Episode Details

It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, September 17th. I'm Mac Watson.

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The Sheridan County Republican Party posted, then apparently took down, a statement last week touting Wyoming Constitution Party nominee Rebecca Bextel for governor over Republican Eric Barlow. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that the party's chair says she doesn't know who made the post.

"You have all of these 'cry foul' from people who have, like Joanne True, was censured by the state Republican Party six years ago for backing a PAC, a nonpartisan PAC, which in turn gave some money to Democrats, and she called it staggering hypocrisy, saying, 'Oh, okay. Now we have Republicans in leadership that are backing non-Republicans; the very thing I was censured for.' The chair Sharon McCright told me that she wasn't sure why the post was taken down or why it was up. She's not sure who made it. She said she and two other people have access to the page, and those two people prefer not to be named."

Gail Symons, an incoming Sheridan County GOP precinct committeewoman and Cowboy State Daily columnist, called the party's fleeting gesture of support ironic.

Read the full story HERE.

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Peabody Energy, Union Pacific, and Mexican rail partner Ferromex have shipped coal from Wyoming's Powder River Basin to the Port of Guaymas, (Why-mas) opening a Pacific export route for America's largest coal mine. Cowboy State Daily's Emma Jane Jackson reports that one mining official calls it "a huge step."

"Travis Deti, the executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, said this is a huge step in the right direction. After years of struggling to get coal out of the country with lack of access to ports on the West Coast. He said that he's hoping this new route offers a way for Wyoming coal to reach a larger customer base around the world. But House Majority Leader Scott Heiner, who also chairs the Wyoming House Minerals Business and Economic Development Committee, said that he would prefer to see Wyoming coal burned here at home and powering our own state's electrical grid."

The shipments, part of a joint pilot project to test whether the cross-border supply chain could work, have already moved multiple trains from Wyoming to Mexico, with the first cargo vessel now heading across the Pacific to Vietnam.

Read the full story HERE.

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Melissa Harris can't believe she's about to go to trial for standing on her own property and stating what's basically the unofficial Wyoming state motto: "Get the f*** off my lawn." Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that the Wright-area woman has been charged with breach of peace.

"Just telling someone, 'hey, get the f off my lawn,' whether it rises to the level of breach of peace, that's that's the real issue. In this case, because other people heard the vulgarity and apparently were offended, but this has been tried before the Wyoming Supreme Court, who has weighed in on it before too, saying that not just saying a vulgarity means that you're breaking the law. There has to be some kind of push behind it that incites some kind of violence or incites something in some way. While people will joke, hey, you know, you get people say that all the time, but you know, to actually lose your liberty for any length of time is a pretty serious matter."

Harris is set for an Oct. 27 jury trial on a single misdemeanor breach of peace charge.

Read the full story

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