Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, January 30th. I'm 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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President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that mystery drones spotted over New Jersey late last year were not from enemy sources, but had been authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration.

But the president's assurance with respect to New Jersey drones was not enough to diminish multiple Wyoming sheriffs' concerns over sightings in their own counties.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that several Wyoming sheriffs have received reports of mysterious drone activity in recent weeks, with some sightings over energy infrastructure, like power plants and oil and gas fields.

"I called every sheriff in Wyoming, and of the ones that talked to us, which was most of them, eight, have mysterious drone sightings… in three of these cases, they were flying over power plants, oil, gas fields, coal mines, that kind of thing. And so in some of these energy rich counties, the sheriffs are like, what are they doing? You know, Casey Lear said he reached out to energy companies working in his area, and no one has come forward as saying that they've deployed the drones. So that's rather mysterious."

Law enforcement agents have confirmed the sightings, but so far no one has come forward and admitted to operating any of the drones.

Read the full story HERE.

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Legislators are trying to piece together an intricate puzzle in order to provide more property tax relief for homeowners, without upsetting local apple carts.

A significant change was made to Senate File 69 on Tuesday, one of the major property tax bills moving through the Capitol. Cowboy State Daily's Leo Wolfson reports that that single change would cost a dozen counties in Wyoming each more than $1 million per year.

"If passed a law as currently written would give a 50% property tax reduction, the part of the bill that was going to give a backfill to local governments and schools was removed, so there's now no backfill option for local schools and governments. This is a big deal for both these groups, local schools receive 64% of the total property tax revenue in the state, and then local governments receive the other portion. And for certain communities, this is literally talking about millions of dollars."

The push for property tax cuts comes in response to the large tax increases seen after the COVID-19 pandemic. After 2022, the growth in these rates returned to historical norms, but many have argued that local governments have not increased their services as a result of the increased revenues, which have outpaced the rate of inflation.

Read the full story HERE.

Declaring open season on mountain lions would give Wyoming's mule deer a much-needed break – but some hunters argue that would lead to a slaughter of the big cats.

House Bill 286 would lift most of the current restrictions hunting for mountain lions, which prey on Wyoming's mule deer. But outdoors reporter Mark Heinz spoke to some who oppose the bill, saying it sacrifices one species for the sake of another.

"Mike Schmid, he just joined the legislature this year, but he's been long time involv