Community News · Meeteetse, WY
Wyoming Game and Fish Department surveys covering 4,000 to 5,000 acres of the Meeteetse reintroduction area in late August found zero black-footed ferrets, marking a potential collapse of the population reintroduced in 2016. Sylvatic plague outbreaks in 2018, 2019, and 2023 combined with drought-driven declines in prairie dog prey are suspected causes. Prairie dog colonies in the area have shrunk from over 6,000 acres to roughly 3,800 active acres. Game and Fish diverted 10 captive-raised ferrets intended for Meeteetse to the Shirley Basin and continues annual insecticide treatments on about 4,000 acres at roughly $100,000 per year. Officials hope prairie dog recovery could support a ferret release by 2027.
Crime · Cody, WY
Marcotte Taggart, 74, a Cody-area Western furniture store owner, was arrested Thursday by Cody Police on four felony counts of making terroristic threats against a Park County oil field company. According to an affidavit by Detective Scott Burlingame, Taggart sent six letters between July 27 and Aug. 31, 2026, demanding money and threatening to use explosives and firearms at well sites; additional letters were addressed to President Trump and federal officials. Taggart remains in custody at the Park County Detention Center on $50,000 bail, facing up to 12 years in prison if convicted on all charges served consecutively.
Housing & Development · Cody, WY
During a Tuesday evening work session, the Cody City Council reached informal consensus to accept landowner Pearre Williams' revised zoning plan for about 77 vacant acres off Big Horn Avenue, which includes a 150-foot residential buffer along the northern and half-eastern borders with D-3 commercial/light industrial zoning on the remainder. Williams also proposed delaying annexation until he can pair it with a minor subdivision into five lots, but City Planner Jenny Kramer clarified that annexation and subdivision are separate processes that can run concurrently. Council member Don Shreve changed his vote from no to yes, citing the compromise as responsive to nearby homeowners' concerns. Mayor Lee Ann Reiter called the buffer and 15-foot screen arrangement 'a huge concession' by the landowner.
