Cowboy State Daily's The Roundup

Cowboy State Daily Video News: Friday, May 22, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, May 22nd. I'm Mac Watson. – Converse County this week rescinded an order that could have fast-tracked data centers and given the county more control in the process. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that one legislator says it's a legal issue, but people also "lost their minds" when they heard the words "fast-track." "Representative Kevin Campbell said that there was a dearth of transparency in this whole process, and that that was his main qualm with it, but in the meantime, the Attorney General's office reportedly settled it anyway by saying, 'I know you can't just put in one of these industrial parks if you don't already have zoning, you can't put it in without a mechanism like that, and Commerce County does not have zoning.'" Commission Vice-Chair Rick Grant tells Cowboy State Daily that the prospective industrial park wasn't meant specifically for a Prometheus Hyperscale data center and the county hasn't received an application for any such development. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/after-ag-says-dont-converse-county-wont-fast-track-data-centers/] – Parts of Wyoming got up to 2 inches of water from this week's storm that shut down I-80 and Rawlins for more than a day. But Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports all that precipitation wasn't a drought-buster. "Speaking to Wyoming meteorologists, we don't want a drought-busting storm all at once, because for as low and as dry as we are, if we got all the moisture we needed to break a drought in one fell swoop, we'd be talking about widespread destruction. May has been a very good month in terms of moisture. We've gotten several inches in the areas that needed it most, and that's definitely improved the situation. But at this point, we're looking at a prolonged drought that isn't going to be rectified by a single event, but if we continue getting more of these storms that drop an inch or two of liquid water at a time, we can make a nice dent in the drought situation." Meteorologist Don Day tells Cowboy State Daily "Getting rid of a drought is like eating an elephant — one bite at a time." Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/storm-brings-up-to-2-inches-of-water-but-not-close-to-busting-wyomings-drought/] – Wyoming regulators are cracking down on bar raffle games like Queen of Hearts and Music Bingo that raise money for charities, saying they're illegal gambling. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that event organizer Brian Grzegorczyk asks, "Why is horse racing an exception, but not charity?" "His nickname became Alf Evermore, and so most people just know him as Alf, but so he has a pub here in Cheyenne called Alf's Pub, and he is the founder of a charity effort called Thankful Thursdays, and in 16 years that charity has been around 16 years now, and it's given more than four and a half million to local groups over that 16 year period, and so you know it's become a powerhouse for giving money to local charities." According to Wyoming Gaming Commissioner Nick Laramendy, Wyoming statutes define gambling as risking any property for gain that is contingent in whole or in part by chance. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/charity-bar-games-getting-shut-down-by-wyoming-gambling-crackdown/] – A wildlife filmmaker spotted 47 grizzlies in the Absaroka Mountains before noon, more than twice as many as he's ever seen in one day in the Yellowstone area. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that they were gorging themselves on moths, so he tried one. "He says he's eaten them a few times. He said they taste like honey roasted peanuts, apparently. Army cut worm moths taste like honey roasted peanuts, that's what he describes the flavor of them. They come up out of the prairies, and they're going up over the mountains on their migration route, that you know, long about that time, late in the summer, early in the fall, but they'll get up on the mountains, and to rest, they'll crawl underneath the rocks, and so the bears go up there and just are flipping rocks over and scooping up these moths and eating them." Moth eater and wildlife photographer Casey Anderson tells Cowboy State Daily that grizzlies will travel many miles from the low country and climb all the way up to the mountain peaks to gorge on the delicious moths. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/filmmaker-finds-47-grizzlies-gorging-on-moths-that-taste-like-honey-roasted-peanuts/] – I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily news continues now… – People are blaming — and crediting — the Wyoming Freedom Caucus for the Legislature's nearly $4 billion school spending package. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports whether the caucus deserves either depends on whom you ask. "The Freedom Caucus was taking some credit and celebrating when that package passed. So this controversy followed, right? And people were blaming the Freedom Caucus. And at first I was thinking, 'Why are they blaming the Freedom Caucus?' But then I looked back, and I saw that the Freedom Caucus had taken credit for the package, so it's become just this circle, this narrative circle, where they took credit for it, and then now there's this backlash against it, and now they're taking the blame, even though in reality it's almost a full legislature project." On the one hand, the Wyoming Freedom Caucus' former chair, speaking on behalf of the caucus, took credit for nearly $4 billion per-biennium school spending package after it became law. On the other hand, the spending plan itself contains a mix of favored and hated provisions, and it's often misunderstood. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/why-are-people-blaming-the-freedom-caucus-for-4-billion-school-funding-package/] – A former BLM director says Steve Pearce's confirmation to lead the agency is good news for Wyoming's energy industries, ranchers and land use. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that William Perry Pendley says "What the BLM director decides determines the fate of Wyoming with regard to its ability to use the land." "Former National BLM manager William Perry Pendley really is excited about this new director, because he is pro multi use on land, so it's this idea that you know we don't have to lease land for just one use, like conservation or grazing or recreation, there is land can be used for multiple things at the same time, and that's something that was not popular in the previous administration. According to Pendley, Pierce brings a private sector background to the BLM, and that's important, because work with the BLM often intersects with private sectors with private business, so it's good for the person in that role to have that experience." That reality is hard to overstate in Wyoming, where public lands define much of the state. In sprawling Sweetwater County alone, roughly 74% of the land is managed by the federal government. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/former-blm-director-says-steve-pearces-confirmation-is-good-news-for-wyoming/] – Some Wyoming firearms companies say YouTube is unfairly censoring and banning them without giving solid reasons why. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports one video creator says, "I hate to lose the audience, but I don't miss the BS," about dealing with YouTube before getting kicked off. "Big Horn Armory, that's a company out of Cody that makes rifles and other firearms. They were recently booted off of YouTube, and apparently for violating community status. I talked to their founder and CEO, and said they never clearly explained to them why. He said it was never clearly explained to them, and they were just booted off, and so they switched over to Rumble, which is a different video platform." Greg Buchel, founder and president of Big Horn Armory Inc., tells Cowboy State Daily that their posted content on YouTube didn't include any of the platform's clearly forbidden material, such as instructions on how to alter a firearm. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/wyoming-firearms-companies-say-youtube-unfairly-targets-gun-related-content/] – Steve Price, a "legend" who raised money for many Cheyenne causes, passed away earlier this month. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports one fellow auctioneer says "I don't know anybody who wasn't his friend." "Steve Price was a legendary cowboy in Cheyenne, and also an auctioneer who raised a bunch of money for many nonprofits in the city. He didn't really have a business, but he just used that to help nonprofits, and he helped so many, including the animal shelter, the hospital, you know, also the state fair board.Somebody at the animal shelter told me that there was this bid that went on for like 10 minutes over a Josh Allen jersey a few years ago that he just kept egging people on, you know, to raise their bid, and so everybody I talked to said he was one of the best people they've ever met." The 70-year-old died while visiting family in Dundee, Michigan, on May 4th. A celebration of life is planned on Saturday at the Archer Event Center in Cheyenne. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/21/remembering-steve-price-wyoming-cowboy-auctioneer-and-money-raising-legend/] 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 [https://cowboystatedaily.com/] - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZ6-7-Nv-0ycvqgTIttIFQ] channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily Video News: Thursday, May 21, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, May 21st. I'm Mac Watson. – Releases of up to 1 million acre-feet of water downriver from Flaming Gorge are gutting the gorge's world-famous kokanee fishery and has marinas racing to survive. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that one marina owner says the impact is "like a holocaust for nature." "How much water did Lake Powell get out of that? Two inches. So we took a seven-foot hit in Flaming Gorge. Lake Powell got a two two inch bump. This is the sacrifice Wyoming made to save Lake Powell and to keep Glen Cove Dam hydropower working. If they take another million acre feet, that lake level is going to fall below his boat ramp." Federal officials announced earlier this year that they will release up to 1 million acre-feet of water from Flaming Gorge to boost critically low water levels down the Colorado River on Lake Powell and protect hydropower operations at Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/flaming-gorge-marinas-race-to-survive-as-1m-acre-feet-of-water-sent-downriver/] – Emotions were mixed for the 450-Megwatt Chugwater Energy Project before getting its final unanimous approval from Platte County on Wednesday. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that one landowner says "If people really didn't want wind turbines they should have bought" the land. "A lot of landowners were in support of it, as they were last week at the public hearing. Heard from some others, some new landowners, some different landowners this time around, and again, a lot of support for the project. There was, of course, pushback from people who cited health concerns and property rights issues. One guy said, 'The property rights debate goes as far as your neighbor's chin, so you know that kind of saying that property rights only go so far when it, when it is your property.'" The project approval came in three votes, with commissioners unanimously approving the permits necessary for the wind portion expected to generate 300 megawatts of energy, the solar part of the plan expected to generate 150 megawatts of energy and a 150-megawatt battery energy storage system. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/huge-chugwater-wind-and-solar-project-gets-final-unanimous-ok-from-platte-county/] – Another calf was killed near Kinnear overnight Tuesday as a bitter feud over roaming Great Pyrenees dogs escalates. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that rancher Chris Eberline found one of her bottle-fed calves found partially eaten. "Eberleen said she went out to feed the bum calves that she needed to bottle feed. When she saw that there was a dead calf laying by its mother, the top half had been eaten. She said it was still fresh. Eberlyn says she has about seven cameras around the property, but they're very expensive. She's paid about $150 per camera, along with a monthly subscription fee, but so far, she's been unable to catch any of these attacks on camera, so it's been incredibly frustrating." By Wednesday afternoon, deputies with the Fremont County Sheriff's Office and an officer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department were back on the property performing a necropsy on the animal. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/were-just-tired-of-it-another-calf-found-dead-in-wyoming-ranch-dog-feud/] – State politicos tell Cowboy State Daily that the Trump-driven ousting of Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie sends a message to Wyoming and the nation. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that one former legislator says "Don't step out of line, if you do, you'll get the boot." "Former Senator Anthony Bouchard, he was, during his time in the state senate, very much a conservative firebrand. And so he was kind of spicy on Wednesday talking about Massey, who Bouchard is a fan of, like this is a sign that Trump is holding the strings, was Bouchard's take on it, and he talked about it being kind of this control and capture. On the other side, I talked to Bob Ferguson, who's the vice chair of the Wyoming Republican Party, and he said, 'No, it's deeper than just crossing Trump or crossing Trump a couple times. This guy has been an obstacle to a lot of generally Republican-backed measures.'" Massie, a Libertarian-leaning Republican who urged the release of the Epstein files, lost his primary election challenge Tuesday night to Navy SEAL veteran Ed Gallrein. At more than $32 million in advertising spending, it was the most expensive U.S. Congressional race in the nation's history. And Trump heckled Massie throughout. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/dont-step-out-of-line-massie-loss-a-message-to-all-republican-candidates/] – I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily news continues now… – Hawk Springs Reservoir in Goshen County is a popular fishing and boating spot for locals and other Wyomingites. But Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that it's already incredibly low, and might be dried up by the end of summer. "It gets its inflows from Horse Creek have already been low this spring, and it looks like the situation is going to get worse because there's 80 plus farms downstream from it that have water irrigation rights to that water, and they're going to need their water this summer, and so the people are already saying the reservoir is going to be really low this year. It might even be all but dried up, just be because of, you know, that combination of not much water coming in, b, all the irrigation rights have to come out." Roughly an hour and a half away from Guernsey State Park, the reservoir is part of the Hawk Springs Recreation Area. It's one of Wyoming's smaller state parks and includes 24 primitive campsites. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/goshen-countys-hawk-springs-reservoir-a-favorite-for-anglers-drying-up-fast/] – A weekend fire that gutted Cheyenne's Historic Pumphouse may not be the end for the run-down 134-year-old building that was recently set for demolition. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that Mayor Patrick Collins says, "We've really tried hard not to be the council to tear it down." "The fire chief says they're really, they're not going to say anything about it until they're, they're done with that, because they don't want any speculation as to how it started, where it started, and they still haven't had anybody set foot in it, because they're not sure it's safe. They've had drones in there, but just to really assess how damaged this stone building is, they haven't been able to do that. However, the mayor said that the city's architect has said that from what he's been able to see, what they've been able to see there, they have optimism that the stone is still sound. It really wasn't damaged too badly in the fire, and that you know the roof was going to be replaced anyway. It's not a death sentence for the pump." One of the oldest buildings in Cheyenne, the pumphouse has been vacant for decades and a magnet for vandals and vagrants. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/devastating-fire-may-not-be-end-for-historic-134-year-old-cheyenne-pumphouse/] – Rumors of a data center development in Lincoln County has provoked fear as locals get more vocal against them. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that a county commissioner says people are jumping the gun, because there are now no data center projects on the table. "Some of this panic is being spurred by a huge data center project in Utah called the Stratos Project, that's a data center and power development backed by investor Kevin O'Leary in Box Elder County, Utah, so a lot of people in Lincoln County, which is a neighbor to Utah, are, you know, just nervous and wanting, you know, they don't want to see what's happening in Utah come to their county, and their county is kind of, you know, nearby." Many are wary because of an escalating debate and pushback over data centers in and around Cheyenne [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/04/with-up-to-70-cheyenne-area-data-centers-in-the-works-petition-calls-for-pause/], along with a hugely controversial project in nearby Utah. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/data-center-rumors-provoke-fear-concern-in-lincoln-county/] – A young, scrawny, and seemingly confused black bear has been hanging around a rural Weston County neighborhood outside of Upton. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that one resident says he had to shoo it away from garbage cans. "So far people told me that he's behaving himself, they're assuming it's a he, probably a younger bear, maybe one or two years old, maybe just separated from its mother, and it's kind of trying to find its way in the world, and kind of showed up in this rural neighborhood outside of Upton. Folks are hoping that it's starting to hunt turkeys and maybe prairie dogs there, maybe it's looking to get some, you know, natural food sources, which is what we want bears to do, because once they start getting into garbage and start getting getting into trouble with people, it usually ends badly for the bear in those cases." Resident Katina Spiker tells Cowboy State Daily that the neighborhood, about 6 miles outside of Upton is an area frequented by mountain lions and bobcats, and coyotes, but is the first bear in recent memory. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/20/our-resident-bear-scrawny-black-bear-hangs-out-around-rural-upton-neighborhood/] 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 [https://cowboystatedaily.com/] - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZ6-7-Nv-0ycvqgTIttIFQ] channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily Video News: Wednesday, May 20, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, May 20th. I'm Mac Watson. – Fremont County ranchers say roaming Great Pyrenees have killed livestock and terrorized neighbors for years in a rural feud that's now spiraled into criminal charges. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that court records show Kerri Johnson was charged with property destruction last week in the latest development of an escalating feud. "Two ranch families in Kinnear, Wyoming, have been telling authorities for years that a neighbor's dogs have been coming onto their property and killing their calves. Over the last several years, Kerri Johnson has been charged with an animal at large. Last week, she was charged with property destruction over $1,000 that is a felony, which carries a potential sentence up to 10 years in prison. Rancher Chris Eberline says that her husband was confronted by Johnson when he was fixing fences. Eberlyne said things escalated at a court hearing in December when she told the judge, 'Somebody's gonna get hurt.'" Ranchers living near the Johnson property tell Cowboy State Daily that the legal fight barely scratches the surface of the last several years' struggle. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/you-shoot-my-dogs-ill-shoot-you-wyoming-feud-over-ranch-dogs-explodes/] – It took about 36 hours, but most of Rawlins had power restored Tuesday as a fast and furious spring snowstorm wreaked havoc in southcentral Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that the Carbon County Sheriff's Office spent the day rescuing residents and helping snow-stranded drivers. "Rawlins just had a rough time of it on Monday. They had a power outage that lasted nearly 36 hours. They were still trying to get power back to some places in Rawlins on Tuesday afternoon. So the Carbon County Sheriff's Office and the Medical Center down there, they had the deal not only with the calls of residents, but dozens of people who were stranded on I 80 because I 80 was closed for most of the day, and they were having problems with their cell phones throughout this whole period, too." Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken tells Cowboy State Daily that he knew he was in for a tough day when he set out to start coordinating the response to the power outage, his truck got stuck in the snow. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/rawlins-slowly-reopens-after-36-hours-with-no-power-stranded-motorists-on-i-80/] – A man found dead in a car in the parking lot of the Cody airport after being missing for two weeks died of blunt force injuries and exposure to the elements. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports that the family still wants answers as to how their relative ended up in that car. "Sean Ezekiel Hughes was found in a car that was not his at the Cody Airport. He disappeared on April 5, and he had been missing for 11 days when he was ultimately discovered in that vehicle by police. Autopsy reports show he died of a shoulder blunt force shoulder injury, likely from a fall, and also that combined with the elements, and the coroner said that the fall would have caused internal bleeding that combined with cold temperatures ultimately what killed him." Park County Coroner Cody Gortmaker tells Cowboy State Daily that the timeline of the man's death is unclear as to when exactly he got into the vehicle and ultimately died. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/missing-man-found-dead-in-car-at-cody-airport-died-of-injury-and-exposure/] – Cheyenne's Public Service Committee didn't endorse or reject a 12-month moratorium on new data centers after hours of emotional testimony Monday. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that state legislators say the clash exposes issues the Wyoming Legislature may need to address. "It really exposed a lot of issues that are at the state level, so you know, more guard rails around water use, more transparency. Should these things be going through the industrial siting commission right now? They have a different process that's kind of governing how they function, different people who are kind of going over whether they fit in a community, maybe the industrial siting commission needs to be part of that layer, that's, you know, some of the questions that lawmakers were asking after listening to all the testimony in Cheyenne." The committee's Monday decision highlights deep divisions over the rapid growth of data centers in Cheyenne, as nearby residents worry about water use, noise, rising electricity demand and the pace of development. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/cheyenne-city-committee-wont-support-or-reject-data-center-moratorium/] – I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily news continues now… – Wyoming groups that host hunts for disabled veterans fear a proposal to change Game and Fish regulations on what counts as a disability could freeze out some vets. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that the change could disqualify vets with PTSD or disabilities that aren't apparent. "Nothing has been decided yet, but there's a proposal to, well, the big one is to change what would qualify someone as disabled to get special disabled hunting access. Currently on the books, if you have a qualifying letter, if you have a letter from the VA stating that you are 100% disabled, you are allowed to do that, but what they're talking about getting rid of that and having it just be straight up, you have to have a blindness or some sort of full physical disability. These veteran groups that host these hunts for disabled veterans are a little bit concerned about that, because they're saying if you cut that out, a lot of the people we host might not qualify for special disabled hunts." The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission is considering several changes [https://wgfd.wyo.gov/media/33644/download?inline] to hunting regulations, including removing a provision for counting a "100% service-related disability," based on a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/wyoming-veterans-fear-changing-disability-hunting-regs-could-freeze-them-out/] – The federal government looks likely to reject Wyoming's plan to invest roughly $1 billion in projected Trump-backed grants for rural medical services. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Wyoming has to spend the money quickly instead. "Wyoming wanted to invest the money and live off the interest to support these structures over like a three decade or more timeline, and the Fed said, 'No, you got to spend it within a year.' Governor Gordon did go ahead and announce that the feds approved the grant for the first year in that tighter deployment timeline that doesn't involve a long-term investment." Wyoming had planned to invest the majority of a roughly $1 billion projected federal grant for rural hospitals, ambulances, baby delivery and other health care so the state could benefit from gains beyond the five-year grant cycle. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/looks-like-feds-wont-let-wyoming-invest-trump-backed-health-care-grants/] – Yoder breakaway roper Hadley Thompson could make history this weekend as the first to earn $2 million with one throw of a rope. Cowboy State Daily's Julie Mankin reports that the 18-year-old could get a huge payout for beating the best in the world. "Hadley Thompson is only 18 years old, still in high school, and she's got experience winning first over the best in the world at breakaway roping. She's a phenom. This is not your typical rodeo. This thing is in Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas, home of the Texas Rangers. She's the only breakaway roper from Wyoming in contention. There are also a couple of team rompers and a saddle bronc rider from Wyoming that have a chance for the big money." What could an 18-year-old do with $2 million? Thompson tells Cowboy State Daily that it's been hard for her not to think about that. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/torrington-18-year-old-breakaway-roper-to-compete-for-historic-2-million-payout/] – After a mama duck panicked when her ducklings fell into a Sheridan storm drain this past weekend, a big bearded hero climbed in to get them. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that one woman who watched the rescue says it restored a little of her faith in humanity. "A Sheridan mother named Franny Blackwell was on her way home from Home Depot on Saturday when she saw a large gathering by a drainage off to the side of the road. She flipped a U-turn, and when she pulled over, she saw a large bearded man going into the sewer to rescue baby ducks. There were about six ducks in total that he pulled out. At first, Mama Duck seemed very suspicious, but by the end it was as if she knew that her babies had been rescued by this mystery man. We never learned the identity of the hero in this story, although several people said that their faith in humanity has been restored again." Blackwell tells Cowboy State Daily that she never learned the names of the people who stopped to rescue the ducklings. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/19/stranger-with-big-beard-climbs-into-sheridan-storm-drain-to-save-ducklings/] 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 [https://cowboystatedaily.com/] - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZ6-7-Nv-0ycvqgTIttIFQ] channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily Radio News: Tuesday, May 19, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, May 19th. I'm Mac Watson. – A snowstorm shut down more than 200 miles of I-80 on Monday leaving motorists stranded for hours — some overnight — while killing power in Rawlins. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that in some places, residents are under 2 feet of snow. "This storm seems to have caught everyone off guard. So everything that happened on I-80 on Monday. It started because there were power outages in Rawlins, and as a result, from what we're hearing, WYDOT wasn't able to fuel its plow truck, so they had to get their plow trucks to a spot where they could refuel, and then get them out. And these outages were occurring between 2 and 4am on Monday. We've heard reports of multiple accidents, including one where a snow plow was struck, possibly by a semi truck." More than 200 miles of Interstate 80 were closed for most of the day because of winter conditions. As much as 10 inches of snow was reported in some places along the highway, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation was clearing 4-foot drifts by noon. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/motorists-stuck-on-i-80-overnight-as-snowstorm-shuts-down-southern-wyoming/] – The U.S. Senate voted 46-43 Monday to confirm Darin Smith as U.S. Attorney for Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports the confirmation comes four days after the state's three federal judges ruled he committed "flagrant" misconduct. "There were like 49 Trump-backed nominees for various federal offices. They were voting one in a block, and the Senate voted 4643 to confirm all of them. Among them was Darin Smith, who, since confirmation, is now US attorney for Wyoming for at least four years, and so there was a big controversy Friday when the three sitting judges, you know, not senior level, not magistrate, but the three sitting judges, the main judges of the federal court signed an order together in numerous, well, nine cases saying that Smith had committed flagrant misconduct that prejudiced the defendants." Smith said that he's deeply honored and grateful that the Senate has confirmed him and expressed gratitude to the President, and to Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, who both voted in his favor. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/16/35-years-after-ufo-encounter-cheyenne-man-still-trying-to-figure-out-what-he-saw/] – Two more possible data center projects are on the horizon even as Laramie County planners have recommended approval of a massive 5,600-person man camp to house workers. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that one local resident says, "I did not feel like our voices were considered or heard." "Multiple county residents spoke out at that meeting in opposition to this man camp. Either it butts up against their neighborhood, it's too close to the schools, it should be farther out of town if we have to have it at all, and despite all the public opposition, the county commission, the planners opted to recommend it to the county commissioners for approval, so these residents who are speaking out are feeling like the decision's already been made, nobody hears what we have to say, and if they do, it doesn't matter, because they're moving forward regardless." The next public hearing about the proposed man camp will be on June 2nd at the historic courthouse in Cheyenne. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/two-more-data-centers-possible-as-laramie-county-planners-ok-massive-man-camp/] – Many Wyoming county clerks report a rush of last-minute crossover registrations to vote in the Republican primary. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the state Democratic Party is discouraging crossover voting, while some elected Democrats are encouraging it. "A lot of county clerks, they would see dozens of crossovers from January 1st to the May 13th deadline to change party, and half or sometimes more than half of those crossovers would be in the last five days of that window, and so you, you know, people are cognizant of the deadline, and they are crossing over, and in some counties, Teton, Albany, Laramie, and Toronto, they're doing so in droves." The primary election for Democratic and Republican nominations is Aug. 18. The GOP primary election is generally considered the most decisive election in Wyoming, since it's a supermajority state. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/many-counties-see-huge-last-minute-crossovers-to-vote-in-wyomings-gop-primary/] – I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily news continues now… – Over the past decade, Togwotee Pass between Dubois and Moran Junction in Wyoming has become a circus of wildlife paparazzi around grizzlies. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that one photographer says there's arguing and even threats. "I talked to some photographers that say the crowd can instantly can easily blow up to over 100 people in no time at all, and so you've got all kinds of problems, you got a busy highway, cars improperly parked, people wandering around on the pavement, maybe bears crossing the road, and then, of course, people getting extremely close to bears. The rule is stay 100 yards away from bears. It applies there just the same as it applies in the national parks, but I mean, if you see some of these photos or this video that the one person sent to me, these people are a lot closer than 100 yards from the bears." Officials say the growing mob over the bears is a disaster waiting to happen. It could be only a matter of time before somebody gets mauled by a grizzly or a semitrailer plows into people too distracted by bears to pay attention to traffic roaring by on U.S. Highway 26/287. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/grizzly-paparazzi-photographers-shove-each-other-over-bears-on-togwotee-pass/] – A young person died of blunt force trauma Saturday after falling from a moving pumpjack in the Elk Basin oil field in Park County, according to the Sheriff's office. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that a retired oil worker says in his experience, "It's easy to forget how dangerous pumpjacks can be." "Retired oil field worker Eugene Brown said that in his experience working in that area, in that oil patch, for over 20 years, it was not uncommon for those pump jacks to be out in the open. They were not fenced off. He said he saw youngsters playing on them, and that it is extremely dangerous." The Park County coroner's office confirmed that an autopsy was completed on Monday, but because the deceased is a juvenile, they will not be releasing anything about the name, age, gender, or identity. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/juvenile-dies-after-fall-from-moving-pumpjack-in-park-county-oil-field/] – Facing the pointed questions of Riverton's old-guard coffee group, known as "The Gentry," has become a proving ground for serious Wyoming political candidates. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that governor hopeful Eric Barlow told those gathered that people in government should "do your damn job." "The temperature of the room was mixed. You definitely had some Barlow fans there, and you had some harsh critics. You had Wayne Dick, gave him a grilling, Fremont County GOP chair, Ginger Bennett did as well, and so he fielded that, and he told me afterwards he thought it went well." The core group of The Gentry are men-of-a-certain-age who all drink black coffee [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/10/26/wyoming-coffee-klatch-rivertons-chandelle-group-talks-and-argues-politics/], all run politically conservative and all live in the Riverton area. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/gov-hopeful-barlow-is-latest-to-face-the-gentry-rivertons-political-old-guard/] – On his first day out black bear hunting in the Snowy Range Mountains, a Cheyenne hunter got his pickup hopelessly stuck. But, Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that on the second day, River Mossberg bagged a super-sized black bear. "A guy was actually using spot and stock, that means you go out, put boots on the ground, and you look for a bear through binoculars or spotting scope, and then when you see it, then you've got to figure out how to get close enough to shoot. He said that the day before he was trying to show his dad a new hunting spot, and so, I got my truck just buried in the muck up there. So his entire first day of the hunt was wasted trying to get the truck out of the mud, but then on the second day everything came together and he got this nice huge bear." Mossberg tells Cowboy State Daily that when he spotted the black bear he said, "Holy cow! This sucker is size 5XL!" Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/18/juvenile-dies-after-fall-from-moving-pumpjack-in-park-county-oil-field/] 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 [https://cowboystatedaily.com/] - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZ6-7-Nv-0ycvqgTIttIFQ] channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

Cowboy State Daily Radio News: Monday, May 18, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Monday, May 18th. I'm Mac Watson. – Fremont County Fire Chief Ron Wempen tells Cowboy State Daily the Wind River Canyon fire was started by a "mechanical issue" on a BNSF train. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that the fire leaped from the train, into the canyon, and quickly spread. "It was confirmed that the fire was caused by some kind of mechanical malfunction on a locomotive that was going through the Wind River Canyon. We don't know the exact nature of that malfunction, but it seems like it was something with the motor. It grew to around 140 acres, but from what I understand, it's either nearly out or completely out as of Sunday, so not a serious fire, but one that a lot of people notice, as it was sending flames up the western slopes of the Wind River Canyon all day Saturday." Several agencies sprang into action to battle the fire in the Wind River Canyon, including a Sikorsky CH-54B Tarhe, famously known as the "Sky Crane" helicopter, that flew in from Central Wyoming Regional Airport to make water drops. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/16/wildfire-erupts-next-to-train-tracks-in-wind-river-canyon/] – Speaking of fire, a fire ripped through the 134-year-old Cheyenne Pumphouse on Saturday, raising questions about whether the historic building can still be saved. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that one local preservationist says watching the structure burn "was like witnessing a death, for sure." "A lot of the historic old, old hardwoods that was used for the roof and for some of the inside parts was pretty much were burned, but the guts of the place, the bones of it is all stone. It's stone, it's mason work, it's brick, and so the hope is that that stuff wasn't damaged too badly, because the roof burned a lot of it caved in. However, the preservation plans were calling for replacing the roof anyway. And so when I talked to them, they said, 'Yeah, it was just devastating.'" The city's historic 1892 brick and stone pumphouse building was spared a date with the wrecking ball [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/09/06/clock-ticking-for-run-down-cheyenne-pumphouse-which-needs-4m-restoration/] by the Cheyenne City Council back in December. Fire officials say their active investigation is ongoing. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/17/fire-rips-through-134-year-old-historic-cheyenne-pumphouse/] – A hiker from Colorado hit the wildlife watcher's jackpot last weekend coming within just yards of one of about 15 wolverines estimated to live in Wyoming. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that wolverines are so rarely seen that his photos and video are considered to be once-in-a-lifetime. "They're very rarely seen, and when people do get photos of them, as we've reported before, it's usually very blurry photos from a distance. But a literal rocket scientist got some great pictures and crystal-clear pictures and video of it. The wolverine, you can see in the pictures, he's wearing a radio tracking collar. Still, trying to determine whether it was a Wyoming Game and Fish department collar, but again, this guy, he said he had just enough time to get his camera out of his bag and shot some good photos and some good video of the animal, and then it turned and took off, and that was that. But it's just, it's kind of one of those one-in-a-million stories." The hiker, Zach Shifrel, captured footage of the wolverine near Squaretop Mountain in Sublette County nearing the end of his hike. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/16/wildlife-watcher-has-incredibly-rare-wolverine-encounter-in-wind-river-mountains/] – The author of Wyoming's Food Freedom Act says recent decisions by the state Dept. of Agriculture to shut down sales of locally produced food are government overreach. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that Tyler Lindholm, the state director for Americans for Prosperity and the author of the Food Freedom Act, spoke at a rally in Cheyenne on Saturday, saying the government has found their way around our laws and intent." "The first was in March when the Wyoming Department of Agriculture banned Wy Fresh Farm in Cheyenne from selling certain meats. The second one happened in April up in Cody with Hippie Cow Creamery, when the Department of Ag said they could no longer sell their lattes because they were using raw milk in the lattes. When he's learning that there's this growing pressure and there's these things happening now, across the state, that's causing him to say we need to rewrite this law, we need to make it absolutely unambiguous." The law signed in 2015 allows producers to sell almost any type of homemade or farm-raised food directly to consumers without state licensure, permitting, certification or inspection requirements. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/17/author-of-wyomings-food-freedom-act-says-it-needs-fixing-to-fight-overreach/] – I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily news continues now… – A Cheyenne attorney and his father, a former Wyoming attorney general, saw what they described as a huge, super-bright UFO while driving on Highway 59 in 1991. Now, 35 years later, Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that Richard Barrett says he's still trying to figure out what they saw. "It appears right over their vehicle as they're headed south on Highway 59. He said he rolled down his window and put his head out and looked up at it, and to his estimation, he thought it was like 10 stories tall, two discs went upon another, and at the top there was these windows, he said, at the apex there was these windows, and these two discs were like together. It wasn't like they were two separate discs, and there was no noise at all. He said this huge thing that's hovering, that's above them, it's rotating with rotating lights, but the light is so bright that it makes the nighttime day no noise at all." Barrett tells Cowboy State Daily that he and his dad waited until the next day to see if it was in the newspaper, radio or television. When they didn't see anything, both men decided not to tell anyone for fear people would say "they were off their rockers." Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/16/35-years-after-ufo-encounter-cheyenne-man-still-trying-to-figure-out-what-he-saw/] – Wyoming's federal judges on Friday dismissed nine felony-level criminal cases, including one first-degree murder case against interim U.S. Attorney nominee Darin Smith. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Smith was accused of making "inflammatory and inappropriate" comments to a grand jury. "Shortly after, the judges issued their order, saying this was misconduct, the defense attorneys fired back and said 'We didn't get a chance to respond to the government's argument A and B. We think that these cases should be dismissed with prejudice permanently, because that's the tendency in misconduct cases like these.' So that's a motion for consideration that was pending before the court as of Friday." The judges are pausing their dismissal order until Wednesday at 5 p.m. to give the federal government the chance to appeal if it wishes. If the government doesn't want to appeal, the order will go into effect immediately, so says the order. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/15/judges-dismiss-nine-felony-cases-including-murder-over-darin-smith-misconduct/] – Thor Stephenson Jr. thought he was going to die after a shotgun blast destroyed his leg during a pheasant hunt in 2013. Not so. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that he still gets outdoors on a custom brown and gold Bucking Horse prosthetic he says symbolizes being cowboy tough. "People stop him all the time at his full-time job. He works at the Home Depot in Rock Springs, and he says that the prosthesis has become a part of his personality, it's not just a tool, it's a way that he can connect with people and talk about his love of the Cowboys. Stephenson says he's grateful to the Casper doctor, Camille Lamont, who was able to fit him with this new prosthesis, and the last handful of years he's really been able to learn to trust it more. He's been elk hunting, he's been fishing, he carries logs over his shoulder, and he works full time, something that he knows is only possible because of this prosthesis." Stephenson walks into work wearing a custom $68,000 University of Wyoming prosthetic leg wrapped in brown-and-gold swagger and the famous bucking horse logo. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/14/how-russia-controlled-a-huge-chunk-of-wyoming-uranium-and-how-wyoming-got-it-back/] – Wyoming's world-famous Fossil Cabin was built from more than 6,000 dinosaur bones, weighs 52 tons and was a target for vandals along U.S. Highway 30. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that it made a nail-biting, 7-mile crawl this week to a new permanent home at the Medicine Bow Museum. "It weighs 100 and I think 15,000 pounds. It's like 52 tons. So they did several things to move this. They placed like a foundation, a movable foundation underneath it. They had to dig out around it and build that underneath it. They shored up the walls, both inside and out, you know, kind of framing it up so that the the walls are held tight, and then they shrink wrap the whole thing, just plastic all around it, you know, and then to get this on a trailer and move it slowly." Wyoming's Fossil Cabin was once featured by Ripley's Believe It Or Not as the "World's Oldest Cabin" because of its building materials, some 6,000 dinosaur bones mortared together by Thomas Boylan in 1932 to create a unique roadside attraction for his gas station along U.S. Highway 30 near Como Bluff. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/14/raspberry-the-grizzly-399-of-yellowstone-missing-for-a-year-feared-to-be-dead/] 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 [https://cowboystatedaily.com/] - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZ6-7-Nv-0ycvqgTIttIFQ] channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.