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 Friday, May 17th.

Anger over a broken relationship, text messages and a confrontation in a Casper city park all allegedly led up to the shooting death of a 17-year-old girl early Tuesday.

A police affidavit filed in Casper Circuit Court states that Eavan Castaner allegedly went to Buckboard Park shortly after midnight with a Glock 9 mm pistol he had taken from his mother's home three days before.

Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that Castaner texted Lenea Brown before the tragic confrontation, telling her that he planned to, quote, "celebrate when you die."

"There had been a broken relationship between the young man, the 17 year old charged in the shooting, and the 17 year old girl. There had been texting going back and forth particularly from the young man… The young man charged in the shooting wanted to fight, so they met at a park on the southwest side of Casper. And the young man that's charged, took a weapon from - his mom had that weapon, and according to the affidavit, his ex-girlfriend was walking toward him and had raised a fist, and he just pointed the gun and shot her in the head."

The first-degree murder charge carries the potential for a life prison term.

Property owners along a now-closed Boswell Road in southern Albany County are angry they've been cut off from their land.

Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that because of the confusion over who controls the road, many landowners are finding that they can't build their homes, or drive cattle to their longtime summer grazing pastures.

"I talked to three people that are actually directly affected by this. One of them is a rancher. They've been ranching in Albany County for six generations, and they have summer range that goes just across the Colorado State Line along Boswell road. So they depend on that every summer to get their cattle up there to free range graze… And they're not certain if they can legally get up there this year, because of the situation with the road."

The Forest Service is trying to get special use permits for private property owners to use Boswell Road. Meanwhile, the road remains closed to the general public.

The economy may be roughed up, but gold and copper prospects have one Wyoming mining company seeing new riches, as pricing for the commodities have gone on a tear recently.

Cheyenne-based U.S. Gold Corporation recently hit a major permitting milestone toward development of a gold and copper mine west of the state's capital city, even as surging prices for the commodities bring the project's worth up to about $3.7 billion. That's according to energy reporter Pat Maio.

"They're at the early stages now, looking at raising money to begin mining and they're estimating some rather large deposits in that mine east of Cheyenne here, and a few miles out of town. They're looking at probably raising roughly a quarter of a billion dollars to put it all together…But yeah, it's pretty much a go now. We're gonna be mining gold here in the state of Wyoming."

Other permits are expected in coming months to deal with dust and emissions from equipment, and water discharge to handle sediment running into creeks and tributaries.

Wyoming House Speaker Albert Sommers faced an important decision following his final legislative session as House leader this spring — stay in the Legislature or move on.

After months of talking with constituents and considering his own personal life, Sommers officially announced Thursday that he's running in the Republican primary for Senate District 14.