Latest news with #Wyoming
CBS News
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
CBS Colorado speaks to U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds pilot ahead of Cheyenne Frontier Days performance
After taking a one year break due to airport maintenance, the United States Air Force Thunderbirds are returning to Cheyenne Frontier Days Saturday. The iconic team, known to have some of the most talented pilots in the world, will perform a show in Cheyenne as part of the CFD festivities. Ahead of the performance over F.E. Warren Air Base, the Thunderbirds invited CBS Colorado to watch their arrival and practice over Cheyenne. Then, pilot Ian Lee spoke in front of his F-16 aircraft, numbered three, on the tarmac. "Being a Thunderbird is great," said Lee, a Lt. Colonel. With the call sign of "Bear," Lee said his team often flies at more than 400 miles per hour while completing maneuvers. "The closest we get is about 18 inches apart," Lee said. "That is definitely where we have to have trust in our teammates." While the Thunderbirds do more than 60 shows a year, Cheyenne Frontier Days holds a special place in the history of the team. "This is something we have been doing for an extremely long time.," Lee said. "This was actually the Thunderbirds' first civilian air demonstration we did back in 1953. So it is very exciting to be here, and it is nice to keep that tradition going." Since then, the Thunderbirds have performed at nearly every CFD experience since. In 2024, the team had to skip the tradition due to ongoing runway construction at Cheyenne's airport, which the military shares. Lee said he also, coincidentally, happened to take 2024 off from being with the Thunderbirds. However, like the team, he is back with them in Cheyenne now. Lee said, with the show being July 26, the team plans to spend some of their time in Cheyenne attending the iconic Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. "I think the first rodeo I had ever been to was here back in 2021. It is a lot of fun," Lee said. "It was a lot more fun than I was expecting. So I am a fan." The Thunderbirds have two types of shows they regularly perform, known as high and low altitude shows. In order to perform the show with the most loops, or the high altitude show, clouds must be clear due to safety. If the weather holds out as they hope, the team expects to perform the high altitude show in Cheyenne. However in 2023, they had the same plan. But cloud coverage forced them to change to a low altitude show at the last minute. Lee said, no matter what, the crowd will be given a visually and audibly fun experience. "Especially after we light the afterburners, you can definitely feel that from the ground -- the power of the jets -- which is really great," Lee said.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Return of wolves to Yellowstone has led to a surge in aspen trees unseen for 80 years
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Yellowstone's wolves are helping a new generation of young aspen trees to grow tall and join the forest canopy — the first new generation of such trees in Yellowstone's northern range in 80 years. Gray wolves (Canis lupus) had disappeared from Yellowstone National Park by 1930 following extensive habitat loss, human hunting and government eradication programs. Without these top predators, populations of elk (Cervus canadensis) grew unfettered. At their peak population, an estimated 18,000 elk ranged across the park, chomping on grasses and shrubs as well as the leaves, twigs and bark of trees like quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides). This stopped saplings from establishing themselves, and surveys in the 1990s found no aspen saplings. "You had older trees, and then nothing underneath," Luke Painter, an ecologist at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study, told Live Science. But when wolves were reintroduced in 1995, the picture began to change. As wolf numbers rose, the elk population in the park dropped sharply, and it is now down to about 2,000. In the new study, published Tuesday (July 22) in the journal Forest Ecology and Management, Painter and his colleagues surveyed aspen stands — specific areas of the forest where these trees grow. Related: Reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone helped entire ecosystem thrive, 20-year study finds The team returned to three areas surveyed in 2012 to examine changes to aspen sapling numbers. Of the 87 aspen stands studied, a third had a large number of tall aspen saplings throughout, indicating the trees are healthy and growing. Another third of the stands had patches of tall saplings. "We're seeing significant new growth of young aspen and this is the first time that we've found it in our plots," Painter said. These are young aspen with a trunk greater than 2 inches (5 centimetres) in diameter at chest height — which haven't been seen there since the 1940s, he added. "It doesn't mean that they're not going to get killed or die from something, but it's a pretty good indication that we're getting some new trees," Painter noted. "As they get bigger, they get more resilient." Such trees are old enough to spread themselves, either by sending up new shoots from their roots a fair distance from the main tree, or via seed production, he said. However, while Yellowstone's quaking aspen are recovering, they aren't out of the woods just yet. The elk population has declined, but bison (Bison bison) numbers have increased in some areas in recent years. Bison are a lot harder for wolves to take down, said Painter, so increasing numbers of bison may be emerging as a new constraint on aspen in some areas. Painter said that the variation in aspen recovery shows the effects of reintroducing a big predator to the top of the food chain, rather than to changes in the overall climate, for example. The re-emergence of aspen has widespread effects, he told Live Science. "Aspen are a key species for biodiversity. The canopy is more open than it is with conifers and you get filtering light that creates a habitat that supports a lot of diversity of plants." This means a boost to berry-producing shrubs, insects and birds and also species like beavers, because the trees are a preferred food and building material for the semi- aquatic rodents, along with the willows and cottonwoods that grow near to water in the region. RELATED STORIES —Yellowstone's 'queen of the wolves' killed by rival pack after living to 11 years old and having 10 litters of pups —Yellowstone National Park earthquake shakes hottest and oldest geothermal area —Giant coyote killed in southern Michigan turns out to be a gray wolf — despite the species vanishing from region 100 years ago There are also hints that the number of bears and cougars in the region have increased since wolves were introduced, Painter said, but it's not clear why. "The paper shows the important ecological benefits occurring from the restoration of wolves to Yellowstone National Park," Dominick Spracklen, a professor of biosphere-atmosphere interactions at the University of Leeds, U.K., who has studied the potential impacts of reintroducing wolves in Scotland, told Live Science. "Ecosystems that lack large carnivores are often increasingly out of balance," Spracklen said. "While reintroducing carnivores raises important challenges around human-wildlife coexistence, this work underscores the significant ecological benefits such restoration efforts can bring." Solve the daily Crossword
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
GOP senator advocates for opportunity to 'see' Trump's agenda through
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., explains why she is one of the senators who agreed to work through Congress' August recess on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
OpenAI's $500B Power Move Just Got Bigger -- Oracle Is Building the Backbone
OpenAI is quietly rewriting the map of U.S. compute infrastructureand Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) is riding shotgun. The two companies have agreed to co-develop an additional 4.5 gigawatts of AI-focused data centers under the Stargate project, targeting states like Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. This comes on top of OpenAI's current buildout in Abilene, Texas, where parts of the site are already online and running workloads using Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) newest GB200 chips. Together, these expansions could push OpenAI's total compute capacity past 5 gigawatts, powered by more than 2 million chips. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. This isn't just a bigger betit's a faster one. OpenAI said the early success in Abilene gave it confidence to scale rapidly. That Texas facility, now partially operational, served as a real-world stress test of what at-scale and at-speed deployment looks like. And while the effort is linked to the trio's original $500 billion infrastructure pledge with SoftBank, OpenAI clarified that SoftBank isn't financing this new roundreportedly due to financing delays amid global economic and tariff headwinds. Oracle, meanwhile, has been delivering racks of Nvidia's chips since last month, showing its role isn't just strategicit's operational. For investors, this could mark a pivotal shift in Oracle's positioning. OpenAI expects the new capacity rollout to generate over 100,000 U.S. jobs in construction and operationsa headline-grabbing figure, even if long-term staffing remains modest. But the real story could be Oracle's deepening role as a critical infrastructure provider in the AI gold rush. With demand for AI compute infrastructure scaling faster than ever, Oracle may be setting itself up as one of the biggest behind-the-scenes winners. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Millionaire banker, 43, dies after hiking up and down Wyoming peak SIX times in a row for 'Everesting' challenge
A millionaire banker has died after he hiked a Wyoming mountain six times in quick succession as part of an advanced endurance event. Slava Leykind, 43, died in an Idaho hospital on July 2, just a few days after participating in an 'Everesting' challenge at Snow King Mountain in Jackson Hole. The event is meant to simulate climbing Mount Everest, the tallest peak in the world at 29,032 feet. Leykind would have had to scale Snow King roughly 19 times to achieve the same vertical incline. With each successful climb, hikers were taken down to base camp by gondolas. The challenge began at 6am on June 27 and Leykind was able to complete six laps up the Snow King Bootpack trail before falling ill, Jackson Hole News & Guide reported. At 11:28pm, Jackson Hole Fire and EMS was called to the mountain for medical assistance and transport. Leykind lost his life due to 'an electrolyte imbalance causing cardiac arrest,' said Teton County Coroner Brent Blue. The father-of-three lived in Westport, Connecticut with his children and wife, Amy Keller Leykind. He spent nearly 20 years at the New York City-based investment bank CG Sawaya Partners. He was born in 1982 in Belarus, while it was still under the Soviet Union's control. He emigrated to the United States in 1988. He'd later get a degree in business administration from the University of Michigan before embarking on a long career in finance. Although he had a demanding job, his first priority was his family. 'Despite his significant professional success at a young age, Slava's role as a husband and father was his greatest achievement, passion and pride. He fervently supported his children, bringing love and a sense of calm to the wonderful chaos of a full house,' according to his obituary. It is unclear what specific type of electrolyte imbalance Leykind developed during his hikes, but the most common form experienced by athletes undergoing extreme exertion is called hyponatremia. The condition stems from low sodium levels in a person's blood. It can be caused by number of different things, including certain medications, medical conditions and hormonal imbalances. It can also be brought on by drinking too much water during or after extreme exercise. At endurance events like the one Leykind participated in, medical teams trained on the signs and symptoms of hyponatremia are always on site. Symptoms include lightheadedness, nausea, headache, vomiting and an altered mental state, including confusion and seizures. These symptoms sometimes mimic dehydration, but certain tests can differentiate the two issues. It is not clear what treatment Leykind received, but if treated incorrectly, hyponatremia can be deadly. Dr. Andy Pasternak, medical director of Western States Endurance Run in California, said there is really only one treatment that should be used for athletes experiencing hyponatremia. 'If someone's truly symptomatic and hyponatremic, the only IV fluids that you want to give them is what we call hypertonic, or 3 percent saline,' he told News & Guide. 'Anything else, in my mind, is not appropriate treatment.' At Leykind's funeral on July 8, his family, colleagues, neighbors and friends all gathered to remember him. His wife, Amy, told stories about how devoted he was to their three kids, while his brother-in-law Alan Isenberg remembered his 'playful energy.' Leykind's close friend Robbie Salter eulogized him and talked about how he cherished the time he got to spend with him. 'In thinking about this moment, the only comfort I can offer, and the central theme I come back to is this: appreciation for the quality, not the quantity, of time we shared with Slava,' Salter said. 'Because when someone like Slava leaves us far too early — and let's be clear, this is unfair — you begin to understand that relationships aren't measured in years but in depth.'
