Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Tuesday, December 31st. I'm Reilly Strand, in for 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 Rock Springs first grader saved his grandmother's life this month by dressing himself, getting to school and reporting that his grandmother had died. Fortunately, she was not dead, just unconscious from low blood sugar. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports it was when Mason Rasmussen got to school with cowboy boots, shorts and a t-shirt, despite the freezing temperatures, that his teacher knew something was wrong.

"She's like Mason, what's going on here, bud? And he said, My grandma is home alone, and she has died. And so he was very just honest, and the school arranged for emergency responders to go to the home…Because he was so forthright, and because he had the pluck to get himself to school, that's why authorities were able to get aid to the house."

On Friday, the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department presented Mason with a bravery award for remaining calm and telling a trusted adult about the crisis he had seen.

Read the full story HERE.

–

In 1977, then-President Jimmy Carter picked up the phone to talk to Cheyenne resident Susan Allen, who was only 12 at the time. It was part of a CBS Radio Network call-in show called "Ask President Carter." In the wake of Carter's death on Sunday, Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson spoke with Susan to find out what she talked to the former president about.

"She remarkably got through to Carter despite there being about 9 million people who tried to call and get a hold of him during that two hour call-in show….They didn't talk about too many things, but she asked him about the pressures of the job and how he dealt with it, and she also asked him if he supports solar heating. Remarkably early question for something that has become a very hot button topic in recent years."

Because of the call, she held a personal affinity for the former president that stuck with her for the rest of his life, which was only strengthened by his volunteerism and public service.

Read the full story HERE.

–

When billionaire Joe Ricketts bought Pinedale's White Pine Resort in April, people speculated the goal was to turn it into an upscale Jackson Hole-like resort. Ricketts is the founder and former CEO of T.D. Ameritrade and co-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that so far, the resort has yet to see much change.

"There are billionaires buying up little ski resorts and turning them into kind of posh little clubs, really skyrocketing the prices so that they're no longer the kind of family ski resorts they had always been. So there was…some genuine fear that that might be the direction this would take. But so far, I'm told by people who have been there that everything looks pretty much the way it's always been. Prices haven't even changed."

According to a White Pi