Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Friday, September 11th. I'm Mac Watson.

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Wyoming GOP Vice-Chair Bob Ferguson says President Trump's controversial promise to give every American $5,000 if Republicans win both chambers of Congress was taken out of context. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports Ferguson says of the charges that it's a bribe, "That is an outright lie."

"The criticism, the backlash was scathing. Several high-profile political figures were saying, 'This is a bribe. This is illegal.' Political figures in Wyoming were shocked as well, many of them. But the vice chair of the Wyoming State Republican Party, Bob Ferguson, was actually at the convention in Dallas, Texas, when Trump made those comments, and he said, "No, this is this is out of context of the bigger picture of dividends he's been proposing from tariffs revenue for months, and the the implication said Ferguson is that if Democrats take Congress, they're not going to be doing these tariff dividends, whereas Republicans would."

If the president were to make good on his claim to each American adult, it would cost the nation more than $1 trillion.

Read the full story HERE.

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The Weston County Sheriff's Office says one of their deputies was fired on while investigating a stolen gun Wednesday evening south of Upton. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports that set off an overnight manhunt that ended with a suspect's capture Thursday morning.

"Authorities caught Rodney Lee Anderson Jr. at about 5:50 a.m. Thursday morning, and he was taken into custody. The DCI was quickly on the scene to investigate the shots fired. Authorities were investigating a gun theft in Newcastle when dispatch heard that shots had been fired and sent help that way. So far, the Weston County Sheriff's Office has not revealed if anyone was struck during the gunfire."

As of Thursday morning, no charges against Anderson had been filed with the court, though he was in the process of booking into the Weston County Detention Center.

Read the full story HERE.

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With Wyoming Game and Fish facing what its interim director calls a "dire" looming budget shortfall, wildlife groups say a trust fund proposed by a legislative committee has a "juggernaut of support." Outdoors Reporter Mark Heinz reports that one advocate says, "God, I hope we dream big."

"Some folks have come up with the idea of basically setting up a trust fund for the game and fish. Some of that money could come from the state, but probably in the forms of moving things from savings accounts or putting maybe some of the mineral and energy. Tax revenue funds into that, rather than it couldn't come from the general fund because as soon as you start taking money from the general fund, the legislature has to get directly involved. People think, okay, a savings account that generates interest, and you can pull from the interest. And Bob Budd, who actually runs a conservation-based trust fund in Wyoming told me that's really not how it works. It's more of an investment account where the money in that account is actively being used to invest in stocks or bonds and those sorts of things, and that will create a yield."

Jessi Johnson, government affairs director for the Wyoming Wildlife Federation tells Cowboy State Daily that other ideas floated at the committee meeting included state energy severance tax revenue, private donations, and money transferred from other state savings accounts.

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