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 Monday, May 13th.

The pastoral landscape south of Cheyenne is getting carved up to make way for a Canadian company's $1.2 billion dollar solar farm project that will supply electricity to data centers on the south edge of the city.

And not everyone's happy about it, according to energy reporter Pat Maio, who spent a day last week with rancher Ed Prosser, whose land will be surrounded by the solar project.

"I would describe it as kind of a sad tale. You know, his family's been ranching cattle for literally 120 some odd years almost… the property, we toured it in his pickup truck. There's like four miles of land on the north part of his property. On the other side, they're gonna build the solar panels, and we're talking about 1.2 million solar panels. And then there's two miles roughly on the east side of his property that also will have solar panels. So he's kind of locked in to a certain extent, by this huge solar farm in these beautiful grasslands."

Since April 2020, Alberta-based Enbridge has worked to get its solar farm project off the ground, taking up leases with most of Prosser's ranching neighbors to the east and north. If everything goes according to plan, Enbridge will begin building more than 1 million solar panels around Prosser's land starting next spring.

The tides of change can already be seen along the skyline of Cody, Wyoming.

Instead of a relatively unobstructed view of Cedar and Rattlesnake mountains overlooking the city, now anyone looking that way will see a large yellow crane. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the crane, along with storage crates filled with construction materials, are sitting at the staging area for a controversial Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple, which a group of local residents are trying to stop from being built.

"These materials had previously been located at the Y-Tex Corporation, which is a business located in a different part of town that is owned by a member of the church who donated the land to the church for the temple construction… Spoke to Carla Egelhoff, who's one of the organizers of the 'Protect Our Cody Neighborhoods' group that's most vocally opposing the church… She says her group's case is strong in court and that they believe they have a legitimate chance to have the temple construction blocked."

The church owns the temple property and is fully allowed to use the site to keep the containers there.

https://youtu.be/llrpdzLDHDc?si=z-maNX8bT1VFsXaA

Jackson's Silver Dollar Bar packs history-making stories of gambling, movie stars and unforgettable nights into its 74-year legacy.

Cowboy State Daily's Jake Nichols says the Silver Dollar is a go-to spot in a town full of go-to spots.

"There's, like, two things about the Silver Dollar Bar. I mean, one is the history, and you really feel it. I do, because I know a lot of it. And even for people who don't know, a quick trip to the restroom will get you informed on the history. Down the hallway is all the photographs of any of the people who have been there. But the real thing about this Silver Dollar Bar is what we all learned with 'Cheers.' It's not a place. It's the people. And I know there's the silver dollars laid in the bar, and that's cool. But it's the colorful characters that have come to drink and eat there for almost 80 years. It's the staff and management that have worked there, some for decades. And this steady ownership that stays committed to that place, people more important than coins."

In 2001, the Wort Hotel was placed on the National Register of Histor