It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, August 25th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Nevada is suing the federal government to dispute a water usage plan that it calls unfair to the economy of Las Vegas and surrounding areas. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the act could drag Wyoming and other states into litigation, after they spent years negotiating outside court.
“We headlined it ‘shots fired’ because the states have been negotiating this as the drought depresses the Colorado River more than 100 years after the original compact was struck, and then the feds got involved and kind of did a plan that wants to cut from the lower basin states like Nevada, California, Arizona. Technically, it spared the upper basin states, but the upper basin states are already suffering from drought and basically can't fabricate what's not there. And so the governor's statement was basically, ‘We still want to negotiate and deal with this, but we are looking at legal options as well.’”
Gov. Mark Gordon told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday statement that he’s asked the Wyoming State Engineer and the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office “to evaluate all legal options to ensure that Wyoming’s rights are fully protected.”
Read the full story HERE.
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An extraordinary search for a 120-pound white livestock guard dog has been launched after he ran away on Friday. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that personnel from Wyoming Game and Fish, law enforcement, someone with a plane, and even the previous owners have all joined in on the search.
“Since Great Pyrenees are known to roam, we talked to an expert, Kathy Liles, who said that these dogs can cover a tremendous distance at this point, being days into the search, she's not so much worried about food as they can go many days without food. But the risk of dehydration and traffic are her greatest concerns right now. Kathy and Anthony Green and Gillette said that they are hoping that they can find this dog before it's too late. He was a great working dog. The family loved him. They just thought that this would be a good situation for him, as he wasn't getting along with some of their other dogs as well.”
Tango was last seen around 7:30 p.m. Friday near the BB Ranch area north of Casper, headed north. Since then, there hasn't been a single confirmed sighting.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming Game and Fish’s interim leadership team declined to address former director Angi Bruce's abrupt Aug. 6 departure during a press conference Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports they did talk about initiatives that Bruce supported or initiated.
“They did not address, I guess what many people consider to be the elephant in the room. They said right off the bat they weren't going to talk about the situation with Angi Bruce. And if you think about it, that makes sense. That is really when it comes to personnel matters with Game and Fish, that is handled by the Game and Fish Commission. These folks are saying we're optimistic that the department can continue with this mission. We want to stay on top of some things that Angie Bruce was very much taking leadership on, which was the Kemmerer Wildlife Crossing Project, the upgrades to the Speas Fish Hatchery the continued conservation and concern for the the path of the pronghorn, the Sublette pronghorn migration quarter, those types of things.”
Gov. Mark Gordon, who appointed Bruce in 2024, announced Aug. 7 that Bruce would join his staff in a newly created director of special policy initiatives position.
Read the full story HERE.
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A groundswell of Brent Bien supporters are vowing to write him in for Wyoming's gubernatorial race in the general election. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Bien told Cowboy State Daily he's flattered, but not pushing a write-in campaign.
“A lot of people were upset at the Bien loss, and you know some saying he and Superintendent Degenfelder split the vote, which is debatable. There's arguments on both sides of that one, but then this write-in Brent Bien campaign surfaced from some of his ardent supporters, and he basically said Monday, ‘Look, I'm not going to tell people what to do, but I'm not behind this. I'm not driving this. It's fine if I have a break from campaigning.’”
Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder won the second-most votes. Bien performed better than Degenfelder in Park, Platte and Sheridan counties. Barlow won every county, including Platte, which gave him two more votes than it gave Bien.
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 Sheridan man appeared in court Monday to face three attempted murder charges after allegedly opening fire on police officers who then shot him in his driveway. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Cody Miech, born in 1997, allegedly fired shotgun blasts out of a window screaming “Just let me die!”
“In a newly filed probable cause affidavit. Police say when they arrived at the home to talk to Meach, he stepped out briefly and then went back into the house. Next, they saw a light go on upstairs before a double-barreled shotgun appeared, and then he began shooting at the police officer's vehicle. He then came downstairs and stepped into the driveway, where he continued to fire at police. Ultimately, three officers shot at Meach. They fired 15 rounds, and he was struck and taken to the hospital.”
On Monday, he was charged with three counts of attempted murder in the second degree. Each of those carries a potential life sentence in prison. He's also facing another charge of aggravated assault and battery, which could tack on another 10 years.
Read the full story HERE.
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Some Colorado residents want the state to allow using bait and hounds again to hunt black bears due to a substantial rise in conflicts. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that Colorado's sightings and conflicts have doubled to more than 6,000 this year, including six attacks on humans.
“It's just been going crazy. Routt County, for example, that's where Steamboat Springs is. Their dispatch documented in one week 87 bear related calls. Because of the drought, there's not as many berries or things like that. So the bears are kind of filtering down into the settled areas to try to find something to eat, and they just keep running into problems with people.”
As of mid-August, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has logged 6,129 bear sightings and human-bear conflicts in 2026. That’s nearly double the reports from the same period in 2025. Six attacks have resulted in human injuries, mostly bites and scratches.
Read the full story HERE.
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A 42,700-pound pile of free Idaho potatoes outside a Cheyenne food pantry drew retirees, union workers, young families, and Good Samaritans. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports this offers a snapshot of how inflation is squeezing almost everyone.
“What I found really interesting is what a cross section of the Cheyenne community. There was a housewife there. She's a full time housewife, stay at home mom. Her husband works full-time, but of course, with one income, you're really you got to stretch your you got to be smart with your money to make ends meet, right? So these potatoes are really helpful for them. The guy, the breadwinner, hurt himself on the job, and so he's not working right now. That's really tough for that family right now. And so you know that was just kind of cool to see what a range of people were there for the potatoes.”
The potatoes were from Sharing Excess, which had earlier been offering its bounty of potatoes to western Wyoming. When donation distributions slowed there, they shifted to Cheyenne.
Read the full story HERE.
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President Trump’s approval rating may be dropping nationally but remains the highest in Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that two national polls say Wyoming has the highest approval rating for the president.
“So one of three is what the Economist had. One of nine is what Newsweek had, and in both polls, Wyoming was the most favorable toward Trump. And I talked to Jim King, a retired University of Wyoming political professor, about that. He said, ‘No surprise, you know. Look at our energy market. Look how deep red we are. But by the same token, Trump in general is just plummeting favorability wise.’”
Wyoming gives Trump a 14% net approval in The Economist poll and 22% in Newsweek.
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.
