Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming, for Friday, May 16th. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by the Wyoming Community Foundation, who asks you to give back to the place you call home. "5 to thrive" is YOUR opportunity to leave a legacy for generations to come. Support the community nonprofits you care about with a gift through the Wyoming Community Foundation. Visit wycf.org to learn more.

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Doctors are leaving or have left Cheyenne Regional Medical Center over what they are calling "ethical" reasons and "horrible" staffing issues.

One cardiac surgeon told Cowboy State Daily's Justin George that there are, quote, "unethical things going on," adding that the hospital staff is not telling families the real truth.

The president of the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center Board of Trustees, however, said the complaints were made by a vocal minority.

"Doctors, nurses and others were saying that there were all sorts of problems going on, especially staffing issues. There were issues, safety lapses, procedural problems, and they had said that none of it was being addressed, and that was becoming problematic. One doctor we spoke to said… patients weren't being told that complications had sort of stemmed from those issues, and some of those problems were either being held or shielded away from them. So and that caused him to leave, actually… there has been a defection of several doctors. The hospital has responded and said that they have full confidence in the CEO, and the Board of Trustees has actually unanimously passed a vote that says so, and they say that the CEO has done a great job putting the hospital on great financial footing, carrying it through the pandemic and actually increasing quality standards. So that's their response."

Although trustees gave CEO Tim Thornell a unanimous vote of "full confidence" after interviewing or meeting with current and former hospital employees, the board has acknowledged some of the issues raised, and said more attention would be directed toward recruitment and retention of doctors, improving the culture surrounding safety and quality incident reporting, and making sure contractors meet patient care standards.

Read the full story HERE.

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A semicircle of federal agents and officers met Thursday in a fenced lot before neither the sun, nor Casper's signature wind, had a chance to rise.

It was 10 minutes 'til 4 a.m., and the four U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers based in the central Wyoming town, along with four other federal agents, were preparing for a day of watching, waiting and apprehending illegal aliens.

And in the agency's first-ever media ride-along in Wyoming, Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland was there for it all.

"I had been discussing doing a ride along with ICE for months because we covered them. They're of high interest right now, especially in the Trump administration. Wyoming cares a lot about their operations, and so you know, when I was invited to do what multiple ICE personnel are recalling as the only Wyoming ride along that they know of in their 10 years, I was instantly a yes, and so I woke up in Casper at 3am and got in an unmarked federal vehicle at 3:45. They took me, to me and Mike McCrimmon, a videographer, to the federal facility in Casper, where a semi circle of Homeland Security Investigations, special agents and ICE enforcement officers gathered to get their briefing, some of them learning of the targets, pretty much for the first time, who they were going after that day… sheriffs in Wyoming are so cooperative with ice it's mu