It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming! I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, for Monday, April 22nd.
More than 200 people filled the Highland Park Community Church in Casper Saturday to say a final goodbye to 14-year-old Robert “Bobby” Maher Jr., who died defending his girlfriend from a pair of teens harassing her and, according to court testimony, looking for a fight.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck said Casper’s First Christian Church Pastor Bryan Elliott, who presided over the service, preached a message of mourning, memory, and forgiveness.
Maher was laid to rest in Casper’s Highland Park Cemetery. Two 15-year-old Casper-area boys face murder charges as adults for allegedly stabbing him to death.
Traffic delays are expected along the four-lane Interstate 80 in Rock Springs when Wyoming begins pumping cement into a more than 100-year-old coal mine under the highway before it caves in.
Cowboy State Daily’s Pat Maio says the $10.5 million project is one of the largest ever for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, but they want to fill the underground caverns and voids with concrete to prevent the interstate from sinking into the cavernous depths.
The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality estimates 30,000 cubic yards of filler is needed. That’s the equivalent of 3 million square feet at 3 inches of depth. Work could begin within the next few weeks.
The Wyoming Republican Party censured Governor Mark Gordon at its state convention on Saturday.
The censure was drafted in the party’s Resolution Committee and failed to meet the 75-person threshold needed to open the topic for discussion, indicating that if the censure had gone to a vote, it likely would have passed by a large majority.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson said Gordon is the first state governor to be censured by a Republican Party since the former Arizona governor was censored by his Republican Party in 2021.
A spokesperson for the governor said the party’s censure is concerning and that the governor stands behind his vetoes of what he calls “flawed legislation.”
While many praised former President Ronald Reagan for backing the program Israel used to defend itself again Iran, it was actually Wyoming U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop who started pushing "Star Wars" into existence before Reagan was even in office.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland said Wallop was an early leader of the Strategic Defense Initiative, the program to build weapons that could intercept and destroy ballistic missiles before they reached their targets.
Wallop also introduced the first of several amendments to the Defense Authorization Bill in 1980, which led to a provision of law directing the U.S. secretary of defense to build space laser weapons.
And a Cody tow truck driver was mobilized in the early hours of Thursday morning to rescue a family trying to get to Yellowstone National Park.
Zac Beardall got a call from the Wyoming Highway Patrol about a family having to leave their rented Jeep behind after driving more than 4 miles up a snow-packed road toward Cooke City, Montana, on the way to Yellowstone.
Cowboy State Daily’s Ellen Fike said the family was stuck for nearly six hours before they were able to get a signal out to law enforcement.
And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper by hitting the subscribe button on cowboystatedaily.com. I’m Andrew Rossi for Cowboy State Daily.
Radio Stations
The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. More radio stations will be added soon.
KYDT 103.1 FM – Sundance
KBFS 1450 AM — Sundance
KYCN 1340 AM / 92.7 FM — Wheatland
KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland
KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey
KZQL 105.5 FM — Casper
KMXW 92.5 FM — Casper
KBDY 102.1 FM — Saratoga
KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga
KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson
KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan
KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan
KWYO 1410 AM / 106.9 FM — Sheridan
KYOY 92.3 FM Hillsdale-Cheyenne / 106.9 FM Cheyenne
KRAE 1480 AM — Cheyenne
KDLY 97.5 FM — Lander
KOVE 1330 AM — Lander
KZMQ 100.3/102.3 FM — Cody, Powell, Medicine Wheel, Greybull, Basin, Meeteetse
KKLX 96.1 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep, Greybull
KCGL 104.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin, Lovell, Clark, Red Lodge, MT
KTAG 97.9 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KCWB 92.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KVGL 105.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Basin, Ten Sleep
KODI 1400 AM / 96.7 FM — Cody, Powell, Lovell, Basin, Clark, Red Lodge
KWOR 1340 AM / 104.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep
KREO 93.5 FM — Sweetwater and Sublette Counties
KGOS 1490 AM — Goshen County
KERM 98.3 FM — Goshen County
Check with individual radio stations for airtime of the newscasts.
