Cowboy State Daily Video News: Wednesday, January 28, 2026

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, January 28th.  I’m Mac Watson.

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Mouse the horse had been missing since July 2025, only to be found alive by snowmobilers in the Wind River Mountains. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the rescue was an all-hands-on deck situation on Sunday to reach and rescue the horse.

“The horse went missing during a back country packing trip in July 2025 so they knew that there was a horse missing in that area. And one of the people who found the horse actually recognized it, because he was on the packing trip, or the horse went missing, so he knew it was that missing horse. They contacted the owner, and then everyone suddenly got a fire under their butts…So they put together a plan that involved several snowmobilers, a snow cat and a river raft that was supplied so they could load the horse up and drag it across the snow as a one horse open sleigh, if you will. And a successful effort. Once everybody put their minds to it and found the best time they do it, they did it.”

They say you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink. In this scenario, Mouse was eager to be led anywhere that would get him to warmth and safety, but the horse was effectively trapped in the mountains.

Read the full story HERE.

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The Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association on Monday voted to move its headquarters, Hall of Fame, and museum to Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 2029. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that PRCA’s move from Colorado depends on one main thing.

“It's contingent on funding to help with the move…I think the deal maker here is that it doesn't cost the PRCA anything to move. That's part of the deal. If that's not the case, then they're not going to move. I think the other thing is land that will be suitable and beneficial for what they envision there in Wyoming. And so they're in their press release, they kind of lay that out as somewhere close to the intersection of I 25 and I 80. That's the crossroads of America right there, two very highly traveled interstates…Wyoming has a very deep commitment to rodeo. It's kind of their unofficial professional sport.”

Cheyenne Frontier Days chief Tom Hirsig said it's the rodeo equivalent of getting the NFL headquarters.

Read the full story HERE.

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Wyoming lawmakers reversed their denial of $58 million in federal Medicaid funds for tribal clinics after people protested. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Rep. John Bear called it an accounting issue, while Rep. Larsen said Bear was “covering (his) butt.”

“Chairman John Bear and Representative Ken Pendergraft, very vocally, voted to block that funding, saying we can't allow this spending increase. We have to look out for the taxpayer. Fast forward, two weeks later, there's protest, there's backlash at the Tribal Relations Committee meeting in Riverton, and Bear says, ‘Hey, I want to explain the governor could still move this money through using his own processes’…I confronted Bear like, ‘Well, this doesn't match what you said when you voted to block this money.’ And he said, ‘Okay, but at least part of that was in the back of his mind’…it was representative Lloyd Larson who noted that if the tribal clinics don't get this money, they might cut services, which would send Medicaid covered tribal members to clinics off the reservation where the state actually pays half the bill instead of none of it.”

This unfolded at Central Wyoming College in Riverton amid a protest, a legislative meeting of the Select Tribal Relations Committee and tense testimony in which one lawmaker accused another of being disingenuous.

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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Madeline Daly on Monday pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder for allegedly killing her 11-month-old son Basil in New Mexico following a custody dispute from Wyoming. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher reports that she remains held without bond amid potential federal charges.

“Madeline Daley, the 35-year-old mom who is accused of murdering her own 11th month-old child, is currently being held in Grant County Detention Center in Silver City, New Mexico. On Monday, she went before the judge and pled not guilty to the charges of first degree murder. She's currently being held without bond pending her future court dates. She's also currently being investigated federally…Jake Stoner, the boy's father, finally has the boy's remains home with him in Kilgore Nebraska, and he's planning the boy's funeral for early February.”

Daly faces murder charges after absconding with her child, Basil, from Wyoming, in defiance of court orders. The boy’s father, Jake Stoner of Kilgore, Nebraska, reported him missing after Daly skipped a custody court hearing at which point Stoner was granted emergency custody and a federal warrant was issued for Daly’s arrest.

Read the full story HERE.

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According to a bill before the Wyoming Legislature, if a Wyomingite kills somebody, claims self-defense, is charged with murder, but is cleared, the county that charged them would be on the hook for all the defendant’s legal fees and other expenses. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that one Casper attorney says that could add up to roughly $1 million in some cases.

“I talked to a gun rights activist that, again said, ‘Not really a problem in Wyoming, but in some other states this problem with prosecuting attorneys just going after anybody who brandishes a gun in self defense or uses a gun in self defense. So gun rights activists think it's a good deal. And this defense attorney said, ‘Yeah maybe not an earth-shaking game-changer, but you can definitely see how it puts things a little bit more in favor of the defendants in these cases…I'm sure when this bill comes before committee, there's going to be a lot of attorneys there that are going to want to testify on both sides.”

From a gun rights and self-defense standpoint, the passage of House Bill 14 would be a win, Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America, tells Cowboy State Daily.

Read the full story HERE. 

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The Weston County clerk accused of skipping a legislative subpoena was scheduled to go to trial Thursday in Casper Circuit Court. But, Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that was until the judge ruled that her claims against the lawmakers who summoned her should be heard in a higher court first.

“Ryan Semerad, the Western county clerk's attorney, is appealing to a higher court, and he asked the circuit court in the meantime, like, ‘Hey, can you pause this so we don't have to go to trial while the higher court is hearing our arguments?’ and the lower court agreed…when you have an appeal, it's really nice if whatever the lower court was going to do to you for losing the argument doesn't happen to you while you take the argument to a higher court.”

Hadlock’s public saga is a long one, starting in November 2024, when faulty ballots circulated into the general election in Weston County and skewed the votes in two unopposed races.

Read the full story HERE.

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Only 0.1 inches of snow has fallen on Salt Lake City this winter. That’s the lowest snowfall on record, by a significant margin. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the average snowfall for this time of year is just over 28 inches. 

“Now that's not necessarily unheard of for this season. It's been a bad winter across the western states, but the previous record was still over two inches up to this point in the water year, which stretches from the beginning of October until the end of what we might consider beyond the winter season. So the question is, can even an exceptionally snowy February, March and April make up for that deficit? And the answer is probably not. Snow pack is really important because it retains water longer and lets it out more slowly. So having a healthy snow pack, that's why it's so important to all of those in the West. So Salt Lake City is going to get snow. It's just like Wyoming and Colorado and the rest of Utah. It's going to get snow between now and the end of winter, but it's probably too deep in a hole to climb out of in terms of building up the ideal snow pack.”

The warmer side of these storms means Utah’s snowpack is in dire straits. The latest records show the statewide snowpack is currently at 59% of the median, close to a new historic low.

Read the full story HERE.

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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.