It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, September 25th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom… Brought to you by Wyoming Interventional and Vascular Associates. WIVA offers the best solution for treating tired, aching and swollen legs, at Wyoming's only IAC-accredited vein facility. With virtually no downtime and minimal risks, if you’re ready for relief, see what WIVA can do for you. Schedule a consultation at Casper Medical Imaging dot net, forward slash WIVA.

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Gov. Mark Gordon on Wednesday said anticipated budget shortages precipitated by a 25% property tax cut are one of several critical issues county and local officials must confront during the coming budget session. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports the governor made the remarks while addressing the 2025 Wyoming Association of County Officers meeting in Rock Springs, a gathering of county officials from across the state.

“I spoke to some commissioners who were saying that they're concerned this is going to begin impacting local services such as emergency ambulances, such as trash pickup, such as community events, and they were really worried that, without finding some other source of funding, that this was going to continue to impact them in a really serious way. I spoke to one commissioner from Hot Springs County, Tom Ryan, the chairman, who told me that he was concerned that all these cuts are going to make his county more dependent on state dollars, rather than these local dollars, which he argued is going to have a big effect down the line.”

The governor acknowledged having flown into town through a thick fog that morning, which he likened to the coming budget concerns facing Wyoming’s elected officials.

Read the full story HERE.

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In 2021 when YouTube announced it was censoring anti-vaccine content, Scott Clem had a vague sense of a brewing conspiracy and that something wasn’t right.

What the former Wyoming representative said on Facebook at the time, was that YouTube’s new policy was “the end of free speech.”  

According to the information available at the time, he was wrong. But on Tuesday, Alphabet, the company overseeing YouTube and Google, took accountability for caving to government pressure. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland spoke to Clem about his hunch.

“Back in 2021 Scott Clem, a former Wyoming State Representative, posted that YouTube's new covid and election censorship policies were the end of free speech and cowboy state daily, we were quick to correct him, like no private platforms can do what they want…I circled back to Scott Clem on Wednesday, like, okay, so you intuited that this was a free speech issue when we were around to critique you. What do you have to say today? And he said, Yeah, I kind of thought the government was behind it all along…  

Clem told Cowboy State Daily, people should still be vigilant to defend freedom of speech no matter which party is in power.

Read the full story HERE.

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A nuclear fuel manufacturing company explained Wednesday why it required nondisclosure agreements with Gillette city officials before discussing a proposed facility that could bring more than 200 jobs to Campbell County. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reports that the public is concerned about the secrecy surrounding the discussions between the company and the city.

“So there's been a controversy in Gillette over whether or not the city and other officials were doing things behind closed doors that the public should know about when it comes to BW XT coming to Gillette. BW XT wants to clear the air around that they're having a public hearing on Tuesday next week, and they want to introduce themselves to the town and really explain their ambitions. They want to build tri so fuel and try so fuel could be the fuel of the future, if you really believe in small nuclear reactors and micro reactors and so the public, they have questions. Here's a chance for them to be answered and to learn more about what could be an opportunity to bring as many as as many as 200 high paying jobs to Gillette.”

Joshua Parker, director of business development for BWXT Advanced Technologies, said the company needed confidentiality agreements to protect commercially sensitive information about the size and scope of its proposed TRISO fuel fabrication facility.

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Track inspectors are just one of the many cogs in the safety wheel that keeps railway cars moving across the tracks across Wyoming. But former legislator and retired railroad worker Stan Blake says continuing rail layoffs, coupled with more automation will mean more train accidents in Wyoming - like the one that resulted in a fiery explosion last week between Bosler and Rock River.

Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean spoke with Blake, who said he’s concerned about automated systems.

“The American Association of railroads says that these automatic track inspectors can do the job and do the job better than people, but a lot of the Union reps in the retired railroad worker I talked to Stan Blake said that's actually not the case. That there are defects that humans notice before they become defects these ATI miss these things until they become a problem where people can see them before, so that people eyeballs on the track are your ounce of prevention before you need 10 pounds of derailment cure, right? What Stan is seeing is more and more they're coming to replace what humans have done, and he doesn't think they're ready for prime time. He's not the only one.”

The Association of American Railroads has asked to waive more than 80 railroad safety regulations, all at a time when the industry has dramatically reduced workforce levels by more than 30%.

Read the full story HERE.

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I’ll be back with more news, right after this.

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On Wednesday, Gov. Mark Gordon told Cowboy State Daily that he remains a proponent of wind energy developments in Wyoming but recognizes constituent concerns. Cowboy State Daily’s Jackson Walker reports that the governor explained the issue is like walking a political tightrope as he and other government leaders try to balance the state’s energy needs with residents’desire to keep Wyoming the way it is. 

“While the governor said that he's in favor of energy developments here in Wyoming, he recognizes pushback from locals on issues such as wind developments that can sometimes become an eyesore. Now, he said he's in favor of energy in the state, but specifically mentioned how minerals such as oil and gas are certainly more preferable, sometimes, in some of these cases, to wind. However, he argued that some of these local jurisdictions don't have many other ways to make money on their own, other than leasing some of their land to these wind developments.”

The Trump administration has been a vocal opponent of wind turbines, while in Wyoming, a wind farm project voted down in Laramie County earlier this month continues to stir debate.

Read the full story HERE.

 

Colorado’s ongoing wolf reintroduction program is facing new wrinkles, with lingering accusations that wolves from Oregon infected with a parasitic disease were released in the state.  

However, Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife claims that Hydatid disease was already present in Colorado. 

“I saw the documents from a veterinary forensic veterinary lab in Kansas that tested some stool samples from some wolves that came from Oregon and were and were reintroduced into Colorado that they tested positive for Hydatid disease. And of course, this is, you know, the part of the protocol of the wolf reintroduction program is, when they bring these animals in, they're supposed to put them through a series of treatments and either treat them or vaccinate them for this whole array of disease, including high data disease, which is basically, it's like a tapeworm, parasitic disease. It's really nasty stuff. It can get into an animal system, you know, a canine, cattle, elk. It can even in rare cases, it can even infect humans.”

Wolves brought in from Oregon, and later British Columbia, were treated for that and a number of other diseases before being released.  

Read the full story HERE.

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Jackson photographer Savannah Rose already has a portfolio filled with once-in-a-lifetime shots of Wyoming’s wildlife, but an image she ca