Episode Details

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 Tuesday, April 30th.

An Idaho man is accused of kicking a bison while drunk, becoming Yellowstone National Park's first bison attack victim of the season.

Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that a 40-year-old man from Idaho Falls suffered only minor injuries in the attack, which happened April 21st.

"You know, something Wyomingites look forward to every year is the first shenanigans in the park, the first people tangling with bison or moose or whatever it is. So we had the official first last week. Apparently a man who was allegedly intoxicated is reported to have gone up to a herd of bison, started harassing them and apparently kicked a bison in the leg, and then was counter attacked by the bison. Unfortunately, the Park Service didn't give any details as far as whether the animal tried to gore him or stomp him."

Both Clarence Yoder and the person he was with were arrested on alcohol-related charges, as well as harassing wildlife.

Real estate prices are still riding the up-escalator in Jackson and Teton County, and there's no sign they've reached the top floor - despite exceeding $7 million dollars for the average single-family home.

Average sales prices were up 47% overall, hitting new records in several categories - and Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that those prices have been driven in part by a 55% increase in the number of luxury sales - which means sales above $5 million.

"The sales waiting in the wings right now have dropped and their prices are up, which just is an early indicator that the market constriction is continuing. What's going on here with this? Well, we have a new economic model for boom towns. We've talked about that before. Eight of the 10 largest wealth attracting counties right now have outdoor amenities. And Teton county is at the top of those eight wealth-attracting counties. So this is all about the outdoor recreation boom that's going on right now."

Jean says dwindling supply — and more records — are ahead in an ever-tightening Jackson Hole market, and where it stops, no one knows.

With the unveiling last week of new federal environmental rules that could accelerate the phasing out of coal-fired power plants by the early 2030s, signs of trouble ahead may already be emerging on the horizon for Wyoming's coal industry.

First quarter data released Monday by the Wyoming State Geological Survey shows coal production has slipped nearly 21% from the first quarter of 2023, when the Cowboy State dug up more than 58 million tons of coal out of the coal-rich Powder River Basin. Energy reporter Pat Maio says there are a number of reasons for the fall.

"We had a mild winter. Natural gas prices are just hammering coal… they're below $2 per unit of gas, making it more economical to go with natural gas over coal. Also, there's an issue of stockpiling by the utilities. They've had some excessive inventories, and there's no need to buy coal at the moment or, you know, just work off what they already have."

The only other comparable quarterly drop in coal production came shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic locked down workplaces throughout the world in early 2020.

After the current Gillette library director moved a book about father-daughter incest, drug use and bulimia from a teen section to a "new adult" section, the husband of the director's predecessor asked the library board to put it back in the teen section.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Doug Lesley is the husband of former Campbell County Library Director Terri