It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, October 14th. I’m Mac Watson.
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The Wyoming Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday from two transgender people asking the court to make the state change their birth certificates' sex designations. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that state law requires state agencies to keep records according to biological, not altered, sex.
“So the Wyoming Supreme Court heard oral argument in two birth certificate cases on Tuesday. One is a petitioner who wants to get a birth certificate change from male to female to represent that transgender shift. The state is saying no, and a judge out of Casper also said no. The other one went the other direction. An applicant out of Laramie, out of Albany County, wanted to go from female to male on the birth certificate. Judge Misha Westby said yes. The state found out about it later after they were ordered to make the change, and then the state said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa! You need to let us into this case.’”
Natrona County District Court Judge Joshua Eames ruled that a male-to-female transgender person, whose initials are KR, could not secure a birth certificate change because of the What is a Woman Act, and because the Wyoming vital statistics act describes birth certificates as a record of the “facts at birth.”
Read the full story HERE.
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Russ Little saw flames beneath his family’s pickup driven by a former Thayne, Wyoming, man. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports Little warned them to pull over, but the cab exploded with 8-year-old Kynzlee Luthy inside. They tried to save her, but Little described the heat as “like sticking your face in a blowtorch.”
“Little was following his daughter Lacy Bennett and his son-in-law Addison Bennett, who was driving a pickup truck. He was just feet behind them when suddenly he saw flames beneath the truck. So he drove alongside them and was able to tell them to pull over. So they pulled off to the side. Both adults got out of the vehicle, and then it spontaneously exploded. He said Addison tried to get to the little girl in the back, but he was not able to do so. Idaho State Police said this is still an active investigation, and they have not yet determined what caused the truck to catch on fire.”
Little tells Cowboy State Daily that the heat became so intense as he approached the truck that he could feel the skin on his arms and face beginning to melt.
His son-in-law, Addison, was flown by helicopter to a burn unit in Idaho Falls where he underwent skin grafts. He is expected to recover.
Read the full story HERE.
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For the past five months, Kelly Lovell says she's been living in a war zone. Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports that her street in Rock Springs has been overtaken by drilling rigs and heavy construction equipment in an effort to stabilize the ground built over abandoned underground coal mines.
“They have had reports in the past of homes actually starting to sink because of these abandoned mines underneath the surface. the state is going in and filling these shafts. There are homeowners who are frustrated at the length of time that is taking for these projects to be finished, and a lot of them live on narrow streets in the older part of town where this work is currently going on. One woman I talked to said, ‘How do I bring my groceries in when I can't, you know, park in my driveway?’”
The work is considered a priority, according to Active Mine Land Division program manager Ryan Reed. Reed told Cowboy State Daily in an email the work is to proactively protect homes, public infrastructure and facilities, and commercial buildings from damage caused by ground subsidence associated with the collapse of abandoned underground mine workings.
Read the full story HERE.
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Former Wyoming GOP Chairman Frank Eathorne has endorsed Rebecca Bextel, the Constitution Party candidate, in the race for governor. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Eathorne’s endorsement is “quite a turn for the man who preached ‘ride for the brand,’” said a former state GOP delegate.
“What it is is splashy because they have both made lots of headlines. Ethan, during his eight-year term as Wyoming Republican Party chair, was a magnet for news coverage. Beck's still the same since Chetgate, and it's the continuation of this theme. Like certain people are not real Republicans. You know, Ethan defended the decision back in 2020 of the party to censure a woman who had backed a pack, which in turn had given money to some Democratic candidates, he said that the brand means something. So, that person, Joanne True, kind of cried hypocrisy.”
Bextel told Cowboy State Daily in a Tuesday text message about the endorsement that, “Frank Eathorne chaired the Republican Party for eight years and I think he knows how to recognize a real Republican.”
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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Someone spent Sunday night throwing hot dogs at homes in Newcastle, and by Monday morning the flying frankfurters were a hot topic. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that as for its legality, Cowboy State Daily could find no provision addressing unauthorized hurling of processed meat products at private residences.
“Jan Elliott was lying on her couch at about 730 p.m. on Sunday night when she heard something smack her window, and then she heard something else smack the window hard enough to rattle the glass. So she went outside and noticed that someone had thrown hot dogs at her window. So she decided to call the police in case this was something that was happening elsewhere, and she said that they told her that there had already been about seven to 10 reports before hers. Newcastle Police Chief Derek Thompson did not have a comment about the incident in terms of who is throwing their meat around.”
One of Elliot’s neighbors observed that hot dogs must be cheaper than toilet paper, and depending on the quality of the ammunition, they may be right. The federal government, as it happens, keeps tabs on such things. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, basic franks can be found for around $1 for a package, while toilet paper costs between 70 and 90 cents per roll.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne woman’s camera caught mail arriving at 1:39 a.m. one day last week, raising safety concerns for the carrier. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports the Postal Service says heavy volume and absences prompted management to help deliver, and some didn't finish up until 4:30 a.m.
“There is that saying about how no matter rain nor sleet nor snow will you know keep the mail from being delivered. Well, evidently some of the postal supervisors took that pretty literally. They weren't even going to let the clock stop them. But it surprised a lot of the people in that neighborhood. They weren't expecting that, and they were a little worried about the carriers, you know, being out so late at night, or you know, something happened to them. There's nobody really around to help them.”
U.S. Postal Service spokesman James Boxrud told Cowboy State Daily that Cheyenne had experienced an “unusually heavy delivery day,” along with unexpected employee absences that particular day.
Read the full story HERE.
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Facing a deadline and county vote, ConnectGen has paused its permit application for the 41,200-acre Laramie Range Wind Project near Cheyenne. Cowboy State Daily’s Emma Jane Jackson reports that Laramie County officials say the move is rare for a large energy project.
“Justin Arnold from the Laramie County Planning Commission said this is a rare move and it might reflect some rare circumstances behind the project. This controversial project was first proposed to be three times the size of Cheyenne. Then it was denied by the Laramie County Commissioners about a year ago, they asked a judge to review it. It went before the Industrial Siting Council before it was finally approved the first of September. Now the company is saying that it had to withdraw its county permits to have some more time to be able to meet those 26 conditions. The original proposal was supposed to start construction in 2027, but I talked to a representative from Repsol Renewables, which is the parent company of the project's developer, and she said that now they hope to resubmit their application sometime next year with the county.”
The Laramie Range Wind Project is a 650-megawatt wind farm that would put up to 139 turbines on roughly 41,200 acres of private and state land in northwest Laramie County, about 20 miles north of Cheyenne. Its footprint is more than twice the size of the city of Cheyenne.
Read the full story HERE.
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Kemmerer’s plans for housing an estimated 1,600 nuclear plant workers are in limbo in the wake of TerraPower’s lead contractor backing out. However, Cowboy State Daily’s Kate Meadows reports the city isn’t stopping. On Monday the city approved another potential housing site for temporary workers.
“On Monday, the city council approved an extension of a lease option agreement with Target Logistics Management, one of the companies that has a bid in for a proposed man camp for TerraPower. This amendment would basically buy time for TerraPower to figure out what it's going to do with this temporary housing. And if they choose to go with Target Logistics for a man camp, then Target Logistics would build on city-owned property per this lease agreement.”
The extension gives Target until Dec. 8 to determine whether it wants to move forward with a potential lease, should the company be selected to provide temporary workforce housing for TerraPower's Natrium nuclear reactor project. If the Dec. 8 deadline passes without a decision, the City Council would have to approve another extension to keep the lease option alive, so says Kemmerer Mayor, Robert Bowen.
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.
