Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, January 3rd. 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 Radio Show with Jake. Listen every morning from 6am – 10am on CowboyStateDaily.com and soon will be broadcast on your local radio station.

Laramie County's top prosecutor said Thursday she won't pursue charges against the Cheyenne Police Department Officers who shot and killed a man who took his wife hostage. In March 2024, 47-year-old Patrick Flores reportedly fired at Cheyenne police officers during a tense standoff. The officers fired back, fatally wounding Flores. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that upon reviewing the investigation into the police, the Laramie County District Attorney deemed the officers' response fitting.

"On Tuesday, they released their report of this incident stemming back to last March to me, and it's exhaustive. They interviewed neighbors, they interviewed the wife and the cops…the landlady. Everyone…But what stood out to me the most, is that the wife who was taken hostage describes, just before police show up, her husband has her pinned on the bed, and he fires next to her head, and the the bullet goes into the mattress, and she said…. the black stuff covered me, and I smelled it, and I heard it, and then [in] the next breath, she says that. More than that, she was heartbroken."

During an investigation interview, the man's wife said she believed if the police hadn't arrived, he would have killed her that night.

Read the full story HERE.

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President Joe Biden gave Liz Cheney the Presidential Citizens Medal on Thursday, the second highest civilian honor, sparking criticism from Wyoming Republicans, including Sen. John Barrasso, who said she didn't deserve the award. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports Barrasso's comments are significant since he had stayed relatively neutral on Cheney since she started speaking out against Trump, until now.

"He kind of kept a neutral stance there for about four years now, just kind of not really commenting in any direction on anything she did until now. He called her divisive and not a true representation of Wyoming, and he believed that either Biden was going to pardon her or he was going to give her an award, as he did on Thursday…Cheney has pretty much gone the opposite direction of Barrasso, kind of opposing Trump, and kind of moving away from the main support of the Republican Party and Wyoming voters, while Barrasso has really moved towards Trump."

Biden awarded Cheney for her role as the vice chair of the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6th attack.

Read the full story HERE.

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Photographer Dave Bell of Pinedale, Wyoming captured the stunning reds and greens of a rare New Year's Eve aurora over the Cowboy state. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that this might be a sign that 2025 could be even better than last year for auroras.

"2024 was a stellar year for auroras in Wyoming, and that's because the sun reached its solar maximum when it has the most amount of sun spots on the surface which generate these coronal mass ejections which manifest as auroras in the northern and southern hemisphere... So not only could that mean that 2025 could be just as good as 2024 in terms of seeing auroras in the night skies of Wyoming, it could actually be better... There is a good possibility that we're going to have another terrific year of auroras in the night skies of Wyoming a