Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Monday, February 3rd. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Senior Olympics! Experience the excitement of the Winter Games, February 20–22 in Pinedale, and support the SAFE Initiative. For event details and the full schedule, visit wyoming senior olympics dot com.

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The 21-foot-tall neon Tumble Inn cowboy that spent decades beckoning to drivers along U.S. Highway 26 in Powder River is nearly back to life.

After 18 months of work to restore his smile and cowboy hat, his signature red neon thumb that waves back and forth, welcoming people to come on in, is working again.

Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that it's part of a herculean effort to restore the historic cowboy that was nearly lost to the elements and time.

"The cowboy, I've been told, is pretty much done, except for the painting of his head and his cowboy hat, and the work on the neon lights is ongoing. The artist told me that she's done patterns of the missing lights where the lights were missing, and so she's gonna be busy bending, bending the bulbs and all of that stuff in the coming month."

The hope is that sometime in late spring, the long-and-tall Tumble Inn Cowboy will be standing his ground in downtown Casper.

Read the full story HERE.

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Meanwhile, the race is on to save another iconic Wyoming neon sign. The Lou Taubert neon sign that towers over Center Street in Casper is in desperate need of repair.

Cowboy State Daily's Jackie Dorothy reports that the huge, handmade sign that went up in 1964 is the last remnant of Casper's historic street of neon that earned it the nickname "Little Las Vegas."

"It was kind of a name that the business owners gave themselves, but it was because of all the neon signs. Almost every single business had these signs, and they were handmade, and that is what is so unique about them. So the Lou Talbert sign is one of the few that's still standing, and last winter it got damaged, and so the owners are looking at, how do we do this properly? And that's the key too, is that anyone can go through and fix a neon sign, paint it, put decals on, but you want to make sure that the historic aspect of the sign is still preserved, because it is iconic and it is part of Casper."

Current city ordinances only allow flat-facing signs on downtown buildings, but because the Lou Taubert sign is iconic and part of a bygone era of downtown Casper, that sign has been grandfathered in.

Read the full story HERE.

The House Corporations, Elections and Political Subdivisions Committee is considering a bill that would make Wyoming the first state in the nation to ban election voting machines.

The committee heard a vocal appeal Friday from those in support of House Bill 215, which if it becomes law would make all elections in the state have ballots counted by hand. Political reporter Leo Wolfson has been following this story.

"This is basically catering to people who do not trust the voting machines in Wyoming and nationally, and it seems that the solution for them is to just get rid of them entirely and have hand count e