Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, February 4th. I'm Mac Watson.

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A request to dismiss an animal cruelty charge against accused wolf torturer Cody Roberts was denied on Tuesday. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the Sweetwater County judge in the case confirmed he won't dismiss the case early.

"So, in Wyoming criminal cases, you have a chance to say, 'Hey, Judge, there's a purely legal issue where this law does not work for this case. Or, you know, there's legal exceptions that bar this case. It's not a question of facts, like, Did I do it? Did I not?' But it's a question of law and the mechanical function of it. So that's what Roberts was asserting. Like, this law does not work because I fall into these exceptions for hunting, trapping, capture, killing, destruction of wildlife. The prosecutor is saying, 'You tormented this wolf after you captured it and before you killed it, allegedly.' Judge Richard Lavery of the Sweetwater County Court, who's filling in for the Sublette county judge, said he basically agrees with the prosecutor, like, 'No this in the in between acts that are exempted under our felony torture statute.'"

Roberts trial is set for March 9th.Cody He is charged with felony animal cruelty, following claims he captured a wolf, took it injured into a bar in Daniel, Wyoming, taunted it, then later shot it.

Read the full story HERE.

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Some Wyoming Freedom Caucus legislators are questioning using $15 million in state lodging tax money to lure the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association from Colorado to Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that some legislators are saying that Wyoming shouldn't be giving handouts to businesses that want to come here.

"One of the comments was also made on a Facebook post by one of the representatives. But you know that doesn't necessarily mean everyone in the Freedom Caucus is against this. I did speak with Representative Bear about his position on this. He said he's not ready to outline a clear position, yet he moved it forward in the Joint Appropriations Committee. He voted for it, but he has questions about it, and he is looking into the finances of the PRCA. The Freedom Caucus' mission to cut the budget as they put it, they feel this is fiscally responsible. They don't want to spend any money, and so, this kind of goes against the platform that they are promoting."

The $15 million from Wyoming to help the PRCA move here from Colorado would be taken from lodging tax revenues, which are levied on hotel rooms and are earmarked for tourism development.

Read the full story HERE.

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Delisting grizzlies could be imminent, hunting advocates say, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers regulations for bear hunting. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that they say pushing the deadline for the agency's decision on bears to December could be a step toward delisting.

"The US Fish and Wildlife Service was given until January 31st, which was a few days ago, to come up with a decision to either revise or remove its current grizzly bear policy listing them as a threatened species in the lower 48. And they let that deadline pass, asked for and successfully got an extension to December 8th, which is, that's almost a year. And one person I reached out to was Congresswoman Hageman, who has long been pushing for basically to get this out of the realm of the realm of the courts and the agencies and just take it to Congress and ju