Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, June 26th. 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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U.S. Senate Republicans said Wednesday they have no timetable for releasing a new scaled-back proposal from Sen. Mike Lee of Utah to sell public lands in the West.

The Senate referee had ruled his first plan violated the budget process by straying too far into policymaking. So Lee posted on X Tuesday that he is working on new language - and Cowboy State Daily's Sean Barry reports that Lee's original provision of a mandatory selloff of 2 million to 3 million acres of public lands in the next five years has been highly contentious in Wyoming.

"The one big, beautiful bill, act is a sprawling tax and spending package, but Senator Mike Lee tucked in language to sell part of public lands, a huge, contentious issue in Wyoming. It was ruled out of order by the Senate parliamentarian… I spoke with John Barrasso's people, Senator Cynthia Lummis' people, I emailed other mountain west senators on Lee's committee. There's no guarantee anything's going to be in the bill, or what it's going to look like. The Senate leadership is racing to get this bill to the floor."

Read the full story HERE.

But some Wyoming outdoor enthusiasts said Wednesday that there is no revision or new version of a proposal to sell federal public land that hunters and anglers will find acceptable. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz spoke to several outdoorsmen and women who say that Lee missed the point.

"I talked to Karlee Provenza, Owen Miller and Chris Steffen… Senator Mike Lee of Utah has reported he's trying to redo some rewrites, do some revisions, maybe get that introduced back in, but the bottom line with the Wyoming hunters, or at least what I'm hearing from them, is there's nothing they can do to make this acceptable. We'd say we don't want public lands sold anywhere, anytime period."

Provenza, who is also a Wyoming state legislator, said that regardless of what happens with Lee's proposal, she thinks the fight is far from over. She said attempts to sell off federal lands in the West are nothing new, and she expects Lee and others who favor that idea to keep trying.

Read the full story HERE.

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A bomb squad crossed South Pass on Wednesday in response to what looked like a pipe bomb along Lander's idyllic Popo Agie River walk.

Fortunately, a number of law enforcement officials were in Lander for a conference, including the Sweetwater County undersheriff. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Lander's interim Police Chief called on his colleague for a little assistance.

"So the inter