Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Monday, July 21st. I'm Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom - Brought to you by Cheyenne Frontier Days! Brace for heart-pounding adrenaline with the PRCA Xtreme Bulls, July 21st and 22nd. Two nights of elite bull riders versus the rankest bulls. A fierce showdown in the legendary CFD arena. Don't miss the 129th Daddy of 'Em all, now through the 27th.

–

A Casper family is still trying to comprehend their new reality after 18-year-old twin sisters were in a car that hit an elk at 101 mph. Hannah Brooks survived the Monday crash on Wyoming Highway 487, but her twin sister Sammantha didn't.

Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck spoke to the girls' mother, Sarah, who said Sammantha's loss has left a void in the hearts of those who knew her.

"The mom and her twin sister are grieving and also trying to pull together money for a funeral… and a coworker has started a GoFundMe to try and help them with funeral costs… The coworker I talked to, and her mom, they just said that she was somebody that you loved. She wanted to help everybody, even though she had struggles in her life. Her focus was on other people and that she just wanted to she's the kind of person that just engaged other people to try and help them and be a support."

The girls' mother said Sammantha and Hannah were more than best friends, and that Hannah is lost without her sister and, quote, "figuring out how to grieve."

Read the full story HERE.

–

Cheyenne Frontier Days has officially busted out of the chute of its 129th year, bringing wall-to-wall cowboy culture to the masses.

In the eyes of some, CFD is the epitome of Western values: ambition, grit, tradition and sacrifice. The event is increasingly searing its brand on a growing number of visitors who this year arrive from 31 countries and every single U.S. state. Cowboy State Daily's Zak Sonntag spoke to some of those out–of-staters who are hooked on Frontier Days.

"For a lot of folk in Cheyenne, rodeo is in the blood… They've seen it their entire lives. But then you see folk from the east coast, from the big city, from New York, from Brooklyn, coming out to Cheyenne. And it is other worldly that is something totally exotic, totally alien, and they absolutely love it. They love the fashion, they love the culture. They love the excitement… They have rodeo at Madison Square Garden, for instance. But these New Yorkers tell me that the Cheyenne rodeo is something totally different… they said, compared to what they've seen other rodeos elsewhere, Cheyenne Frontier Days is the absolute best of the best."

Whether this is your proverbial first rodeo or just your first time to Cheyenne, CFD is going to leave a mark, especially if you're coming from a big city.

Read the full story HERE.

–

When Ian Munsick was writing his song "Cheyenne," he was imagining what it would be like to headline the Cheyenne Frontier Days stage. Friday night, there was no more imagining.

Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that Munsick became the first Wyoming native to headline Cheyenne Frontier Days, with a chorus of adoring cheers and whistles from fan