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Michael P. Ramirez

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[{"type":"text","text":"By Michael P. Ramirez"}]

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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 13, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

By Michael P. Ramirez

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 13, 2023

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Media outlets gasped last week at the socialist movement’s success in the New York congressional 

That success headed west Tuesday, to Wyoming’s southern neighbor of Colorado.

Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, 29, defeated 15-term incumbent U.S. House Rep. Diana DeGette in Tuesday evening’s primary election.

Colorado Public Radio called the ouster “a stunning blow to the Democratic establishment in Denver and continuing a run of leftist victories in major cities.”

Former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan, a Dvemocrat, told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that he wasn’t surprised at the move by Denver voters, but he doubted the proximity of a House socialist – if Kiros wins the general election – will affect Wyoming much.

“We have our own issues, and we’re certainly more sensitive to certain issues than others,” Sullivan said. “And it doesn’t necessarily divide us or make us closer to anybody else.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Could Deepen 'Don't Colorado My Wyoming' Sentiment"}]

Liz Brimmer, longtime Wyoming politico, agreed in general, but said having a socialist congressional neighbor could galvanize Wyoming even harder into a tendency it already has: spurning anything that looks like Colorado governance.  

“I think Wyoming uniformly and strongly feels, you know, ‘Don’t Colorado my Wyoming',” Brimmer said. “And I think if anything, it deepens that sentiment.”

Brimmer said the ouster speaks of “these times, where there’s no doubt an anti-incumbent strain.” But no one will know all the reasons, nor should presume too much, until the voter data return, she said.

The Republicans saw the anti-incumbent strain surface differently, with newcomers ousting President Donald Trump’s foes in GOP primary elections.

State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, who is finishing off his final legislative term, voiced fascination with the election outcome.

Brown, a self-described political junkie, lives about 14 miles from the Colorado border.

He said the ouster shows Denver is increasingly dictating the rest of Colorado’s fate, and that the state is growing more polarized.

On the Republican gubernatorial primary side, The 

 a half-point lead for Victor Marx as of Wednesday.

“He’s just as crazy as a democratic socialist on the left,” said Brown.

As for DeGette’s defeat, it’s not as symptomatic as one would think, he added.

“She was running a ‘Hey, I’m the incumbent and I’ve been here 30 years’ (campaign),” he said.

That hurt her. As did a growing divide on the left over Israel’s approach to its many foes — and Congress’ funding of Israeli war and defense efforts, said Brown.

Israel was also a fulcrum in the May primary loss of libertarian-leaning incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky. But the Republican voters took the inverse approach on that one, nominating the candidate who supports funding Israeli war efforts.

Jack Speight, the GOP strategist who helped Wyoming Gov. Stan Hathaway to victory in 1966, told Cowboy State Daily Kiros’ win is alarming.

Speight was a Democrat when he graduated from the University of Wyoming law school. But the allure of capitalism and the prevailing logic of his good friends pulled him to the Republican side, he said in another interview last month.

The socialist victories of 2026 are “sad for this country. It may well affect the results of this fall, and nationwide,” he said. He called it a shift of California transplants into the Rockies, and a symptom of a growing entitlement.

[{"type":"text","text":"Colorado isn’t the only Wyoming neighbor with socialist momentum."}]

Sam Forstag, a smoke jumper endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-New York, won his primary bid for Montana’s U.S. House District 1 on June 2.

Forstag may be less favored than Kiros going into the general election: No Democrat has won that Montana House district this century.

 a “test for left-leaning politicians” who have been arguing for a populist surge in the blue party.

Melat Kiros Getty 7 1 26

<title>Win By Colorado Socialist Could Galvanize Wyoming Independence, Says Politico | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Fresh after socialist-backed candidates' success in New York's U.S. House primaries, Colorado Democrats nominated their own socialist House candidate Tuesday. Having a socialist neighbor could galvanize Wyoming's independence even more, one politico said. 

Win By Colorado Socialist Could Galvanize Wyoming Independence, Says Politico

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Around Wyoming

Lake Powell, a key reservoir on the Colorado River, is shrinking toward "dead pool," which means water won't flow downriver anymore — and that could in turn pinch Wyoming’s municipal and industrial water supplies with more demand from Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Lake Powell, on the Utah-Arizona state line, is in dire condition, 

By next spring, it’s expected to fall into “minimum power pool,” meaning having barely just enough water to generate hydroelectric power at Glen Canyon Dam.

If it falls even farther, that could put the reservoir at “dead pool,” or unable to generate hydroelectric power, according to reports.

That's despite roughly 1 million acre-feet expected to be 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Paper Water Rights’"}]

Dead pool is considered only a worst-case scenario among water managers.

But if it happens, it could lead to some stark choices, said Wyoming state Sen. Larry Hicks, who served on the Legislature’s Select Water Committee.

In such a scenario, “power generation is subservient” to irrigation water rights, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“Power Generation is important, but it’s not as important as maintaining peoples’ livelihood,” Hicks said. 

The looming dilemmas over Colorado River water rest in the fact that water management is rooted in “paper water rights,” he said.

Many of those are tied to the 1922 Colorado River Compact, which includes seven states, Mexico and numerous Native American Tribes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Just Not Enough Water"}]

In Wyoming, many farmers’ and ranchers’ water rights predate the 1922 Compact, going as far back as the 1880s.

That means if spats break out over Compact water rights as the river’s supply dwindles, farms and ranches along the Green and Little Snake rivers would be largely unaffected, Hicks said.

The Compact designates roughly 15 million acre-feet per year, supposedly evenly split at 7.5 million acre-feet between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin.

The Upper Basin states are Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. Arizona, Nevada and California comprise the Lower Basin.

River flows in recent years have been as low as about 10 million acre-feet, Hicks said.

If the Lower Basin states made an emergency “call on the river” for more access to the Upper Basin allocation, Wyoming’s farmers and ranchers wouldn't catch the brunt of it, he said.

“The Trona industry and big municipalities in Wyoming” would be most at risk of losing vital water, he said.

For instance, even though Cheyenne isn’t physically connected to the Colorado River system, it still depends upon of it because of water-exchange agreements on the North Platte River.

“Arizona is the state that’s most likely to litigate and say, ‘We’re entitled to this water; you need to send it to us’,” Hicks said.

The growing crisis on the Colorado River “is a concern for Cheyenne and our board of public utility,” Mayor Patrick Collins told Cowboy State Daily.

The city gets about “two-thirds of our water” from sources tied to the Colorado River water contract exchange agreements, he said.

Cheyenne has been preparing for potential water shortages, Collins said.

“If they make a call on the river, it’s going to take a while to take effect,” he said, adding that Cheyenne has a roughly four-year backup storage supply.

Cheyenne has been frugal with its water, typically using about half of its full allocation, Collins added.

Despite growth, the city is using about the same amount of water it was 10 years ago, he said.

In the long term, Cheyenne also hopes to break away from Colorado River dependency.

“We have good leads on replacement water from other areas,” he said, without going into detail.

“There is an irrigation district that we’ve been working with, and some industrial users on the Platte River,” Collins said.

Rock Springs mayor Max Mickelson said the city has some water rights dating to 1871, and is therefore immune to any effects tied to the 1922 Colorado River Compact.

“Our system has never overdrawn its allocation the way the Lower Basin has. The current diversion data our Joint Powers Water Board presented to council shows zero deficit under today's conditions. 11,011 acre-feet of annual demand against roughly 2,413 acre-feet available on average, showing no shortfall in any month,” he stated in an email to Cowboy State Daily.

“That's not luck. That's a century of municipal water management that lived within its means. While states downstream built entire metro economies on water that was never really there in average years.” 

The local economy has felt the effects of increasing pressure on Flaming Gorge from the Lower Basin, Mickelson said. The city doesn’t draw from it directly, but is tied to the recreation economy.

“Our recreation, fishing, and marinas economies will all take a hit,” he said. "Our exposure so far has been to the regional environment and economy, not to the water coming out of our faucets.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘It’s A Concern’"}]

If Lake Powell hits dead pool, that would be a concern for Rock Springs, Mickelson said, noting the federal response to the crisis at Lake Powell is to pull from Flaming Gorge.  

“The Bureau of Reclamation's own modeling, presented to council this May, shows a projected shortfall of 2.0 to 2.3 million acre-feet by March 2027,” Mickelson wrote.

“So, yes, it's a concern, but it is fundamentally about fairness. The Flaming Gorge Reservoir is filled by our river and is treated as insurance for a 1922 compact built on flow numbers that were too generous from the start. We watch Powell's elevation because every foot drop is another argument for draining more from our basin,” he said.

Rock Springs, and Wyoming in general, has been proactive, passing voluntary conservation legislation while keeping underlying water rights protected, Mickelson said.

The Upper Basin should continue in that vein, he added.

“Wyoming has a seat at the table and needs to demand a storage agreement that lets Upper Basin states bank conserved water. We need an explicit federally acknowledged agreement that Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado hold unused apportionment under the original compact. We did not overbuild its claim,” Mickelson wrote.  

Lake Powell Weather Channel 3 7 1 26

<title>Lake Powell Water Critically Low; Wyoming Expects More Demand On Flaming Gorge | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Already at critically low levels, Lake Powell is close to being "dead pool," which means water won't flow downriver anymore. That has Wyoming cities and industries worried that will mean more demand for water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir.

Lake Powell Water Critically Low; Wyoming Expects More Demand On Flaming Gorge

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Public Safety

UPDATE 11:50 a.m.: This story has been updated to include more information from the Wyoming Highway Patrol about those injured in the crash.

A commercial tanker truck driver failing to stop for traffic waiting to enter a one-lane construction zone west of Casper on Friday afternoon 

, killing two people and injuring eight others, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reports in a fatal crash summary of the incident released Wednesday.

The crash happened at 1:50 p.m. Friday on U.S. Highway 20/26 near mile marker 58.3, about 45 miles northwest of Casper wit the WHP having identified driver inattention as a possible contributing factor in the crash.

[{"type":"text","text":"As of Wednesday, no criminal charges had been announced."}]

Responding to Cowboy State Daily requests for information about whether any arrests have been made in relation to the crash and if anyone has been criminally charged, the WHP said that the investigation into the crash is active and information about potential criminal charges won’t be released until that’s been completed.

The fatal crash summary says that the westbound 2024 Western Star tanker truck failed to stop at mile marker 58.3 for queued traffic waiting to enter the construction zone before striking a Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Highlander, Toyota 4Runner, Subaru Outback, Chevrolet Camaro, Ram 1500 and Chevrolet Impala.

[{"type":"text","text":"The crash involved eight vehicles and 17 people."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Two people died, eight were injured and seven escaped injury."}]

A 3-year-old and an adult male in the Highlander were both transported to Banner Wyoming Medical Center via helicopter. Also, a 1-year-old and adult female in the same vehicle were taken to the hospital by ground ambulance, the WHP reports, adding they were treated and released.

Two others were also taken by ambulance to Casper, where they were treated and released.

The driver of the 4Runner and a passenger, an adult female and male, were also hospitalized at Banner Wyoming Medical Center in Casper. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Colorado Couple Identified"}]

The Natrona County Coroner's Office identified the two people killed as James Faris Cox, 74, and Susan Horn Cox, 69, of Golden, Colorado.

[{"type":"text","text":"The couple was traveling to Ennis, Montana, according to a family member."}]

Both were wearing seat belts, according to the Highway Patrol's crash summary.

The Highway Patrol said the weather was clear; the roadway was dry, and neither a rollover nor collision with a fixed object contributed to the crash.

[{"type":"text","text":"The investigation remains ongoing."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Aftermath"}]

Several motorists interviewed by Cowboy State Daily said they at first believed traffic had stopped because of the construction project ahead.

Erin Mills said she was driving toward Riverton after dropping her dogs off in Casper when traffic came to a standstill.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I thought I was waiting on the pilot car,\" she said."}]

Like many others, Mills had already driven through the work zone earlier and expected another routine delay.

Instead, as traffic ahead slowly began turning around, she caught her first glimpse of the aftermath.

"When that camper moved, that's when I could see," she said. "I saw what looked like a shredded vehicle on the left-hand side of the road."

"I didn't physically see it happen," she continued. "I was behind it and saw the aftermath."

From where she was, Mills said she saw a jackknifed fuel tanker and damaged vehicles scattered across the highway.

"It looked like a tanker just plowed through these vehicles," she said, emphasizing she was describing what the aftermath looked like, not what she actually saw happen.

The WHP’s crash summary confirms the commercial tanker struck the line of stopped traffic after failing to stop.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Something Wrong'"}]

Another witness, Krista Nethercott, also believed traffic had stopped because of construction.

"There were these pylons on the right-hand side that kind of tell you there's construction," she said. "But there wasn't anything alerting you to slow down. There wasn't a flagger."

After several minutes, she stepped out of her vehicle because, she said, "I just felt like there was something wrong."

When she walked forward, she realized the line of stopped vehicles was the result of a catastrophic crash.

"That's when I could see there were cars on both sides of the road," she said.

A funeral director, Nethercott immediately ran toward the wreckage to make sure someone had called 911 and to offer assistance.

[{"type":"text","text":"Working alongside another bystander, she checked on James and Susan Cox."}]

"The gentleman was immediately deceased," she said. "The lady probably lived a couple minutes."

[{"type":"text","text":"She recalled that both appeared to have been wearing their seat belts."}]

Their pickup was so badly crushed, she said, that rescuers ultimately needed specialized equipment to remove the couple.

"If the woman had lived longer, I don't think this gentleman and I could have ever taken her out of the vehicle," she said. "That's how crushed it was."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Before Help Arrived"}]

Because the crash happened in a remote stretch of western Natrona County, Nethercott estimated it took about 30 minutes before ambulances and firefighters reached the scene.

"It seemed like it was a long time to see paramedics," she said. "But considering you're out in the middle of nowhere, I don't think they could have gotten there any quicker."

Long before emergency crews arrived, however, strangers had already 

 Nethercott estimated roughly 10 motorists got out of their vehicles to help.

Some searched for fire extinguishers. Others comforted injured victims. One man who identified himself as working at a pediatric clinic checked on a young child who remained safely secured in a five-point car seat while the child's injured father tried to comfort him.

"There were people left and right getting out of their vehicles and trying to find anything that could be used," Nethercott said. "Whether it's water, an emergency medical kit or a fire extinguisher."

[{"type":"text","text":"The Natrona County Fire District later praised those bystanders."}]

"Crews would like to send a heartfelt thank you to all the bystanders who assisted victims immediately after the crash, while waiting for help to arrive, as well as while responders were on-scene, offering shelter during the passing of a thunder cell, emotional support and minor patient care," the agency said in a statement.

"The true spirit of the 'Wyoming Way' was in full force this day,” the statement adds.

Although there was little anyone could do medically for Susan Cox, Nethercott said they made sure she wasn't alone. 

"We told her help was coming,” she said. "We don't know what happens when people are unconscious, but we wanted her to know somebody was there."

Only then did Nethercott turn her attention to survivors who still could be saved.

Double fatal highway sign 7 1 26

<title>Highway Patrol: Tanker Truck Plowed Into Vehicles In Last Week’s Double Fatal Crash | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The cause of last week’s double fatal crash in remote Natrona County was due to a commercial tanker truck driver who failed to stop for traffic in a construction zone, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said Wednesday. The investigation is active.

Highway Patrol: Tanker Truck Plowed Into Vehicles In Last Week’s Double Fatal Crash

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

Andrew Rossi

Libby Lane of Red Lodge, Montana, was going about her usual business Monday at the Top of the World Resort on the Beartooth Highway. As of 1:30 p.m., it was still snowing up there.

“We’ve got about three inches of snow, and it's still snowing,” Lane told Cowboy State Daily. “It's blowing and melting off the road, but the road looks slick, icy, and slushy.”

The only vehicle Lane had seen was a snowplow that drove past in its effort to clear the highway, heading for Cooke City.

“I was hoping they’d open it today,” she said. “I haven't heard anything from anybody. Sometimes we're the last to know. Unfortunately, we have to look for the cars coming over the pass to know when it’s open.”

The Beartooth Highway was temporarily closed at 4:53 p.m. Sunday in anticipation of incoming snow. Monday’s snow vindicated the precautionary closure.

This is Lane's fourth season living and working at the Top of the World on the Wyoming side of the pass. When the Beartooth Highway closes, she and her coworkers are stranded at the summit until the road is deemed safe enough to traffic to resume. 

However, this wasn’t unusual from Lane’s perspective. Snow-related closures, even in late June, are “not a surprise at all.” 

“It’s very common,” she said. “We got our boots out this morning and just kept working.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Yellowstone’s Dunraven Pass Closes"}]

Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone National Park also closed Monday morning due to “winter weather conditions.”

“We’re looking at an inch of snow in Cooke City, Montana,” said Tessa Stetzr, with the National Weather Service office in Billings. “We were forecasting around 1 to 2 inches along the Beartooth Pass and 6 inches in the higher elevations.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Snow also fell farther south in Wyoming."}]

Stuart Pierson of Centennial was heading over the Snowy Range toward Saratoga when he encountered “a pleasant surprise.”

“I left my house around 10:30 a.m., and there was light snow as I went over the top near Barbara Lake Road,” he said. “Nothing was sticking yet, but there was a lot of snow in the air.”

None of this winter weather was expected to escape the mountains, and a cooler-than-average Monday will give way to temperatures in the 80s and low 90s by July 4.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where’s That Coming From?"}]

The snow in northwest Wyoming came from a cold front moving across Montana, originating in the Pacific Northwest.

“There’s an upper-level low over Montana,” Stetzr said. “That's allowing cooler temperatures to make their way into the state and lowering the snow levels to around 7,000 feet.”

Lance VandenBoogart with the National Weather Service office in Riverton said that’s not unusual for northwest Wyoming or Yellowstone, even in the last days of June.

“Yellowstone and any high-elevation spot in northwest Wyoming can see snow any time of the year,” he said. “The high at Old Faithful was 44 degrees, and that’s not even record-breaking cold for this time of year.”

Still, there were cooler-than-average temperatures across Wyoming on Monday. Daytime highs were in the low 70s in central Wyoming and only in the mid-50s to mid-60s in the Bighorn Basin.

Many spots in Wyoming would welcome an inch or two of moisture. VandenBoogart said they’ll be going without.

“It’ll fizzle out by this evening,” he said. “This weather system will be weakening as it pushes through the mountains. The Bighorn Basin might see a couple of rain showers, but we’re not looking for much notable precipitation from this.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heat Of The Moment"}]

If it’s cool and wet on June 29, what does that mean for the upcoming celebrations of the United States 250th anniversary on July 4?

VandenBoogart and Stetzr agreed that Monday’s high-elevation snow was an anomaly. By Friday, it’ll look and feel like summer again.

“We'll continue to have daily chances for afternoon showers and thunderstorms, but we're expecting temperatures to return to the upper 70s and low 80s for the second half of the week,” Stetzr said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Central and southern Wyoming could get even warmer."}]

“We’re looking at the low to mid 80s through the middle of the week,” VandenBoogart said. “By the time we get to Friday, through the Independence Day holiday, we're going to be probably upper 80s to around 90, closer to mid-summer normals.”

As for the Beartooth Highway, the National Park Service said the road would be opened “when conditions improve.” Based on the amount of snow seen on webcams in Cooke City, that probably won’t be until Tuesday.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Don’t Read Into It"}]

After a record-breaking dry winter and spring, some might be inclined to see June snow on the Beartooth Highway as a promising sign. After all, El Niño’s on the way and promises to disrupt global weather patterns in a way that could, possibly, benefit Wyoming.

The latest outlook from the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center still favors above-average moisture for Wyoming this summer. VandenBoogart doesn’t think anyone should read into it too much.

“Climatology isn’t going to be your best forecast,” he said. “The latest update is a slight lean toward above-normal precipitation for the western half of Wyoming in July, August, and September. It's not a sure thing, just that the odds are a little better than normal.”

Meanwhile, the snow on the Beartooth Highway isn’t indicative of anything other than the fact that anything can happen at a 10,000-foot elevation.

“If Casper got snow right now, that would be impressive,” VandenBoogart said. “When you're getting it up in the mountains and Yellowstone, snow happens when these cold systems ride through.”

Libby lane snow 6 29 26

<title>Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Winter is back in Wyoming as a late June snowstorm closed the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's Dunraven Pass. At 9,400 feet, the Top of the World store recorded three inches of snow. “We got our boots out and just kept working," said Libby Lane.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone

Anna-Louise Jackson

Public Lands

The Going-to-the-Sun Road in Montana’s Glacier National Park, which opened for the summer Monday, is considered by many to be the most beautiful road in America. So be prepared to have plenty of company, human and otherwise, on the way to Logan Pass.

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 13, 2023

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