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 Thursday, May 30th.

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South Dakota authorities charged a former Gillette police sergeant Tuesday with triple homicide.

Jay Ostrem served in Gillette for several years, and later was mayor of Centerville, South Dakota. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Ostrem was arrested and charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the Monday night shooting deaths of three people in Centerville.

"The allegation is that one of the three victims had rubbed his genitalia on Ostrem's wife four days prior. And when she told her husband about this, on Monday, he reportedly stormed out of the house and got into this incident…. The former mayor of Gillette told me that Ostrem was a friend and a nice guy. He said that this seems really out of character, that he was usually a clear thinker, and he said that he is inclined to look a lot deeper into this case, and really get an idea what's going on before jumping to conclusions."

Former Gillette Mayor Frank Latta said people should remember the U.S. Constitution's premise, that defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

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Ballooning property taxes and how to mitigate them has dominated discussion in the Wyoming Legislature in recent years.

But Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the problem is not unique to Wyoming, as Wyoming property tax bills are reflecting larger trends in the West and United States.

"Wyoming's property tax rates have been a hot button topic in the state over recent years. But it's not just limited to Wyoming. This has been an issue that's been across the nation seen in pretty much every state, red or blue. And it's an interesting thing to consider that all these states are kind of dealing with the same problem. It's been caused by the some of the a lot of the same problems brought on by the COVID pandemic, and the very low mortgage rates that were seen around that time."

Wyoming's property taxes are low on a national scale, particularly when considering the state's complete lack of income tax. And property tax makes up only 28% of Wyoming's overall tax base, compared to an average of 72% for most other states.

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Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has been going national this month, pushing Wyoming's desire to be ground zero for America's next nuclear revolution.

Cowboy State Daily's Pat Maio reports that the governor has made presentations from Virginia to Alaska, pushing the state's nuclear friendliness.

"Wyoming is a case study on what we've done already to date. And I would say it's fair to say from all the people I've been speaking with over the last several months on this issue, that Wyoming is very well in the lead on this, which is a good thing, because, you know, it's got the possible potential to bring more jobs to the state of Wyoming."

Wyoming's feather in the cap for its sales pitch is the Bill Gates-backed TerraPower Natrium reactor demonstration plant coming to Kemmerer.

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The city of Sheridan is considering giving a quarter of a million dollars to a woman whose home was destroyed in a February police standoff and shootout - that is, if she agrees not to pursue any other claims against the city.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the homeowner, Karo Hamilton, tallied an estimate of over $490,000 dollars for a rebuild of about the same size as her former home.

"Her insurance company is supposedly paying around $270,000. There could be more, according to the talk Tuesday night, the vote on this matter. So Hamilton has signed the settlement but the city h