Cowboy State Daily Video News: Friday, July 5, 2024

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Friday, July 5. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by Wyoming Senior Olympics - on July 10th you can help support senior athletes in Wyoming by participating in the WyoGives day of giving!

One person was killed in a shootout with a Yellowstone National Park ranger Thursday morning, after an exchange of gunfire with a shooter in the Canyon Village, central region of the park, authorities say.

Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the ranger is injured but in stable condition and receiving treatment, and there are no active threats to the public.

“We noticed that people on social media were saying there had been a shooting in Yellowstone and a park ranger was injured. And so a lot of these statements appeared to contain a leaked email from Cam Sholly, park superintendent. We were able to confirm the email’s legitimacy, but even so, we waited for an official announcement from Yellowstone National Park - and we received that late morning Thursday, saying that not only had an agent been injured in a shootout with a suspect, but the suspect has died.” 

Officials had not released the identity of the shooter as of Thursday evening, but did confirm that the incident started Wednesday  night and culminated Thursday morning in a shootout.

Read the full story HERE.

--

A Kansas-based company is moving forward with plans for a project to store minimally toxic carbon dioxide in underground voids deep under a huge swath of southwest Wyoming.

The project’s backers want to utilize nearly 605,100 acres of underground space beneath Lincoln, Sweetwater and Uinta counties, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.

“There's a company called Moxa carbon storage, which is trying to go through the permitting process with the state's Department of Environmental Quality, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, to basically start storing carbon dioxide and caverns underground… there's two big projects. One of them is over 600,000 acres underground, which I was calculating to be about 6,000 football fields underground, that they're gonna be putting carbon dioxide into.” 

Filings submitted to the BLM say no public-owned surface lands would be disturbed, though the carbon dioxide would be stored in federally owned underground pore space.

Read the full story HERE.

--

The Ring Nebula, also known as Messier 57, is the Grand Prismatic Spring of the cosmos. Located in the constellation Lyra, Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi says it's one of the most colorful celestial sights in the night skies over Wyoming this summer.

“The Ring Nebula is basically cloud of gas created after the collapse of a sunlight star. And the thing the thing that stuck with me is once I saw the images, it's like the Grand Prismatic Spring of the night sky. So that should resonate with Wyomingites, because it's this circular space structure that has a spectacular display of color.” 

To find the Ring Nebula, amateur stargazers should head outside around 10 p.m. and find the trapezoid-shaped constellation Lyra directly above the upside-down cross of Cygnus. The Ring Nebula is right between the bottom two stars. 

Read the full story HERE.

--

A Wyoming woman whose teenage son allegedly stabbed her in the back while she slept is raffling off his pigs to pay down her medical costs.

Karla Smith and her son Tharles Smith, who turns 18 in October, were quarreling the night of June 10 about the family’s wish to move him into another home, when the attack occurred. Karla told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland that her insurance company just told the family it isn’t going to cover her air ambulance, which she said cost $67,000.

“Someone had floated the idea of let's do a GoFundMe and let's do a meal train. And she didn't like it. She said she felt like it was imposing on people. So she looked to what she had. And her son was set to auction off to hogs at this year's county fair. And she said, well, let’s raffle these to pay down the medical bills.”

Karla had six stitches removed a week ago and is facing a potential four to six weeks in a restrictive shoulder brace. She will soon be evaluated on whether her shoulder needs surgery. 

Read the full story HERE.

--

The legendary Budweiser Clydesdales made the third Rock Springs Liberty Parade the envy of the rest of the Cowboy State on Thursday morning, with people lining up two hours in advance along Gateway Avenue to grab a prime spot. And Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson was there.

“There's two things that a parade in Wyoming has to have. And it's horses and tractors. And you can't get any more well known rockstar horses than the Clydesdales. They were awesome. They were as huge as promised… people were looking forward to the Clydesdale so much, they were showing up more than two hours early, to get a good spot on the route.” 

The team of Clydesdales is one of three the company sends around the country 300 days a year.

Read the full story HERE.

--

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has signed an emergency order to implement changes in next week’s state-led oil and gas lease auction to keep environmental activist groups from driving up bids and taking energy-rich properties out of the hands of developers.

Energy reporter Pat Maio says the emergency order is based off legislation that was passed in the most recent session to address this concern. 

“What the Oil & Gas industry started noticing, at least as early as last year, is that some environmental activist groups were bidding on leases. And they were running up the bidding war, because you can't really see who your anonymous bidder is until after the auction is over.” 

The new law requires the Wyoming Office of State Lands and Investments, which runs the auction three times a year, to determine a qualified bidder.

Read the full story HERE.

--

Pocket pets and outrageous poultry dressed in costumes are back for the Central Wyoming Fair and Rodeo in Casper this weekend. The annual celebration is just one of many family-friendly activities happening around the state, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean.

Read the full story HERE.

You can read the full list of activities - and get your own free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper - at Cowboy State Daily Dot 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.