Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, January 20th. I'm Mac Watson.

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Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern's bid to create the largest rail merger in history was rejected last week by federal regulators. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that the decision gives breathing room to competitors who warned the deal would raise costs for Wyoming coal producers.

"I spoke to some sources about the Eastern link that there is a massive coal fired plant, the largest in North America, called Plant Scherer in Georgia, North of Macon, Georgia and BNSF takes coal out of the Powder River Basin from a few different mines, and gets it part of the way there. Then it links up with Norfolk Southern, and Norfolk Southern takes it the rest of the way because they've got that rail. Well, if a merger goes through between Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, then BNSF could get cut out of that deal. And according to BNSF is a critic of this proposed merger that would be less choices for Wyoming coal producers when it comes to shipping their coal out of state, and so that could drive up prices, because they become a captive customer."

On Thursday, the federal Surface Transportation Board delivered a unanimous decision that put the brakes on what appears to be the largest rail merger ever proposed. The federal agency rejected the merger application filed by Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, finding it incomplete and ordering the railroads back to the drawing board.

Read the full story HERE.

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A Wyoming House Representative from Cheyenne unveiled a bill this month that, if it becomes law, would let people get their ivermectin without a prescription. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the Legislature may hear the bill in three weeks.

"Representative Gary Brown unveiled the bill this month, and he was like, other states are doing this…I did have one doctor who was just adamant, like, There's nothing good about this bill. There are side effects…And so on the other hand, I had a doctor who was like, 'I'm not going to speak to the bill, but this drug has not been given a fair shake, like studies are suppressed on it for some reason, and people should answer for that.'"

Used in some cases as a horse dewormer, ivermectin garnered controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic when President Joe Biden's U.S. Food and Drug Administration discouraged its use with slogans like, "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y'all. Stop it."

Read the full story HERE.

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Wind gusts of up to 87 mph swept across Wyoming on Friday, ripping the roof off a building at the Albany County Fairgrounds and a metal roof off another in Torrington. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that hurricane-force winds are nothing new to Wyoming, but these winds were unusual.

"The winds that swept across Southeast Wyoming on Friday were up to 87 -miles-per hour in some places, and these came from the north northwest, so a lot of structures maybe aren't as designed to handle winds coming from that different direction, which is why you saw roofs flying off, trees topple over. It wasn't unorthodox in terms of the intensity of the wind. Wyoming sees hurricane force winds all the time. What was different about Friday's storm is that they were coming from a different direction, and that changes the dynamic of the wind storm itself."

The strongest gust recorded on Friday was 87 mph on Pilot Hill, east of Laramie. Gusts of up to 79 mph were recorded at the