Cowboy State Daily Video News: Monday, April 15, 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 Monday, April 15th.

A Boston-area woman who came to Wyoming to work on a ranch last May was kidnapped the day she got to the state.
But despite that traumatic experience, Janelle Gibson told Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland that she chose to build a life here anyway.
“this guy approached her and basically threatened her and said horrible things would happen if she didn't go with him for the day and said, you will live. I'll let you go at the end of the day. She managed to get away by only unlocking - she hit her key fob once, and she only unlocked the driver's side of her car and hopped in and sped away. … But what's remarkable, I think about this story is that she went and talked to police, and then she went on and got her job and worked on a ranch outside of Buffalo like her plan was all along. So she didn't let this horrible first brush with the West poison her taste for it.”
Gibson is mostly recovered from the incident now, though she doesn’t go places alone if she can help it. Her kidnapper pleaded guilty to felony charges on March 21st.

Wyoming bees help pollinate massive almond groves in California, but while there, they’re at risk of being stolen by bee rustlers.
Like the cattle rustlers of the Old West, modern day bee rustlers are organized, determined and crafty. But Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that it would be more difficult for those bad actors to get away with a crime like that in Wyoming.
“if we put our hives out on private land, we do politely ask the ranchers and farmers to please keep an eye on them. Let them know if they see any strangers snooping around them. He said it's probably a big problem in California because they have huge almond groves there and people will contract their bees out to pollinate the almond groves. And that's when these thieves swoop in and steal the bees.”
The demand for bees in California has become so intense that some farmers will hire bee rustlers to go swipe hives off others’ land.

Wyoming coal supplies power for millions of Americans, provides thousands of high-paying jobs and ... could be the secret to achieving silky smooth and healthy skin.
That's what a group of investors willing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars money is betting on. Energy Reporter Pat Maio says Sandy, Utah-based TriSight has bought 136 acres of land near the Naughton coal-fired power plant in Kemmerer and is digging up the landscape to make way for a new line of skincare cosmetics made from coal.
“ it wants to take that coal and use proprietary processes to turn it into a serum that they want to call it ‘Heros’. That would be a skincare, and they’d market it anywhere in the country basically.”
TriSight is juggling many projects to turn coal into something “green,” rather than burning it for power generation.

Google Maps has a bad habit of sending travelers down closed roads in Wyoming. It's led to 28 search and rescues in Sweetwater County alone, leaving motorists stranded in below-freezing weather with 22-foot high snowdrifts.
But Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean says WYDOT is trying to fix that particular problem.
“As we all know, Google Maps is not the best at directing motorists. … So WYDOT has just announced that it has succeeded in opening up improving third party access to this data about road closures and road maintenance, to hopefully help curtail that in the future.”
Wyoming’s 511 app is updated in real time and includes information about road closures, strong winds, significant ice or snow and other situations where motorists need real-time data.

And the 1980 Miracle on Ice U.S. Olympic hockey team made history when a ragtag collection of the best college hockey players became a perfect team at the perfect time.
That same magic was captured by this season’s Team Wyoming 18U hockey team, which put 20 of the state’s best youth hockey players together to win the state’s first national USA Hockey championship on April 7 in Pennsylvania.
Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck said the young men overcame crazy odds to win.
“They had little time to practice. They played games basically one weekend a month, and then they all came together to go play five games in a row and win every game - putting 17 pucks in the net over those five games. So great job to Team Wyoming.”
The team’s coach said the character of the team reflected the “blue-collar” attitude of Wyoming kids, who arrived with support from their families and were ready to work.
In short, they did things the Cowboy Way.

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.