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
That Time Elvis Had A Drink At The Virginian Bar In Medicine Bow, Wyoming
Margaret Parr started working at The Virginian Hotel in Medicine Bow when she was 11, including tending bar there before she was old enough to drink. One of her customers was a young Elvis Presley.
Renée JeanNovember 04, 2023
Rocky Mountain Power Gets Heat From Wyoming Legislature On Nearly 30% Rate Hike
In another day of marathon hearings on Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed rate hikes of nearly 30%, the company was questioned over heat its getting from the Wyoming Legislature.
Renée JeanOctober 31, 2023
Built On An Old Graveyard, Sweetwater County Library Is Wyoming’s Most Haunted
Built on an old graveyard, the Sweetwater County Library in Green River embraces a haunted history that includes finding old bodies, reports of apparitions, moving objects, and other unexplained happenings.
Renée JeanOctober 30, 2023
Why Michael And Karmin Pace Take 600 People To Cheyenne Frontier Days Every Year
A trip in his early 20s started a lifelong love affair with Wyoming and the West for Pace-O-Matic founder Michael Pace. That’s why his company flies 600 people to Wyoming every year for Cheyenne Frontier Days.
Renée JeanOctober 29, 2023
The Virginian Hotel Has been A Wyoming And Western Icon For More Than A Century
The Virginian Hotel, inspired by the famous Owen Wister novel "The Virginian," is a Wyoming and Western Icon that’s been run by four generations of the same family for more than a century.
Renée JeanOctober 29, 2023
On The Road With Renee: An Epic 24,000-Mile, 100-Day Marathon Wyoming Road Trip
Now that the snow is flying, Cowboy State Daily writer Renée Jean’s epic 24,000-mile, 100-day summer road trip is over. She turned out dozens of uniquely-Wyoming stories featuring hundreds of local people.
Renée JeanOctober 29, 2023
Haunted Wyoming: Spirits At Gillette Bagel Shop Make Themselves Known In Loud And Obnoxious Ways
A pair of Gillette restauranteurs say strange things started happening at the bagel shop they owned after a family friend died, including unexplainable loud banging and a visible ghostly handprint.
Renée JeanOctober 28, 2023
UW Student Dressed As Eagle Pleads For Birds During RMP Rate Hike Hearing
University of Wyoming student Maggie Immen showed up dressed as an eagle for Thursday’s Wyoming Public Service Commission meeting to draw attention to eagles and other birds that are killed by wind turbines.
Renée JeanOctober 27, 2023
BLM Backs Off Approval Of Albany County Wind Transmission Line
In response to a lawsuit claiming the agency didn’t give proper public notice of its plans to build a wind transmission line through Albany County, the BLM has backed off and agreed to give it a closer look.
Renée JeanOctober 26, 2023
Part Of Huge Electricity Rate Hike Is To Pay For Washington State Carbon Tax
The Wyoming Public Service Commission got an earful Wednesday that Cowboy State residents shouldn’t be on the hook to pay a state of Washington carbon tax on a gas-fired power plant.
Renée JeanOctober 26, 2023
Wyoming Could Still Meet Deadline To Issue Digital Stable Token By End Of Year
Wyoming Stable Token Commission’s new executive director recommends using Ethereum for initial development of its stable token as the race is on to issue at least one Wyoming stable token by the end of the year.
Renée JeanOctober 24, 2023
Cheyenne Book Lovers Buzzing For Return Of Barnes & Noble With A New Local Focus
Cheyenne book lovers have been buzzing for the reopening of the Cheyenne Barnes & Noble book store, which will happen Wednesday with a new focus on catering to local tastes and trends.
Renée JeanOctober 24, 2023
Foodies Flock To Rawlins For Wyoming’s Most Fabulous Food Trucks
Wyoming’s fast-evolving food truck culture was the main attraction for 1,000 foodies who flocked to Rawlins for the recent Wyoming Food Truck Festival.
Renée JeanOctober 23, 2023
Wyoming People: Riverton’s Cupcake Lady Doesn’t ‘Do Anything Average’
Sweet Surprises owner Ronnie Roemmich made a name for herself as Riverton’s Cupcake Lady by not doing “anything average” at her bakery, which scratch makes everything from quiche to cappuccino.
Renée JeanOctober 22, 2023
Cheyenne’s Iconic Downtowner Hotel Rises From Central Plaza Ashes
Balconies were falling off the Central Plaza Hotel and concrete corners crumbling away when Corey Lynn and Carter Ward bought it. But today is a new day and Cheyenne's 88-room Downtowner is a new hotel.
Renée JeanOctober 22, 2023
Western Star Ranch in Jackson Polo Club Community For Sale For $10.95 Million
The eight-acre Western Star Ranch, in an exclusive Jackson community that features a polo club, has been listed for $10.75 million. It’s not limited to horse lovers, but horse culture is at its core.
Renée JeanOctober 21, 2023
It Took High-Tech Pastry, Theatrics To Win Wyoming's Debut Cake Wars Competition
It took more than just baking a great cake to be crowned the Wyoming Cake Wars champ. Judges expected to be wowed by technology, technique and theatrics -- and they were.
Renée JeanOctober 21, 2023
Wyoming People: Desiree Ross Is Worland’s Queen Of Halloween
Desiree Ross, Worland’s Queen of Halloween, lives in the perfect place for a haunted house. Her home was Worland’s very first hospital where 3,000 babies were born.
Renée JeanOctober 21, 2023
Wyoming’s Famous Hell’s Half Acre Could Soon Re-Open To The Public
A plan is in the works to renovate and re-open Wyoming’s famous Hell’s Half Acre, an otherworldly landscape made famous in movies like the cult classic “Starship Troopers.”
Renée JeanOctober 21, 2023
Sheridan Shocked With Sudden Closure Of Popular Frackelton’s Restaurant
Frackelton's, a popular dining and social scene in downtown Sheridan with a lot of local history, closed without warning Tuesday “until further notice.”
Renée JeanOctober 20, 2023
Can Wyoming Retrieve 200 Million Barrels Of Untapped Oil?
The State of Wyoming is placing a $2.5 million bet that, working with UW, it can help industry figure out how to tap into the 200 million barrels of oil reserves in the tricky Mowry Shale of the Powder River Basin.
Renée JeanOctober 18, 2023