Cowboy State Daily Video News: Friday, April 12, 2024

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming! I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom, for Friday, April 12th.

The Wyoming Department of Health has approved about $3,000 in public money to help throw an annual drag queen bingo party in Laramie as an anti-AIDS fundraiser.
The party is being put on by the nonprofit organization Wyoming Aids Assistance, but in promotional banners for the April 27th event, the Department of Health, which is a public entity, was listed as a sponsor.
Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, a group of socially conservative Republicans serving in the state Legislature, condemned the funding, and questioned whether helping to throw drag events is the role of government.
“And I went and contacted Department of Health and the spokeswoman Kim de Tae confirmed that Department of Health is pledging $3,000 toward this event. She said it's it's part of their unit that fights infectious diseases, diseases, and since that nonprofit sends its proceeds to combat aids, the department's I guess the sub department judge that an appropriate use of that $3,000.”
Wyoming Aids Assistance says it is offering free rapid HIV testing before the event.

Developers of wind and solar projects in Wyoming are about to get a jolt of economic benefits from a new federal rule issued Thursday.
The Biden administration on Thursday announced a new rule which would give solar and wind developers an 80% cut on rents and fees on public lands - a rule which mining, oil and gas interests are having a difficult time digesting, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“they're going to lower the rents and fees for wind and solar developers by 80%. on public lands, like for the Bureau of Land Management. Well, guess what? oil and gas industry and the coal mining industry here in Wyoming are not happy, because they would summarize it by us is they're both saying that it's an uneven playing field. It's not fair, that they get a leg up the solar and wind industry at their expense.”
The new regulation is designed to help the administration achieve its goal of creating a pollution-free power sector by 2035.

The Wyoming Board on Geographical Names is considering a proposal to rename a prominent peak in the Grand Tetons that currently honors a man with a checkered past.
At its meeting next week, the board will consider a name change proposal for 11,595-foot Mount Woodring, named after Samuel Woodring, the first superintendent of Grand Teton National Park. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that in 1934, Woodring was accused of attempting to rape an 11-year old girl.
“The charges were eventually dropped at that time when the alleged victim's parents did not want to put their daughter through having to testify during a trial and things of that nature. And just being the times of what they were this information likely kind of dissipated, even though Woodring resigned from his position as superintendent and never worked in the National Park Service again, and basically disgraced at least in Teton County, he left the area after all this happened.”
The suggestion has been submitted to rename the mountain Raven Peak.

I’ll be back with more news, right after this.

The Biden administration moved Thursday to close a so-called "gun show loophole" for background checks.
The new rules would require anybody who sells firearms for profit to have a federal firearms license, and all buyers would be subject to background checks — including at gun shows, flea markets and the like.
But outdoors reporter Mark Heinz spoke to several Wyoming gun show organizers and firearms dealers, who said they don’t expect the move to change anything.
“they said, it seems, first of all, they don't know how it would even be enforceable. Secondly, it seems redundant. Because it already is against the rules to sell firearms for profit. If you don't have a firearms license”
Gun shows in Wyoming frequently involve a mix of licensed dealers that require background checks, along with people buying, selling or trading their personal firearms, with no licenses or background checks required.

And in a story that reads like a script for a television cop show, a Casper coin shop owner has been accused of conspiring with a convicted burglar to fake the theft of a coin collection worth up to $100,000 that he was appraising for a client.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that the allegations against 35 year old Justin Wayne Foster, owner of Colonial Coins and Currency in Casper, are the real thing.
“apparently collaborated with a man who was known to be a burglar and on probation. That man went into the home, took the coins and then later return them to the owner. So there is quite a web of facts and allegations happening in Casper circuit court.”
A warrant has been issued for Foster’s arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to commit theft and false reporting.

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper by hitting the subscribe button on CowboyStateDaily.com
I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.