Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, January 16th. I'm Mac Watson.

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The governor's policy director told members of the Joint Appropriations Committee on Thursday that their advancement of a proposal to kill the Wyoming Business Council was "crazy" and "nuts." Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports why he used those terms.

"Randall Luthy started off talking about the respect he has for the legislature, but he said, 'This is nuts. This is crazy.' He is the governor's Policy Director, former Speaker of the State House. He was saying this is just a very big, rushed effort. And then another policy person from the governor's office said, 'We want to work with you on improving this agency over the course of the next year. We want to not drop this on the people three weeks before a session at 4;30 on an afternoon…It was Sarah Duranzo that proposed the working group and the interim work and to that House Appropriations Chair, John Bear said, 'I don't think this committee has any interest in delaying this a session. But if you did do such a working group, would you include taxpayers who have not benefit from this agency, who might be skeptics on it?'"

The bill's next stop is the Wyoming Legislature, which convenes in a budget-planning session Feb. 9 and can modify, reject or pass the bill. If Gov. Mark Gordon, who has defended the agency, vetoes the bill seeking to kill it, the legislature would need a two-thirds majority to override his veto.

Read the full story HERE.

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Bodycam footage from nearly 5 years ago in Sheridan between 3 police officers and a disoriented man have created outrage on social media. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that the video maker says the man suffered a stroke and underwent brain surgeries and was not treated properly by police.

"On social media around Sheridan, a lot of folks were talking about this incident that occurred on a snowy night back in February of 2021 a man appeared to be intoxicated, but it turned out he had something far more serious going on. He had he was actually experiencing a stroke, according to reports that are now pulled together in this online viral video that purports to tell the story of a man appears in his 40s and is really disoriented, and quite frankly, he's treated really well by law enforcement…But critics accuse the Sheridan Police Department of not doing enough to protect this man's health."

Attempts to reach Davis and the video's creator were unsuccessful.

Read the full story HERE.

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A massive Canadian cold front, bringing gusts up to 75 mph and single-digit wind chills, will clip eastern Wyoming on Friday. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that Black Hills Energy declared an Emergency Public Safety Power Shutoff Watch in some areas due to "high fire-risk conditions."

"Black Hills energy is taking this action as a precaution. When you have high winds, there's a chance the power lines can blow down, and with as dry as Eastern Wyoming is, there's a chance that there could be wildfires. The way this pattern is shaping up, it's looking like it's going to cover Eastern Wyoming on Friday. Western Wyoming will get some lower temperatures, but won't be affected otherwise, and then we're just going to continue in this holding pattern as we move through January."

Meteorologist Don Day tells Cowboy State Daily that the subsequent cold front will be like "another slap in the face of winter," but the strong winds and cold temperatures won't be c