It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Thursday, April 9th. I'm Mac Watson.

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Cody Roberts, known for torturing a wolf in February 2024 in Daniel, Wyoming, was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months' probation and fined $1,000. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Roberts could get prison time and more fines if he fails probation.

"The judge gave a speech about the grandeur of Wyoming, the heightened duty that carries toward wildlife and other nature. And the prosecutor, Clayton Malinkovich, quoted from a Supreme Court, a Wyoming Supreme Court case, about being measured when you sentence people. The prosecutor said that the plea agreement was appropriate."

Sweetwater County District Court Judge Richard Lavery, who has been filling in for a Sublette County judge who recused herself from the case, called the crime disturbing.

Read the full story HERE.

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Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock was arrested Wednesday morning on two election-related felony charges, then released on her own recognizance roughly two hours later. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that each charge is punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

"She's facing a misdemeanor for not appearing for the subpoena. She's facing the civil removal trial that opens next Monday, and she's facing now at least two new felony charges for which she was arrested Wednesday morning. She booked in roughly a couple hours later, she bonded out on a signature bond, which is a judge saying, Just sign your name if you violate you know if you if you fail to appear, you have to pay this amount, but you don't have to pay anything up front. But now she's also facing this felony case in addition to everything else, and it alleges that she violated election law by falsifying documents and being an official who didn't carry out the law."

The Natrona County District Attorney's Office is the special prosecutor over the felony case, the filing says. That same office is prosecuting Hadlock in a criminal case from last year, accusing her of committing a misdemeanor by not appearing for a legislative subpoena at an investigative committee meeting held in Casper in late September.

Read the full story HERE.

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A $500 million commercial-scale Converse County solar project has been delayed because the company doesn't have a buyer for its power. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that one Converse County official says he's not surprised.

"State Senator Brian Boner of Converse county said we know the project isn't real until they break ground. There's a lot of details that need to come together in projects like this. That's what Commissioner Rick Grant told me. Right now, the company is looking at where to tie in their power on the grid, and also who's going to buy the power. So that has not been disclosed. Construction was expected to start in June. With this delay, it is not expected now until sometime in 2027."

The Dutchman development is not the first solar project in Wyoming to stall because it can't find a buyer for its electricity. A solar project in Goshen County that aimed to produce 163 megawatts of electricity hit a big snag last year when it was ready to develop but had no feasible way of transmitting the electricity it would generate to market.

Read the full story HERE.

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A federal agency that examined how the country's energy system could evolve over the next quarter century is forecasting little to no growth for nuclear energy. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports this report comes at a time when Wyoming and the federal government are banking on expanding the industry.

"The US Energy Information Administration, which is this separate group that monitors all energy sectors and provides all kinds of data on growth and makes projections. It projected a pretty flat trajectory for the nuclear industry in the country, and that comes in contrast with a lot of ramping up and funding through the DOE. It may advance and continue to, you know, technologically have breakthroughs, but a huge spike in capacity was not predicted by these latest numbers."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday released its Annual Energy Outlook which is a sweeping look at how the country's energy system could evolve through 2050, covering oil, natural gas, transportation, and electricity under a wide range of projections about economic growth, fuel prices, technology costs and federal policy.

Read the full story HERE.

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I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily news continues now…

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A car full of Cheyenne teenagers trying to shoot each other with realistic-looking toy guns touched off a "shots-fired" report and a heavy police response Tuesday evening. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that police say the teens could've been shot.

"There are other people who play this. This game is called senior assassin. Now that the police department doesn't know exactly if that's exactly what these guys are playing. However, a lot of those, a lot of people who play those in other towns. So not only is the Cheyenne Police Department warning people about that, because somebody hit somebody's car with the projectile from one of the guns. The guy thought it was a real shot, and reported an active shooting going on that elicited a huge police response."

According to the Cheyenne Police Department, the teens were playing a game with toy Orbeez guns that resemble AR-15-style automatic rifles and which shoot soft gel pellets. The toys were painted black to appear even more realistic.

Read the full story HERE.

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The firm developing the $4 billion Seminoe Pumped Storage Project on Tuesday said the 970-megawatt pump storage project to provide stability to the electric grid can begin work in 2029. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that they assured commissioners downstream fisheries and sheep migration wouldn't be impacted.

"They received approval from the DEQ related to some water issues with the project, and then ahead, they are still looking for completion of the environmental impact statement from FERC, which is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. They told the commissioners that this project, if it goes to the end, will not start construction until 2029 but they outlined some things that they have proposed to take away concerns related to big horn sheep and to the all important fishery that is in the North Platte, below that project."

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or FERC, the lead permitting agency, as well as the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management and state agencies covering water, fish and wildlife all get a say on whether the energy pump storage system proposed to help provide "stability" to the nation's electric grid moves forward.

Read the full story HERE.

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Hunters worry that language slipped into the federal Farm Bill to protect racing greyhounds could ban the training of hunting and cattle dogs with "live lures." Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that one Wyoming outdoorsman says the language is so vague it could even include police dogs.

"The American Kennel Club and the National Sportsman's Sportsman's Alliance and some other groups have looked into it. And so I did talk to one really seasoned bird hunter and another mountain lion hunter who uses hounds to hunt mountain lions. They said if that were to go through as worded, it could effectively ban us from training our dogs the way we've always trained them. You're using a mountain lion as a live lure to get the hounds to chase it up into a tree. Or you're, you're taking your bird hunting dog out as a little puppy to train it to run around and find pheasants. So could that be qualified as a live lure."

H.R. 5017, the Greyhound Protection Act, was first introduced in 2025 and now sits before the U.S. House Agriculture Committee as an amendment to the Farm Bill.

Read the full story HERE.

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Campbell County firefighters rescued a bow-tie-wearing baby goat after it fell into an 8-foot-deep sump drain over the weekend. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that the goat was dressed up to celebrate Easter.

"How they got the goat was they had a long, just like your long orang...