It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, September 30th. I’m Mac Watson.
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Billionaire Joe Ricketts has filed a permit application for a 94,141-square-foot resort called The Confluence at his ranch near Bondurant, reviving an idea he abandoned in 2024. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that the new resort would be 59% smaller than his previous Homestead Resort.
“I did get an email from Ricketts and his team, and what he said is that the project is really meant to showcase Sublette County and its recreational opportunities and its natural resources. It'll also bring some jobs to the community – about 50 long-term jobs and then hundreds of construction jobs to build it. He did mention that the project, which is called ‘The Confluence,’ will be developed in accordance with the Sublette County's regulations.”
According to the application’s project description, the resort would have a 325-foot by 215-foot footprint, with three levels of heated space totaling 47,302 square feet. It includes guest accommodations, dining, spa/wellness and support areas, and an additional 46,839-square-foot underground parking garage.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Colorado man is accused of driving across a Cheyenne golf course, through a fence and then leading police on a slow-speed chase through town. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that one witness said, “He was just chilling back, sitting back in his truck in his seat,” as the chase never got over 20MPH.
“The driver identified as 48-year-old Gust Martinez was reportedly driving at a slow rate of speed, beginning on the Cheyenne Country Club golf course. It ended in downtown Cheyenne, and when police arrested him, he was a felon in possession of a firearm. Police report that Martinez did not go peacefully. Trying to get him out of the vehicle was a bit of a fight. He resisted and fought with officers until they were able to bring him into custody. He was booked into the Laramie County Detention Center on Monday. He is now facing 10 charges, including some serious felonies. One of which is felony property destruction, eluding being a felon in possession of a firearm and reckless endangering.”
Police said Martinez drove south on Randall Avenue during the pursuit and was reckless despite the low speeds, at times driving on the wrong side of the road and running red lights.
Read the full story HERE.
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Alpine Mayor Eric Green says he knew he would get pushback over the temporary roundabout demonstration in the community but didn't anticipate the intense wave of vitriol. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the mayor says, “I never thought people would show so much negativity towards roundabouts.”
“A lot of the feedback to the roundabout has been very negative. A lot of people don't like the idea, but the town, but city officials are moving forward because they see this as a net positive. They want the speed limit lowered on Highway 89 going through Alpine, and to do that, they need something like a roundabout to increase traffic friction. And so far, what they're seeing is vehicles are slowing down; that the roundabout works. So that'll help their case in the future if they seek the millions of dollars necessary to build a permanent roundabout at that spot. So it's a little bit of pain for a lot of gain potentially down the line.”
A temporary roundabout at the intersection of Greys River Road and U.S. Highway 89 will remain open until Oct. 14, when crews remove the plastic bollards and pavement markings, and traffic returns to normal. By the end of the demonstration, city officials will have plenty of information on the effectiveness of a roundabout for the growing community.
Read the full story HERE.
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Grizzly recovery advocates are hoping that a bear spotted near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, means its territory is expanding. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports this is the third time this year one has been spotted in the area.
“I talked to one grizzly bear advocate that said, yeah, you know, it does give I think in her words a glimmer of hope that that the bears could be moving back into that area from the really the really tiny isolated subpopulations like in the in the the cabinet yak wilderness might be pushing out a little bit and finding some new territory. But the other thing you have to consider is like everywhere else in the West right now, the bears are showing up in weird places because of the huckleberry crop. The huckleberry crop is really bad because it's been so dry and we had such a dry summer.”
Grizzly advocates have long argued the sheer number of bears doesn’t matter nearly as much as vast, interconnected habitat when it comes to full recovery of grizzlies in the Lower 48 states. But the re-establishment of a significant population of grizzlies in Idaho, particularly remote central Idaho, is key to their recovery, so say advocates.
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 legislative committee didn’t advance a bill by Laramie Sen. Chris Rothfuss on Tuesday that would bar Wyoming governmental agencies from using AI to make decisions without humans. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Rothfuss says people are “expecting the robot overlords to come and get us.”
“He was being a little hyperbolic, but his point was when he goes out and talks to the public about what matters to them from a policy standpoint, they're concerned about an AI takeover. National headlines have AI hacking into government systems in Australia, the United States, other systems going rogue, escaping their sandboxes, and so he's he had proposed this bill so that any Wyoming government agency, all the way from the governor to special districts, could not make consequential decisions without some kind of human involvement. And Senator Tara Nethercott was asking, ‘okay, but when is an AI completely rogue? I mean, wouldn't we, in any agency, have a human to point to at some point?’”
If the bill became law, it would require Wyoming governmental agencies at every level, from state to special district, to incorporate meaningful human oversight when using AI for key decisions on people’s lawful rights, benefits or obligations.
Read the full story HERE.
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Vocal critics of data centers in Cheyenne told the City Council on Monday that many “have totally, completely given up on you.” Cowboy State Daily’s Emma Jane Jackson reports then council members argued among themselves before approving another 1,260-acre annexation for a data center.
“A lot of the other residents who don't live near this site also spoke up to tell council they feel like they're moving way too fast with the number of data centers that are coming to Cheyenne, and one of the councilmen, Lawrence Wolfe, actually agreed with them, and he told his colleagues that he feels like they're moving ahead way too fast and with not enough of a plan. Tom's another councilman, Tom Seagrave, fired back saying that Wolf has only been there for 10 months and he hasn't tried to fix any of the problems that he was calling out. Ultimately, the council approved the Cox Ranch annexation with an eight to two vote.”
This was the third and final reading for this annexation. There's no word yet on which company is going to be building this data center, but another data center development is already in the near future, as the council is going to take a final vote on that project on October 12th.
Read the full story HERE.
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An Evanston man says he’s tired of people trashing the rock memorial he made for his late dad and stealing the cross and flag he puts there. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that last week, Liam Foy discovered someone took the rocks and made a fire pit with them.
“Liam visits the site a handful of times a year, and on his last visit last week, he said that a flag that he had placed in some stones was gone. He says this is the third time that this has happened this year. Once before, he already had to remove a couch that someone had dumped by the memorial site. Unfortunately, BLM says this is a recurring problem. There have been reports of dumping for a while now, and volunteers usually go out and pick the areas up. But catching people doing it has been difficult. Foy's message is simple. He just wants people to leave other people's things alone.”
Several times a year Liam drives out to the memorial to remember his dad: Father’s Day, his father's birthday, the anniversary of his death, and sometimes just because he wants to be there.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Utah man's side-by-side — and prosthetic leg — were rescued from thick mud in Palisades Reservoir on Monday by Alpine firefighters. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the Alpine Fire Chief Mike Vogt says the stranded man sent his coordinates to him and his team, but getting him and his leg out wasn’t easy.
“A guy is visiting from Utah. He drives out the Palisades Reservoir. His side by side gets stuck in the mud. Now vehicles getting stuck in the mud at Palisades Reservoir, that happens all the time. What made this call unique is that when he stepped out to try to get the side-by-side, or at least examine the situation, his prosthetic leg got stuck in the mud, like two feet of mud. So he was stranded on top of his side with one leg, which is why the Alpine Fire District responded and got him out.”
Vogt tells Cowboy State Daily that he’s glad he’d taken the call. A good towing company could recover the vehicle, but this was a rescue.
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.
