. A jury trial has been scheduled for November. According to investigators, Canestrini held her down, yank her by the hair. He strangled her multiple times and threatened to kill her. Canestrini didn't sleep much. So when he finally fell asleep she was able to run and go get help from one of the neighbors.”
Under Wyoming law, kidnapping is punishable by 20 years to life in prison if the victim is not voluntarily released substantially unharmed in a safe place before trial.
Read the full story HERE
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Rep. Daniel Singh, is an incumbent Republican from Cheyenne and was once a member of the Freedom Caucus. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports he says he’s changed since identifying as a pro-choice, progressive atheist in a recently surfaced 2021 podcast interview saying "People change their minds."
“That features Singh talking to a former friend and podcaster, describing himself as a progressive, as extremely pro-choice, as wanting to legalize hard drugs, he described himself as a stoic and an atheist. And that's contrary to Singh's current presentation of himself frequently quoting scripture on Facebook and voting for pro-life bills every single year, as well as other hot button Republican conservative topics. I asked him 'what is the story with this contrast?' And he said that he has changed. His friend and podcaster doubted that, casting him as an opportunist.”
Singh first won the GOP nomination for House District 61 on Aug. 16, 2022, over two other candidates. He went on to win the general election and was sworn into office in early 2023. He started identifying as a member of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus during his freshman term.
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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A semitrailer caused extensive damage to a bridge over I-80 near Rawlins on Monday morning when it drifted off the pavement, into the median, and took out a concrete support. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the Westbound lanes of I-80 near the bridge are closed and traffic is being diverted.
“The semi was traveling westbound, then drifted off the pavement, went through a cable, went through a guardrail, and then the trailer itself embedded on the three concrete pillars supporting this bridge over I 80, and then the semi truck itself got detached and continued going a little bit further. There were two people inside the truck at the time. Neither was seriously injured, or at least they had non life threatening injuries. Somebody who was on the scene said that was more due to luck than anything else.”
A preliminary inspection by WYDOT’s bridge engineers revealed that the damage compromised the integrity of the bridge, but it reopened shortly afterward, and traffic resumed without incident.
Read the full story HERE
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The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities didn't inform the public earlier that Cheyenne's wastewater system was contaminated by a Meta data center because they deemed it a "low risk to public health." Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports the agency released a timeline and Q&A on Monday.
“The Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities has finally responded with answers to a lot of questions that people have been asking for the last couple of weeks. They actually released two pretty extensive documents. One was a timeline detailing everything that happened. And then also a Q&A, which they say addresses a lot of questions they have been getting from the community. Probably the thing that's been asked most is about transparency. If there was some kind of contamination in the wastewater system, which is not the city's drinking water, why just let us know at the end of it? Why not let us know when it happened?”
According to the Q&A the answer is simple “BOPU determined there was a low risk to public health, which did not justify a public notification that could result in public panic.”
Read the full story HERE
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Fans still pack Buffalo for Longmire Days even nine years after the last “Longmire” TV episode aired. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that Author Craig Johnson created Sheriff Walt Longmire, and said fans "expect Walt Longmire to come walking down the sidewalk and see them at any time."
“These actors who portray the characters in the Longmire universe, they are super accessible during this event. I walked into the Occidental, and there was Robert Taylor sitting at the end of the bar just like a regular guy having a beer, chatting with people who passed by, a lot of people wanted selfies, and he was so gracious about that. I thought it was really cool to see that, and it is part of what attracts people here, is that these guys are accessible. They're willing to talk about Longmire Days all day long.”
In a world where the real-life headlines often feel upside-down, Longmire is offering a universe where decency, fairness and hard work still count. Where justice might be messy, but is never meaningless.
Read the full story HERE
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There are plenty of theories about just how a $5 bill seemed to appear "out of thin air" and float onto the bar at Cheyenne VFW Post 1881. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that a video from surveillance cameras inside captured the scene.
“People say that there's a ghost at the VFW post here in Cheyenn and they got it on video. Two members of the VFW are standing there at the bar, and seemingly out of nowhere, this $5 bill floats floats out of the air and drops right on the bar, right next to these guys. And the look on these guys' face in the in the video is prices. They look stunned. They turn around, they're looking for for whoever did it, and there's nobody there. I talked to the guys at the bar and they said ‘yeah, a lot of people are trying to explain what happened.’”
If you ask post member Dan Dial, it was the ghost of Darrel Anderson, a longtime VFW member who died about 10 years ago. He said Anderson was just buying Dial another beer for old time’s sake.
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 Reece Cowan, in for Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
