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

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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: Thursday, June 4, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, June 4th. I'm Mac Watson – More than 32 years after her body was found along I-80, the woman known as "Shafter Jane Doe" has been identified, officials announced Thursday. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports Mary Alexander's nude body was posed on the ground, arms extended to either side in the shape of a cross. "Nobody reported her missing, because her family, she was a free spirit, so she was, they thought, laid on the side of the road for about seven days until she was found. So that was in 1993 And today the Elko County Sheriff's Office announced that they have identified her after 32 years. Her name is Mary Alexander, and she was a German immigrant, she moved to California in about 72 and she left home about 18 or 19. There was a lot of emotion in the room when the investigators announced her identity. These guys have been working on it for decades, and this is a huge story. In that, she's thought to be one of the nine victims in what's called the Great Basin murders, which took place between 1983 and 1997." Elko authorities announced Alexander's killer as Roger Durkee of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Investigators were getting ready to fly out to Wisconsin with an arrest warrant to take him into custody, when they discovered he had already passed away in November of 2025. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/32-years-after-her-posed-body-was-found-along-i-80-shafter-jane-doe-identified/] – The transgender Laramie resident who protested Wyoming's cross-sex access ban for public bathrooms at the Capitol last summer is now waging a self-defense argument in a felony assault case. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Rihanna Kelver says he didn't go looking for a confrontation. "Kelver was charged in September with aggravated assault, possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intents, and interference with a peace officer, so that's two felonies and one misdemeanor. That case got knocked down to two misdemeanors at some point, like November, and there were negotiations underway where the prosecutor and the defense were trying to figure out what sentencing was appropriate, and the court file indicates that fell apart, and the prosecutor ratcheted back up to the two felonies and the one misdemeanor, and it's now on the level of the felony court." 26-year-old Rihanna Kelver made headlines last summer [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/07/01/trans-woman-breaks-wyomings-new-bathroom-ban-in-state-capitol-nothing-happens/] for using the women's bathroom in the Wyoming Capitol when a new state law was activated banning the practice. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/transgender-bathroom-protestor-faces-felony-assault-charge-claims-self-defense/] – A Torrington family says the Goshen County Sheriff's Office told them a suspect turned himself in for shooting their Rottweilers, whose mutilated bodies were found in the North Platte River. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that the sheriff's office confirms there is a suspect in the case who has not been identified. "On Wednesday morning, Angelica Garcia learned from police that a suspect had come forward and turned himself in. However, the Goshen County Sheriff, Corey Fleener, said that they are keeping his identity private for now because it's a public safety concern. The suspect is not currently in custody, and they have not formally been charged as of Wednesday afternoon. An organization out of Washington, DC, is offering a $2,500 reward for anyone who has information that will help convict the person responsible for what they see as an unlawful killing of these dogs." The president of the Animal Wellness Action, Wayne Pacelli, tells Cowboy State Daily that the reason the group became interested in this case is because of the well-studied link between animal cruelty and broader patterns of domestic violence. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/torrington-family-says-suspect-turns-self-in-for-shooting-mutilated-rottweilers/] – Laramie doesn't have any plans for data centers, but that didn't stop locals Tuesday calling for a permanent moratorium on them. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that because of resident's concerns, the mayor is taking action. "One gentleman suggested that the council consider a permanent moratorium on data centers. Mayor Sharon Cumby told me that they are planning to now fast-track a joint session between city council and county commissioners to talk about what you know if data center developers come in asking for proposals the city and county come together to have a very clear set of guidelines or procedure to answer those questions." Laramie city staff is compiling information that will explore the scope and ramifications of data centers and Mayor Sharon Cumbie said she wants to make sure that her staff has adequate time to thoroughly gather the latest information, so the joint groups are well informed when they come together. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/laramie-has-no-data-center-plans-but-that-doesnt-stop-locals-from-opposing-them/] – I'll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily News continues now…. – An Evansville man accused of not returning to a Casper halfway house after work faces more charges for allegedly breaking into people's homes. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that he "grabbed a container of orange juice from the fridge" when confronted by a frightened woman at one house. "She called 911 and said, 'I don't know where he went, but there was a guy that came into my house and took orange juice.' This guy, before he left, said, 'Yeah, I've been staying at your trailer in the backyard.' Then, about an hour later, they get another call from a woman who sees a guy who is apparently drunk or something walking down an alley. Police go there and find the man that matches the description from the other residences, they start talking to him and understand that, yeah, he's the guy that took the orange juice." Court documents show Garrett Maheu's renewed encounter with the court system began with his failing to return to the halfway house facility by midnight May 25th following a shift at the Outback Steakhouse in Casper. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/fugitive-accused-of-breaking-into-casper-area-homes-taking-orange-juice/] – Despite huge storms in southern Wyoming, May was Jekyll and Hyde, either exceeding or falling short of moisture expectations — with much of the state still in drought. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports meteorologist Don Day says some towns in Wyoming are dry as a bone. "In some places, like Buffalo, they got less than 30% of their historical average for precipitation in the month of May, that's the seventh consecutive month of below average, below average monthly precipitation in Wyoming. There is a chance that June and July could be more wet as we get into an El Nino, and the North American monsoon begins to form, but unfortunately it's very rare for June or July to turn around a drought situation." After the warmest, driest winter on record for areas across Wyoming, experts described the snowpack [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/03/05/wyomings-snowpack-is-anywhere-from-just-okay-to-basically-horrible-as-winter-ends/] going into May ranging anywhere from "just OK" to "basically horrible." Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/despite-huge-storms-during-jekyll-and-hyde-may-much-of-wyoming-still-in-drought/] – The Wyoming Department of Education warned lawmakers this week that artificial intelligence is coming, so students should receive training outside of Facebook and Instagram. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that "The job of a school is to create real intelligence," said Rep. Ocean Andrew. "The person who works in this area for Sheridan County School District number 1 said, 'Yeah, we just, we just work on guidance because it's more flexible, more malleable, urge against plagiarism, urge against surveillance, urge against bad topics like that, talk about AIs have biases and can hallucinate, and we just try to teach our people how to warn and safeguard against these things.'" The committee ultimately didn't draft legislation during its Tuesday meeting, but questioned the department on next steps. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/wyoming-department-of-education-says-prepare-for-ai-because-its-coming/] — As Yellowstone buzzed with tourists and other bears were caught up in courtship, a black bear apparently decided he'd had enough and zonked out by the roadside near Tower Junction. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that the bear was out so hard, some people worried that it was dead. "This black bear that's just, just off the road, flopped over on his back, just absolutely passed out. Snooze and tongue hanging out. Other bears are running around, and you know, because it's courtship mating season, so other black bears are really up and active and chasing each other, and all that, but this one was just not. It's 80 degrees, I'm flopping on my back and taking a nap. The bear was passed out so hard, some folks were worried that it was dead, and he said a lot of other people never even saw it, they had their eyes up looking at the other bears that are running around. They didn't notice this one right in front of them, that was just, just zonk." Wildlife photographer Corey Pettis tells Cowboy State Daily Grizzly bear activity [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/02/sandhill-crane-gets-aggressive-to-scare-young-yellowstone-grizzly-away-from-nest/] has been getting plenty of attention in Yellowstone National Park this spring, but around Tower Junction, it's all about black bears. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/03/tired-of-mobs-and-mating-season-yellowstone-black-bear-zonks-out-by-roadside/] — 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.

4 de jun de 20269 min

Cowboy State Daily Radio News: Tuesday, June 2, 2026

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, June 2nd, I'm Mac Watson – A Torrington family is in shock after finding their mutilated dogs partially submerged in the North Platte River. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that Angelica Garcia said two people made the grisly discovery of her dogs in the river. "The Garcia family says that they let their dogs out Friday morning, and they escaped, which was a common occurrence. They were known to get loose and wander about town. Angelica Garcia says that most of the time people would just bring the dogs back, and it kind of became a running joke in the community. The dogs went missing in the afternoon, and were discovered in the early evening by a woman walking with her young son. She found the dogs half submerged in the North Platte River. There were two Rottweilers, and it looked like they'd been blasted by a shotgun, one was missing its head, the other was missing its neck and its chest." Goshen County Sheriff Kory Fleenor confirmed Monday that his office has an open investigation into the incident, but declined to comment on whether investigators have determined a cause of death or whether any suspects or persons of interest have been identified. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/01/torrington-family-says-rottweilers-were-mutilated-and-dumped-in-the-river/] – The poll U.S. House candidate Chuck Gray touted Monday leveled disparaging claims about opponents Reid Rasner and Steve Friess. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the poll, conducted by Fabrizio, Lee, and Associates, claims Friess "never had a real job" and Rasner acted like a "Hollywood celebrity" during a marriage to "his gay husband." "They concluded that Gray was leading with 21% of the vote if the election were held mid May, but there was also a push poll phase, and I received screenshots shortly after reporting the favorable poll with very charged, very loaded attacks on Reid Rasner and Steve Freese. The commentary about Rasner was dredging up things from his 2020 to 2022 divorce proceedings, including a subjective comment saying he had hyphenated his name like a celebrity. The prompts about Steve Friess were calling him an elitist and calling him out of touch with Wyomingites." The survey was a poll of 400 Wyoming Republican voters from May 13-16th and reveals Secretary of State Chuck Gray leads a crowded GOP U.S. House race with 21% support. Casper businessman Reid Rasner is second at 14%, and Teton County's Steve Friess is third at 10%. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/01/chuck-grays-u-s-house-poll-leveled-disparaging-remarks-against-rasner-friess/] – The family of a woman killed by a distracted driver in downtown Sheridan a year ago said they feel slighted by the 60-day sentence he got Friday. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports that the woman's daughter says the sentence brings "deeper grief," not closure. "Kate Gladden, her daughter does not feel like justice was served, and they were quite disappointed because they had been hoping that the judge might take into consideration their victim statements and charge him with the full penalty under the law, which would be up to a year and $2,000 fine, but that did not happen. She stuck with the plea agreement for 60 days." 65-year-old Julie Fitzsimmons was visiting her daughter Kate Gladden and her husband Nate, in Sheridan. Julie died of blunt force trauma to the head after being struck and thrown more than 7 feet by the vehicle. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/31/evanston-has-spent-decades-and-28m-restoring-its-historic-railroad-roundhouse/] – A 27-year-old man accused of shooting another man and leaving him bleeding in a Cheyenne street after a blowup over a former girlfriend pleaded not guilty Monday to attempted second-degree murder. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that Adrian Maggos allegedly asked police how "the guy I shot" was doing. "He sat quietly along with 11 other inmates from the jail, they all were wearing the bright orange jumpsuits, the orange proxy, he had his legs were shackled together, and when it was his turn, he got up and didn't say much to the judge, just answered his questions, 'yes sir,' 'no sir,' and when he, when the judge asked him for how he pleaded to the charge of attempted secondary murder, he said, 'not guilty.'" The judge then set an Oct. 6 trial date for Maggos, while his attorney informed Judge Hibben that a motion to reduce his $250,000 cash-only bond would be filed in writing. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/01/cheyenne-man-accused-in-shooting-over-ex-pleads-not-guilty-to-attempted-murder/] – I'll have more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this. Cowboy State Daily News continues now…. – A Wyoming barrel racer was stunned to learn that the teen girl accused of stabbing three horses in Las Vegas over the weekend tried to borrow one of her horses last month. Cowboy State Daily's Julie Mankin reports that Laura Nichols says "It makes my skin crawl to realize she was stalking my horses, too." "She said we need to back up about a month ago at a big show in Utah. After that show, I got a message from a random girl out of the blue that wanted to know if I'd let her run one of my horses, and I wanted to help. I didn't really have one, and she just kept asking about these specific horses of mine, and, and so this weekend I looked to see if that was the same person, and it was the accused from Las Vegas, so it's just chilling." Nichols, who has earned more than $400,000 competing on the half-brother of one of the stabbed horses, said she's especially horrified by the attack. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/01/wyoming-barrel-racer-says-she-was-targeted-by-alleged-horse-stabber/] – A Cody-based search and rescue team helped coordinate the search for the body of "Alaskan Bush People" star Matt Brown. Cowboy State Daily's Jen Kocher reports that Brown's body was found Sunday after he went missing four days earlier after allegedly shooting himself along a Washington state river. "Bill Dohse, who founded Find 911 and OSAR, which is a national search and rescue group with many different partners from around the country. And so what Dohse did in this particular instance was work with his partner agencies to deploy assets to the scene in Washington, which was extremely remote and near the Canadian border, and the sheriff's department and family were very grateful to have those assets on the ground. Dosey was able to work from his incident command center on the side of the road because he was en route to Washington to get there when Brown was found." Dohse, a former Fremont County Deputy Sheriff and Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, founded the Cody-based search and rescue group founded in 2015 that specializes in finding missing people and pets. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/06/01/cody-based-search-and-rescue-team-helps-find-body-of-alaskan-bush-people-star/] –- This year's election climate could make the perfect storm for Libertarian Shawn Johnson to win Wyoming's U.S. House seat, politicos say. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that experts say if Johnson can court conservatives, and the winner of the GOP primary is hugely unpopular, he could have a shot. "Sean Johnson gave a speech at his Sunday nomination at the Libertarian Party convention, that was, I mean, it was visibly electrifying to the attendees, and I got to thinking about it later. It very much resembled the Declaration of Independence, where there was this list of grievances, grievance after grievance of tyrannies that the people have endured, and it ended with this, this call for revival, and this pledge of one's own honor to the cause. And I asked him Monday, did you mean to structure that like the Declaration of Independence? He's like, no, he was just speaking from the heart." Johnson will face the lone survivor of a hotly contested 10-person GOP primary contest, and the winner of a two-way Democratic primary election. Both major party primary elections are set for Aug. 18. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/28/freedom-caucus-member-scott-smith-challenging-curt-meier-for-wyoming-treasurer/] – Fifty years ago, the cameras rolled on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" at Devils Tower after a handshake between a then-unknown Steven Spielberg and rancher Jesse Thomas Driskill. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that a high school student named Ogden Driskell (who would later grow up to be a current state senator) remembers Spielberg was adamant about not telling anyone about the movie before it debuted. "It was a funny story that Ogden told Spielberg swore them to secrecy about the movie because he didn't want the public to see that tower before the movie came out. He was just sure, you know, that nationwide people had not seen, did not know about this tower, and he knew the kind of impression it was going to make. His dad's the one who made the deal with Steven Spielberg, and Spielberg's like, 'I don't want anybody to know about that tower. Nobody knows about that tower. You have to keep it secret. Don't let anybody know what's going on.' But you know, so August, like, well, they thought he was kind of crazy." Close Encounters of the Third Kind was a blockbuster science fiction movie that was released in 1977. Written and directed by Steven Spielberg, it would go on to completely reshape tourism in northeast Wyoming. Read the full story HERE. [https://cowboystatedaily.com/2026/05/30/25-000-from-1933-kidnapping-ransom-could-still-be-buried-somewhere-in-cheyenne/] — 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.

2 de jun de 20269 min

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

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