Daily Darwin

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Sunday, January 1, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Great way to start 2023...

Daily Darwin: Sunday, January 1, 2023

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Chance of rain mainly in central and northern Wyoming on Saturday, otherwise mostly sunny. Mix of clouds and mostly clear overnight. Cooler with highs from the low 50s to near 80. Lows in the 30s and 40s.

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Slight chance of rain, increasing clouds and breezy today with a high near 64 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

Slight chance of rain, increasing clouds today with a high near 64 and mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 2 a.m., a low near 43 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph.

 Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 65 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 75 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 40.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 78 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 40 and wind gusts as high as 40 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 63 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph. Partly cloudy and windy overnight with a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 55 mph.

Sunny today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 32.

 Sunny today with a high near 72 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 37.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 34 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

 Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 61 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 4 a.m., a low near 37 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 73 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 35.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Mostly sunny today with a high near 61 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 30.

Chance of rain, mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 65 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 43 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

:  Chance of rain, breezy, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 59 and wind gusts as high as 29 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 9 p.m., a low near 42 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph.

  Chance of rain, breezy, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 66 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 43 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

  Rain near certain and breezy today with a high near 54 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain before 10 p.m., a low near 40 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

  Rain mainly before 10 a.m. today with a high near 59 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 35.

:  Rain mainly before 11 a.m. today with a high near 60 and wind from 13-17 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 36.

Rain near certain mainly before noon today with a high near 57 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 35 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

  Chance of rain mainly before noon, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 60 and wind gusts as high as 29 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 39 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

:  Rain likely mainly before noon today with a high near 54 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Mostly clear overnight with areas of frost after 5 a.m., a low near 36 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph.

  Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 68 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 48 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Mostly sunny and breezy today with a high near 64 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Increasing clouds overnight with a low near 47 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Rain likely mainly before noon, gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 57 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with areas of frost after 4 a.m., a low near 35 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 68 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph. Increasing clouds and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 3 a.m., a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 70 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 40 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 72 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph. Increasing clouds and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain after 3 a.m., a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 68 and wind from 10-20 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

  Sunny today with a high near 74 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph. Mostly clear overnight with a low near 41.

  Sunny today with a high near 80 and mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 41 and wind gusts as high as 35 mph.

Daycap small 6 13 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Saturday, June 13, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Saturday, June 13, 2026

Kerry Drake

Business & Tourism

Business

LARAMIE — The closure of any rural Wyoming hospital is “an economic earthquake” in a rural state that already has huge holes in its access to health care.

That’s the message Natrona Collective Health Trust (NCHT) CEO Beth Worthen had Friday during a statewide Healthcare Policy Summit at the Hilton Garden Inn.

If that’s true, Wyoming could have up to six tremors — three within the next two to three years — if hospitals now at risk of closure actually shut their doors.

“It doesn't just mean patients drive farther. It means the employer anchoring that town's economy disappears,” said Worthen. "The payroll that sustained the main street, the school funding, the housing market — gone.”

Worthen said she’s worried that the future of these institutions may be impacted by an initiative Wyoming voters will see on their ballots in November’s general election, when they will be asked to exempt 50% of a primary residence’s assessed value from property taxes.

Worthen noted that many of Wyoming’s rural hospitals and the 18 hospital districts statewide depend on local property tax revenue to operate.

They are already dealing with the loss of 25% of property tax revenue that the Legislature approved in 2025, she said.

"That (property tax) revenue is part of what keeps emergency departments open, labor and delivery wards staffed, and the lights on in communities where no private operator would stay,” said Worthen. 

NCHT, Wyoming’s largest private foundation, is not taking a position on the ballot initiative.

But Worthen said voters need to understand that a significant reduction in property tax revenues in a community where a hospital is already operating on thin margins “isn’t a separate question from rural hospital sustainability. It's the same question.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Thin Margins"}]

To understand how thin hospital margins really are, Jeff Sollis, CEO of St. John’s Health in Jackson, shared how much his hospital receives in payments.

Sollis said 60% of the payer mix is from Medicare and 6% from Medicaid. A total of 29% is from health insurance payments, and 5% is self-paid by patients.

"We get paid around $90 million from Medicare and our costs are $120 million,” he said. “Medicaid reimburses us $2.8 million for $10 million of work. We lose about $43.7 million a year from providing services.”

Sollis said it’s only when private insurance pays that St. John’s is able to make up some of the difference, which annually leaves the hospital 5% in the hole.

“We have to figure out how we get to a 5% gain so we can reinvest in our people, our facilities, and technology,” he said. “So, it’s a very challenging set of circumstances.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Maternity Desert"}]

About 22% — more than one-fifth — of Wyoming is considered a “maternity desert” where communities don’t have birthing facilities or an obstetrical physician, the 

Since 2022, hospitals in Evanston, Rawlins, Kemmerer and Wheatland have closed their labor and delivery wards, Worthen said.

Wyoming now has 16 birthing hospitals across 97,000 square miles, she said, adding that hospitals find it exceptionally difficult to recruit and retain OB-GYNs.

Casper, a regional hub for health care services, had six OB-GYNs 18 months ago. Now there are two.

Marguerite Herman of Healthy Wyoming, which has long advocated for Medicaid expansion that the Legislature has repeatedly elected not to do, attended the summit and addressed the maternity desert issue.

“It’s one of those things where you have high fixed costs and low volume,” she said. “It’s just not going to pencil out for a hospital in Rawlins to have a full maternity ward.

“But at the same time, is this something that the state owes its residents, to not have to travel more than 100 miles to deliver a baby in the freezing winter?

Herman said the state may need to find supplemental money, whether it’s from the state or federal governments, to provide critical birthing centers in rural areas.

Worthen openly wonders if Wyoming officials have the political will to do that.

“Other states, like Alaska, are doing things better than we are, and they actually have more challenging geography than we have,” Worthen said. “We need the will to put the pieces together to keep our children here.”

Worthen, a sixth-generation Wyomingite, said her son Connor is a game warden in Saratoga, and his wife Kylie just graduated from the University Law School.

She said they want to have children, which fills Worthen “with a combination of joy and dread.”

The nearest obstetrician to Saratoga is in Laramie.

Worthen said that in the summer, it’s a lovely 45-minute drive over the Snowy Range, but in winter the trip must be made on Interstate 80, and the drive time at least doubles.

“A woman in her ninth month is not calculating that drive in ideal conditions,” Worthen said. “Two of my three children have left Wyoming for opportunities they couldn’t find here. I want to see my grandchildren born here."

Evanston Regional Hospital 6 12 26

<title>Six Wyoming Hospitals Are At Risk Of Closure, Wyoming Health Official Warns | Cowboy State Daily</title>

At a healthcare summit in Laramie on Friday, one health official said six Wyoming hospitals are at risk of closure. Natrona Collective Health Trust CEO Beth Worthen said closing rural Wyoming hospitals would be “an economic earthquake."

Six Wyoming Hospitals Are At Risk Of Closure, Wyoming Health Official Warns

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

An Albany County couple who lost most of their possessions in a fire that left their house unlivable say their insurance company’s mishandling of the situation has left them essentially homeless for nearly 18 months.  

At about 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 27, 2025, Sandy Crawford was relaxing and watching television in one of the rooms of the spacious home she and her husband Jack own in a rural neighborhood near Laramie, when Jack entered the room frantically.

“He came running in and said, ‘The house is filling up with smoke, call 911,'” Sandy told Cowboy State Daily.

Apparently, a fire had started somewhere in the massive stone chimney in their home’s living room.

Firefighters arrived quickly and battled the blaze for hours. 

At about 2:30 a.m. on Feb 28, a huge stone chimney chase in the living room collapsed, 

crushing Laramie firefighter Dylan Schilt

, who was left temporarily paralyzed. One of his colleagues also suffered a knee injury.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Living In A Hotel"}]

The Crawfords made it out unharmed, but say they haven’t been back home since. 

As they see it, the Laramie Fire Department and other agencies that responded could have had the fire out much sooner, with far less damage to their home.

A request for comment from the Laramie Fire Department wasn’t answered by publication time.

The Crawfords say they lived in a fifth-wheel camper trailer for a time.

Then Jack had to get double hip replacement surgery and was unable to climb the stairs to get into the camper. So, they started living in a hotel room in Laramie, dependent upon a living expenses payout from their State Farm Insurance.

The couple claims that State Farm has dragged its feet and made an offer that doesn’t nearly match the value of the damage to their home and lost possessions.

Meanwhile, their living expense account is running dry and Jack said a contractor recently told him that “the house is at least four to five months away from being livable again.”

State Farm responded to a request for comment with an email to Cowboy State Daily from the company’s corporate communications office.

“To respect our customer’s privacy, we can’t discuss specific claim details,” the company statement says. "Every claim is reviewed with care, based on the facts of the loss and the coverage in the policy. 

"We’re continuing to work with our customer and their representative to pay all benefits available under the policy. Customers with questions, concerns, or additional information are always encouraged to reach out."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Let Burn’ Order"}]

The Crawfords said that on the night of the fire, they were convinced that the blaze was inside the chimney, but firefighters took hoses into the house and sprayed water in several interior rooms, causing wall and floor damage.

After the chimney chase collapsed and Schilt was injured, firefighters cleared the house.

Sandy said several firefighters gathered on the back porch and when she approached to ask whether they could spray water down the chimney, one of the firefighters yelled that “we’re going to let your house burn.”

A sheriff’s deputy at the scene ordered them to leave, she and Jack both said.

Apparently, because of difficulties fighting the blaze and the injury suffered by a firefighter, a “let burn” order had been issued and the deputies were ordered to clear out non-essential personnel, in case the entire structure became engulfed, Jack said.

However, a ladder truck arrived about an hour later, he added.

“Luckily, the ladder truck poured enough water on the roof (that) the house didn’t become fully engulfed” and the fire was finally put out, Jack said.

The Crawfords claim they also had trouble with ServiceMaster restoration company after the fire.

They say they admonished the Cheyenne ServiceMaster franchise owner and his employees to let them monitor what was being taken out of the house. 

The also wanted to help assess what could or could not be salvaged because of smoke and water damage.

The Crawfords claim those requests were ignored, and ServiceMaster crews packed and removed things without their supervision or approval.

“I lost control of my house and all my possessions,” Jack said.

When a delivery of clothing was returned to their home, it included the wrong clothing, Sandy said.

“There was clothing for minors, kids’ clothes and what looked like go-go girl clothes,” she said. “I’m not a minor, I don’t have kids and I’m not a go-go dancer."

The couple claims that other items, including firearms, have gone missing and can’t seem to be located.

“A lot of stuff was broken or missing. They threw away things that they weren’t authorized to,” Sandy said.

The ServiceMaster franchise owner told Cowboy State Daily that he couldn’t comment because of possible litigation over the matter.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lowballed Paintings"}]

Jack said initial insurance payout estimates included roughly $800,000 for damage to the house, $500,000 for their possessions, plus roughly $200,000 in temporary housing expenses.

He said State Farm paid roughly $500,000 for the house, which still needs at least an additional $100,000 in repairs.

He added that the couple has received about $200,000 for possessions and roughly half of the initially agreed-upon living expenses.

Jack also is pushing back on the value of three 5-by-8-foot original oil paintings by famed artists Ralph Oberg and Taylor Blaylock.

The paintings came from the Riverbend mansion in Saratoga, and a professional art appraiser placed their value at about $233,000 each, Jack said.

State Farm has tried to place their value at about 10% of that, he added.

“State Farm has those appraisals (on the paintings), and they don’t want to pay on them. They’ve had those appraisals since Christmas,” Jack said.

Tyler Spalding is a desk public adjuster for the Panama City Beach, Florida-based Noble Public Adjusting Group.

The company specializes in advocacy for people with allegedly mishandled insurance claims, Spalding told Cowboy State Daily.

"We’re basically their voice when they have none,” he said.

Spalding recently reached out to alert Cowboy State Daily about the Crawfords’ situation.

Insurance companies and vendors sometimes try to take advantage of elderly people, such as the Crawfords, he said.

“It’s a cash grab for these vendors. They go out and charge a lot of money to the insurance companies,” Spalding said.

He said he’s had numerous elderly clients who have been underpaid by insurance companies, as he thinks the Crawfords have been.

“Essentially, they’re not wanting to properly pay them for what their loss is worth,” Spalding said. “They’ve paid some, but it isn’t enough for the clients to be brought back to pre-loss conditions. It’s the same story across the country.

“This guy (Jack Crawford) is upset. He feels that the whole thing was handled wrong from start to finish,” Spalding added. “I want people to be aware of this, because I’m so sick of this going on."

Crawfords inset 6 12 26

<title>Couple Says Insurance Company’s Mishandling Of Fire Claim Has Made Them Homeless | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An Albany County couple who lost most of their possessions in a fire that left their house unlivable say that their insurance company’s mishandling of the situation has left them essentially homeless for nearly a year and a half.  

Couple Says Insurance Company’s Mishandling Of Fire Claim Has Made Them Homeless

You Still Here

[{"type":"text","text":"Probably a good idea to head back to the cabin...."}]

Bears 6 13 26 no play

<title>Today In Bears: Saturday, June 13, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Probably a good idea to head back to the cabin....

Today In Bears: Saturday, June 13, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center issued 

which could bring more of what Wyoming doesn’t need — warmer, drier conditions.

After monitoring above-average temperatures in the Pacific Ocean for the last month, the NWS believes that, “El Niño conditions are present and expected to strengthen into the Northern Hemisphere winter 2026-27,” according to the advisory.

“There is a 63% chance of a very strong El Niño during November-January … that would rank among the largest El Niño events in the historical record going back to 1950,” the advisory reads. “Even very strong El Niño events do not lead to the expected impact everywhere, but stronger events can more significantly tilt the odds in favor of expected outcomes.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Weather watchers around the world noticed the NOAA predictions."}]

 discussed how El Niño can “supercharge” hurricanes in the Pacific and worsen drought from the Caribbean and southern Africa to Australia.

 referenced studies that concluded El Niño has a history of leading to European food insecurity, severe forest fires, and civil wars in the tropics.

, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described El Niño as an "urgent climate warning" and said that the anticipated impacts “will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world."

Yet even with high certainty of a strong El Niño, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about what that means for Wyoming and the world over the next year.

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day is calling for patience as this system develops.

“We're going to have an El Niño,” he said. “It's going to be a strong one, and it's going to impact global weather patterns, but what does it exactly mean for Mister Joe in DuBois, Wyoming? We’re going to have to wait and see how the pattern unfolds.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Advised Vs Favored"}]

The El Niño advisory is NOAA’s most direct acknowledgment that a strong El Niño has been developing. However, that doesn’t mean extrapolating predictions and long-range forecasts has become any easier.

“The advisory means that El Niño conditions are present and expected to strengthen into the winter,” said meteorologist Noah Myers with the NWS office in Riverton. “It's really hard to draw conclusions from that.”

Myers said the best thing meteorologists can do right now is compare current El Niño patterns with those of previous El Niño years. Then, they can determine what’s “favorable” in the months ahead in terms of temperatures and precipitation.

[{"type":"text","text":"However, determining what’s favorable is not the same as a guarantee."}]

“Whatever’s favored doesn’t mean we're going to absolutely be warmer, drier, colder, or wetter depending on where you are,” Myers said. “It’s what has happened, on average, in the past in these conditions.”

Day said he and his fellow meteorologists tend to be “our own worst enemies” in this respect. 

He’s particularly perturbed by the runaway narrative of the “super El Niño” that’s been circulating for months but kicked into overdrive with NOAA’s advisory.

“If you're going to tell people it's going to be the strongest El Niño of all time, it would be really good to also say something that's going to be six months from now is subject to change,” he said. “It's really hard to glob on to one particular outcome, especially this far in advance.”

Day said he could show people maps of the last 20 documented El Niños, and none of them would be exactly the same. Trying to pinpoint which of those years is most similar to what will manifest later this year would be an effort in futility.

“There are trends and similarities, but they're never exactly the same every time,” he said. “People need to be aware of that.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wyoming’s Lack Of Favor"}]

Even with all the uncertainty, NOAA’s El Niño advisory is significant. Nobody’s denying that or its determination that it could be one of the strongest in the last 50 years.

“The safest bet is that there’s an El Niño coming, and it's going to be strong,” Day said. “How the impacts unfold really depends on what could happen five or six months from now.”

[{"type":"text","text":"But what is the most likely outcome? "}]

Myers had some insight on what tends to be favorable in Wyoming during El Niño years.

For one thing, El Niño tends to be more of a winter pattern than a summer one. NOAA might have issued its advisory this month, but the significant impacts won’t be felt until later this year.

“Winter is when these impacts are most pronounced,” Myers said. “We don't usually see as strong an impact during the summer.”

As tends to happen with all weather systems, El Niño won’t have an equitable impact on Wyoming. According to Myers, there are consistent trends that pop up from studying years past.

“Going into the winter, we usually see slightly warmer temperatures across northern and western Wyoming, and normal or slightly cooler temperatures across central and southern Wyoming,” he said.

When it comes to precipitation, Myers said El Niño tends to make Wyoming dry “across the board,” but that’s been especially true in northwest Wyoming.

“The Absarokas, Tetons, and Yellowstone National Park is where we’d see the driest conditions, but it’s drier pretty much everywhere in Wyoming,” he said.

That’s not a great El Niño outlook. It’s also very far from a guarantee of what Wyomingites should expect.

“We’ve observed El Niños when it’s been the exact opposite of what I just described,” Myers said. “There are clues that can tell us what might happen, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Months To Go"}]

Day is unmoved by most articles and forecasts about El Niño, 

, and “the strongest El Niño in half a century.” For him, those are bold statements to make this early.

“We're several months removed from when the biggest El Niño impacts happen in this part of the country, and here we are in June talking about a Super El Niño,” he said. “Every El Niño has its own personality and different sets of results. That’s why I'm a lot more cautious.”

Day’s caution stems from several months of long-range models collapsing in their seasonal predictions. 

in Wyoming until it turned out to be one of 

With that track record, one can see why Day’s reluctant to offer any predictions on what’ll happen when El Niño reaches Wyoming, let alone what its strongest impacts will be this winter.

For Day, “nothing’s changed” with NOAA’s El Niño advisory. He’s acknowledged that El Niño is coming, and the odds favor a strong El Niño, but that’s as far as he’s willing to go.

“NOAA’s going for it,” he said. “We've got El Niño, but we're not in an El Niño yet.”

Myers agreed that it’s best to stay cautious, even with the certainty of a coming El Niño.

“The conditions are present, and El Niño is favored,” he said. “El Niño does have a tendency for cooler-than-normal summers during El Niño years, so we might see that as we transition into it, but we don’t know what’s going to happen at this point.”

NOAA and the National Weather Service have officially declared an El Niño has formed, which could mean more of what Wyoming doesn’t need — warmer, drier conditions. Wyoming meteorologist Don Day says he still ain’t buying it yet calling predictions "clickbait."

Daily Darwin: Sunday, January 1, 2023

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