Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, November 1st. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by 4 Wyoming Pack. 4 Wyoming Pack says, "This November, Wyoming will vote to allow residential homes to be taxed at a lower, fairer rate, even the playing field, and give families a much-needed break." 4 Wyoming Pack wants you to Vote Yes on Amendment A.

One of the big question marks hanging over the TerraPower nuclear plant in Kemmerer has been a commercial-scale source of the fuel the plant will need, high-assay low-enriched uranium, also known as HALEU.

Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that TerraPower, founded by billionaire Bill Gates, seems to have answered that question with a new agreement it's signed with a South African Company for an exclusive 10-year supply.

"They've just inked a deal with a South African company called ASP Isotopes… they're using lasers to enrich their uranium right now, the known process is using centrifuges, so this is a completely new and novel approach the company says that could also be used to sort of reinvigorate uranium waste that have been depleted."

Under the terms of the agreement, ASP's U.S.-based subsidiary, Quantum Leap Energy, would build the plant at an as-yet undecided location. TerraPower would provide some money to help build it in exchange for an exclusive supply from the new plant.

Read the full story HERE.

A man from Encampment went missing overnight Wednesday while hunting elk in the Medicine Bow National Forest, but was found alive Thursday afternoon.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland spoke with the father of James Johnson, who left Wednesday afternoon to hunt in the forest and did not return. He said all he could do was believe that his son would be found - and trust the Carbon County Search and Rescue team, which he described as "one of the best."

"He was elk hunting. They found his truck. And then there was a what was described as a large operation, a helicopter sheriff and search and rescue personnel and several volunteers on the ground throughout Thursday."

The weather near Encampment hit an overnight low Wednesday of 27 degrees.

Read the full story HERE.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold is making national headlines after her office inadvertently posted a spreadsheet to its website with a hidden tab with passwords to access voting machines.

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray told politics reporter Leo Wolfson that the password release is more serious than Griswold has made it out to be, and that he's not surprised it happened.

"The release of this information had actually been publicly available for months, hidden under a hidden tab in a spreadsheet that was released by the office. Jenna Griswold, the Secretary of State for Colorado, said, although this was obviously very unfortunate, the passwords were only partial and only about one half of the information some we would need to be able to potentially hack into any voting election machines. Still, Gray said this is not surprising behavior from what he considers to be a radical liberal Secretary of State there in Colorado."

Former Wyoming Secretary of State Max Maxfield said any kind of breach to election equipment should be taken seriously, but added he doesn't believe the breach in Colorado justifies Griswold's resignation.

Read the full story