It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Friday, August 21st. I’m Mac Watson.
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Despite claims that Eric Barlow won the Republican primary for governor due to closet Democrats, political analysts disagree. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that an analysis of voter registration and turnout percentages predicts Barlow winning even without the margin of likely crossover.
“I talked to former UW political professor Jim King and longtime Wyoming politico Joey Correnti, and they both said, ‘No, I don't think Democrats in disguise or crossover voting. They both said I don't think Democrats in disguise won this election for or won this nomination for Senator Barlow to potentially become governor. I tried to run the numbers myself and what I found is that even accounting for the probable sliver of Democrats in disguise crossover voters, the numbers show that Barlow would still have won with 37% or greater.”
In deep-red Wyoming, Republican primary ballots have more options and the GOP primary tends to be more decisive, especially in statewide races.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Nevada hunter and social media influencer is vowing to come to Wyoming to kill the leader of Yellowstone National Park's oldest wolf pack, the Mollie's. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports the influencer posted, “The matriarch 1090F is going down on the 15th of September.”
“There's some folks in Nevada that were posting that they have the specific intent that they want to come and shoot members of the Molly's pack, particularly the matriarch of that pack, Wolf 1090F. I talked to a couple other Wyoming folks who were just like, you know, hunting shouldn't be about all these arguments and controversy. And one guy pointed out that, you know, most of the people going up there to hunt, they're not going to be able to tell one wolf from another. If they're lucky enough to see a wolf and they have a wolf tag in their pocket. They're going to shoot the wolf to fill their tag.”
The season opens on Sept. 15 in Wyoming’s Wolf Hunt Area 1, where the Mollie’s pack has denned. The wolf quota for hunt areas 1 and 2 is four. That means a total of four wolves can be taken in either of those hunt areas or both hunt areas combined.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 24-year-old South Dakota man doesn’t deny shooting and killing another man while in Newcastle on a Tinder date gone wrong, but it wasn’t murder, his defense attorney said Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports Drake Alexander Ingalls attorney says he was defending the woman he had driven nearly 90 miles to meet.
“I talked to his attorney, his defense attorney representing him, who said he pretty much anticipates a an affirmative defense, which means affirmative defense means yeah he did it, but there are these circumstances that, yeah, he did it, he says he was acting in defense of the woman he was with. He's still being held on a $250,000 bond.”
Ingalls said he shot the other man in defense of his Tinder date after the woman screamed for “help” several times, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Zack Miller.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 78-year-old Wyoming man has pleaded not guilty to felony aggravated sex trafficking after telling investigators he was “looking for hookers” as he cruised Billings, Montana, homeless shelters. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Roy Scott Reid allegedly offered women cash, food, and vodka for sex.
“Reid allegedly told investigators that he would pay women $40 in exchange for sexual favors. When they looked inside his car, they found a blanket, a cooler with vodka, and multiple $10 bills shoved in the center console, which he later confessed was for the purpose of meeting these women and offering them money in exchange for sexual favors. One woman told investigators that Reid had been forceful about expecting sex in exchange for rides. An employee at the shelter also said that they overheard a woman shouting "no" as Reid had pulled away from the building.”
The Montana Department of Justice's Division of Criminal Investigation had been watching Reid's activities in Billings since at least June, when an agent saw him pick up a woman known to investigators as a trafficking victim outside St. Vincent de Paul, a nonprofit serving homeless people.
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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Authorities are tight-lipped or uncertain over whether consequences could follow a mysterious text blast on Primary Election Day that said — falsely — that President Donald Trump had endorsed U.S. House candidate Reid Rasner. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports Cowboy State Daily scoured X.com and Truth Social for any sign the president had sent Rasner an eleventh-hour endorsement, and found none.
“This one remains a mystery because halfway through election day, six hours before the polls closed, a lot of people got a text saying that Trump had endorsed Raisner for U.S. House. I have peppered but not heard back from Reisner on whether he's responsible for the text. The U.S. attorney declined to comment. The FEC said if they got a complaint. They couldn't comment until it was resolved.”
Rasner finished fifth in the primary.
Read the full story HERE.
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Mustang advocates say a New York Times report proves horses rounded up from the range in Wyoming and other states have been sent to slaughter. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that an advocacy group is now asking Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to shut down all sales of wild horses.
“I talked to the advocates, and they said yes. This proves what we've been saying all along. And I also talked to a rancher who kind of ranches in that you know that lander, the what they call the lander management complex, where there are some of these mustangs. As far as he can see, the BLM is on the level. He doesn't see them playing dirty pool. And he said as far as horses being sent to slaughter, he is very much in favor of the numbers being controlled on the range. But he would see sending horses to slaughter as like a really extreme outlier, absolute last resort.”
According to livestock inspection records, mustangs sold by the government were sent to slaughterhouses in Canada, the Times wrote. A request for comment sent from Cowboy State Daily to Burgum’s office wasn’t answered by publication time.
Read the full story HERE.
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In a statement about how it should be able to send anyone it chooses into the election, the Libertarian Party nominated Republican Sen. Cale Case and Democrat Rep. Karlee Provenza at its convention. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the Secretary of State’s Office rejected the nominations.
“Wyoming has a state law saying that they can't do this; that the nominee has to be in their party. So they technically can't nominate Republicans and Democrats like they are just trying to do under state law. But what they're saying is that the First Amendment trumps that we should have this freedom of association to where we can do this, and then the voters can have someone who truly connects with them.”
After the Secretary of State’s Office rejected the nominations, Wyoming Libertarian Party Chair Zachary Padilla told Cowboy State Daily, for the party, the gesture is about the freedom of association, and of people to choose their representation.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Alibi, a Laramie landmark since 1953 and a favorite for generations of University of Wyoming students, is on the market for almost $3 million. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports the restaurant, known for its wood-fired pizza, was made famous by Guy Fieri on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”
“It's got this special wood fire oven from Italy that makes these wood fire pizzas that are really great, and I can tell you because at one point I was the editor at Laramie Boomerang, which is just a block away. Locals there have been going there since 1953. What's interesting about this too is it's not for sale because it's going out of business, it's depressed or anything. The owners have been doing it for you know go close to 40 years, and you know they're ready to retire. But it's been built into a real successful business that really exploded when it was featured in 2022 on Guy Fieri's Diners Drive-ins and Dives on the Food Network.”
The sale includes the downtown property, the Stefano Ferrara wood-fired pizza oven imported from Italy, a full commercial bakery, cooking line, draft beer system and modern point-of-sale equipment, parking, and a liquor license.
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.
