Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, July 31. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Wyoming Senior Olympics! Don't miss the action at this year's summer games from today through August 4th in Cheyenne, Wyoming. For more info and a schedule of events, visit Wyoming Senior Olympics dot org.

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It's wildfire season in the West, and while Wyoming tends to live in the smoke clouds of its Western neighbors, the Equality State itself is battling its own wildfires.

In northeast Wyoming, two fires have already caused damage to homes and buildings, and Cowboy State Daily's Jake Nichols reports that the Shoshone National Forest is blazing between Cody and Yellowstone.

"Clearwater Fire started by lightning and made significant progress Monday due to high winds 40-50 mile an hour gusts. Pushed that thing right up the elk fork drainage directly at - if you're familiar with the area - that cute little campground, Wapiti, right off the highway. And for firefighters, highway access is the main concern from Cody to the east entrance of Yellowstone - that's highway 14-16-20. And if this fire does not jump that highway, I'd be surprised. It's knocking on the door."

In Campbell County, a handful of people were left without homes to return to after erratic winds shifted direction Saturday and thrust a grassfire onto Peaceful Valley Drive just west of Gillette. Dozens of pets, horses, goats, chickens and other animals were saved, but some dogs were reported killed.

Read the full story HERE.

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Homes under $1 million are practically nonexistent in the Jackson Hole real estate market, and the rare few that are available go fast.

That's even as the latest Jackson Hole Real Estate report from the Viehman Group shows the $2 million to $3 million segment of the Jackson Hole market is the most stagnant right now. Business reporter Renee Jean reports that sales have dropped off 6% overall, even as overall inventory has risen 5%.

"There's still pretty robust demand for those homes, if people just would let go of pandemic pricing and come down just a little bit… these are people who can afford to sit on the market for a while and see what it does. And so, you know, you could see some price drops in the Jackson market, but I don't think anyone should expect that that's going to last for very long."

Right now, there are just 10 condos or townhomes under $1 million dollars, and only six single-family homes less than $2 million on the market.

Read the full story HERE.

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For the first time since their inception, the most significant moves toward tightening Wyoming's relatively opaque and lenient limited liability corporation laws may be about to happen.

Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the Legislature has convened a Business Fraud Working Group that's spent the summer meeting to gain a better understanding of the alleged fraud some people commit under Wyoming-registered businesses because of the state's LLC laws.

"Wyoming's LLC laws and trust laws are renowned for being extremely private, and allowing sometimes some nefarious actors to get involved in the state. So this would basically at least make an effort at trying to kind of address some of those issues that had been brought up."

Wyoming has some of the most lenien