It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, August 26th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Residents could notice a brief loud noise and temporary vibration when Chevron uses explosives later this week to remove 11 defunct wind turbines outside of Casper. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the contractor says major portions of the base will be blown up to bring down the towers.
“There was a notice yesterday from the Natronum County Fire District that they're using explosives. So you know, I was trying to find out: is this affecting the groundwater? Are we going to see an atom plume? They said ‘no, no’. They're targeted explosions. Think of it like an explosive ax felling a tree. They're going to go a certain direction, blow up part of the base of the tower so that it can then come down.”
Monte McKillip, who works with Chevron’s community affairs group, tells Cowboy State Daily the explosives won’t be stored on site and the charge shouldn’t be big enough to take out wells or other groundwater structures. Authorities also urged the public to avoid gawking, adding, “safety is of the utmost importance.”
Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne woman admitted in a Laramie County court Tuesday that she forced her son to drink more than a gallon of water that sent him into life-threatening convulsions last fall. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports Stephanie Linke entered a plea deal that will give her 15-17 years in prison.
“She was there because she was entering a plea deal on two charges that involved aggravated child abuse. One involved aggravated child abuse affecting the mental capacity of a child, and the other one involved physical physical abuse, and so she pleaded guilty in this deal to the one involving physical abuse. The one involving mental abuse is going to be dropped possibly after the pre-sentence report. The judge said she wouldn't accept the deal until after the pre-sentence investigation. And the judge, if she accepts the deal, which she did not yet do, if she accepts the deal, she can't change, she can't suspend the sentence or anything like that.”
Charges against Linke and her boyfriend, Michael Gruchacz, followed a Cheyenne Police Department’s response to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center on Oct. 16, 2025, when the 14-year-old boy was brought in unresponsive and stiff, “drooling,” with a body that was “ice cold” and suffering from seizures, according to court documents.
Read the full story HERE.
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An Evanston man is so frustrated over a property rights fight with the town, he's moving to Utah. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that Steve Evans says the town demanded he remove a steel container from his private lot but aren't doing anything about the “trashy trailers” throughout the town.
“Evans told me that he received a nasty letter from the city demanding that he remove the the shipping container from the lot. I did talk to the senior planner at the city, and he explained why the ordinance is in place, and you know that it it helps to keep residential neighborhoods residential and helps to keep things looking more uniform, and so there's explanations behind why this ordinance exists, what its purpose is. mr. Evans, however, says you know the city. He said, in his opinion, the city isn't doing enough to look after the other trashy properties that don't have ordinances against them.”
DuWayne Jacobsen, the city’s senior planner, tells Cowboy State Daily that shipping containers and storage sheds are considered accessory under Evanston planning and zoning ordinances. Any accessory on a lot must be tied to the principal use of that lot. If the lot is empty, there is nothing to tie an accessory to, Jacobsen says..
Read the full story HERE.
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A tourist from Texas said he was afraid when a wolf kept trailing him in Yellowstone even after he blasted it with bear spray two times. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that another tourist who filmed the encounter said, “ It's like it's his dog! He's got to be scared.”
“I got a hold of the guy who was actually being followed by the wolf, and he said, ‘Yeah, it was.’ He said, ‘I was, I guess, scared, not not terrified, but frightened because this large predatory animal was coming up and following me around.’ And the guy, he's actually an immigrant, recent immigrant from Chile, and he lives in Houston, Texas. So he said, ‘I don't know anything about these animals, but I knew enough to know that the worst thing you can do is start freaking out or showing panic or even worse, starting to run.’ So he said, ‘I kept a good steady pace and stayed calm, and you know just stayed focused,’ and that's probably you know that was the right thing to do in that situation.”
The encounter happened Sunday in Yellowstone’s Lamar Valley, which is known for wolf activity.
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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“Tiny Tim,” a bison that's survived two winters hobbling on three legs, swam the Yellowstone River on Saturday during a 10-mile journey. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that one photographer who saw the bison says, “he only had one leg to pull himself out of the water, but he did it. It was phenomenal.”
“In the last few weeks, Tiny Tim has traveled about 10 miles south of the meadow where he's usually spotted and has spent the last two winters. And he swam across the Yellowstone River to get to the opposite bank. So it's a pretty incredible journey for him, considering he's hobbling around on three legs. But a lot of people are concerned because they think he's more exposed and vulnerable in the spot that he's relocated to, and there are suspicions he might have been forced out of the meadow where he had a lot of safety and plenty of food because people were approaching him too much. So, because he felt unsafe in his meadow, he moved on to a spot where he's even more unsafe because that's where the wolves are.”
Wildlife photographer April Holm tells Cowboy State Daily she estimates that Tiny Tim has moved 10 miles in six weeks. That’s not impressive by standards of normal bison, which can move that far in a single day, but it’s quite an accomplishment for a disabled bull.
Read the full story HERE.
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A solo hiker who left a rental car at the edge of Wyoming’s Wind River Range five days ago and headed into the mountains for Gannett Peak is missing. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that the disappearance of 55-year-old Shaun Mackelprang has triggered a ground-and-air search as rescuers try to reconstruct where he went.
“Tip Top Search and Rescue Director Kenna Tanner says that his vehicle was found at the Green River Lakes Trailhead. According to public social media posts, Mackelprang's hobby was climbing some of the highest peaks in North America. A statement from the Missouri Attorney General's office on Tuesday to Cowboy State Daily says they are keeping in close contact with officials and they are praying for a safe return.”
Mackelprang’s hiking plan would have taken him deep into the northern Wind River Range. Gannett Peak rises to 13,804 feet, the U.S. Geological Survey says, and stands on the crest of the Continental Divide in the northern portion of the Wind River Range, an exceptionally rugged and remote stretch of Wyoming.
Read the full story HERE.
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Wyoming state agencies spend millions annually on commercials – some for required notices, some to influence driver behavior and promote vaccines. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that legislators vary on where they draw the line with funding government ads.
“In the case of WYDOT, the grand majority of that is federal. Same thing with Wyoming Department of Health, and legislators actually break different directions on how they feel about that. Some saying, ‘no, vaccine advertising is too personal.’ Some saying, ‘the Office of Tourism could scale back more into mitigation,’ and so it's interesting to watch how where they say yes, keep advertising these programs or these incentives, and where they say, ‘Oh no, that's too far.’”
Government agencies throughout Wyoming are required to buy notices and advertising. For example, executive boards must alert the public of meetings; the Secretary of State’s Office must announce ballot initiatives.
Read the full story HERE.
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It's August 26, and that means folks in Yellowstone are celebrating Christmas. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports seasonal staff at Old Faithful Inn have been setting up trees, dressing as elves, and welcoming Santa in a 1936 Yellowstone bus for more than six decades.
“It might date back as far, at least in some iteration, is 1916, but it's been celebrated every year since the 1960s. And the reasoning behind it is that it's the end of the summer season. A lot of the seasonal staff are preparing to leave, and there are a lot of tourists in the area. So this is a way for the staff to celebrate the end of the summer season while also giving the tourists something to talk about, and it's a whole affair. I went last year. The Old Faithful Inn was decorated with garland. There was a Christmas tree, and Santa arrived in a 1936 Yellowstone tour bus. So it was a pretty fun event to be a part of, and it catches a lot of people off guard, which adds to the fun.”
The origins of Yellowstone’s Christmas in August are difficult to pinpoint. According to legend, the first Christmas in August occurred in the early 1900s. A group of visitors traveling by stagecoach got trapped at Old Faithful Inn by a snowstorm. Instead of bemoaning their misfortune, they sang Christmas carols and decorated a tree.
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.
