Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Tuesday, September 15th. I'm Mac Watson.

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The women suing Kappa Kappa Gamma for inducting a transgender member went back to court Monday, arguing the sorority betrayed them. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the sorority says its council can interpret the bylaws, regardless of what 'woman' meant historically.

"At one point, one of the judges got into a back and forth with the sorority's attorney, and he was saying, 'Okay, so the sorority's council members can interpret terms that are in the bylaws.' They have that authority. And this was a point that the attorney for the sorority really hammered, like, 'Yes, they're just interpreting the word 'woman.' It wasn't defined in the bylaws, and the judge comes back and says, 'But you're arguing for an interpretation that could include biological males.' The attorney countered, saying, 'We're arguing for an interpretation that includes people born male that identify as female, and so they came to kind of an impasse that really circled around the definition of the word woman.'"

Kappa Kappa Gamma's attorney Natalie McLaughlin maintained that the case revolves around a private organization's ability to govern itself, and she pointed to Ohio laws' deference toward governors of private groups. Kappa is incorporated in Ohio.

Read the full story HERE.

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Pavillion 17-year-old Elizabeth "Lizzy" Barrett has been missing for a week since climbing out her bedroom window the night of Sept. 8th. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports she took some clothes and a backpack, but left her active cellphone.

"Although under sheriff Mike Hutchinson said it's always dangerous when a juvenile is somewhere that they don't know. At this point, it's been a week since she's been gone. Barrett is five foot four inches tall. She's about 135 pounds. She was last seen wearing jeans and a hoodie. She has brown hair and brown eyes. If anyone knows about her whereabouts, please contact the Fremont County Sheriff's Office or the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigations."

Lizzie's father, Charles "CJ" Barrett, tells Cowboy State Daily she has never done anything like this before.

Read the full story HERE.

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Yellowstone National Park's staff recovered more than 20,000 pieces of trash from thermal basins this summer. Cowboy State Daily's Andrew Rossi reports that among the items were AirPods, Polaroid pictures, a single snowshoe, and over 280 hats that will be donated to local organizations.

"Obviously nobody wants to see a bunch of trash on Yellowstone's thermal basins, but you can't go out and retrieve your items yourself because you could cause irreparable damage. So the geology folks out there, while they're monitoring the thermal basins, they go out and collect the hair scrunchies and the Invisalign retainers and the hats and the Lego stormtroopers and the Uno cards and the Pokemon cards and all the other myriad of things that end up on the thermal basins. And just while people are listening, if you do drop something out there, don't go out to get it. Report it to a ranger, and they'll handle it. If it's something that's valuable, that's your loss, unfortunately."

And the strangest items? According to Yellowstone staff, their picks were Polaroid pictures of people posing next to Yellowstone's thermal features and a two-inch copy of The Vampire Diaries.

Read the full story

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