Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, November 8th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - brought to you by the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show with Jake. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., Monday through Friday, Cowboy State Daily's Jake Nichols takes you deeper into the stories that matter - and keeps up with the news, weather and sports in your part of Wyoming. Just tune into Cowboy State Daily Dot Com and join the conversation.

A pristine 640 acres of land in Teton County known as the Kelly Parcel is coming to the end of its days as a political football.

At its meeting Thursday, the State Board of Land Commissioners approved by a 3-2 vote, a $100 million sale of the state-owned land to the federal government and Department of Interior. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the land will be incorporated into Grand Teton National Park.

"The approval certainly was not without controversy. On Thursday, superintendent of public instruction, Megan Degenfelder raised the biggest objections to the land sale because she believes it should be tied to an exchange for purchasing mineral opportunities in the Powder River Basin… Secretary of State Chuck Gray was equally as passionate about that position, and accused Governor Mark Gordon of trying to do backroom deals without including the rest of the board on the issue, and squandering opportunities like this one in the past as well."

After the Kelly Parcel sale, the Office of State Lands and Investments will use the proceeds to pursue the possible purchase of federal lands with potential for minerals development.

Read the full story HERE.

The University of Colorado-Boulder this week has invited its students to write poetry, color and drink tea, or enjoy aromatherapy and slime-making. It's one of many major university offerings nationwide to help students cope with election stress.

But multiple sources confirmed Thursday to Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland that the University of Wyoming has seen none of that.

"The president and founder of Bridge UWYO said that they're kind of doing the opposite. They're inviting a vast political spectrum of groups to a panel next week to talk about the results of the election. So their answer, rather than offer a retreat, is to call everyone into a boisterous discussion."

The group has invited other UW student groups, ranging from the conservative-leaning (though technically nonpartisan) group Turning Point USA, to the College Democrats.

Read the full story HERE.

In what is becoming a familiar scenario this fall, a Wyoming hunter said having his 10 mm pistol locked and loaded saved him and his father from a grizzly mauling in the Meeteetse area.

Garrett Kalkowski told Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz that he shot and killed a female grizzly with his Glock 10 mm pistol after it burst from the timber about only 4 yards away from he and his father Vince on Oct. 3.

"The way he described, there was no time to think, it's like, he started to draw his pistol, and the bear was there, like four yards. Just boom, right there. And so he just said, a matter of seconds, he ended up, you know, pretty much emptying his whole, his whole magazine into the bear. And the bear rolled away and rolled into the trees. They think it died."

Kalkowski's grizzly encounter mirrors other instances of hunters shooting grizzlies in self-defense in Wyomin