Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, January 10th. I'm Reilly Strand, in for Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom brought to you by Visit Casper.

Visit Casper invites you to come enjoy the Casper International Film Festival, January 31 through February 2. A broad range of films from local and international filmmakers will be shown. Learn more and get your tickets at visitcasper.com.

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At least three sheriffs in Wyoming are working to help enforce immigration laws, now that a federal program that fizzled under President Joe Biden is expected to revive under a second Trump presidency. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the sheriff's offices of Laramie, Sweetwater and Campbell counties all are seeking to strike or expand contracts with U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement in the coming weeks.

"I think this is kind of significant, because ICE over the Biden administration was not striking new deals of this nature with local sheriffs, and Trump announced in November that he's going to revive that program... It's sounding like the sheriff's are in talks with ice, which is interesting considering Trump hasn't been inaugurated yet, but it's definitely a signpost of things to come."

With the exception of the Teton County sheriff, Wyoming sheriffs generally will hold ICE detainees for up to 48 hours past their ordered release. Becoming a contract ICE detention facility lets the jail hold those inmates much longer.

Read the full story HERE.

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According to a bill set to go before the Wyoming legislature, corner-crossing — hopping between public land parcels at points where the parcels' corners meet with private land — should be legal in Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that Rep. Karlee Provenza's bill would clarify if corner crossing is legal. Right now, the rules are murky.

"Is it legal to step across that corner from one public parcel to the other? Some people say yes. Other people say no. We just had that big case that dragged on for years outside of Elk Mountain, where a rancher tried to claim some hunters trespass on his land by crossing the corner. The courts ultimately ruled no…This house bill would put it in Wyoming law, in black and white, no questions asked."

Supporters of Provenza's bill also want to get ahead of a potential problem– wealthy landowners who are buying up land where it's checkerboarded with public parcels.

Read the full stories HERE.

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Continuing a 30-year tradition of Wyoming's congressional delegation, U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis filed a bill this week seeking to protect the name of the iconic Devils Tower in northeast Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that if passed into law, the bill would permanently designate the national monument as Devils Tower.

"Simply by filling the bill, whether it passes into law or not, actually protects the name, because the US board of Geographic Names is not allowed to do anything with the name change while it's being considered by Congress. So this is really kind of a political move at the Wyoming delegation…The push for the name change has come from more than 20 Native American tribes that believe the Devils Tower name is offensive and does not actually represent the historical way that Native Americans referred to the tower. Many of them believe that it actually used to be called Bear Lodge