Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, May 22nd. I'm Mac Watson.

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Converse County this week rescinded an order that could have fast-tracked data centers and given the county more control in the process. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that one legislator says it's a legal issue, but people also "lost their minds" when they heard the words "fast-track."

"Representative Kevin Campbell said that there was a dearth of transparency in this whole process, and that that was his main qualm with it, but in the meantime, the Attorney General's office reportedly settled it anyway by saying, 'I know you can't just put in one of these industrial parks if you don't already have zoning, you can't put it in without a mechanism like that, and Commerce County does not have zoning.'"

Commission Vice-Chair Rick Grant tells Cowboy State Daily that the prospective industrial park wasn't meant specifically for a Prometheus Hyperscale data center and the county hasn't received an application for any such development.

Read the full story HERE.

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Parts of Wyoming got up to 2 inches of water from this week's storm that shut down I-80 and Rawlins for more than a day. But Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports all that precipitation wasn't a drought-buster.

"Speaking to Wyoming meteorologists, we don't want a drought-busting storm all at once, because for as low and as dry as we are, if we got all the moisture we needed to break a drought in one fell swoop, we'd be talking about widespread destruction. May has been a very good month in terms of moisture. We've gotten several inches in the areas that needed it most, and that's definitely improved the situation. But at this point, we're looking at a prolonged drought that isn't going to be rectified by a single event, but if we continue getting more of these storms that drop an inch or two of liquid water at a time, we can make a nice dent in the drought situation."

Meteorologist Don Day tells Cowboy State Daily "Getting rid of a drought is like eating an elephant — one bite at a time."

Read the full story HERE.

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Wyoming regulators are cracking down on bar raffle games like Queen of Hearts and Music Bingo that raise money for charities, saying they're illegal gambling. Cowboy State Daily's Renee Jean reports that event organizer Brian Grzegorczyk asks, "Why is horse racing an exception, but not charity?"

"His nickname became Alf Evermore, and so most people just know him as Alf, but so he has a pub here in Cheyenne called Alf's Pub, and he is the founder of a charity effort called Thankful Thursdays, and in 16 years that charity has been around 16 years now, and it's given more than four and a half million to local groups over that 16 year period, and so you know it's become a powerhouse for giving money to local charities."

According to Wyoming Gaming Commissioner Nick Laramendy,

Wyoming statutes define gambling as risking any property for gain that is contingent in whole or in part by chance.

Read the full story HERE.

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A wildlife filmmaker spotted 47 grizzlies in the Absaroka Mountains before noon, more than twice as many as he's ever seen in one day in the Yellowstone area. Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that they were gorging themselves on moths, so he tried