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
From the Pillage People to Viking Festivals, Viking Culture Overtaking Wyoming
From the "Pillage People" Viking band in Gillette to a Viking musical in Jackson to a Viking-themed Fire and Ice Festival in Buffalo, you can't get away from Vikings in Wyoming. Vikings are everywhere.
Renée JeanFebruary 03, 2024
Jackson Hole Spec Homes Offer Luxury For Less — Only $10.5 Million If You Act Now
Jackson, Wyoming, has a few new spec homes coming online. And like most spec homes, they tend to offer some luxuries for less than a custom home. Like the Karns Hillside home, which is listing for $10.5 million.
Renée JeanFebruary 02, 2024
Nightmares Still Vivid In Cheyenne Neighborhood Destroyed By Broken Water Main
Cheyenne children and parents flooded out by a broken water main on Darnell Place say they continue to suffer vivid nightmares even as they struggle with the real-life nightmare of how to save their waterlogged homes.
Renée JeanFebruary 01, 2024
Cheyenne Rallies For Flooded-Out Families Left With Destroyed Homes
A Cheyenne man who calls himself a "middle class working stiff" has stepped up to lead the charge raising money for families whose homes were destroyed when a 12-inch city water main shattered last week and flooded them out.
Renée JeanJanuary 31, 2024
Cheyenne Families Have No Homes, Or Answers, After Catastrophic Water Main Break
Homeowners have been told their insurance won't cover damage from a catastrophic water main break that ruined several homes in Cheyenne last week because it's from a city water main. But they're getting few answers from the city.
Renée JeanJanuary 29, 2024
Powell Drone Maker Earns Coveted FAA Certification, One Of The First In U.S.
Drone companies that have successfully threaded the FAA’s certification needle are few and far between. But one of them is now located in Powell, and that could help speed lifesaving uses of drones for people in Wyoming.
Renée JeanJanuary 29, 2024
Why Are There People Driving Electric Vehicles In Gillette, Wyoming?
One electric vehicle driver in Gillette says he gets “a lot of crap” for driving an EV. But he tells them he knows where his electricity comes from, and it’s coal. “I’m not from California and I don’t have my head stuck in the sand.”
Renée JeanJanuary 27, 2024
How Thermopolis, Wyoming, Got Its Name Is As Legendary As The Name Itself
History doesn’t record the exact conversation that led to the naming of Thermopolis but it does involve whiskey, outlaws, and a cowboy with a thick Irish brogue who convinced the townspeople it was the perfect name.
Renée JeanJanuary 27, 2024
Casper College Bareback Rider In Horrific Rodeo Wreck Out Of Hospital
Austin Broderson, the 19-year-old Casper College cowboy who survived being dragged and trampled by a horse Jan. 15 at the National Western Stock Show Rodeo in Denver, is out of the hospital and on his way back home.
Renée JeanJanuary 26, 2024
Built In 1914, Wyoming’s Oldest Operating Soda Fountain In Chugwater Is For Sale
The Chugwater Soda Fountain — Wyoming’s oldest continuously operating soda fountain built in 1914 — went up for sale on Thursday for $445,000.
Renée JeanJanuary 26, 2024
Nuclear Plant Could Bring 1,600 Jobs To Kemmerer, Wyoming
As the TerraPower nuclear demonstration plant prepares to break ground in Kemmerer, the small Wyoming town of 2,500 is preparing for up to 1,600 jobs that come with it, and big economic growth for the region.
Renée JeanJanuary 25, 2024
U.S. Postal Service May Move Casper Mail Processing Facilities To Montana
Already moving ahead with possibly moving some mail services from Cheyenne to Denver, the U.S. Postal Service now says it will study doing the same in Casper -- but possibly moving some services to Montana.
Renée JeanJanuary 25, 2024
Lander Real Estate Too Expensive, Essential Workers Living in Riverton Instead
Because of the real estate price different between the two communities, essential workers in Lander are choosing to live 30 minutes away in Riverton. One real estate agent says there's about a $100,000 difference between the towns.
Renée JeanJanuary 24, 2024
Average Home Price In Jackson, Wyoming, Hit Record High At $8.6 Million
The average price of a single-family home in Jackson, Wyoming, hit a record $8.625 million in 2023. Of the 58 homes for sale at the end of the year, only two were below $2 million and more than half listed for more than $5 million.
Renée JeanJanuary 23, 2024
Casper College Bareback Rider Recovering, Still Can't Use Arm After Wreck
The family of Austin Broderson, the 19-year-old Casper College bareback rider trampled during a horrific wreck at the National Western Stock Show rodeo last week says he’s doing better every day, but still has no use of his left arm.
Renée JeanJanuary 22, 2024
Even Wyoming Winter Can’t Slow Mission To Restore Greybull's Vintage K-Bar Motel
Even during a polar vortex with temperatures plummeting to minus 30 and below, Amanda McGrew is still full-steam ahead on her renovation of the vintage Best K-Bar Motel in Greybull.
Renée JeanJanuary 21, 2024
Truck Drivers Run Wyoming’s Infamous I-80 Gauntlet To Keep Store Shelves Stocked
Truck drivers are the unsung heroes of our modern world, keeping us all well fed while we stay home, warm and happy, through the worst snowstorms. And the worst snowstorms usually happen on I-80.
Renée JeanJanuary 21, 2024
Why Is There A Bike On Top Of The Historic Lander Grain Elevator?
Trey Warren is an unusual and outgoing person who, in his own eclectic way, saved the historic 75-foot-tall Lander grain elevator. He also bolted a mountain bike on top of it, and has even saddled up to ride it like a bull.
Renée JeanJanuary 20, 2024
Eating Wyoming: Figs Brings 5-Star Lebanese Food To Jackson
Figs Restaurant in Jackson surprises a lot of customers with an authentic 5-star Lebanese dining experience. Not only are the recipes authentic, but many of the ingredients are sourced from Lebanon, so the flavors will be as authentic as possible.
Renée JeanJanuary 20, 2024
Interest Rates Will Drop, But It Might Not Solve Wyoming’s Housing Puzzle
If the Federal Reserve drops interest rates this year, as strong signals show it will, it could bring some homebuyers back to Wyoming’s real estate market, but it may not solve the state’s puzzle — low inventory and high prices.
Renée JeanJanuary 19, 2024
Casper College Bareback Rider Survives Horrific Wreck At National Western Stock Show
Austin Broderson, a 19-year-old bareback rider and sophomore at Casper College, is recovering after enduring what many rodeo insiders are calling the worst wreck they’ve ever seen at the National Western Stock Show in Denver on Monday.
Renée JeanJanuary 19, 2024