Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, August 9th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by the Wyoming State Fair! Beginning August 13th in Douglas, the Wyoming State Fair has something for everyone. For more info visit WY-STATE-FAIR dot com"

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A Cody newspaper reporter resigned Friday after a reporter at a nearby newspaper exposed his apparent use of artificial intelligence in his reporting.

Aaron Pelczar resigned his position at the Cody Enterprise on August 2nd, after CJ Baker, a veteran reporter at the Powell Tribune, pointed out the fabricated quotes in a number of Pelczar's articles.

An artificial intelligence ethics expert told Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland that the scandal has turned Wyoming into "ground zero" for AI ethics discussions in journalism.

"County 10 has been using AI, and what they basically do is they'll plug a recording into the AI system. It spits out a transcript of the recording and a summary pointing out what it believes are building blocks for stories… I pointed that out to the AI expert Alex Mahadevan… He called county 10s method ethical and a reflection of something AI actually can do. And the Cody enterprise reporter Aaron Pels method, he said it's not ethical and it also reflects an AI weakness."

Chris Bacon, editor of the Cody Enterprise, said he is still trying to figure out how many of the quotes were fabricated in Pelzcar's stories. He said he's traced fabricated quotes as far back as July 8 so far, but is still searching.

Read the full story HERE.

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The campaign arm of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus has returned a $25,000 donation made to it by the Crook County Republican Party.

Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the move comes after Ogden Driskill filed a complaint and requested a state investigation into it.

"Wyoming law states that political parties cannot give to candidates during the primary election. The Freedom Caucus pack has not endorsed any one specific candidate, but it has endorsed a slate of candidates that are all participating in contested Republican primary races."

Driskill told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that the Freedom PAC made a "great" decision by returning the money and that he applauds the move. He considers the donation "unethical at best."

Read the full story HERE.

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The parent group of several rural electricity cooperatives operating in Wyoming has reached a major milestone in a complex energy transition plan that it hopes will hold the line on wholesale power rates with a boost coming from a growing supply of green power.

Cowboy State Daily's Pat Maio reports that Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a supplier of electricity to cooperatives across the Western United States, has launched a new power buying program to help keep the lid on rates.

"The concept is that, you know, it's the program called Bring your own resources. Is, the concept is to keep a lid, keep keep it, keep it. You know, be able to tamp down on some of the rising power costs for in rural Wyoming. Rural Wyoming, like Torrington, Big Horn, where else? Just a lot of rural communities here in in Wyoming, and you're looking at, you know, a couple 1000s of members, you know, who buy, who get the power rolled to the