Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, July 3rd. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days. Ten days of rodeo thrills, Xtreme Bulls, live concerts, carnival rides, western heritage, and unforgettable cowboy spirit in Cheyenne, Wyoming! Don't miss the 129th Daddy of 'Em all July 18-27th.

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Wyomingites could see more property tax relief in the years ahead.

Fresh off of the passage of one of Wyoming's largest tax cuts in its history, providing residential property owners a 25% tax break and providing some long-term homeowners a 50% tax break, the chairman of the Wyoming House Revenue Committee Chairman told Cowboy State Daily's Matthew Christian he considers the newly effective laws to be short-term relief.

"There are several options being considered to further reduce the amount Wyomingites pay in property taxes. Those options include getting rid of the whole thing, just no more property tax at all, changing how it's determined, how property tax is calculated. And let's see what would be the best way to say this other one, putting a cap on how fast property taxes can rise, there currently is a cap, but, um, some lawmakers say we may want to lower that a little bit, just because inflation's high and people may not have enough money to be able to pay a 4% increase, which is where the current cap is."

Legislation to remove property taxes isn't unique to Wyoming. One Senior Policy Analyst said the country is in what many are calling a property tax revolt, in which states around the country consider eliminating the property tax altogether.

Read the full story HERE.

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A 53-year-old Jackson man is charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, accused of killing a local photographer in a drunk driving collision.

Florence McCall, a well-known photographer in Jackson, died at the scene of the June 21 crash. Investigators say she was bicycling onto South Park Loop Road when Jody Utter's vehicle struck her.

Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Utter's case rose to the felony-level court on Wednesday.

"According to court documents, he was driving on a road in Teton county that intersects with a bike path, and he, you know, he told investigators that she got in the Road, and I didn't have time to react, but investigators smelled alcohol on him, and then they did detect, I think, a point two something, blood alcohol concentration and the the scene evidence also showed that he was allegedly driving in the wrong lane… he's waived his preliminary hearing. He's chosen not to take that chance to argue the really, the lesser fight of whether there's probable cause in this case to keep this case going. And he advances down to the big fight of, you know, trying to show his innocence against the state trying to improve his guilt at the trial court level."

Utter is facing up to 20 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, if convicted. He also faces a misdemeanor count of drunk driving.

Read the full story HERE.

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A 74-year-old Casper man will not be charged for the shooting death of his daughter's boyfriend four months ago.

The Natrona County District Attorney's Office announced Wednesday it won't prosecute Clarence Daniels in the death of 47-year-old Jeremiah Reyes on March 8th. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that the office says there's not enough evidence to justify the charge.