Wyoming Sunrise

Today's Wyoming sunrise was taken by Lori Byrd on May 19, 2023 at the Powder Horn golf community in Sheridan, Wyoming. 

Sunrise 5 22 23

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

<title>Your Wyoming Sunrise: Monday, May 22, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Today's Wyoming sunrise was taken by Lori Byrd on May 19, 2023 at the Powder Horn golf community in Sheridan, Wyoming. 

Lori writes, "Out for my morning walk and this is what I saw! Beautiful!!!"

Your Wyoming Sunrise: Monday, May 22, 2023

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000, the former Weston County Clerk who admitted to causing errors in the 2024 general election was sentenced Wednesday to pay a $500 fine and $220 in other court costs and fees.

Circuit Court Judge Lynda Bush found that “no term of incarceration or period of probation shall be imposed” on Becky Hadlock.

Hadlock had a plea agreement in place in which she agreed to plead guilty — and gave that plea Wednesday — to a misdemeanor charge of election law violation. 

The plea agreement said that in exchange, she’d pay the $720 in fines, costs and fees.

Bush didn’t have to accept that plea agreement, but if the judge had rejected it, Hadlock would have been able to withdraw her guilty plea and renegotiate her case, the agreement says.

Hadlock, her attorney Ryan Semerad, and special prosecutor Dan Itzen filed the agreement Tuesday.

 with two different felonies: violation of the election code by an election official, and falsifying election documents.

Had she been convicted for both and sentenced to the maximum, she could have faced up to 10 years in prison and up to $20,000 in fines.

One day after her April 8 charging and a roughly two-hour stay in the local jail, Hadlock announced her resignation as Weston County Clerk.

Itzen told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that Hadlock quitting wasn’t part of the plea agreement.

It did, however, factor into the prosecutors’ thinking when they knocked the two felonies down to one misdemeanor and agreed not to push for jail time, he said.

“After she removed herself from office we reduced that to a misdemeanor and kind of went from there,” said Itzen. “That wasn’t part of the agreement. 

"But as I looked at the case, that was one of the main goals of our office as well as law enforcement — removal from office and making sure those things don’t happen again.”

Meanwhile, Hadlock has also reached a settlement in a Casper Circuit Court case where she’s accused of defying a legislative subpoena, court documents indicate. 

Lawmakers last September subpoenaed Hadlock to question her about her handling of the 2024 election. 

Before Hadlock was subpoenaed, she had made it clear to legislative staffers that she could not attend the meeting as she’d scheduled doctors’ appointments for the day it was set to happen in Casper, court documents show.

Defying a legislative subpoena carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and $100 in fines.

It’s unclear what Hadlock’s plea agreement or settlement terms are in that case. They were not in the public-facing court file as of Thursday.

Itzen declined to comment on that case Thursday, noting that it’s still ongoing.

Hadlock, who pleaded not guilty in October, is set to change her plea in the subpoena case on June 24 in Casper Circuit Court.

[{"type":"text","text":"Hadlock’s attorney declined Thursday to comment."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"These 19 Months"}]

Stretching across about 19 months, numerous news stories, one legislative investigation, a misdemeanor case, a civil removal case and then the felony arrest, Hadlock’s case is a familiar one in Wyoming political circles. 

Before she resigned, the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office was pursuing a civil 

 alleging that Hadlock had committed misconduct or malfeasance in office, and that the court should remove her from office. That case became moot when Hadlock resigned.

Semerad in an earlier motion to dismiss the civil case called the saga “tortured and petty.”

He challenged whether Hadlock’s failure to appear for the legislative subpoena could comprise misconduct or malfeasance “in office” under Wyoming’s removal-from-office mechanism. 

Hadlock has made headlines since November 2024, when she reportedly allowed faulty ballots to mingle with proper ballots in the general election, skewing two uncontested races and raising questions about whether her post-election audit was done in good faith.

“Prior to submitting her post-election audit,” says the attorney general’s petition to remove her, “Hadlock was informed that the anomalous undervote reported in the House District One race was likely due to ballot errors.”

Still, the petition adds, she submitted a post-election audit to the Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office showing no errors affecting any of the 75 sample ballots audited.

That same day someone emailed her to confirm that faulty ballots mixed into the race had produced inaccurate results.

“Hadlock acknowledged the error but did not withdraw or correct her audit at that time,” says the petition. 

She later agreed to a hand count, and the election results were correct by three days after the election, Nov. 8, 2024.

[{"type":"text","text":"Complaints Filed"}]

The petition says that by Nov. 9, however, Hadlock “still had not withdrawn or corrected” the audit.

She addressed those issues Nov. 12, by submitting a corrected audit — this time showing 21 errors affecting the 75 ballots, all owing to the faulty ballots that had been mixed into the election, the document adds.

Some Weston County residents filed complaints asking Gov. Mark Gordon to remove Hadlock from office.

She’d done a poor job but didn’t show the misconduct or malfeasance to vault the state to that level, Gordon countered. 

Gordon did not consider the questionable post-election audit Hadlock had filed because the people qualified to bring the governor’s investigation complaints didn’t raise that point, his office later told lawmakers.  

Secretary of State Chuck Gray, a vocal, frequent critic of Hadlock, had raised that complaint, but he wasn’t a qualified elector of Weston County, so he couldn’t ask for the governor’s investigation under the relevant law.

So Weston County residents filed another batch of complaints, this time including the post-election audit concern.

 that the broader body of evidence was sufficient to recommend Hadlock for removal and turned the question over to Attorney General Keith Kautz. He pointed to her failure to show for the legislative subpoena.

Kautz, along with four attorneys working in his office, filed a petition in February in Weston County District Court calling for Hadlock to be removed from her post.

Hadlock and new Weston County Courthouse courthouses co 4 9 26

<title>Former Weston County Clerk Gets $720 Fine, No Jail As Prosecutor Ditches Felonies | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The former Weston County Clerk who admitted to causing errors in the 2024 election was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to a lesser charge in a deal that includes no jail time. That she resigned was “one of the main goals,” said the prosecutor.

Former Weston County Clerk Gets $720 Fine, No Jail As Prosecutor Ditches Felonies

Coy Knobel

Don Day Weather

Partly sunny to sunny in much of Wyoming Thursday with a chance of afternoon rain and breezy conditions. Some areas of early rain overnight. Highs from the upper 60s to low 90s. Lows in the 40s and 50s.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":" "}]

Slight chance of rain after 4 p.m., mostly cloudy today with a high near 84 and gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a low near 52.

Mostly sunny today with a high near 86 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Increasing clouds overnight a low near 51 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

 Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise mostly sunny today with a high near 90 and partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph.

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

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 81 and wind gusts as high as 26 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 47 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

Sunny today with a high near 76 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Increasing clouds overnight with a low near 47 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

Sunny and breezy today with a high near 77 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Mostly clear and breezy overnight with a low near 40 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 81 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 42.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 78 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 43 and wind gusts as high as 28 mph.

 Sunny today with a high near 75 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 44 and wind gusts as high as 21 mph.

  Sunny and breezy today with a high near 85 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 45 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph.

Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park

:  Sunny today with a high near 77 and mostly clear overnight with a low near 39.

Partly sunny today with a high near 90 and wind gusts as high as 20 mph. Partly cloudy overnight with a low near 57.

:  Chance of rain, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 89 and wind gusts as high as 22 mph. Gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 59 and wind gusts as high as 23 mph.

  Partly sunny and breezy today with a high near 94 and wind gusts as high as 24 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming mostly clear overnight with a low near 58 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Partly sunny and breezy today with a high near 84 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph. Breezy, partly cloudy overnight with a low near 57 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 87 and wind from 13-21 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 49 and wind from 8-18 mph.

:  Slight chance of rain after 2 p.m., otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 86 and mostly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight and a low near 51.

Slight chance of rain after noon, mostly cloudy and windy today with a high near 84 and wind gusts as high as 38 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 53 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 80 and wind gusts as high as 37 mph. Mostly cloudy and breezy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 54 and wind gusts as high as 33 mph.

:  Partly sunny today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph. Gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 55 and wind gusts as high as 31 mph.

  Slight chance of rain, otherwise partly sunny and breezy today with a high near 79 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 57 and wind gusts as high as 25 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after 3 p.m., otherwise partly sunny and breezy today with a high near 73 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph. Partly cloudy and breezy overnight with a low near 51 and wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, mostly cloudy and breezy today with a high near 81 and wind gusts as high as 36 mph. Breezy, gradually becoming partly cloudy overnight with a slight chance of rain before midnight, a low near 50 and wind gusts as high as 32 mph.

  Gradually becoming mostly sunny today with a high near 70 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 50.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, mostly cloudy today with a high near 68 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 46.

  Mostly cloudy today with a high near 76 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 43.

  Gradually becoming sunny today with a high near 78 and increasing clouds overnight with a low near 49.

  Slight chance of rain after noon, otherwise partly sunny today with a high near 75 and mostly cloudy overnight with a low near 47.

  Partly sunny today with a high near 74 and partly cloudy overnight with a low near 45.

Daycap small 5 28 26

<title>Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Thursday, May 28, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Don Day's Wyoming Weather Forecast: Thursday, May 28, 2026

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

Andrew Rossi

Business & Tourism

Tourism

The Maverik gas station in Montrose, Colorado, can’t sell any diesel after someone dumped an RV’s waste tank into the station’s underground diesel supply.

The incident happened sometime on Monday, and a woman who answered the phone at the Montrose Maverik station on Tuesday confirmed that someone had dumped an RV waste tank into its underground diesel storage tank.

She said the pumps “are shut down right now,” that the store was busy, and hung up.

Cowboy State Daily hasn’t been able to confirm the status of the situation at the Montrose Maverik since that call. Subsequent calls weren’t answered.

Evan Peters shared details of the incident in the Facebook group Montrose Message Board.

“They dumped into the large manhole covers near the road directly into the diesel tank,” he wrote. “They have a dedicated dump at the larger pumps, but I guess someone decided to undo the manhole and dump there.”

To add insult to injury, Peters said a cashier at the Montrose Maverik told him the station had “just gotten a new delivery of diesel.”

Now, they’ll have to pump everything out of the tank and thoroughly clean it before it’s operational.

That’s what happens when someone’s No. 2 becomes someone else’s No. 1 problem.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Necessary Evil"}]

Bill Sniffin, an avid RV enthusiast and Cowboy State Daily columnist, said emptying an RV’s waste tank is “a necessary evil of RVing.”

“Let me tell you, it’s not fun,” he said. “It's usually a two-person operation, and it’s pretty darn rank.”

When Sniffin heard about the incident at the Montrose Maverik, he said it was “almost unbelievable.” 

He couldn’t see how anyone could confuse an RV dump station for the portal leading to a diesel fuel tank, regardless of how the gas station is situated.

“The dump stations are very obvious,” he said. “They’ll have signs all over the place, and it’s very self-explanatory.”

When people rent or buy RVs, they might not anticipate that anything that’s flushed down the on-board toilet needs to be emptied, usually every week or so. It’s the least glamorous part of traveling via RV.

“You can’t hire anybody to do it for you,” Sniffin said. “Luckily, I've got a wife who's a pretty good sport about it, but I have to admit that I have many pictures of her standing over the tank, holding her nose, and trying not to yuck.”

When discussing the Montrose incident, Sniffin kept referencing the 2006 film “RV” starring the late Robin Williams. In the movie, Williams plays an oblivious dad who rents an RV for a fun family vacation.

There’s a particular scene where Williams’s character has to empty the RV’s waste tank. Williams used his comedic genius to make the most of the all-too-relatable moment.

“He doesn’t know how to do it, so of course it explodes into a brown Old Faithful,” Sniffin said. “Anybody who's ever been in the RV business looks at that scene, cringes, and says, ‘For the grace of God, go sweet, those hoses better not pop loose.”

Sniffin has never had an incident as severe as depicted in “RV.” His worst experience was when one of the hoses he used to empty the waste tank split in the hot sun.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was a helluva mess,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Black Then Gray (In That Order)"}]

RVs have two notable tanks that need to be emptied regularly. The gray water tank holds the water used for sinks and showers, and the black water tank holds the smelly stuff.

According to Sniffin, an experienced RVer knows they need to empty the black tank before the gray tank.

“You have two valves and one hose,” he said. “The routine is to do the black valve first, so all the really bad stuff is gone, then you do the gray valve to rinse out all the stuff as it goes down.”

Where can you empty the black tank? It can be more logistically challenging than many people, especially first-time RVers, realize.

Most RV campsites have waste tank dump sites, either a singular designated spot or one at each hookup, if it’s a full-service site. RVers on the road can empty their black water tanks at fairgrounds, truck stops, and water treatment plants, usually for a fee.

Some gas stations, including Maverik, have dump stations available for free. 

They’re usually clearly marked, with lots of signage telling RVers of all stripes exactly where to back up and bail out their black water tanks.

That comes with a certain risk, as the Montrose Maverik discovered this week.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Everyone Has Stories"}]

Andrea Wood, general manager at the Devils Tower/Black Hills KOA campground, has an RV waste tank dump station at her campground. However, it’s only available to “registered campers.”

“They can reserve a water and electric site, which means they use our dump station, or they are in a full hookup site, which means they hook directly to the sewer system.”

Anyone else who asks to swing in and use their dump station is directed to the Crook County Fairgrounds in Sundance. It’s best not to take chances.

“Anyone who works at a campground will have fecal matter stories for you,” she said. “It is not a daily occurrence, but it happens with frequency, without question.”

Wood couldn’t recall a particularly “exciting” incident at the Devils Tower/Black Hills KOA campground, although there’s nothing exciting about it.

According to her, the most common problem is people “emptying their black water tanks into whatever hole they can find.”

“Not only is it inconvenient and gross, but it's a biohazard,” she said. “The cleanup is never much fun, but it's also a safety concern.”

That said, there’s a particular demographic that’s the most problematic. Nearly every incident Wood could recall involved inexperienced RVers who were “unaware” of what they were doing.

“Lots of people buy or rent campers thinking it's going to be a fun vacation thing, but they don't truly grasp the maintenance and what's required to take a rig down the road,” she said.

Sometimes, people dump their black water tanks in the first spot they find. Sometimes, they don’t even wait for a promising pipe.

“Some people don't bother to put their black water tubing into the sewer hole, and have dumped it straight onto the ground,” Wood said. “Other times, they found something alongside the road that looked like it might work for them and pumped their things into that. 

"It's always amazing to us where they choose to dump, because it's really, it's quite simple.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Unbelievably Newbie'"}]

Sniffin’s guess was that whoever was responsible for the incident was “unbelievably newbie.” They would have had to unscrew the lid to the subterranean fuel tank, insert their hose into it, and let ‘er rip.

“It’s almost unbelievable,” he said. “The whole process is so unpleasant that it's bad enough, but then doing it in the wrong place is just unbelievable to me.”

Wood shared the assessment that the perpetrator was probably a first-time or inexperienced RVer. However, she added that many RV mishaps are caused by foreign tourists who have even less experience with RVs than the average American.

“We get lots of German and French travelers that travel with Cruise America, and they are frequently very unfamiliar with the RVs,” she said. “It's just about knowing and understanding the rig that they're driving and being able to use it the way it's meant to be used, which many don’t.”

Regardless of their experience or ethnicity, the person who made the mistake in Montrose just made their vacation a lot more expensive.

Sniffin, who used to work at a gas station, knows how laborious and meticulous it is to maintain fuel tanks. Correcting the mistake at the Montrose Maverik will be costly and time-consuming.

“I can't imagine the process they're going to have to go through to clean that tank out,” he said. “The whole process of dumping fuel into a fuel tank is very antiseptic. 

"The people driving those trucks make sure not a speck of dirt or anything gets into the tanks or the hose there because that could ultimately mess up a car.”

The Montrose Maverik will have to empty and thoroughly clean the underground diesel tank, along with all the associated filters, pumps, and hoses, before refilling it.

“It's going to be very expensive,” Sniffin said. “If you make that kind of mistake, you are in an unbelievable world of hurt.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Never Never Land"}]

Most people don’t have issues emptying their RV’s black water tank. Wood thinks it’s incredibly simple.

“There's literally only one spot to do it, and all that’s there is a PVC pipe with a cap on it,” she said. “You take the cap off, put your sewer hose in there, and that's where it goes.”

Wood could believe that someone would mistake a fuel tank for an RV dump station, as incredulous as she was that anyone could get that far without realizing what they were doing. 

For her, it’s a reminder that people need to understand RVs before renting or buying one.

“If you're going to use the bathroom in your camper, that goes somewhere,” she said. “It doesn't just disappear into Never Never Land. All of that raw sewage has to go somewhere, and it’s your responsibility to do that the right way at the right spot.”

RV and Montrose Maverik 5 27 26

<title>RV Driver Empties Waste Tank Into Colorado Gas Station's Diesel Supply | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Colorado Maverik station can’t sell any diesel after someone dumped an RV’s waste tank into the station’s underground diesel supply tank this week. One avid RVer said the mistake is “almost unbelievable … the dump stations are very obvious."

RV Driver Empties Waste Tank Into Colorado Gas Station's Diesel Supply

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Government & Politics

Legislature

Wildlife agents are killing just as many — if not more — grizzly bears every year because of human-bear conflicts than hunters would if there were grizzly hunting seasons, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Angi Bruce told lawmakers.

An average of 21 “conflict” bears are killed in Wyoming every year, whereas 20 grizzly tags might be issued for a “conservative” Wyoming hunting season, Bruce said Wednesday.  

She made those remarks before the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee, which is meeting in Casper.

Bruce has been an outspoken advocate for delisting grizzlies in the Lower 48 from federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection. 

So has her predecessor, former Game and Fish Director Brian Nesvik, who is now director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).

Bruce told the committee that she regards grizzly hunting as a vital “management tool” that her department is now denied.

That is “allowing these bears to be more comfortable in the ecosystem and spreading outside the ecosystem than they would be if we had a hunting season,” Bruce said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Be Patient’"}]

While giving the committee an update on Game and Fish, Bruce mentioned efforts to delist grizzlies, which started a discussion on the matter.

Grizzly delisting involves federal policy, so the committee took no action. 

There’s an ongoing, two-pronged approach to get grizzlies in the Lower 48 delisted, Bruce said. She didn’t mention a time frame for when it might happen.

There are efforts to take an “administrative” approach through FWS, as well as a legislative approach, through bills pending before the U.S. Congress.

Last year, Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman introduced 

, the Grizzly Bear State Management Act, and Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis introduced a mirror bill.

On the administrative side, Bruce said the goal is to come up with a “durable” delisting plan that will “last through the court system.”

Previous grizzly delistings, most recently in 2017, were overturned by federal judges.

“We are working very closely with our Fish and Wildlife Service partners in the effort to delist the grizzly bear,” Bruce told the committee. "I will tell you and ask you to be patient, because these things take time.

“You won’t see anything publicly-facing on this until later in the year. But just know that it is a continuous work in progress."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Just One Judge"}]

Committee member Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, remarked that “all it takes is one judge to undo all of that effort.”

“How easy is it for a different (presidential) administration to just come in and wipe it away on Day One?” Boner asked Bruce.

Bruce said the goal is to craft a delisting plan that is built “on science,” but noted that an administrative delisting could be overturned.

“That’s why we’re not letting off the gas when it comes to the legislative fix — a congressional action to delist them,” she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Mother May I?’"}]

Game and Fish is already essentially managing grizzlies in Wyoming, and spending about $2 million a year doing so, Bruce said.  

However, with ESA protection still in place for grizzlies, federal authorities have the final say, she said.

“We still have to go to the Fish and Wildlife Service and ask ‘mother may I?’ beforehand,” Bruce said.

Committee member Rep. Robert Wharff, R-Evanston, asked Bruce when Wyoming’s grizzly population reached objective numbers.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“Over 20 years ago,” Bruce responded."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Roadless Protection"}]

If the goal is to kill fewer grizzlies, hunting might be the better option, Wharff said.

“People need to understand that grizzly bears are dying even under federal protection, they are being removed rather than using sportsmen to hunt those bears,” he said.

Wyoming is killing more "conflict" grizzlies than would be killed by hunters if the bears were delisted, the state Game and Fish director said Wednesday. One legislator said that if the goal is to kill fewer grizzlies, hunting might be the better option.

Your Wyoming Sunrise: Monday, May 22, 2023

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