Good morning, and welcome to Cowboy State Daily Video News, for Wednesday, April 10, 2024!

A 14-year-old boy who was stabbed and killed at the Eastridge Mall in Casper on Sunday was reportedly protecting his girlfriend. 

Bobby Maher was allegedly killed by two underage suspects, who have been charged as adults, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck.

“Court records show that the young man, 14 years old, went to the mall because his girlfriend called him, and some boys were following her around the mall. And so he went there to protect her. And there at the mall, he was trying to tell them to leave. And then they go outside, and then there was a confrontation. And that’s when the stabbing occurred. And apparently, these young men were wearing masks and had stolen knives from a Target store.”

Jarreth Plunkett of Evansville faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, aggravated assault and battery, and theft. His alleged accomplice, Dominique Harris of Casper, faces conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, aggravated assault and battery, and a misdemeanor theft charge.

Amid a growing outcry for stiffer penalties in the case of a Sublette County man who allegedly tortured a wolf, a retired federal game warden said there might be further legal action that could be taken.

Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz spoke to Tim Eicher of Cody, who said a revocation of hunting privileges could apply.

“looking at his understanding of the law and looking into Wyoming statutes, he said in this particular case, a potential penalty could be a revocation of hunting privileges. It’s kind of one of those things that have to take place after the fact he said once, once a fine has been forfeited, which reportedly it has been in this case.” 

Any such revocation would likely be temporary, perhaps three to five years, according to Wyoming statutes. But it would still be more than the $250 fine issued for alleged illegal possession of a live wolf, so far the only recorded legal action taken in the case.

The landscape west of Kemmerer’s port of entry is about to get bulldozed up.

The $30 million makeover isn’t to hunt for fossils. It’s to make it easier to get coal for power plants, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.

“the reason they want to move the road north from where it is currently is because, you know, they want to tap something like 9 million tons of coal reserves. And the project would begin presumably sometime early next year, wouldn’t take that long, maybe a year, year and a half to complete.”

An estimated 1.2 million cubic yards of dirt will be moved from the rolling hillsides located just west of the port of entry. 

A Uinta County judge Monday dismissed the felony case against an Evanston man who was accused of using yard signs on his own property to intimidate his neighbor. 

Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that the charges against 44-year-old Quinn Groneman were dismissed at the request of the neighbor, who was also a witness against him in a town nuisance case.

“The judge presiding over Groneman’s intimidation case, dismissed the case on Monday. Now that’s without prejudice, meaning that the prosecutor could bring the case again if circumstances change, but according to the prosecutor’s filing, asking for the dismissal, it was at the neighbor’s request.”

Had he been convicted, Groneman could have faced up to 10 years in prison and up to $5,000 in fines.

And to get ahead of likely continued efforts to repeal Wyoming gun-free zones, the Campbell County Health board of trustees is considering lifting some firearms restrictions at the Gillette hospital.

Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz spoke to the chairman of the Campbell County Health Trustees, who said allowing firearms in Campbell County Memorial Hospital, or at least parts of it, could help the facility stay ahead of a cantankerous debate over Wyoming’s gun-free zones, which is sure to come up again in the Wyoming legislature.

“what they’re hoping to do is fashion a policy where perhaps they can have either some authorized hospital personnel who’ve been properly trained to be armed maybe to cover some of the entrances or maybe have security staff or just something there that that kind of the way he puts it kind of meets everybody’s wants and needs.” 

The chairman pointed out that there are some places in CCH where it would be best to still ban guns, such as the mental health treatment wing, and around strongly magnetic medical imaging equipment.

Radio Stations

The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. More radio stations will be added soon.

KYDT 103.1 FM – Sundance

KBFS 1450 AM — Sundance

KYCN 1340 AM / 92.7 FM — Wheatland

KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland

KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey

KZQL 105.5 FM — Casper

KMXW 92.5 FM — Casper

KBDY 102.1 FM — Saratoga

KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga

KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson

KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan

KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan

KWYO 1410 AM / 106.9 FM  — Sheridan

KYOY 92.3 FM Hillsdale-Cheyenne / 106.9 FM Cheyenne

KRAE 1480 AM — Cheyenne 

KDLY 97.5 FM — Lander

KOVE 1330 AM — Lander

KZMQ 100.3/102.3 FM — Cody, Powell, Medicine Wheel, Greybull, Basin, Meeteetse

KKLX 96.1 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep, Greybull

KCGL 104.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin, Lovell, Clark, Red Lodge, MT

KTAG 97.9 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin

KCWB 92.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin

KVGL 105.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Basin, Ten Sleep

KODI 1400 AM / 96.7 FM — Cody, Powell, Lovell, Basin, Clark, Red Lodge

KWOR 1340 AM / 104.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep

KREO 93.5 FM — Sweetwater and Sublette Counties

KGOS 1490 AM — Goshen County

KERM 98.3 FM — Goshen County

Check with individual radio stations for airtime of the newscasts.