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[{"type":"text","text":"This really should be an Olympic sport..."}]

One more 5 12 23

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

<title>You Still Here? Friday, May 12, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

This really should be an Olympic sport...

You Still Here? Friday, May 12, 2023

 This really should be an Olympic sport...

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus claims the national group Americans for Prosperity is attacking “true conservatives” running for the state Legislature. 

Americans for Prosperity’s Wyoming-based director Tyler Lindholm disputes that, saying Freedom Caucus-aligned legislators aren’t always conservative.

Headquartered in Virginia, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a major player in Wyoming’s primary election cycle, influencing voters’ choices between different Republicans.

AFP spent $334,603 in election campaign efforts in Wyoming’s 2024 primary cycle.

 as another Virginia-based group, which differs from AFP and often backs Freedom Caucus-aligned candidates: Make Liberty Win.

[{"type":"text","text":"Make Liberty Win spent  $371,260 in Wyoming’s 2024 primary election."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"This year’s primary election is Aug. 18."}]

The primary tends to be more decisive in Wyoming because it a Republican-majority state. Republican in-fighting, not partisan divide, defines most political factions on the state legislative level.

[{"type":"text","text":"None of AFP’s picks is a known Freedom Caucus member. "}]

AFP’s favored Republican candidates in contested legislative races this year are:

[{"type":"text","text":"Nah, Says Allemand"}]

 Allemand, against whom AFP has launched mailers, told Cowboy State Daily the group has come out against “conservative” candidates and wants to end the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

“They want to destroy the movement of the Freedom Caucus, which is a very conservative, anti-tax, pro-family movement,” said Allemand. “In all their publications they say how conservative they are, but yet they’ve endorsed the least conservative people.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Lindholm countered."}]

“We don’t look at caucus alignment,” he said. “If this was an anthem against the Freedom Caucus we’d be in the (Freedom Caucus-aligned Rep.) Ocean Andrew race supporting Cam Wright. We’d be in the (Freedom Caucus Rep.) Steve Johnson race supporting Luke Reiner.”

It boils down to a few key votes, Lindholm said, including how legislators opposed energy projects, “for the sake of voting against energy projects.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Being pro-business is a huge factor, said Lindholm."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“Absolutely. Economics, first and foremost,” he said."}]

 Simplifying regulations in health care, and improving school choice are also AFP goals.

Lindholm said Wyoming Freedom Caucus members want people to think they’re the conservative gold standard, but they’re not always conservative.

And he pointed to Riggins as an example of a Freedom Caucus-aligned, AFP endorsee. 

Riggins is a bad example because he’s never been in the Freedom Caucus, said Allemand, who is himself a known member of the caucus.

“JR is a good friend of mine. JR has not voted conservative,” said Allemand.

As for Riggins, he said it’s more complex than that. He cast himself as conservative, but thoughtful.

He voted in favor of giving state employees raises this year, which the Freedom Caucus largely opposed. He voted to rescue the Wyoming Business Council from being dismantled because, Riggins said, the dismantling effort didn’t give a long enough off-ramp for the economic development agency.

[{"type":"text","text":"And he voted against the 2026 Second Amendment Preservation Act."}]

That failed bill sought to impose $50,000 civil penalties on Wyoming police agencies that help with federal gun-crime enforcement operations against "law-abiding" citizens, or hire former federal agents who’ve conducted those operations.

, saying it overlooks the nuances of critical and evolving situations, and chills long-wrought professional relationships that keep federal agencies from overstepping local control.

“I generally agree with most of the (caucus’) policy directions,” said Riggins in a Wednesday phone interview. “Of course, some of my votes didn’t sit well with some of them.”

Riggins said he believes the caucus “considered” letting him join, but, “After a couple of unexpected votes from me during budget session, I think (I’m) disinvited.”

Allemand said AFP’s decision not to interfere with Johnson’s Cheyenne-based House race is also a deflection.

Lindholm cited Johnson’s recent efforts to champion food-freedom measures.

“That’s really not a very good excuse,” said Allemand. “I don’t know of one person that is in the Freedom Caucus that is not 100% behind food freedom. In fact, we want to go so far as to include meats.”

As for Andrew, he’s been a top proponent of school choice, which is an AFP favored issue. 

[{"type":"text","text":"That Neiman Driskill Race"}]

The Neiman-Driskill Race for northern Wyoming’s Senate District 1 has gotten feisty.

[{"type":"text","text":"Neiman took to social media to rebut and accuse Driskill of low hits."}]

Driskill countered, saying he doesn’t and can’t coordinate with AFP as an independent PAC.

that Neiman has championed school-choice efforts – one of the AFP’s darling issues.

But, Lindholm said, an AFP-touted bill to let the state board of medicine license internationally trained doctors – to ease doctor shortages around the state – died in Neiman’s drawer in 2026.

Driskill had championed that same bill, without success, on the Senate side in 2025.

Neiman said the bill actually died in Majority Floor Leader Scott Heiner’s drawer.

He said he believes his record isn’t the leading factor in AFP’s disapproval of him.

“Oh the reason he opposes me is because he lost,” said Neiman, of Lindholm, whom Neiman beat in their state House district in 2020.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lindholm has denied that assertion in prior interviews."}]

Neiman continued: “Compare my record and my voting and what I’ve supported from school choice, to energy, to all of it. There’s no question I’ve got a better record. I outperform probably all the candidates they’re endorsing. That doesn’t wash.”  

The AFP mailers characterize at least two Neiman aye votes as anti-energy: House Bill 257 of 2023 and this year’s House Joint Resolution 3 – both unsuccessful.

The former would give private landowners greater influence over reclamation work on their property. The latter would have proposed a constitutional amendment to make any nuclear waste storage permitting go to a vote of the people at election time.

Neiman said his aye votes backed private-property rights and the popular will.

Lindholm said the first was unrealistic in the real world of energy, and the second would have burdened Wyoming’s energy sector and driven the state toward Colorado’s more democratic-style, versus representative governance, way of handling issues at the ballot.

Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Association, told Cowboy State Daily previously that his group opposed both the bills AFP referenced and has also endorsed Driskill.

He said House Bill 257 would have stalled mining projects for years and overlooked the split-estate ownership giving the mining sector “seniority in situations like that,” where “permits get modified all the time.”

“That was a terrible bill. Anyone who supported it was wrong,” said Deti.

[{"type":"text","text":"About Tax Hikes"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Allemand said the Freedom Caucus is for lower taxes."}]

Lindholm said that’s not necessarily true: Allemand backed a failed bill this year that sought to raise taxes on solar and nuclear power generation.

“From the same crowd constantly trumpeting ‘government shouldn’t pick winners and losers,’ and yet he’s trying to stick certain industries’ generation with a new tax,” said Lindholm.

That bill, countered Allemand, sought to tax undertaxed industries’ generation in the hope of ultimately driving traditional minerals’ severance taxes down.

“I believe we ought to have all these industries on a level playing field, and all paying the same taxes,” said Allemand.

Tyler Lindholm and allemand 8 5 26

<title>Wyoming Freedom Caucus Claims National Group Attacking ‘True Conservatives’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Freedom Caucus claims national group Americans for Prosperity is attacking “true conservatives” running for the state Legislature. Nope, says Wyoming’s AFP director, “We don’t look at caucus alignment.”

Wyoming Freedom Caucus Claims National Group Attacking ‘True Conservatives’

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

Penny Counts was showing her boyfriend around the Alcova area on Sunday when she saw something she’d never seen: someone bungee jumping in Fremont Canyon.

“We just happened to be out there when that guy was up on that rock,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “I saw him rigging up, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! He’s gonna try jumping!' And he made the jump, swinging back and forth and hollering all the way.”

Counts filmed the jump with her phone. She said watching it was “insane.”

“The video doesn't give justice to how steep that canyon is,” she said. “Somebody to actually want to jump off of it with that type of rigging is insane. I was worried he’d swing back and smack into the wall, but he knew what he was doing.”

Amid her shock and surprise, Counts admitted it’s something she might have tried in her youth.

“If I were younger, I'd have tried it, but I guess I lost my Peter Pan complex a long time ago,” she said. “But not now. Broken bones and bad wishes on that one.”

Bungee jumpers continue to leap off the 112-foot bridge despite a tragic and notorious history that goes back more than 50 years when a young girl was pushed to her death in 1973, and her sister died at the same spot nearly 20 years later.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bungee Glee"}]

Like many outdoor recreation activities, bungee jumping is becoming increasingly popular in Wyoming.

Eric Lyman is the owner of Over The Edge Bungee in Idaho Falls, Idaho. For several years he has taken people to bungee jump off the Fremont Canyon Bridge, a span 112 feet above the North Platte River about 40 miles southwest of Casper.

“We're always looking for new bridges,” he said. “I had a friend that lived there who stumbled on that bridge and sent me a picture. I was there a month later, and that’s that.”

Over The Edge Bungee travels to bridges in several states to provide optimal experiences.

As bungee jumping becomes more popular, more people are looking for a memorable experience. That’s been the foundation of Lyman’s business for 35 years.

“The beauty of bungee jumping is that you jump from a complete standstill in perfect silence,” he said. “It’s not an airplane that's buzzing at 100 miles an hour. We pick up where skydiving leaves off.  It’s just a great experience.”

Lyman described the Fremont Canyon Bridge as ideal for bungee jumping. There’s low traffic, incredible scenery, and the bridge is an excellent overhead anchor for his retrieval systems.

Beyond that, the same things that made bungee jumping so insane from Counts’ perspective enhance the experience.

“It’s a fairly narrow canyon,” Lyman said. “When you jump, the bottom drops out a lot faster, and the peripheral views intensify the free fall even more. The ground rush experience is intensified, since you can see the water coming straight at you. There's a nice deceleration before you get there, a bounce that shoots you up underneath the bridge, and another big bounce just as lively as the first.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Freedom To Jump"}]

Lyman visits Fremont Canyon once or twice a year for bungee jumping, but not just because it’s a long haul from Idaho Falls.

“We've got a lot of other bridges, here and there, that we jump as well,” he said. “When we come out to Casper, we’re there to see the great things in that area. It’s our way of sharing something we do with the locals.”

That’s not to say that someone has to wait for Lyman to go bungee jumping off the Fremont County Bridge. That’s another perk of the bridge and the experience.

“It’s not illegal, and nobody’s asking for a permit,” he said. “It’s pretty straightforward. You have the anchor right above where you intend to jump, so it's easier to calculate the range and know where you’re going to be.”

Lyman wasn’t anywhere near Fremont Canyon on Sunday, so whoever was bungee jumping there was with another outfit or on their own. He and his clients also jump straight off the bridge, rather than the canyon wall.

“What (the man in the video) was doing was a pendulum swing,” he said. “We do those on occasion, but not at this bridge. When we jump, you climb over the rail of the bridge. It’s awkward and scary, without a lot of fanfare, and then you jump.”

To each their own. Lyman can see the allure of a pendulum swing, but thinks Fremont Canyon offers a thrilling-enough experience with a traditional jump.

“That's a unique-enough activity in the area that people are pretty anxious to give it a try,” he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not Jumping The Gun"}]

There’s another reason why Lyman limits his Fremont Canyon trips. The area is a largely undiscovered gem, and he would like to keep it that way.

“We're not interested in mass production,” he said. “I think there would be a lot more demand if we got the word out, but we don’t let it. It’s still an adventure, not an assembly line or amusement park.”

The Fremont County Bridge is a notoriously tragic symbol to Casper residents as the spot where Amy Burridge, 11, was 

Her sister, Becky, was violently assaulted and pushed off the bridge as well. She survived, only to die at the same spot on July 31, 1992.

[{"type":"text","text":"That tragedy is what brought Counts to the area Sunday."}]

“I've always considered it a bridge of tragedy,” she said. “I was showing my boyfriend what had happened out there and how far the drop was.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That said, Counts wasn’t taken aback by the bungee jumper."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was mind-blowing because I’d never seen it before,” she said."}]

 of and sensitive to the bridge’s tragic symbolism, but he said he feels it’s a place where many others have and continue to find happiness through outdoor recreation. One can be respectful of the past while finding memorable moments for themselves, family, and friends in the present.

“There’s camping, boating, and climbing in Fremont Canyon,” he said. “Lots of people do swings and climb on the walls. I feel (bungee jumping) fits right into the crowd and their level of adventure.”

From his experience, Lyman described Casper as “a pretty adventurous crowd.” He’s sure he could find a lot more business offering more bungee jumping off the bridge, but he has no intention of doing so, both out of respect for the bridge’s history and the desire to keep the experience special. 

“I don’t think we’d ever be overrun in that spot, but we don’t want that,” he said. “Fremont Canyon is a very positive area with a lot of great activities, and bungee jumping fits right in.”

Bungee Fremont Bridge Screenshot 2026 08 05 at 3 16 36 PM 8 5 26

<title>Tragic History Doesn’t Keep Bungee Jumpers From Leaping Off Fremont Canyon Bridge | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bungee jumpers keep leaping off the Fremont Canyon Bridge or the cliffs below it despite a tragic history that goes back 50 years. “Somebody to actually want to jump off of it with that type of rigging is insane,” said a woman who got video of a jumper.

Tragic History Doesn’t Keep Bungee Jumpers From Leaping Off Fremont Canyon Bridge

[{"type":"text","text":"And the sugar has kicked in......"}]

Parenting 8 5 26

<title>Today In Parenting: Wednesday, August 5, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

And the sugar has kicked in......

Today In Parenting: Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Dale Clark, an Airbnb owner in Thermopolis, had just one word when he heard Wyoming State Parks had reached a tentative $1.8 million agreement to buy the Star Plunge water park in Hot Springs State Park, ending a long-running legal dispute that’s kept the popular attraction 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Ecstatic,” he said."}]

 ever for his Airbnb this year with the Star Plunge closed and said August bookings so far look to be a record low. 

“This month I think we have eight days in August reserved, where usually we’re close to sold out,” he said.

Two guests told him this month that if they’d known Star Plunge wasn’t open, his already low bookings would have been short another two.

“Whether you like it or not — and there’s many who don’t — Star Plunge is the No. 1 attraction,” he said. “I get that there’s the Dinosaur Center, there’s another pool, and there’s the State Bath House, and there’s this and that. 

"But Star Plunge is No. 1, like it or not.”

For Clark and many other Thermopolis business owners, the state’s deal with Star Plunge owner Roland Luehne is long-awaited relief from a legal fight they say has been taking the top off their tourism season. 

The $1.8 million settlement agreement, which will require the Wyoming attorney general’s approval, will close out all claims — filed or unfiled, current or future — related to the Star Plunge dispute, according to Wyoming State Parks, Historic Sites, and Trails Deputy Director Nick Neylon.

“It will pay C&W Enterprises $1.8 million and will stipulate that Roland and his company drop all claims against the state regarding the Star Plunge,” he said. “The settlement isn’t final yet, but Director (Dave) Glenn has signed it, and Roland and Star Plunge have signed it.”

The attorney general’s review was a stipulation in the

 fund to buy out both Star Plunge and the Hot Springs Hotel.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ends All Claims"}]

The dispute between State Parks and Star Plunge began almost two decades ago when the long-term concession contract for the attraction expired in 2008. 

That morphed into years of short-term deals, as well as political fights at the Capitol and, ultimately, closure of the popular attraction in January 2025, along with sparking a lawsuit between the parties over just compensation.

The agreement clears the way for new concessionaire Wyoming Hot Springs, LLC to 

, along with neighboring TePee Pools and the State Bath House, ushering in millions of dollars worth of improvements. 

A separate agreement covering purchase of the Hot Springs Hotel is pending and nearing completion, Neylon added.

“We have spent a week negotiating with them, and we hope to have an announcement about that very soon,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It won’t happen today, but hopefully soon.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Won’t Reopen Overnight"}]

Star Plunge won’t reopen right away, Neylon said. The first step once the state regains control of the property will be a “top-to-bottom” safety inspection. 

“We have said many times there were some safety issues we were worried about at the Star Plunge,” he said. “Once the agreement is fully executed and the keys turned over to us, we’ll get in there and conduct that safety inspection … and then we still have to finalize the contract with the new concessionaire.”

Neylon said the state has been working concurrently on the final shape of its contract with Wyoming Hot Springs LLC, the concessionaire owned by former Alaska U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, which will take over all the park’s attractions.

Luehne filed a lawsuit prior to the Star Plunge closure in January 2025, alleging the state’s process had been fundamentally unfair and violated formal regulations for choosing a new concessionaire. 

He also claimed the state was cheating him of just compensation for decades of capital improvements.

In the months since the lawsuit, various efforts were made to try and open the attraction, including a deal that would have seen a third party operate the park for Luehne. That 

who left very little wiggle room for negotiation.

The new settlement caps a nearly two-decade standoff between Wyoming and C&W Enterprises over improvements to the concession.

“It’s been 18 years since their last long-term lease expired in 2008,” Neylon said. “So, it’s been a long journey to get to this point. 

"We’ve been working with them at least that long to try to finalize a new contract and get some improvements across all concessions.”

The lawsuit has put the status of other park improvements in limbo, with Wyoming Hot Springs LLC officials saying they cannot decide what direction to take until they know the outcome of the lawsuit between the state and Luehne, whose family has operated Star Plunge since 1975. 

Hot Springs is already Wyoming’s most-visited state park, according to the state’s traffic statistics, and represents a huge opportunity to create new tourism in the state, parks officials have said in previous interviews. 

In 2016, to try to capture more of that potential, Wyoming updated its master plan for the park, laying out a new vision and sending out a request for proposals. 

The state chose Wyoming Hot Springs LLC as the new concessionaire in 2024, effectively evicting Luehne and his family.

Messaging around the closure has tried to refocus attention on other attractions in Hot Springs County, such as the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, the TePee Pools, the State Bath House, and Hot Springs State Park itself, with its buffalo pasture and hiking and biking trails. 

To some extent, state lodging statistics do show the effort helped, especially with respect to the area’s blue-ribbon fishing opportunities and its whitewater rafting, but Airbnb stats also show that the area’s 

Thermopolis Mayor Adam Estenson said the town’s overall tourism has remained “surprisingly” resilient and blamed confusion over the Star Plunge closure, with some mistakenly thinking it meant a broader closure of the park itself.

“It’s good news indeed for Thermop and Hot Springs County,” he said. “And I would say probably the whole Bighorn Basin. 

"By and large, you talk to most people in our community, and this is what they really want, just a resolution to where we can start to move forward.”

Estenson indicated efforts would continue to diversify away from too much reliance on any one attraction.

“We’ve got a group here called the Hot City Outdoor Alliance, and they’re doing some awesome work with the trails,” he said. “In the last five or six years, they have expanded a trail system where you could literally hike all day long, never hitting the same trail twice, and never really leave the town of Thermopolis.”

Those hikes feel secluded, with amazing vistas, Estenson added.

“That group also has something to do with the Wagonhound, an off-road park up toward like Anchor Dam and Legend Rock,” he said. “And so that’s just highlights of a lot of stuff going on in Hot Springs County.”

Star Plunge 7 31 26

<title>$1.8M Settlement Puts Star Plunge On Track To Reopen After Closed For 18 Months | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Star Plunge in Thermopolis is on track to reopen after a $1.8 million settlement between Wyoming State Parks and its previous operator has kept it closed since January 2025. “It won’t happen today, but hopefully soon,” said a state parks official.

$1.8M Settlement Puts Star Plunge On Track To Reopen After Closed For 18 Months

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Coal

For more than three decades, Jim Allington's workday began long before sunrise.

Most mornings, he pulled out of his driveway in Douglas around 3 a.m. for the 73-mile drive to Peabody Energy's North Antelope Rochelle Mine, where 16-hour shifts in upper management were routine.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I never missed a day,\" Allington said. \"Never been late.\""}]

By the time he retired a little more than a year ago, the long commute had taken its toll. During his final year on the job, he struck two elk while driving to work. Between the exhausting schedule and the mounting risks of the highway, he knew it was time.

He also believed he was leaving with one of the retirement benefits the company had promised: a Retiree Medical Allowance worth roughly $260,000 that could help pay health insurance premiums and medical expenses throughout retirement.

[{"type":"text","text":"But about two weeks ago, a letter arrived in the mail."}]

Peabody Energy notified retirees it will terminate the program at the end of 2026, ending a benefit many former employees say they relied on when planning retirement.

By the end of the year, Allington estimates he will have used about $20,000 of the $260,000 he said he was promised.

“Where did my other $240,000 go?” he posted on social media.

“They took away my benefits that they promised,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Why the RMA is Going Away"}]

Peabody Energy said in an emailed statement to Cowboy State Daily that it decided to discontinue the program because it "is not aligned with market-competitive practices."

"Peabody is providing advance notice to allow those affected time to plan and prepare, and we remain committed to supporting employees in their retirement planning," the company said.

The statement did not address Cowboy State Daily’s question about how many employees the decision will affect.

This isn’t the first time Peabody Energy has slashed benefits for its retirees.

In 2020, the company cut health benefits and terminated life insurance for retirees older than 65 as part of a cost-cutting strategy. Retirees younger than 65 could maintain their coverage.

[{"type":"text","text":"The move would help Peabody save about $175 million."}]

The company had declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016. While it pulled out of bankruptcy quickly, it was potentially headed toward a second bankruptcy in 2020, the company said at the time.

That’s when Gillette retirees Gloria and Rick Buell, who spent a combined 30 years working for Peabody Energy at several Wyoming coal mines, received their own letter in the mail, informing them their health benefits would be terminated at the end of the year.

Gloria Buell told Cowboy State Daily she and her husband did pretty well for the first six to nine months of retirement.

Retired Wyoming employees of Peabody Energy say they feel betrayed by its decision to end a medical retirement benefits program. "I never missed a day," said Douglas' Jim Allington. The company says the program no longer fits "market competitive practices."

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