It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, September 16th. I’m Mac Watson.
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A truck driver allegedly stabbed a man 17 times inside an I-80 rest-area bathroom near Rock Springs on Sunday before fleeing in his semi. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that less than 90 minutes after the first 911 call, Wyoming Highway Patrol had 45-year-old Andrew Kris Bzdak in custody.
“Witnesses say Bzdak then fled the area. He got into his truck and he started to head towards Rollins. Then the man who had entered the bathroom first stumbled out. He was screaming in pain and bleeding. He left a trail of blood as he walked about 30 feet to the side of his semi, and he collapsed. The victim in this case was taken to the hospital. His medical status at this point is unknown.”
Charging documents obtained by Cowboy State Daily reveal that a family at the rest area heard the attack, saw a man run from the building, and then followed his semi-truck east toward Rawlins long enough to photograph identifying information from the truck and trailer. Bzdak has been charged with attempted first-degree murder.
Read the full story HERE.
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Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Superintendent Joseph Libby was placed on administrative leave Monday night after a tense school board meeting that included police presence. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that the board also eliminated the assistant superintendent position.
“School board chair Cole Wright announced the decision after the board came back from executive session, and then they took action, agreeing unanimously to put Superintendent Dr. Joseph Luby on paid administrative leave and eliminate that assistant superintendent position. There was a police officer called. No one knows who made that call, but a police officer was there to effectively keep the peace, make sure that you know there was no bad behavior. Kari Cochran, a parent who has been outspoken against the district ever since she's been trying to get school records from her son, who committed suicide back in 2023. She talked to Cowboy State Daily from the parking lot late Monday after the announcements. She told me we are all shaking and we're coming to grips that action has been taken.”
The Wyoming Department of Education has not yet responded to Cowboy State Daily's request for comment.
Read the full story HERE.
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The famous Mollie’s wolf pack is safe, for now, after returning to Yellowstone National Park just before the start of Wyoming's hunting season Tuesday. But Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that hunters are hopeful they will stray back out of the park before hunting season closes in December.
“There's been this long-standing worry on the part of wolf advocates that if they were caught outside the park in the wolf hunt area when the season opens. Some of them, including maybe Wolf 1090F, which is that really famous 12 year old wolf, might get shot by hunters. So for now, at least that doesn't seem as if it's going to happen. I talked to a couple biologists, once they get to be about six months old, they can go fully mobile. What happened is they just picked up and moved, and they happen to move into the part of their territory that is still in Yellowstone National Park.”
Wolf advocate Samantha Miller tells Cowboy State Daily that the wolf pack should get special protection from hunters because of the pack’s scientific value and its value to the wolf tourism industry.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Buffalo man is accused of randomly attacking two women with a rock on a popular trail on Sunday. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Sheriff Rod Odenbach says prosecutors are preparing “serious charges.”
“30-year-old Mitchell Wilcox was taken into custody Sunday morning after sheriffs and police responded to an assault that happened at Clear Creek Trail in Buffalo. The sheriff is saying that this attack appears to be totally random, although Wilcox is a local resident. The two female victims were taken to the hospital. They are stable as of Tuesday afternoon. Wilcox is now facing two counts of attempted second-degree murder, along with two counts of aggravated assault and battery, and two counts of kidnapping. So, if convicted on the most serious of these charges, he is facing life in prison.”
Wilcox is in jail on a $2 million bond.
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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Wyoming spent two years and $1.8 million in public money to buy the historic Star Plunge water park in Hot Springs State Park. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that now severe electrical problems and gas leaks mean it might have to spend another $1 million just to tear down the property.
“The state has a little pool of money it puts that into, and then it so that's what it's using to fund this. If they do tear it down, it'll be rebuilt. I'm told that'll cost three to 5 million. That would be on the new operator that the state has selected. Wyoming Hot Springs LLC would do that. Wyoming Hot Springs LLC is owned by Mark Begich, and he is a former senator from Alaska. But you know he owns a lot of other hot springs in other places, so he's got some street cred.”
The operator has already taken possession of the former Hellie’s TePee Pools and is set to take possession of Hot Springs Hotel on Oct. 31.
Read the full story HERE.
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Officials at Central Wyoming College in Riverton say they are opposed to Laramie County Community College's plan to rename itself “Wyoming State College.” But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that community college chairs in Casper and Torrington say they're just focused on their own work.
“Central Wyoming College, at least one other community college board chair, voiced opposition to the move. CWC saying it could cause confusion in the higher education realm, and Sheridan College told me, "Yeah, maybe it would be more appropriate to go with a regional name rather than one that claims the whole state. So, LCCC countered, saying ‘we understand CWC's concerns, but it may be time for bold action in this new educational environment.’”
LCCC President Joe Schaffer said last month that the rebrand is about survival in the face of declining enrollment, Southwest Wyoming’s naming system is confusing: the City of Laramie sits in Albany, not Laramie, County. Laramie County’s seat is Cheyenne.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne man said a white pickup swerved head-on toward his vehicle with his wife and two sleeping children inside and hit their camper before fleeing in the dark. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that now Rivers Tabb says he’s searching for the driver.
“Tabb said, as the pickup got closer, it almost seemed like he was playing chicken with them. At the last second, Tabb leaned over his fiance behind the wheel, and he swerved the pickup to the right. He thought that he had missed the pickup when the camper began to fishtail, so he came to a complete stop. Meanwhile, the pickup continued driving, and when he got out of the camper, he saw that the truck had actually swiped the entire left side of the camper, and it actually tore off a lot of the paneling and left a gaping hole in in in the camper where they actually live.”
The driver might have left behind one potentially important clue. Tabb tells Cowboy State Daily that while cleaning up after the crash, he found pieces of the other vehicle inside his younger son's sleeping area. A part number on one of those pieces appears to correspond with a component used on certain 2017-2019 Ford F-250 or F-350 pickups, he added.
Read the full story HERE.
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Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day says El Niño will dominate the next nine months, likely bringing a lot of moisture and less wind to southern Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that northern Wyoming might have to endure "two bad years" of snowpack in a row.
“Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said that during the first three months of the season-that's September, October, November-there's a chance of above-average precipitation, or at least more of it, across Wyoming, particularly in southern Wyoming, as that Super El Nino settles into the southern U.S. the same thing is going to happen at the end of the season. That'll be March, April, May, when there could be a chance of above-average precipitation. The middle period, December through February, is going to be a lot less active, which means less snow.”
Day has arduously used the tools at his disposal to project what’s most likely to happen in Wyoming this winter, but does caution “What will happen in Sheridan this winter is likely going to be different than what happens in Laramie and Cheyenne.”
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.
