It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, July 24th. 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.
–
Moments after lightning struck, Casper missionaries watched the Fish Creek Fire explode to life and rushed 20 teen campers to safety. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that residents stayed behind to look after neighbors and livestock.
“As they were driving away, they said that they saw the mountain burning. The owner of Fish Creek Ranch nearby says"Ranchers, if you know them, won't leave until they have to leave. So while most people were evacuating, he decided to stay to make sure everyone was okay. Check on neighbors, check on people's livestock, and luckily, no injuries have been reported yet. As of Thursday afternoon, the Albany County Sheriff's Department said that the fire is now 50% contained. The area is still in a go evacuation mode, which means people need to be ready to leave at a moment's notice.”
As firefighters continue working to fully contain the Fish Creek Fire, officials are asking the public to avoid the area so emergency crews can safely continue their work.
Read the full story HERE
–
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday that he'll intervene in the Colorado River crisis — if he has to. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports Burgum tells Cowboy State Daily “We have one-fourth the water and four times the people.”
“The the Colorado River crisis is just getting worse. It's been going on for decades with feuding between the seven states that share the water from the Colorado River, and they they've kind of come to a head headwaters, so to speak, especially this year when they've had a record warm winter, record low snowpack in the upper basin states like us here in Wyoming. It really is a complicated dilemma on how all these seven states can work it out because each state wants what they want, and the interesting thing here is, there's a deadline for these states to kind of come up with a solution on their own.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said ‘When the water was divided up in 1922, there were 16 million acre-feet of water available from the Colorado River. This year there’s only 3.5 million available, which increases pressure from lower basin states for the upper basin — which includes Wyoming — to release more water.
Read the full story HERE
–
Teton County rancher Frank Chapman dropped out of the 10-candidate race for the Republican nomination in Wyoming's U.S. House race on Thursday. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Chapman told Cowboy State Daily that "There’s too much clutter" in that crowded race.
“There are 10 Republican candidates in this primary race. One of them will move on to the general, meaning a person with just a sliver over 10% could have won the primary, and arguably the general in this red state, and so on Thursday morning, Frank Chapman announced that he's dropping out of the race. He has loaned himself about a million dollars in the race, had spent closer to around $600,000 as of July 1st, and he said, 'This is cluttered. It's hard to get your message across in this field, and this doesn't seem like a good use of anyone's money.'”
Chapman told Cowboy State Daily he may run for office again, if the people wish it.
Read the full story HERE
–
Skeletal human remains found in an abandoned building west of Cheyenne on Wednesday could take months to identify, investigators say. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the discovery has renewed hope and fear among families of Wyoming's missing.
“So far, investigators say there are no signs of foul play, according to Desiree Tanoco, who founded Missing Persons of Wyoming. This news brings both shock and hope to families of missing people across the state and even across the nation. Tanoko as well as Stacy Kester, the president of Wyo Find Search Rescue and Recovery, both emphasize that it's important not to speculate, but both both said the location immediately reminded them of Quinn Nash, a Laramie resident who went missing in 2024. He was known to ride his bicycle in the Happy Jack Road area.”
Tinoco said cases like this also remind people how many Wyoming disappearances remain unsolved, some dating back decades. She noted that many of those investigations are so old the original investigators have retired or died.
Read the full story HERE
–
I’ll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily News continues now….
–
For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead has hit the market for $59.5 million. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports it’s a legacy Sublette County ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River.
“It's not that there's a $20 million mansion sitting on this property. It's the the size and the exclusivity that you're getting here. You have two miles of the Hoback River. Nobody owns that much frontage of the Hoback River in a single ranch. You're right on the edge of Jackson Hole, you've got these mountains all around you. There's national forests on three sides of you. You've got the Hoback River, two miles of this world-class fishery. This is this is quite the property as far as the land value goes, and that's really really what the price is all about. This is the first time this property has been for sale in 138 years.”
Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener said the family selling the ranch has chosen not to be identified, but said they are well-known locally and have decided to go in a different direction after the passing of the family’s patriarch a few years ago.
Read the full story HERE
–
When a state lawmaker asked why Campbell County parade floats couldn't hand out Bibles but a Lander float could hand out condoms, the Lander float organizers said they did no such thing. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Campbell County's Bible saga is much more complicated.
“John Bear wrote a July 15 column published in Cowboy State Daily, noting that people had been barred from handing out Bibles and constitutions at Campbell County's July 4th parade. As I unpacked the saga, it got a little trickier because I found that there is a wholesale ban on paper products in the parade because they've had trash problems in the past. Bear said, 'Why can the Lander LGBTQ advocates hand out condoms at that parade?' Well, I talked to the Alliance Group out of Lander, and they said 'we absolutely did not hand out condoms. It would be expensive and inappropriate.'”
Parks and Recreation staffer, Darla Cotton, said staffers have had recurring conversations with city officials about the trash problem, and main discussion driving that rule happened in 2021.
Read the full story HERE
–
The famed Mollie’s Pack was just “looking for food” when it left Yellowstone to den on the Shoshone National Forest, a biologist says. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that in doing so, the wolves kicked off a tempest of controversy over whether they should be hunted.
“This bit of a controversy has has broken out over that because they've usually abided in Yellowstone National Park, where there's no hunting allowed. They have moved east out of the park and onto the Shoshone National Forest, in a section of land where the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has proposed wolf hunting seasons for 2026. Game and Fish, their claim is 'look we base we we base our management decisions on science what is good for the species and the conservation of the species not necessarily concern over one particular wolf or one particular pack of wolves.' I also talked to one of the wolf advocates and his claim is it doesn't serve any function because wolves once they get to a certain population, the competition between packs becomes so fierce they're going to start fighting and killing each other and naturally regulating the population anyway.”
Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce said the supposed location has been circulating on social media, adding that revealing such information is strictly against Game and Fish policy.
Read the full story HERE
–
The owner of a gas station in Wapiti is frustrated that for the fourth time this summer, a driver pulled away from the gas pump with the nozzle and hose still connected to the car. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the owner says “they fill up, forget they were filling up, and drive off."
“I spoke to the owners of Wapiti's Red Barn, which is the only gas station between Cody and the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. They say that people drive off with the gas nozzle and hose still in their car about once or twice a year. But there have already been four incidents in this summer alone. Their big thing is that the people in this most recent incident just weren't honest about it. They put the nozzle back in its case, and they drove off. They didn't acknowledge what they had done. They didn't tell them, and they might not even have been fined for causing any damage.”
“Please be honest,” said Manda Siebert, owner of the Red Barn gas station. “Come back in, own up to your damage, and let us know so we can fix it. Don’t drive off and expect others to clean up your negligence.”
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 Reece Cowan, in for Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
