It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, September 10th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Hilltop Bank shut down all branches and offices Wednesday after experiencing a “cybersecurity incident.” Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the bank then disconnected itself from the internet to contain the issue.
“They're calling it a cybersecurity incident. They shut down the systems. They unplugged the whole bank from the internet. They were able to give people a $1,000 cap on daily debit card transactions withdrawals, but other than that, the banks are offline. The spokesman, Bill Sullivan, told me that when they noted the incident, they unplugged their backup system because they didn't want it to be affected by what is going on.”
Hilltop announced Tuesday morning via Facebook that it was having “interruptions” with online and mobile banking and phone service and by Tuesday afternoon, it was still working to resolve the issues.
Read the full story HERE.
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New details were released Wednesday in the case of a Michigan woman accused of taking her missing 6-year-old son and leading Evanston police on a wild chase that sent her vehicle airborne twice. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that before the chase, the two were spotted at the local Walmart.
“We're learning new information about the Michigan mother who left the state with her six-year-old son and was found in Evanston, Wyoming, after a woman recognized Liam, the little boy who had been circulating in online posts, and so she called the police, and they waited in the parking lot until the mother and son got to their car, and then a police officer went up to the window and asked Marisa Kalia if he could see her identification. At first, she seemed cooperative, but then she took off. She took off by going the wrong way, blowing past a stop sign, reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour within the city, and her vehicle actually went airborne twice before she finally pulled over, and cops were able to arrest her.”
Calliea is now charged in Uinta County Circuit Court with six misdemeanors: Fleeing or attempting to elude police, child endangerment, interference with a peace officer, possession of a controlled substance, reckless driving, and driving while her license was canceled, suspended or revoked. She could face felony kidnapping charges in Michigan, but hasn’t been charged.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Fort Washakie family is devastated after the death of their 6-year-old border collie Drover, who was shot over the weekend after leaving their rural Wyoming property. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports the dog managed to make his way home before dying from the bullet wound.
“The Penn family has a suspicion of who killed their six-year-old border collie, but they'll never be able to understand why. And the saddest part of this story was he was shot on somebody else's property by who they wouldn't say. But it's clear that the dog made it home, or at least tried to make it home before succumbing to the wound. He was a security dog. He apparently took that job and many other jobs very seriously, and his last and his last act was to try to get home to his family before he died.”
Owner Nate Penn tells Cowboy State Daily that Drover was a free-roaming dog, but he never strayed far from home and wasn’t aggressive toward anyone.
Read the full story HERE.
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A $30,000 two-year commitment allowing the Glenrock Police to use five Flock cameras will automatically renew unless the town provides a written notice by Monday. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the mayor, police chief, and town council members aren't commenting on the issue.
“A group of concerned citizens is planning to meet Thursday night to kind of finalize what the petition is going to be and how they're going to present it on Monday. In the past, Police Chief Colter Felton said he's been very supportive of what Flock is doing to protect the town. Town Attorney Amy Iberlin said that deference was given to Police Chief Felton to determine that the technology was in the best interest of the community and community safety. and then Glenrock resident Eric Farrington called the petition a powder keg. He said if the town council is going to ignore a petition and is not even concerned enough to create a special session to address this auto renewal, he said a lot of people are going to have lost a lot of faith in the city government.”
The contract is scheduled to automatically renew Oct. 14 for two more years unless the town provides written notice of non-renewal by Monday.
Monday is also the date of the Glenrock Town Council's next regularly scheduled meeting.
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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University of Wyoming's new president Shane Reeves said in his state of the university speech that it's time to embrace AI and push the school to be a leader in it. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports the new president says, “This isn’t a choice.”
“He said basically, there's no putting that genie back in the bottle, like you, you will either learn to use it or be replaced by someone who knows how to use it. And he talked about it being integrated, woven into the curriculum, not as like attack on, but as just another tool. And he emphasized not sacrificing students' critical thinking, personability, or grit.”
Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves took the helm of the state’s only four-year university in July, after serving as academic dean at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Douglas man is accused of attacking one of his sons with a hammer and punching another son during a domestic argument that escalated out of control. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that Joe Aceves is facing aggravated assault and battery charges.
“According to Douglas police, they were arguing. It led into a physical confrontation where the father allegedly was punching and pushing one of the sons, and the other son came to the rescue of his brother. They ran out of the house, but the father is accused of grabbing a hammer and running after them. He caught one of them. He's accused of hitting that son multiple times with the hammer, once in the chest, several times in the leg before the son he was grappling with finally got the hammer away from him.”
If convicted, Aceves could get a maximum of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Read the full story HERE.
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Hundreds packed a Texas church to pray for Tim Smith as the search for the Wyoming hiker reaches Day 11 after a devastating flood in the Grand Canyon. Cowboy State Daily’s Koby Fedore reports that his wife, Carrie said, “Today, we should be celebrating Tim’s birthday.”
“The search continues at Grand Canyon National Park as the missing hiker from Wyoming has not been found. The search is now going on almost two weeks, and searchers have honed in on Phantom Ranch. They're currently sifting through piles of debris that washed downstream. Park officials say that the search is active, and they are still determined to find Smith.”
The National Park Service says Smith remains the only person missing and unaccounted for from the Aug. 29 flash flood in Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch area.
Read the full story HERE.
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Fresh off her U.S. House primary loss, Jillian Balow trekked her 5-foot-1-inch frame over fallen trees and into a lodgepole pine basin, rested her compound bow against a tree and waited. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports it was there, she had to really learn “what stillness is.”
“So, pretty much immediately after her election loss, Jillian Baylow plunged into the wilderness. She went on a four-day horseback ride, fishing trip, camping trip with other women in late August, and then she turned right around and went bow hunting for a bull elk near Saratoga, and she contrasted campaigning versus hunting as opposites of one another on the campaign. It's stimuli, it's action, it's vitriol. on the hunt. She said, ‘You almost have to retrain yourself to be still, to listen, and to detect tiny, tiny changes in the environment.’”
Balow had looked forward to her second-ever bow elk hunt since applying for the tag in May, the same month she registered to run for Wyoming’s lone U.S. House seat.
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.
