Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, March 13th. I'm Mac Watson.

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A Wyoming windstorm with gusts reported as high as 109 mph has left a trail of destruction across the state. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that strong gusts have blown over dozens of commercial trucks, ripped roofs off buildings, and uprooted trees.

"It was sustained winds in the high 50s, low 60 mile per hour with gusts up to 90. Here in Cheyenne, they set a record at the airport with a 90 mile per hour gust. There was a 94 mile per hour gust registered at NCAR, which is the super computer location, and other reports had come into the National Weather Service over 101 and 109 out between Laramie and Centennial. The entire stretch of I 80 through Wyoming was closed. I talked to a trucker at a truck stop who is from Alabama, and he was just, he had like a deer-in-the- headlights look. He just couldn't believe this type of wind."

For perspective, Category 1 strength hurricanes have sustained winds of between 74 mph and 95 mph.

Read the full story HERE.

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It's being described as a showdown in Crook County as House Speaker Chip Neiman has announced he's running for Sen. Ogden Driskill's senate seat. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Driskill wasn't going to run again but changed his mind as voters tell him they don't want to see "the Freedom Caucus move to the Senate."

"It's a former Senate President versus the state speaker of the house. So heavyweights leadership, big influences in legislature. This is the Senate seat in the northeast corner of Wyoming, currently held by Senator Ogden Driscoll, a former Senate President, and the current House speaker, Chip Neiman, is vying for the seat. So it's a showdown between an incumbent and a very successful House candidate who for years has been his counterpart in the house, and now is going to give him a run for his own seat."

Driskill took the first swing Thursday upon hearing of Neiman's state Senate bid, calling the Freedom Caucus long on rhetoric and short on results, prone to groupthink and clumsy. Neiman fired back, saying Driskill is broad-brushing him and the issues in general.

Read the full story HERE.

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A mild winter means easy living for Wyoming's big game, but it also means hard times for predators. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that's because of fewer weakened animals to hunt or winterkill carcasses to devour. "If the next four months, like this month through June, we don't see significant amounts of moisture, that could spell trouble. Because what people might not realize, in the case of bears, they're really dependent on fresh green grass. They get a lot of their springtime protein by you'll see Grizzlies walking out into metals and gorging themselves. Grizzlies, especially mama Grizzlies, with new cubs, become grazers. They eat as much or more grass than they do meat and other food sources."

During the 2022-2023 winter, the brutal weather killed deer, elk and antelope by the tens of thousands. When the deep snows finally melted in the spring of 2023, landscapes were littered with big game carcasses, which was an all-you-can eat buffet for carnivores.

Read the full story HERE.

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Wyoming state Senate President Bo Biteman announced on Thursday that he's running for the stat