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, June 3rd.
As Wyoming’s grizzly population continues to grow, they’ve become common outside of Cody.
Famed outdoors writer Jim Zumbo told Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz that it's no big deal - he says going to an ATM in Denver is riskier than having a grizzly for a neighbor. But that’s not the way it used to be when Heinz lived in Park County, a decade or so ago.
“When I was there, yeah, you'd occasionally see bears coming down around Wapiti, possibly there could be one down by the reservoir. It was pretty rare… the people I talked to, they said, you know, they just accept it as a fact of life. They're cautious, but they're not afraid. They keep their bear spray and/or a firearm with them at all times… the residents of the North Fork have apparently learned to adjust to live very well with grizzlies, and there's more there than ever.”
The target population for grizzlies was set at around 700-800 bears in the entire Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. That includes the park and surrounding wild areas in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. Official estimates now put the number of grizzlies at about 1,000 in the region.
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Wyoming Horse Racing’s new huge $25 million, 30,000-square-foot Horse Palace near the Colorado border will open sometime this summer and target customers from Colorado. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean says the new operation will feature parimutuel games, offtrack betting, and a lot more.
“right along the Colorado border. a $25 million dollar bet is being placed that Wyoming can attract thousands of Colorado tourists at the … swan ranch horse palace. And this is a gaming facility from Wyoming horse racing. It's about 45 minutes from Fort Collins. It's the closest option for about a million people living in Colorado. That's a huge demographic, it could bring millions in tourism dollars to Wyoming if they're successful.”
To top it off, celebrity Chef Shawn Jackson - who has cooked for the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou - will lead the kitchen at the facility at Swan Ranch. One of his specialties is a 72 ounce porterhouse steak.
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At its state convention Saturday, the Wyoming Democratic Party called the Freedom Caucus a “threat” to Wyoming.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson was at the convention in Casper, where the participants say the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is a “dangerous” far right group that needs to be reined in.
“There was probably roughly about close to 200 people there, probably…there wasn't so much concern about Republicans in general, even State Representative Ken Chestek said, you know, normal Republicans don't bother him. But he's very concerned about the Freedom Caucus, calling them dangerous and a threat to Wyoming.”
Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Joe Barbuto said he’s also very concerned about the Freedom Caucus gaining more seats in, and possibly control of, the House of Representatives.
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Downtown Cheyenne business owners say they’re fed up with an aggressive 6-foot-4-inch man who calls himself “Wisdom," and brandishes a staff like a shaman. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the man, whose real name is Joshua Hayden-Ali, claims he practices Voodoo, and then threatens to kill shopkeepers or burn their stores down.
“I spoke to multiple business owners Friday, and they just were saying, there's not much police can do. We're kind of getting weary of it. And a few of them, you know, they were concerned for their own safety. But they also were saying, one of these days when he's gesturing with his staff, like he's shooting people, he's gonna get shot at, that someone's going to take him seriously and hurt him one of these days.”
Hayden-Ali has a smattering of past Wyoming convictions for disturbing the peace, and one for marijuana possession.
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If county numbers on Wyoming license plates were assigned by the same criteria as they were in 1930, there would be a lot of changes. For example, Campbell County would be #1 instead of Natrona County, and Converse County would be #2 instead of Laramie County. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi explains why.
“They were numbered based on their assessed value in 1930… So it would really shake things up if we were to read number Wyoming's counties today based on that same metric, because if you're going to take assessed value… in 2023, Campbell County had an assessed value of $5.7 billion, which is the highest assessed value of any county by a significant margin. And then by that in 1930, Campbell County was ranked 17.”
Only two counties would have the same number after all this time - Fremont County would still be No. 10, and Weston County would still be No. 21.
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Andy and Jim Nelson are as famous as a couple of horseshoers get in rural Sublette County. The brothers’ western-themed radio show and podcast "Clear Out West" - COW for short - has aired weekly for 21 years. Cowboy State Daily’s Jake Nichols writes that with no formal training, the Nelsons saddled up for two decades of podcasting long before the media would ever become as mainstream as it is today.
“If you live in Pinedale or Sublette County, you know the Nelson brothers, Andy and Jim Nelson… both Andy and Jim Nelson are real cowboys, horseshoers, who 21 years ago now, on just kind of a whim, started a radio show, the two of them. And it's a hour long show, of like, being in the bunkhouse with two cowboys. They play Cowboy Poetry, old cowboy music, and then they have a banter between them, that just at this point, after two decades, is rhythmic. It's like Abbott and Costello. They're funny guys.”
In all of COW’s 21-year run — the first show kicked off Valentine’s Day 2003 — the brothers have never missed a show, and never had to air a rerun.
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 Wendy Corr, 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.
