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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

We don't have to put up with crap like this...

Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Government & Politics

Politics

Wyoming U.S. House Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of 22 Republicans to vote against making daylight saving time permanent as the House passed the Sunshine Protection Act on Tuesday.

For Wyomingites tired of changing their clocks every spring and fall, the vote was a big step toward ending the twice-yearly ritual that has been a divisive issue in the Cowboy State and across the nation.

The 308-117 vote advances the act to the Senate, which if approved would make daylight saving time permanent.

Most Americans would stop changing their clocks twice a year and instead remain on daylight saving time year-round, although states could choose to observe permanent standard time instead.

Hageman told Cowboy State Daily in a statement that her vote was made with Wyoming in mind.

"The Sunshine Protection Act robs Wyoming farmers and ranchers of precious sunlight and ensures the first hours of a student's day is in darkness,” she said. "The government isn't funded, our elections aren't secure, and Wyoming's legacy industries need help. 

"I will not vote for a time-wasting bill that puts Wyoming in the dark."

If enacted, the legislation would mean later winter sunsets but also later winter sunrises, giving people more daylight in the evening while making mornings darker.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Another Opportunity "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming has been preparing for this possibility for years."}]

In 2020, the Wyoming Legislature approved a trigger law authorizing the state to adopt permanent daylight saving time if Congress first changes federal law and neighboring Mountain Time states enact similar laws.

As a result, Tuesday's House vote alone would not change anything for Wyoming.

Even if the bill ultimately becomes law, Wyoming would continue changing its clocks until the conditions outlined in state law are met.

Former state Rep. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, sponsored Wyoming's trigger law and spent years advocating for permanent daylight saving time.

When the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022, Laursen

he hoped Americans had changed their clocks for the last time that November.

Instead, the proposal stalled in the House before reaching then-President Joe Biden.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now, four years later, Laursen believes Congress has another opportunity."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's fantastic news,\" he said Tuesday. \"I'm feeling hopeful.\""}]

Laursen said he hopes the Senate can "get something figured out" after unanimously approving a similar bill four years ago.

Asked what message he would send senators, Laursen said, "Let's do it," he said. "Trump wants it. I want it."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long-Running Debate"}]

Supporters of the legislation argue ending the twice-yearly clock changes would eliminate an unnecessary disruption while giving Americans more usable daylight after work and school.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie, R-Kentucky, said permanent daylight saving time would improve traffic safety, strengthen the economy and give people "more time to exercise outside, visit family, attend concerts and sporting events."

"It also means more sunlight at the end of the day so Americans can return safely from work and children can return safely from school," Guthrie said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Not everyone agrees."}]

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine supports ending the twice-yearly clock changes but argues that Congress should instead adopt permanent standard time, saying it better aligns with the body's natural circadian rhythms and promotes healthier sleep.

If daylight saving time became permanent, Wyoming would experience later winter sunrises and later sunsets, leaving many children and commuters traveling before sunrise while extending daylight later into the evening.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Senate Faces Familiar Decision"}]

The legislation now heads to the Senate, which unanimously approved a similar version of the Sunshine Protection Act in 2022 before it stalled in the House.

[{"type":"text","text":"Its prospects this time are uncertain."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming's congressional delegation is split on the issue."}]

While Hageman voted against the House bill, Sen. Cynthia Lummis has 

backed making daylight saving time permanent, calling the twice-yearly clock changes "an unnecessary disruption" and saying advances in technology have made the original reasons for changing clocks obsolete.

[{"type":"text","text":"Sen. John Barrasso has taken a more cautious position."}]

Last spring he told Cowboy State Daily, "Every time we have to change the clocks, I hear about this issue at home in Wyoming. 

"While it would certainly be easier to not have to change our clocks, there are some real concerns with sending our kids to school in the dark. Congress must thoroughly debate all of the potential impacts before taking any action to change daylight saving time on the national level."

Asked Tuesday about the bill's chances in the Senate, Barrasso 

, "We'll see. You know, we had passed something like that once before, and then the House hit the snooze alarm on it, and we'll see what happens when it gets here."

Even if the Senate approves the bill and Trump signs it into law, Wyoming would not immediately stop changing its clocks. 

The state's trigger law requires not only congressional approval, but also neighboring Mountain Time states to adopt permanent daylight saving time before Wyoming could make the switch.

Cowboy State Daily reached out to Barrasso's office Tuesday for additional comment on the House-passed legislation but did not receive a response before publication.

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<title>House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The U.S. House passed a bill Tuesday to make daylight saving time permanent, but Rep. Harriet Hageman was one of only 22 Republicans who voted against it, arguing it would put schoolchildren in the dark and take morning sunlight from farmers and ranchers.

House Passes Permanent Daylight Saving Time Bill, Hageman Votes Against

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense because of how dire Teton County’s housing shortage is, some commissioners say.

The Teton County Commission voted last week to incorporate employee housing units into the build plan of the new coroner’s facility. That advances, but doesn’t finalize the move, Commissioner Luther Propst told Cowboy State Daily.

Coroner Brent Blue, who’s running against five other Democrats for the party’s nomination in three open Commission seats, spoke against the plan.

“I vehemently opposed it,” Blue said in a Tuesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. “Who wants to live in an apartment above a morgue in an industrial area? That’s just a pipe dream.”

Noting that the measure passed, Blue said the complex might work better as a bunkhouse or dorm for summertime or part-time workers who aren’t planning on settling above the morgue.   

The morgue maneuver reflects that “certainly housing is one of our critical problems for employees,” Blue said.

Chief Deputy Coroner Russell Nelson, who’s running to lead the office, was less subtle.

Blue sent Cowboy State Daily a letter that Nelson had sent the local newspaper after the vote in which Nelson referenced his past work for the Arizona State Museum’s Human Identification Laboratory. 

There, he said, he’d encountered undocumented migrants who’d died in the heat while trying to cross the Southern border, many amid a “brisk drug trade.”

“The bodies that came through our laboratory had been beaten with a variety of tools, shot, burned, dismembered or just left out on the desert floor,” wrote Nelson.

He said lab workers used an enzymatic detergent solution to loosen soft tissue for examining bone features, wrote Nelson.

“All this cooking — even under a fume hood — produced a significant aroma of decomposition in the surrounding areas,” the letter says. 

Nelson compared it to being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit at the Transfer Station.”

Nelson referenced “several” process-heavy cases, and “one rather high-profile, complete with paparazzi.”

Travel vlogger Gabby Petito was killed by her boyfriend in Teton County in the summer of 2021. 

Propst presented the motion at last week's commission meeting to include the housing  plans in the new morgue construction. The aye votes sounded, and no nay votes were audible on the 

Propst told Cowboy State Daily in a phone interview Tuesday that the vote was unanimous. 

He also believes Blue softened to the idea of temporary rather than “executive” housing during that meeting.

Blue said that he conceded the temporary housing idea as a compromise “if (they’re) going to force the issue.”

Propst noted, as Deputy County Attorney Keith Gingery did during the meeting, that housing has occupied that neighborhood. Blue had protested, however, that it’s an industrial area.

Commission Vice-Chair Wes Gardner told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he voted for the addition. 

The county’s dire need, the thrift of building housing on an already-planned building, and the potential to mitigate some of the coroner’s concerns factored into his aye vote, he said.

The cost estimate for the potential two housing units is roughly $1 million of the approximately $ 5 million project, the 

Paying $1 million for two housing units is nearly unheard-of in Teton County, said Gardner.

Teton regularly ranks as the nation’s wealthiest county. Wealthy people drive up home values and with them, property taxes and other costs of living.

Many of the local workers commute from other towns, and workforce housing shortage problems have recurred for years. 

County and Jackson city governments have tried over the years to handle those pressures by subsidizing housing, charging mitigation fees of homebuilders, price-capping homes, among other strategies.

“I completely understand and appreciate where the coroner’s coming from,” said Gardner. “I wish I weren’t in a position where I feel the need to put housing on top of the morgue. Unfortunately, I am in that position.”

Gardner said that on the one hand, he’s faced with an “awkward” living situation and the potential for people to feel uncomfortable. 

“On the other hand, I’m looking at the stark reality facing Teton County and our housing shortage,” he said.

The plan is for the employees to pay a low rent to stay in county housing, he said. 

Gardner said the county government is short by fewer than a dozen employees right now — which is “pretty good” for it. But it has around 26 employee units and nearly 340 employees, he said.

Commission Chair Mark Newcomb told the board last Tuesday that “we also thought” that adding the homes to the new morgue could make the project eligible for a special purpose excise tax, which is slated in part for employee housing.

“(That) might give a little boost to helping with the whole project cost,” said Newcomb in the meeting, adding that he recognized the coroner’s concern.

Propst said he agrees with Blue about making it temporary housing. He called the plot “not where someone might want to live for their career,” but a “great opportunity to provide housing.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Newcomb did not return a voicemail request for comment by publication."}]

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<title>Teton County Is So Desperate For Housing It Wants To Build It On A Morgue | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Some county commissioners say putting an employee housing complex on top of a morgue makes sense due to the housing shortage but the coroner's office is strongly against it. They say the smell is like being “downwind of the carcass disposal pit."

Teton County Is So Desperate For Housing It Wants To Build It On A Morgue

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

Courts

CASPER — A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday to his alleged part in a confrontation that led up to a fatal shooting at south-side apartment last year. 

Jadin Zander Tripplett is accused of being with an armed friend on May 11, 2025, when he pointed a gun at a man in the apartment — who was also his cousin —and pulling the trigger.

Triplett told Casper police the gun didn’t fire because he had forgotten to take his safety off. 

His accomplice, Anicio Bernard, 20, did fire his weapon as did the man in the apartment, leaving Bernard dead and the cousin wounded.

In Natrona County District Court on Tuesday standing beside his defense attorney Dylan Rosalez, Judge Kerri Johnson read Triplett the aggravated assault and battery charge he faces for the May 11, 2025, incident. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He told her he understood the charge."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Johnson asked him how he would plead."}]

“Not guilty, your honor,” Triplett said.

The judge said she would order the case be put on the court docket for trial.

Rosalez asked that Triplett’s $100,000 cash or surety bond be continued.

Triplett pleaded not guilty in a separate file on July 9 to a charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery related to the same May 11 incident. 

That charge and the aggravated assault and battery charge were separated in Casper Circuit Court due to a legal issue during Triplett’s first preliminary hearing on both charges.

The Natrona County District Attorney’s Office has asked to joint the cases again.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Background"}]

Charges against Triplett stem from an incident in the early evening of May 11, 2025, when court records state he and Bernard had gone to his cousin’s apartment to retrieve a weapon allegedly stolen from Triplett.

Both men put on masks before entering the apartment and they were accompanied by Triplett’s girlfriend, Neevah Marie Neeman.

A police affidavit states that at least four people were in the apartment when the pair entered the door and Bernard yelled out, “Give me all your shit, give me all your shit.”

Neeman told police that while walking into the apartment building, Bernard had chambered a round in his pistol. 

The affidavit states Bernard had gotten the weapon from Triplett a few weeks earlier. Neeman also said Triplett had a handgun as well.

Once inside, Triplett’s cousin pulled out the weapon he had and the shooting began, according to the affidavit.

A handful of witnesses interviewed by police inside and outside the apartment estimated that seven to 11 shots were exchanged, the affidavit states. 

Police recovered two 9 mm shell casing and 11 10 mm casings.

Triplett’s cousin was hit in the heart and gall bladder causing “extensive damage,” the affidavit states. 

He was transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center and then sent by life flight to Colorado for further care.

Bernard was also transported to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Last Word: ‘Run'"}]

Witnesses told police that Bernard was lying in a pool of blood on the concrete outside the door wearing a ski mask and in possession of a pistol.

Triplett and Neeman both told police following the shooting that Bernard’s last word to them was “run.”

Bernard’s girlfriend, who remained in the car outside the apartment, said prior to going into the building that she and Bernard had taken off their religious necklaces, put them together and said a prayer.

None of the trio called 911, they just took off in the car to gather weapons at Triplett’s residence to give to a friend.

Witnesses interviewed by police described the cousin and shooting victim as someone the apartment renter wanted out of the place. 

Triplett told police that initially he thought that he and Bernard were going to be “pressing” his cousin with their fists, but when he saw Bernard pull out his gun, he continued because he did not want to be labeled a “pussy.”

The affidavit states Triplett admitted pointing his gun at his cousin with a round in the chamber, but when he tried to pull the trigger he had forgotten to release the safety.

“Triplett stated he took this as a sign and left the apartment,” the affidavit states.

The police investigation included a recording sent from a “reliable” and “unnamed source” after the shooting where Triplett and his girlfriend were heard talking about the shooting,” the affidavit says. 

On one recording Triplett is heard stating that “KB (Bernard) had his blick.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Blick is a slang term for a weapon."}]

In a second recording, Triplett is heard describing what he would tell police who maybe would find his fingerprints on shell casings or the gun.

“Know what I’m gonna say? This (n***a) was just in my crib, he got two warrants, and he robbed my blick,” the affidavit states was on the recording. 

The affidavit states prior to May 11, Triplett was offering people $500 to get his weapon back from his cousin. 

A police search of Triplett’s cellphone found a message sent to his cousin on May 9 that read, “I’m coming for you cuz.”

Both the aggravated assault and battery and conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and battery carry potential penalties of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Neeman was charged with accessory after the fact in the case and faces arraignment next month in Natrona County District Court.

Jadin Tripplett 7 14 26

<title>​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A 21-year-old Casper man pleaded not guilty Tuesday for his alleged role in a deadly shootout at an apartment complex in May 2025. He’s accused of trying to shoot his cousin over a stolen gun during an armed raid that touched off a gunfight.

​Casper Man Pleads Not Guilty To Role In Deadly Apartment Shootout

A summer camp drive through Cody took a disturbing turn when, investigators say, a group of children allegedly found themselves looking out the windows of their van at a man driving alongside them without pants and pleasuring himself while making eye contact with those in the van.

Court records show that rather than let him disappear into traffic, two camp counselors followed the vehicle through Cody, photographed its license plate and called law enforcement.

Cody police officers say they quickly realized the registered owner was someone they already knew.

Andrew Crawford, a Cody resident born in 1988 and a registered sex offender, has been charged with felony indecent liberties with a minor and several public indecency misdemeanors spanning multiple years. 

who was convicted of public indecency in April 2023 after he repeatedly exposed himself to female baristas at Cody coffee kiosks during the fall of 2022.

Those incidents continued for weeks before one barista responded by dumping scalding 170-degree water into Crawford's lap after he exposed himself. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"6 Juveniles "}]

Park County dispatch got the report about Crawford's more recent allegations at about 4:34 p.m. on Friday, court records show.

One of the camp counselors told investigators that he and another counselor were traveling through Cody with six juveniles when a blue Chevrolet Impala pulled alongside their van.

The counselor reported that the driver had removed his pants and was masturbating while looking through the van's windows. He told deputies all six campers and both counselors witnessed the alleged conduct.

Dispatch identified the vehicle as being registered to Crawford, whom the investigating officer wrote he recognized from prior law enforcement contacts involving similar allegations.

Court records show he was accused of exposing himself to two girls and their mother in a Cody Walmart parking lot in 2011 — this while under investigation for allegedly possessing child pornography while serving in the U.S. Air Force in 2009. 

He was sentenced in 2012 to 72 months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Witnesses Identified Crawford"}]

Investigators presented the counselors with a six-photo lineup, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.

Before the officer had finished explaining the identification process, a counselor said he already knew who the suspect was and immediately identified Crawford's photograph. 

He told investigators he recognized him by his bald head, facial hair and face shape, saying the only difference was that the driver had been wearing glasses.

The other counselor also identified Crawford as the man he said he made eye contact with during the incident, says the affidavit.

The following morning, investigators reviewed the counselors' written statements. 

"Both witness statements corroborate the emotional distress and shock of the juvenile campers after they all witnessed the same exposed genitalia and masturbating motions with his hand on his penis," says the affidavit. 

Investigators also confirmed with camp's operations director that the van's windows were not tinted and that passengers inside were clearly visible from outside.

Because Crawford has prior military and Wyoming convictions involving public indecency and sex offender registration violations, the investigating officer asked prosecutors to expedite an arrest warrant, he wrote. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Deputies arrested Crawford later that afternoon without incident."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Court Proceedings"}]

Crawford made his initial appearance in Park County Circuit Court on Monday, where a judge set his bond at $100,000 cash only.

[{"type":"text","text":"If released, Crawford must remain in Park County as a condition of bond."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 22 in Cody."}]

Andrew Crawford Cody sign 7 14 26

<title>Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A registered Cody sex offender is accused of exposing and masturbating alongside a van of camp kids while making direct eye contact with those in the van. He’s the same man convicted in 2023 for repeatedly exposing himself to female coffee baristas.

Repeat Cody Sex Offender Accused Of Pleasuring Himself Next To Van Of Camp Kids

A 70-year-old Gillette man's treasured classic 1965 Ford Mustang disappeared from his driveway, then turned up about 100 yards away in a neighbor's shop with its hood open and connected to a battery charger.

By then, investigators say the older man — who Campbell County Sheriff’s Office deputies describe as frail, having dementia and living in squalor — had allegedly signed paperwork transferring the car to the neighbors for $500 and a promise that his lawn would be mowed every weekend until he died.

Deputies now allege that wasn't a bargain, they believe it was exploitation of a vulnerable adult, a felony.

Jeremy Talon Boggs and Jazlyn V. Foltz are accused of taking advantage of the man's declining mental condition to get the classic Mustang, which investigators estimated is worth anywhere between $30,000 and $44,600.

Court documents show the couple allegedly insisted the man willingly sold them the vehicle. 

The 70-year-old, however, told deputies he didn't know who they were and never gave anyone permission to take his car.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Neighbor's Call"}]

The investigation began Saturday afternoon after other neighbors of the man on Peaceful Valley Drive called the Campbell County Sheriff's Office.

They told deputies he suffered from dementia and believed Boggs and Foltz had recently begun spending an unusual amount of time at his home.

One neighbor reported seeing flashlights moving around the man's property the previous night. The following morning, the man's classic green Ford Mustang was parked at the home of a nearby residence occupied by Boggs and Foltz.

Neighbors said the had always considered the Mustang one of his prized possessions and repeatedly told them he would never sell it because it was such a beautiful classic car.

Concerned they were watching an elderly neighbor being taken advantage of, they called law enforcement.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Inside The Home"}]

When they responded, deputies found the man seated in a recliner, according to an affidavit of probable caused filed in the case.

According to the affidavit, he appeared "extremely weak and feeble" and was unable to answer basic questions, including that day's date or his own phone number.

Investigators described the home as being in severe disrepair with trash, spoiled food and other biohazards throughout the residence.

During the interview, deputies noticed the older man also struggling with basic personal care. 

Investigators concluded he was unable to properly care for himself and "was not sound of mind" while speaking with deputies.

Adult Protective Services had already been notified of the man's situation and was reportedly planning to visit the following day.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Mustang"}]

A Gillette couple is accused of exploiting a 70-year-old neighbor with dementia into giving them his classic 1965 Mustang worth more than $44,000. In return, they allegedly said they’d give the man $500 and promised to mow his lawn once a week for life.

Another Reason To Be Grateful To Live In Wyoming: Reason #3

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