Around the 307
News, commentary, and other items of interest from the greater Wyoming landscape.
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Here’s your lineup of Cowboy State news items from the week of January 21st, 2024:
On Thursday, January 25th, we enjoyed the first full moon of 2024. Historically, January’s full moon is known as the Wolf Moon although it has many other monikers among Native American tribes such as the Ojibwe’s Spirit Moon and Cree’s Cold Moon. The name Wolf Moon (according to the Old Farmers’ Almanac) comes from the notion that wolves are more likely to be heard howling at this time of year. You can also read more about the Wolf Moon in this Buckrail story.
Also on Thursday, January 25th, Cowboy State Daily published a very informative article about the Natrium nuclear plant to be built in Kemmerer and the expected economic growth the facility will create for the region. Housing and office space are already hot commodities ever since TerraPower announced in 2021 that Kemmerer had been selected as the location for the nuclear demonstration plant. Ground-breaking for construction of the Natrium plant’s test facility will occur this summer. Along with the nuclear facility, the potential transition of a nearby coal mine into a completely new industry is also in the works. If successful, carbon-free ammonia and other products like fertilizer and skin care items will be produced from coal. Read the full story here.
On Friday, January 26th, the Tour de France of dog mushing—known officially as the Pedigree Stage Stop Race—had its ceremonial start at 5pm in the Jackson Town Square. On Saturday, January 27th the sled dog teams completed the first leg of the race in Teton County known as the Blackrock Stage. Trail conditions for the mushers and teams were described as nicely overcast with a hardpacked trail. Jess Moore, mushing the Iditarod team in place of Alix Crittenden (you may recall I wrote about Alix in last week’s Around the 307 post), finished the first stage in 6th place (out of 15 teams). We’ll keep you updated as the race progresses!
Jess Moore and the Iditarod Race Team on today’s Blackrock Stage. Click on the photo to see a Pedigree Stage Stop Facebook page video clip of Jess and the dogs from today’s stage. [Photo credit Pedigree Stage Stop Race.] Lastly, there was sad news this week from Senator John Barrasso who released a statement on the passing of his wife Bobbi; Bobbi succumbed to brain cancer after a 2-year battle. You can read the Senator’s statement here.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and have a great week ya’ll!
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