Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, March 25th. I'm Mac Watson.

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A Union Pacific engineer has been charged with being on drugs while driving a train loaded with 16,000 tons of hazardous materials across eastern Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that Kristopher Richards told deputies he fell asleep "a little bit" and possibly "for the whole trip."

"This Union Pacific train driver, an engineer, has been charged with reckless endangerment, also being under the influence of a controlled substance for an eight-hour trip that he did, driving fully loaded, almost 16,000 ton train full of hazardous materials, flammable, some explosive type of materials, and from Nebraska to Cheyenne. But he apparently had really bizarre behavior, according to his court file, that he urinated on himself a couple of times. He was just behaving aggressive and very bizarre with his co-workers."

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak tells Cowboy State Daily that the train was stopped prior to reaching the depot in Cheyenne, adding that Union Pacific was very cooperative in the operation.

Read the full story HERE.

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Reid Rasner is accusing Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray of hypocrisy for backing wind leases despite criticizing the industry frequently. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Gray fired back, calling Rasner's attacks desperate and linking him to "Las Vegas values."

"Reid Rasner kind of went on the offensive Monday, giving an interview and then later a statement about Secretary of State Chuck Gray's former aye votes in favor of at least three wind projects, and this is in contrast to gray saying, you know, woke wind is wrong for Wyoming and criticizing the industry as a whole, where he's also had issues with specific leases. And so raisner said that is an issue. He leveled some insults at Gray, and he also said that gray did an about face on, and he did vote in favor of a gravel pit, and then later came to be one of its biggest opponents. But Gray retorted, saying that Cowboy State Daily should investigate Rasner's Las Vegas values. It's a potential jab because Rasner had run to become city councilman in Las Vegas in 2017."

Gray and Rasner are in a growing field of Republican U.S. House hopefuls headed into the Aug. 18 primary election.

Read the full story HERE.

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The mayor of Mills is frustrated that a Tuesday ruling postponed and scaled back a 440-megawatt solar farm. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that the project was supposed to transform thousands of acres of private land north of Mills into one of Wyoming's largest renewable energy installations.

"The mayor of Mills today told Cowboy State Daily that they've been tracking this, they've been holding up their end of the bargain, and they would like to see some kind of impact reassessment. You know, they hoped that maybe a new hearing could be set and they could make their case look, we fronted these costs. These delays are costing us. The mayor also said that there have been talks about adjusting the impact costs and perhaps NextEra stepping in and filling some kind of financing gap Mills feels like it's been stuck in."

The Industrial Siting Council on Tuesday approved an amendment to the Dinosolar Solar Energy Project's permit, pushing the construction start date from the original April 2024 target to on or before March 3, 2029 and the amendment also slashes the project nearly in half, from approximately 3,500 acres to rough