Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, April 14th. I'm Mac Watson.

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A Cheyenne-based attorney is asking Wyoming authorities to investigate Secretary of State Chuck Gray for alleged election-related crimes. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that George Powers says Gray violated state election law by giving sensitive voter data to the U.S. Department of Justice.

"George Powers is a Cheyenne-based attorney who in 2024 won a transparency action. He had earlier sued the administration of Superintendent Public Instruction, Brian Schroeder, saying that the Department of Education had public records breaches, and he won that action in 2024 so now what he's doing is he's filed an official complaint with the Attorney General's Office, saying, 'Please find a way to get a special prosecutor in here, because according to powers, there's proof of election law violations.'"

In a statement sent to Cowboy State Daily, Secretary Gray asserted that, "The radical Left and the media will stop at nothing to undermine our work to ensure election integrity and security, and this is nothing more than Trump Derangement Syndrome, clothed in an attempt to use lawfare and the leftwing media to attack my actions on election integrity."

Read the full story HERE.

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A Cheyenne 14-year-old charged as an adult with first-degree murder, accused of shooting his mother in the head after she called him derogatory names, pleaded not guilty Monday. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that the judge also denied an attempt to slash his bond from $500,000 to $50,000.

"The teen, Havoc Leone, was in court on Monday for his arraignment in District Court, which is basically a plea hearing. He did answer the judge in a clear voice when the judge asked him if he understood what he was pleading to, and understood the charges against him. He said yes. And asked if he wanted to plead not guilty. He said yes, and then she asked him, he needed to say the words, and he said not guilty. So then the judge also set a jury trial for August."

Leone was led into the courtroom by a pair of Laramie County Sheriff's Office deputies wearing the tan jumpsuit of a juvenile offender. Leone's Monday arraignment was quick, happening in front of a handful of spectators in Courtroom A on the third floor of the Laramie County Governmental Complex.

Read the full story HERE.

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Families and entrepreneurs in Wyoming are fighting back against high grocery store prices by starting discount stores and co-ops. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that Down Home Discount in Powell and Cody, tries to sell goods at 20% below Walmart & 50% below when possible.

"He kind of figured out this business model, because one he himself needed to save money on groceries if he was going to give up his lucrative plumbing position, he needed a better option. He buys these things in huge pallets at a discount because they're close to those used by dates, and then he repackages them for sale at his discount grocery."

In 2022, Wyoming Economics Analysis Division principal economist Amy Bittner told Cowboy State Daily that Wyoming food prices had jumped more than 15% year-over-year for the second quarter's cost-of-living index.

That was, at the time, the highest inflation rate in almost 40 years.

Read the full story