Cowboy State Daily Video News: Wednesday, September, 9, 2026

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

This newscast is brought to you by Google. This Wednesday, September 9th, Google invites you to a free community meeting at 5pm at the Metropolitan Downtown in Cheyenne. Come learn more about Project Tembo, ask questions, and meet your Wyoming Google team.

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Democratic state Sen. Mike Gierau is calling ads by fellow Dem, Rep. Liz Storer's PAC "distortive" and harmful to what he thought was the higher political ground his party held. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Gierau compared its tactics to those of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

"Senator Mike Gierau called the PAC's ads distortive because one showed a picture of a project that was going on in town under a text deriding the actions of county commissioners for allowing developments, and so he was saying 'this was not a county project. Why are we linking these two things?' He said that this kind of quote distortive messaging was similar to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which of course made headlines in 2024 when its political arm, its campaign arm, launched flyers that were so aggressive and indeed distortive that they landed in court on a defamation lawsuit that was dismissed more than a year later."

The core dispute has been about the housing shortage that has been a flashpoint in Teton County for years.

Read the full story HERE.

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A 6-year-old boy who was kidnapped in Michigan turned up safe in Wyoming on Monday, while his mom — who didn't have legal custody of him — was arrested in Evanston. Cowboy State Daily's Kolby Fedore reports the boy's father praised the "sharpness of a Wyoming officer" for recovering his son.

"A Michigan woman named Marisa Kalia was arrested on Monday afternoon. She is being connected to a missing six-year-old boy from Michigan, who is now safely being reunited with his family. On Tuesday afternoon, he was with the Department of Family Services. A prosecutor for Uinta County said that charges have been filed against Marissa Kalia, although those charges are not yet publicly available until Wednesday. The father, Justin Malberg, made a public post thanking everyone who helped locate his son, and he had said on Monday night, that he was boarding a plane to go and be reunited with Liam."

Liam Malburg has since been safely returned to his father, Uinta County Attorney Loretta Kallas confirmed Tuesday. Meanwhile, 30-year-old Marisa Calliea remains in the Uinta County Detention Center after being booked on Monday.

Read the full story HERE.