Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, December 26th. From the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, I'm Wendy Corr.

Tucked away in the government spending bill Congress passed over the weekend to avert a government shutdown are a few provisions that could have a significant impact on Wyoming health care. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that the spending bill allows acute hospital care at home and telehealth temporary waivers to continue through March 31st.

"So many people in Wyoming live so far from their health care services, they often have to trial hundreds of miles to get to a health care provider. But what telehealth has really provided them since the COVID pandemic is the ability to receive these telehealth services at home. There was a waiver granting that that service as part of some of the COVID funding money, and that was extended at least till the end of March because of the government spending package."

Congress is expected to enact more comprehensive health care measures next year under Trump.

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When it comes to bagging big, dangerous critters, hunters want all the knockdown power they can get, and a Cody-based company has taken that to the extreme.

Big Horn Armory Inc. touts its AR500 as the world's most powerful AR-style rifle. The semi-automatic weapon is chambered in the company's own .500 Auto Max cartridge and can thump out half-inch diameter bullets just as fast as a shooter can stand to pull the trigger.

Greg Buchel, the company's founder and president, founded the Cody-based company after the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum cartridge was created. He told Cowboy State Daily he and a neighbor thought they should make a lever-action rifle chambered for that cartridge. Big Horn Armory was created in 2007, and started turning out its first lever-action rifles a couple of years later.

As they grew in popularity, Big Horn Armory decided to produce an AR chambered big enough to take down anything that might lumber across North America, and came up with the .500 Auto Max cartridge.

Buchel said his company has thrived in Wyoming, and he'd like to see manufacturing continue to grow here.

In the days leading up to Christmas, Santa Claus should be in overdrive preparing to traverse the globe, giving his list a second check. Instead, he's once again in a precarious situation south of Casper.

For several years, someone has set up a Santa dangling over the edge of a cliff along Highway 220 west of Casper heading toward Alcova. Santa's sleigh is lodged in a juniper bush at the cliff's edge, while Kris Kringle hangs on by a single arm.

Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that nobody knows who keeps putting Santa in such a precarious situation.

"Just west of Casper, heading towards Alcova on Highway 220 there's Santa's sleigh crashed into a juniper bush, and Santa is hanging on with one arm off the side of a cliff. And it's not photoshopped or AI, as many people thought. It's a real decoration. You can drive past it, and people look for it every year, and it's been there for several years."

Despite a lot of people who enjoy seeing it, nobody is fessing up to knowing who leaves Santa hanging there every year.

I'll be back with more news, right after this.

The spirit of Christmas comes to life every year in Sheridan at one of the city's historic mansions.

Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean spent an evening at the Kendrick Mansion, where re-enactors shared a day in the life of the Kendricks at Christmas in 1924. She said it was an intimate and cozy trip back into time.

"they put on the right costume fo