One More For The Road

Frustrated at his luck with RVs, Bill Sniffin turns to a life of crime and steals a tractor...

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<title>One More For The Road: Tuesday, November 28, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

One More For The Road: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

 Frustrated at his luck with RVs, Bill Sniffin turns to a life of crime and steals a tractor...

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Wildlife

A Yellowstone bull bison with a gigantic abscess on its right rear quarter probably isn’t suffering much pain and will likely survive, one of the county’s top bison ranchers says.

But the recovery process is going to be good, said Ken Klemm, past president and a lifelong member of the National Bison Association.

After seeing a photo of the bison, taken early Wednesday in Yellowstone National Park’s Lamar Valley, Klemm said a gushing rupture of the abscess is imminent.

“It looks like a 5-gallon bucketful of stuff will come out of that one,” Klemm, who has managed some of the world’s largest bison ranches, told Cowboy State Daily.

The abscess probably formed around a wound, he said.

The bison rut, or mating season, is on in Yellowstone. The bull might have suffered a puncture during a fight with another bull, Klemm said.

Lauri Foster lives just outside of New York City and loves coming to Wyoming to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

Early Wednesday, she was on a wildlife-viewing drive through the Lamar Valley when she spotted the bull sporting a huge, bulbous mass near its backside.

Foster works with horses and is familiar with injuries to large animals, so she knew what she saw on the bison must be something serious.

“I thought it had to be a hematoma or an abscess,” she told Cowboy State Daily.

Foster couldn’t see any visible cuts or sores that might indicate exactly where it was wounded, she said.

To keep safe, Foster stayed in her vehicle to photograph that bull and other bison.

The bulls were raising a ruckus as they competed for mating rights.

“They were headbutting each other and chasing each other down,” Foster said.

The bull with the abscess was taking a break, though she surmised he had probably been recently wounded in a fight.

She added that despite how hideous that abscess looked, the bull didn’t seem sick or weak.

“He was walking along normally,” she said.

The rut has made bull bison extra agitated lately. In the most dramatic incident, a bison flipped and seriously injured Washington state resident Carl Isom-McDaniel, 65, in July.

Foster said at one point the bull walked up the middle of the road and stopped directly in front of her vehicle, giving her the stink-eye.

“I was thinking, ‘this is a little intimidating,’” she said.

Bull elk are known for getting into epic battles once their rut starts, usually in September.

Bison take it to another level, Klemm said.

“They’re worse than elk. If the loser doesn’t get away, the other bull will kill him,” he said.

The National Park Service has a general policy of letting nature take its course with animals’ injuries.

Klemm said the bull with the super-sized abscess has a good chance of making it.

“The infection is just raging in there,” he said. "The immune system is keeping that bison from dying, just from walking around with that much infectious material in its body.

“I suspect it will burst fairly soon and he’ll get over it. Bison have unbelievably good immune systems for things like this.” 

Bison abcess 8 6 26

<title>Bison Rancher: Yellowstone Bull With Gigantic Abscess Will Be OK Once It Gushes | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A massive abscess on a Yellowstone bull bison’s right rear quarter likely is the result of an infected wound from a rut battle. When it ruptures, “a 5-gallon bucketful of stuff” will gush out, a top bison rancher says, adding the bison should be fine.

Bison Rancher: Yellowstone Bull With Gigantic Abscess Will Be OK Once It Gushes

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

 SHERIDAN — Secretary of State Chuck Gray bashed data centers repeatedly and clashed with the moderator 

during a U.S. House forum and debate Tuesday night in Sheridan, 

Casper businessman Reid Rasner criticized Gray multiple times. Both philanthropist Steve Friess and Army Col. Kevin Christensen asserted that they’re leading the race with Gray.   

And a few candidates derided the significant wealth streaming into this race.

Wyoming Public Television (PBS) hosted the forum at Sheridan Community College. Both PBS and Wyoming Public Media streamed it.

PBS public affairs producer Steve Peck moderated the forum, which also featured a short debate phase. He warned candidates they should be civil and avoid prolonged challenges or pointed attacks on their opponents, or they’d be interrupted.

Cowboy State Daily and Wyoming Public Media panelists asked questions about whether Congress should legislate rules around license-plate reader cameras, and who is responsible for implementing artificial intelligence protection framework.

Gray answered both questions with repeated references to data centers, which are computer server warehouses that store data – including for AI – and are a flashpoint issue this election cycle.

“Well, I’m the only candidate on stage that has been talking about these data AI data centers and expressed my opposition to these AI data centers,” said Gray, who also referenced mandated kill switches in vehicles and automated workforces.

Other candidates have spoken of data centers, but only Gray has indicated a desire to ban them at the federal level from Washington, D.C.

Senate President Bo Biteman said the states shouldn’t be cut out of the ability to ban or approve data centers, and communities should have the most control over their local permitting decisions for them.

That has been Friess’s stance, and former U.S. Army ranger David Giralt echoed that approach Tuesday night also.

Rasner agreed with the local-control stance Tuesday night, and used the topic as a chance to deride Gray.

“And I find it very suspicious even our own secretary of state signed off on an AI data center less than 1 mile away from our nuclear facilities and (FE) Warren Air Force base,” said Rasner.

Gray interjected: “That’s false. That’s false.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"'When It's Your Turn'"}]

Rasner continued the critique. Gray turned to Peck and said, “I need to respond to that.”

“When it’s your turn to respond,” said Peck, “take the time then, please.”

“I can’t respond to false …" began Gray.

“You can respond when it’s your turn to respond next,” answered Peck.

Former President Joe Biden in a 2024 executive order announced that MineOne, a data center company “majority owned by Chinese nationals”, had bought land within one mile of the base at 635 Logistics Drive, Cheyenne.

The order calls Terra Crypto Inc, which was incorporated under Gray’s office in 2023, a subsidiary or affiliate of MineOne.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. investigated the business and identified national security risks, the order says. The Biden administration ordered the business to 

While Gray’s signature is on the business registration approval for Terra Crypto, he has repeatedly urged the Legislature to adopt stronger business-approval laws to restrict adversarial nations.

The Legislature reacted to the 2024 controversy by giving state law enforcement 

 potentially dangerous land transfers near critical infrastructure, and giving the secretary of state grounds to dissolve businesses owned or controlled by foreign adversaries.

Meanwhile, at the debate, Friess voiced fears of AI systems “going off the rails” and said the U.S. should also be aware of its tech race against China.

Former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow said the technology industry seeks framework and guidance from government, and said she’d work to develop that “as your congresswoman.”

Christensen said the nation needs to develop framework for ethical AI, but individuals and families also need to engage, communicate with their kids and be wary of the new landscape.

Giralt said Congress should do “hard work” to put data privacy protections in the National Defense Authorization Act.

Next, Sheridan Press government reporter Weston Pope asked candidates which of President Donald Trump’s executive orders they’d codify or discard.

Gray’s turn came last in that round, and after he listed his favored executive orders on election security, immigration enforcement and “stopping Wall Street housing speculation that has driven up housing costs,” he responded to Rasner.

“But, 20 minutes later,” said Gray, “I’m finally going to respond to this false statement from one of my opponents, who’s been making false statements for six months about me.”

Gray touted himself as the “strongest secretary of state in the nation on stopping China and North Korea.”

This is at least the second time Gray has 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Biteman Remembers That One Differently"}]

Nikki Ouellet, managing editor of Wyoming Public Media, asked Gray and Biteman how they’d be effective in Congress.

That was during a debate phase that pitted two candidates against each other at a time.

“Well I have a track record of this,” said Gray, pointing to his sponsorship of a successful bill directing medical staffers performing abortions to inform patients “of the opportunity” to view an ultrasound of the child and hear a heartbeat. 

Gray pointed to other legislative efforts on coal and election reform.

“What I learned during that time is that people respond to legislators with conviction, legislators that are approachable, have a sense of humor and are also authentic,” said Gray. “And that’s certainly what I am.”

He said other legislators are drawn to that.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Biteman voiced surprise."}]

“Well, that’s not the history I remember, serving with my good friend Chuck,” said Biteman, who’s on the final days of 10 years’ service in the Legislature.

“He developed a reputation of being a bully,” said Biteman of Gray. “He treated people roughly and he didn’t have the respect of his colleagues, because of the way he treated them.”

Gray responded, “Well, Biteman is wrong,” and said some lawmakers didn’t like that Gray would call for named, roll-call votes instead of voice majority.

In the next debate phase pitting Biteman against Rasner, Biteman answered a question about federal spending by saying the nation needs to start by finishing the “DOGE” mission of cutting waste, fraud and abuse.

Rasner responded by thanking Biteman for his service in the Legislature, and taking another dig at Gray.

Rasner said Gray in 2021 “voted to give tax breaks to big data centers right here in Wyoming, and usher them in.”

The vote was an attempt by then-Rep. Clark Stith to repeal Wyoming’s tax exemption for large data center projects. Gray had voted at the time to keep the tax exemption.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Gray addressed Peck again."}]

“Am I going to get to respond to that per your rules?” asked Gray. “Am I going to get to respond? Are you ever going to follow your rules?”

Peck answered, “I am following the rules, sir.”

“OK,” said Gray. “So I can’t respond? You said that …"

Peck interjected, “You’ll have another chance to speak during this round.”

“You’re not following your rules,” objected Gray.

“I am following the rules, I invite you to check them,” said Peck.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“You’re not,” said Gray."}]

“Do you want to continue, sir?” asked Peck.

Gray continued to lament that Peck was not following the rules.

Peck offered Biteman the chance to respond to Rasner’s remarks, as part of the two-man debate.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“No, I’m good,” said Biteman."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The audience laughed. Some clapped."}]

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

Candidates diverged slightly at the two-word lightning round prompt of “Harriet Hageman.”

“She is terrible at responding to constituent letters,” said Dodson. The audience laughed.

Christensen said he disagrees with her on a number of things that Wyoming people didn’t support but finds her hard-working and dedicated to Wyoming.

Giralt said she’s doing an excellent job, and he’ll add his own priorities to the mix.

Biteman pivoted: “She’s a good cook and she makes a mean lasagna.”

Rasner called her a strong conservative and said he’s looking forward to working with her. Gray delivered similar praise.

Friess called her a friend and said she leaves “big shoes to fill.”

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

All candidates except Gray and Rasner indicated they’d leave the decision of whether to ban abortion in the hands of the states, with some echoing the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the famous Dobbs case declaring a nationwide abortion access right unconstitutional.

Gray said he favors considering a national pro-life policy. Rasner simply said he’s “100% pro-life.”

That was during the lightning round, where short answers were required. Friess in prior forums has called for codifying the “Mexico City Rule,” to ban use of federal aid funds on abortion globally.

Giralt in past forums has called for codifying the Hyde amendment, to ban the use of federal dollars for abortion.

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

During closing statements, Friess asserted that the polling shows it’s a two-man race. Friess pivoted late last month to presenting himself as a candidate who can beat Gray, and whom anti-Gray Republicans should back in the election.

Balow shook her head when Friess reiterated the “two-man race” assertion Tuesday.

Balow and Rasner both pointed to their deep Wyoming roots as multi-generational residents of the Cowboy State. Giralt referenced his experience helping to craft laws as a congressional staffer.

Biteman pointed to his career in the Legislature.

“I’m a people person. I get along well with people. I build coalitions,” said Biteman. “Talk is cheap; you need to send someone to Washington, D.C., that’s actually done everything that’s being talked about on this stage.”

Biteman gestured with both index fingers pointed outward toward Gray and Rasner.

Gray asserted the race is actually a two-man race between him and Christensen, but that Christensen is “much too liberal.”

Christensen agreed with the claim that he’s a frontrunner but countered on the “liberal” allegation, calling himself a Reagan/Bush-era, traditional conservative.

“I’ve led people in combat. I’ve influenced … the Armed Services Committees,” said Christensen, also pointing to his work as a federal public-lands manager in Wyoming.

“You can see the stark differences between us: who can work with people, and who can’t,” said Christensen of himself and Gray.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Dodson urged people to vote,"}]

“Anybody up here can win,” he said. “If you think your candidate has no chance you’re wrong.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"In Hindsight …"}]

On Wednesday, Gray and Rasner both asserted via Facebook post that they’d won the debate.

Giralt thanked the outlets for hosting. Biteman posted a link to the full debate Tuesday.

Christensen authored a post expounding one of his short, lightning-round answers.

[{"type":"text","text":"The primary election is Aug. 18. "}]

Debate grey biteman rasner best

<title>Chuck Gray Hammers Data Centers, Clashes With Host At U.S. House Forum | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Secretary of State Chuck Gray brought up data centers repeatedly and clashed with the moderator during a U.S. House forum Tuesday night in Sheridan. Reid Rasner criticized Gray, while multiple candidates claimed to be leading the race.

Chuck Gray Hammers Data Centers, Clashes With Host At U.S. House Forum

A super-sized male grizzly called Bruno for years has been one of Grand Teton National Park’s most famous bears, but age is catching up with him.

Big, dominant male grizzlies might hit their peak sometime in their early to mid-teens, bear biologist Cecily Costello told Cowboy State Daily.

Bruno, dubbed Grizzly 679 by researchers, is thought to be around 22. Grizzlies rarely live past 30 in the wild.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Observers say Bruno is over the hill."}]

Wildlife photographer Jorn Vangoidtsenhoven has watched Bruno for years and said another bear fan recently told him the beloved behemoth bear isn’t looking so great this summer.

“I just spoke with someone who saw Bruno in the last few days. Per his report, Bruno looks a bit thin and is starting to look old,” Vangoidtsenhoven texted to Cowboy State Daily.

One of Bruno’s biggest claims to fame was being a regular mate of Wyoming’s most renowned bear, Grizzly 399. She was struck and killed by a vehicle in October 2024.

In 2025, Bruno appeared with a nasty, oozing gash on his face. Bear managers usually let nature take its course with bear wounds.

But when Bruno was captured last fall for research by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST), he was treated for facial injuries out of an abundance of caution.

He emerged this spring showing no visible signs of that wound.

An IGBST biologist surmised he suffered the wound in a fight with another bear, perhaps a male, but wouldn’t speculate as to which bear it might have been.

Grizzly watchers and photographers said he might have also been clawed by another famous bear, Grizzly 610, while trying to mate with her.

Wildlife photographer Dominic Westkamp told Cowboy State Daily many think Bruno was slashed by another well-known female, Grizzly 1063.

Regardless of the origin of the healed wound, Bruno has other battle scars and is still a sight to behold, even in his senior years, Westkamp said.

“He’s got that rugged look. He’s been through many battles,” said Westkamp, who took video and photos of Bruno last week.

Bruno was busy in a roadside field, digging up roots, and wasn’t paying any mind to spectators, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Bruno was looking thin, Westkamp added."}]

However, Westkamp noted it’s still a little early for bears to go into hyperphagia, essentially a pig-out period during which they gorge on as many calories as they can to fatten up before winter hibernation.

“I expect Bruno to be 80 to 100 pounds heavier the next time I see him, during hyperphagia,” Westkamp said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Past His Prime"}]

A male grizzly in his 20s is past his prime, said Costello, the statewide grizzly research biologist with Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.

“When they get to their late teens, that is when I expect them to be going into decline,” she said.

“He (Bruno) is definitely on the downhill side,” she added.

There’s no “direct data” she’s aware of on the prime age of grizzlies. However, research on black bears suggests the peak years are about 12 to 15, Costello said.

Moreover, Bruno is entering his twilight years during a time when competition among males for mates is getting tougher, she said.

Grizzlies by the thousands once roamed a huge swath of territory west of the Mississippi. However, by the early 1970s, they’d been pushed back to a tiny remnant population in or near Yellowstone National Park.

They were placed under federal Endangered Species Act protection in 1975 and have since expanded in range and numbers.

The early years of recovery would have been great for a big male grizzly, Costello said.

“When there’s only a few dominant males, they really dominate,” she said.

“In the early years of grizzly recovery, you would have seen one male doing all of the reproduction in an area. Now, it’s harder to compete for mates,” she said.

Bruno old 8 4 26

<title>End Of An Era: Grand Teton's Favorite Mighty Grizzly, Bruno, Is Getting Old | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For years, a huge male grizzly called Bruno was one of the brawniest bears in Grand Teton National Park. But at roughly age 22, Bruno is past his prime and those who routinely watch him are saying he's gotten thinner and "is on the downhill side."

End Of An Era: Grand Teton's Favorite Mighty Grizzly, Bruno, Is Getting Old

Guest Column

Guest Columnists

“Lead, follow, or get out of the way,” is a phrase coined by my great uncle, General George Patton. It was also a favorite of Lee Iacocca’s, a champion of American industry and leadership. 

Both men did incredible things for our country, one leading the Third Army on their way to winning an impossible war against unspeakable evil and the other, helping to lead an industry out of near certain bankruptcy while helping to revitalize a vital sector of America’s economy.

It's an adage of courage and confidence, not one of temerity and passivity. Donald Trump is a great president because he, like Reagan before him, is a man of action born of confidence in himself and the greatness of our country.  

I wonder if the current conversation about data centers, artificial intelligence, and American ingenuity will continue to be fueled by the traditional American belief in our ability to meet challenges head on and solve them, or if now is the time we will turn to worrying about what horrible things will happen if we act.

Maybe that is the sentiment of the time, and if it is, it comes at precisely the time when this president is asking us to make America Great Again. What irony! Right now, we have far too much wringing of hands, saying no to almost everything, and not enough leading.

Take for instance my colleague in New York state, Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY), who has just put a one year pause on the construction of any new large AI data centers in her state. She chose sensation over sense. What short-sighted thinking. Her response is not sober reflection and prudent policy, but political faint-heartedness. 

Let me be clear: as governor, I do not support any state-mandated moratorium on building data centers in Wyoming. The job of deciding whether to encourage the building of data centers falls, as it should, on the more than capable shoulders of our local communities within the constraints allowed by the legislature. 

As with most development, it is the communities, counties, and local boards who do the heavy lifting in economic opportunity. We shouldn’t change that now. I believe, as our founders, that government closest to the people has the ability to fiercely protect their own homes and families.

Governor Hochul and her leftist friends in Albany are swallowing the dictates of their far left supporters, by banning the fracking of oil and gas in New York state, blocking pipelines conveying gas to the Northeast, and now by banning data centers. And to what end?

Lost economic opportunities only hurt the communities, workers and families in her state that would benefit from the tax revenues and the jobs brought by these companies–while compromising our nation’s security and leadership.

America has had enough of “Build Absolutely Nothing Near Anybody” dogma. We are a great nation not because we did not do anything, but because we worked hard to do it right and to do it well.  

Leadership is the will to keep going even in hard times. Leadership requires perspective, objectivity, careful consideration, and initiative as much as it does direction to navigate through the maze of conflicting information and disinformation whether generated from the far left or the far right. It’s true for agriculture. It’s true for energy. And it's true for business. 

President Trump, in his recent statement decrying Hochul’s disastrous decision said this, “Data centers are tremendous wins for the states and communities that are lucky enough to get them.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"I concur. "}]

He is exactly right. They use our energy here, energy over 80% of which we currently ship to states who have tried to control how, where, and what we develop.

They can be built to conserve our water and compliment our communities. This is not some doe-eyed endorsement of all tech; it is an endorsement of Wyoming people, whom I know and respect, that we can do it the right way.  

President Teddy Roosevelt famously said, "People of Wyoming, I believe in you and in your future." He was not saying that to people who lacked courage, were reluctant to engage, or were happy to let things happen to them. He was talking about people who carved their future from what was given to them. 

, requires Wyoming’s state agencies to prosecute current law to the limits granted them by the Legislature, and it also asks them to bring back recommendations for improvement within the coming month. Those  will be reviewed, refined, and forwarded to the Legislature for their consideration in 2027.

In meantime, I call on all Wyomingites to reject election-year fearmongering, to reflect soberly on the issues, and to join me in leading Wyoming into a bright future. 

My great Uncle also said, “If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking.” Here in Wyoming we raise sheep, we do not act like them.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon writes, "President Trump, in a recent statement said this, 'Data centers are tremendous wins for the states and communities that are lucky enough to get them.' I concur. He is exactly right."

One More For The Road: Tuesday, November 28, 2023

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