Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, October 1st. I'm Mac Watson, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom… Brought to you by Wyoming Interventional and Vascular Associates. WIVA offers the best solution for treating tired, aching and swollen legs, at Wyoming's only IAC-accredited vein facility. With virtually no downtime and minimal risks, if you're ready for relief, see what WIVA can do for you. Schedule a consultation at Casper Medical Imaging dot net, forward slash WIVA.

– Wyoming's congressional delegation is blaming Senate Democrats for the federal government shutdown that took effect at midnight. Cowboy State Daily's Sean Barry reports from DC that one Wyoming Senator had some harsh words for Democrats.

"US Senator John Barrasso calling it idiocy on the part of the Democrats not cooperate with the Republicans…The Wyoming congressional delegation is essentially saying that the Democrats in the Senate, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, they're saying this is an act of retribution against the one Big Beautiful Bill act, because in the one Big Beautiful Bill act, where huge spending cuts were made, the Democrats had no voice. They were shut out of the process that was a strictly party line process in the Senate, whereas now with the shutdown, the Democrats had leverage. Republicans needed the Democrats vote to avoid a shutdown, and the Democrats said, we're not doing it."

Back in Wyoming, Governor Mark Gordon and Secretary of State Chuck Gray issued statements supporting the federal lawmakers.

Read the full story HERE.

–

As Wyoming's House Freedom Caucus continues to act as one of the most vocal proponents of property tax cuts on behalf of what it sees as a weary tax base, Cowboy State Daily's Jackson Walker reports that one Sheridan County official said on Tuesday that relatively few people are using these programs.

"On one side, we've got the House Freedom Caucus and people that are fighting to cut out waste, fraud and abuse from the government. But on the other side, we have these smaller local jurisdictions that are trying to hang on to their limited budgets as property tax revenue continues to decrease. Now today, I was looking for solutions, and I came across property tax relief services. These are actual services provided by county governments to provide relief to the people who need it the most that find that they're struggling with paying these taxes. Now what I found, however, is that not a lot of people are taking advantage of these programs, and that's because some of the way that they're structured requires interest payments to be made on these taxes that are deferred, and what I found is that that kind of represents a prohibitive cost to some people."

After rallying to pass a 25 percent cut earlier this year, the Freedom Caucus is now aiming for additional relief, as high as 50 percent.

Read the full story HERE.

–

Wyoming has again earned the dubious distinction from a safety watchdog group as the nation's deadliest state for big rig crashes. Cowboy State Daily's Scott Schwebke reports that Truck Safety Coalition is blaming extreme and unpredictable weather, including high winds, sudden snowstorms and low visibility, particularly along the Interstate 80 corridor, for the high propensity of the deadly crashes.

"The Wyoming Trucking Association pointed out to me today, they think the study is flawed because it's based on per capita which Wyoming has the smallest population in the US an