Renée Jean
Renée Jean is the business and tourism reporter for Cowboy State Daily and is based in Cheyenne. Previously, Renée spent seven years covering energy and agriculture in North Dakota and Montana. She has won many writing awards over a 30-year career, and has written magazine articles for Guideposts.
Latest from Renée Jean

Flaming Gorge Days Makes Comeback After Embezzlement Scandal Nearly Killed It
Thousands of people turned out over the weekend for Flaming Gorge Days, a Green River party that’s been around for decades. But the event was almost killed two years ago when an embezzlement scandal canceled it in 2023 and threatened to end it forever.
Renée JeanJuly 01, 2025

No Income Tax, Dynasty Trusts Draw Wealth To Wyoming — And Not Just Jackson
No income or capital gains taxes, 1,000-year dynasty trusts and Wyoming’s cowboy culture and national parks are drawing more wealth than ever to the state. And not just to Jackson Hole.
Renée JeanJune 29, 2025

$140 Billion F.E. Warren Sentinel Missile Upgrade At Full Speed Under Trump
The first months of President Trump’s second administration have focused on cutting government pork, but there’s one huge exception. The $140 billion upgrade from Minuteman III to Sentinel nuclear missiles is at full speed, and F.E. Warren is ground zero.
Renée JeanJune 28, 2025

Laramie-Based Airloom Energy Gets Pentagon Thumbs Up For Innovative Turbine Tech
Laramie, Wyoming-based Airloom Energy already counts Bill Gates as an investor and believer in its innovative horizontal wind turbine technology. Now it also has an endorsement from the Trump administration’s Pentagon for military use.
Renée JeanJune 26, 2025

Crypto Whale Kraken Moves Headquarters To Wyoming From California
Kraken, a nearly $3 billion cryptocurrency exchange, announced that it has moved its headquarters to Cheyenne. The CEO told Cowboy State Daily they picked Wyoming because of its commitment to individual liberty, regulatory clarity and innovation.
Renée JeanJune 24, 2025

Strong Personalities Behind Rift Keeping Star Plunge Closed
A pair of state senators tried to broker a deal last month that would reopen the popular Star Plunge at Hot Springs State Park. It didn’t work, and strong personalities on both sides have opened a rift that’s keeping Star Plunge closed.
Renée JeanJune 23, 2025

You’ve Seen This Casper Man Wearing Rare 130-Year-Old Mule-Ear Boots In Movies
Jim Robinson of Casper found a pair of rare mule-ear cowboy boots from the 1890s in a dusty old cabin in Colorado. You’ve likely seen him wearing the boots in several movies, including “Rough Riders.”
Renée JeanJune 23, 2025

Majestic Andalusian War Horse Wows Wyoming Crowd
Watching the Spanish war horse Romano perform, one would never guess that this majestic Andalusian horse was thought to be untrainable. The beautiful stallion, who appeared at Chris LeDoux Days, danced in time to music like the spirit of some Spanish dancer lives inside him.
Renée JeanJune 22, 2025

Wyoming Exports 15 Times More Power Than It Uses, But Is Struggling With In-State Needs
Wyoming has long been one of the nation’s largest energy producers, exporting 15 times more power than it consumes. But the state is struggling to provide power for its own economic development.
Renée JeanJune 22, 2025

Huge Honeybee Losses Have Wyoming Beekeepers Scrambling As Season Starts
It’s been a difficult year for the Honey House in Dubois. The bee farm that supports the store, located in Crowheart, lost 67% of its colonies this year. The loss was part of a wave of unusually large-scale honeybee losses throughout the Rocky Mountain and Midwest regions.
Renée JeanJune 22, 2025

Wyoming Closer To Using Gold And Silver As Legal Currency
Wyoming is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to sound money policy, a movement to return gold and silver as legal currency. Wyomingites also don’t have to pay sales tax when buying or selling the precious metals.
Renée JeanJune 20, 2025

Wyoming Land Expert Tapped For BLM As Trump Considers Selling Federal Land
A Wyoming land expert with deep ranching roots has been tapped for a senior position with the Bureau of Land Management. Her appointment comes at a time when the potential sale of public lands in Wyoming has become a lightning rod across the state.
Renée JeanJune 19, 2025

Wyoming’s First Private 1-Mile Horse Racing Track Faces Delays
Thunder Plains just east of Cheyenne had planned to open Wyoming’s first privately-owned horse racing track in the fall. A backlog in getting electricity to the site, and a soggy spring, have delayed that opening timeline.
Renée JeanJune 18, 2025

Jackson Council OKs 244,000-Square-Foot Hotel Complex, Largest Ever For Town
Jackson Town Council on Monday approved the town’s largest ever hotel and condo complex, a massive 244,000-square-foot development by Mogul Capital. It’s a third smaller than the company’s original proposal and will take up a city block.
Renée JeanJune 17, 2025

Rain Can’t Keep Record Crowd From Kaycee For 15th And Final Chris LeDoux Days
The 15th and last Chris LeDoux Days drew a record crowd of 4,000-6,000 people to Kaycee, Wyoming, on Saturday. Many waited an hour in the rain to hear Chris LeDoux’s son Ned sing.
Renée JeanJune 17, 2025

Trump May Soften ICE Crackdown For Two Of Wyoming’s Top Industries
Two of Wyoming’s top three industries — agriculture and hospitality — have long had national reputations for relying on undocumented workers. President Trump may soften his immigration crackdown for those industries.
Renée JeanJune 16, 2025

Around-The-World Tour Caps Decades Of Travel For Wanderlust Wyomingite
Don Hardy grew up in Cody but has had a wanderlust love for travel his whole life, capped by a recent around-the-world tour. A starving boy in Ethiopia he met during his time in the Navy motivates him to do more than see the sights.
Renée JeanJune 16, 2025
International Tourism To Wyoming Drops But Domestic Visitors Are Up
While there are reports of fewer international tourists scattered across Wyoming than previous years, domestic visitors are flocking to the state — earlier than usual. Tourism officials believe they could help make up the difference.
Renée JeanJune 15, 2025

Wyoming Celebrity Chef Brought Back After First-Round Knockout On ‘Yes, Chef!’
Cheyenne celebrity chef Petrina Peart was knocked out of Martha Stewart's reality television show “Yes, Chef!” on NBC in the first round. But she was brought back and is hosting watch parties to celebrate. She's still in contention for the $250,000 grand prize.
Renée JeanJune 14, 2025
The Bats Of Fort Laramie Have Returned For Another Summer In Bat Heaven
Thousands of bats have returned to Historic Fort Laramie in southeastern Wyoming. Right before each bat comes out into the night, their vocalizations suddenly stop. There’s a silent pause and then out they come with a dramatic entrance, gracefully, but silently, dipping and swooping.
Renée JeanJune 14, 2025

Wyoming Historical Society Kicks Out County Chapters As Rift Widens
Wyoming Historical Society has announced it is kicking out all of its county chapters. It’s a move that widens a growing rift that has divided Wyoming’s historical community.
Renée JeanJune 12, 2025