Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, June 26th. I'm Mac Watson

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Idaho is switching from lethal injections to firing squad executions on July 1st. Wyoming almost added firing squad executions as an alternate method in 2014 because lethal injection drugs were scarce. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Wyoming won't be changing its execution methods any time soon.

"This does not affect Wyoming right now, because we don't have anyone on death row, and we rarely execute anyone. We haven't executed anyone since 1992 but it came up in 2014 when Dale Wayne Eaton was on death row before he had, before his death sentence had basically fizzled on appeal. We didn't have a gas chamber, which is our fail-safe method if lethal injection is unconstitutional, and the lethal injection drugs were scarce nationwide, and so Bruce Burns, who was a state senator at the time, was like, What are we going to do here if we can't get the drugs and we don't know the gas chamber, and so he made a bill that would have if the lethal injection wasn't available, that would have allowed for firing squad. That bill tried twice to get into the legislature and failed both times."

Idaho is spending $1.2 million to retrofit an execution chamber for its new firing squad method, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Read the full story HERE.

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A sex solicitation sting in Cheyenne led to the arrest of two men last weekend. Cowboy State Daily's Kerry Drake reports that Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says it's the beginning of a new effort to stop human trafficking that has been ignored for too long by law enforcement.

"Sheriff Kozak says that for too long, Laramie County, and particularly Cheyenne, have been a safe haven for sex trafficking, and he said it's going to stop now. This is the first operation that they've had in many years with the Laramie County Sheriff when he was the chief of police in Cheyenne about 10 years ago. He said he wanted to train everybody, at 240 people on the staff, including civilians, and he wanted everybody training, and so they've brought in experts from around the country to do that, and they had one here yesterday."

Sheriff Kozak tells Cowboy State Daily that the department has noticed an increase in trafficking, particularly in Cheyenne, because of Cheyenne Frontier Days, and the amount of interstates that run through Laramie County.

Read the full story HERE.

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President Trump announced Thursday he will attend the July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, commemorating America's 250th. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that the event also marks the return of fireworks over Mount Rushmore for the first time in six years.

"Trump coming to Mount Rushmore is a big deal in South Dakota. There will be

tight security, a lot of security. Roads will be closed, and the last time he came in 2020 there was quite a protest by the Native American community who contend that

Mount Rushmore was never there by permission, and the Black Hills belong to them.

President Trump was personally invited to Mount Rushmore for this Fourth of July holiday by South Dakota Governor Larry Rhoden. Trump will also be at the opening for the Theodore Roosevelt National Library in North Dakota a few days prior."

The announcement was made on the Freedom 250 website