Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"You'll want to park your car close so you get a good view..."}]

Darwin 3 8 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, March 8, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

You'll want to park your car close so you get a good view...

Daily Darwin: Friday, March 8, 2024

 You'll want to park your car close so you get a good view...

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

For many Wyoming cities and towns, July was the hottest month on record, going as far back as 1891. 

With another month of record-breaking temperatures, day after day, 2026 is on track to be the hottest year in Wyoming’s recorded history as well. And, at this point, there’s no end in sight as we move into August.

“The consistency and intensity of the heat, especially for northern and northeastern Wyoming, was really remarkable,” said Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day. “I fully expect that if it's not the hottest July in many areas, since records have been kept, it will certainly be in the top three.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"In Record Heat"}]

Throughout July, Wyoming was under a stubborn heat wave that refused to let up. 

Jason Straub, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Riverton, said seven communities either set records or tied for the hottest July on record.

“Big Piney, Buffalo, Casper, Lander, Riverton, Rock Springs, and Worland have set year-to-date records,”  Straub said. “We're well into first-place all-time rank for those sites.”

Historically, Riverton has a day with temperatures over 100 degrees three times every five years.

There were six days with highs at or over 100 during July. That’s around 10 times the five-year average in a single month.

Lander, which has the oldest climate records in Wyoming, usually has one 100-degree high every six years. It had two 100-degree days in July, which is 12 times the average going back to 1891.

Meanwhile, Cheyenne set its own record in July: the longest streak of days where temperatures stayed above 60 degrees, even overnight.

“Temperatures didn’t drop below 60 degrees for 13 days, between July 18 and July 30,” said meteorologist Shelby Fuller with NWS Cheyenne. “Our previous streak was eight days. That’s very unusual for Cheyenne and Wyoming as a whole.”

Average temperatures in July ranged from 3.9 degrees to 6.3 degrees above normal across Wyoming. Between 69% and 77% of the days in July had above-average temperatures.

Even places prone to heat during the summer, such as Worland, set record highs in July. Worland's 110-degree high on July 12 broke the town's record for that day by 3 degrees and was the hottest in Wyoming last month.

[{"type":"text","text":"It also ranks among the hottest days ever recorded in Wyoming."}]

For the record, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Wyoming is 115 degrees at the Wind River Diversion Dam on July 15, 1988.

It’s all really hot, but Day noted that some historical records are longer than others.

“Nobody’s saying this is the hottest July since the dawn of time,” he said. “

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heat Under Pressure"}]

The primary source of July’s record-setting heat was a high-pressure ridge with a “bull’s-eye” over northeast Wyoming, according to Day.

However, Wyoming’s humidity was also high throughout July. That typically means more moisture, but that didn’t happen.

“What we were fighting for the month of July was moisture being drawn into Wyoming, but the high-pressure ridge over the Northern Plains was so strong, it was making it harder to rain, even though we had that moisture.”

Straub added that another high-pressure ridge set up over the Four Corners region. That means Wyoming spent July sandwiched between two ridges that kept everything hot and dry.

“That ridge stretched well into Wyoming for most of the month,” he said. “That blocked moisture and let the heat dominate and repeat, day after day.”

High-pressure ridges, and the heat domes they create, are expected to set up somewhere in North America during the summer. In July, Wyoming got the short end of the stick.

“When these ridges set up, there's not a whole lot to push them around,” Straub said. “It needs the jet stream to push them around, but the jet stream's well into Canada at this time of year, so it's not influencing any heat domes that set up.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Monsoon Too Soon"}]

The unrelenting heat of July also meant the monsoonal moisture many people were hoping for never showed. The moisture-rich air from the Pacific Ocean arrived, but it couldn’t beat the heat.

“That's the thing with the monsoon,” Fuller said. “Even when there are increased chances for heavy rainfall across the area, that doesn't mean every single place is going to see and/or benefit from it.”

For the few places that got some monsoonal moisture, it was a decent month for precipitation.

According to Day, thunderstorms were much more active in western Wyoming in July, explaining the 

. The disparity between western and eastern Wyoming, due to the high-pressure ridge, was “quite remarkable.”

“Any time a thunderstorm really wanted to build up, or it looked like there could be multiple days of thunderstorms, they were running into that high pressure east of the Continental Divide,” he said. “That’s how much it influenced the eastern side of the state.”

[{"type":"text","text":"High humidity is also what kept overnight temperatures high."}]

“High humidity keeps those temperatures warmer at night, and makes it more uncomfortable in the heat,” said Day. “That’s one thing that sticks out to me, and a lot of people probably noticed that nighttime temperatures stayed elevated all month.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Stuck In The Middle Of It"}]

Straub said the NWS Riverton office was still compiling data from stations that malfunctioned in July. He expects that data would only add more confirmation to what’s already known.

“If it wasn’t the hottest July on record for those places, it’ll be pretty close,” he said. “They had the same heat as everybody else.”

No relief is expected anytime soon. Monday and Tuesday were to be significantly cooler, with daytime highs in the 70s, but the heat will be back.

“Once this cold front is through, we're back into hotter temperatures, upper 80s and 90s, by the end of the week,” Fuller said. “Unfortunately, it looks like August is probably going to be another hot one.”

Day expected the first half of August to feel like July, with above-average temperatures and stubborn heat. After that, he’s “cautiously optimistic” that Wyoming will get cooler.

“For the first 10 days of August, don't expect too much different,” he said. “When you go through the second half of August, we normally start to see things subtly change. Days are getting shorter, nights are longer, and it gets harder to get prolonged periods of that kind of heat.”

Those subtle changes could give monsoonal moisture a chance to manifest and fall as precipitation across Wyoming. 

The critical thing to remember, even if August eventually gets cooler, Straub said, is that it’s still the peak of summer. Wyoming’s summers are always hot, but this record-breaking streak seems poised to continue, keeping 2026 on track to be the hottest year in Wyoming’s recorded history.

“We're still in the middle of summer,” Straub said. “That area of high pressure can reestablish itself pretty quickly, so we're not out of the heat quite yet. Hopefully, everyone can stay cool until then."

Worland temperature 7 13 26

<title>July Was Wyoming's Hottest Month On Record — And 2026 Is On The Same Pace | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For most of Wyoming, July was the hottest month in recorded history. Worland's scorching 110 degrees on July 12 was the hottest, while many towns saw as many 100-degree days in one month as they usually see in several years.

July Was Wyoming's Hottest Month On Record — And 2026 Is On The Same Pace

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

The removal of a placard mentioning a massacre of Native Americans from the Grand Teton National Park's Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center is an example of censorship by the Trump administration, says a former Park Service ranger who quit in protest over similar decisions across the country.

In April, Melissa Dalley left her job at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in New York and joined the Resistance Rangers, a group of current and former Park Service personnel opposed to Trump’s policies related to sites managed by the Park Service.

She also helped form America 443+, an anti-censorship group named in reference to the Park Service's 433 sites around the country.

She was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks July 21-27 on a family vacation but also to spread her message.

“We’re not advocating for any action or any political candidate; we’re saying (to park visitors), ‘You deserve to have the whole story,’” including parts that the Trump administration apparently doesn’t like, she said.

Richard Jones, a rural Park County resident and retired Forest Service and Park Service ranger, has a different view of the administration’s actions.

He said he thinks Trump and U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are trying to set right the Park Service’s historical mission after years of “woke” misguidance.

“I’m certainly happy to see the Trump administration ask for these things in parks, look at them with another eye, and maybe get rid of things that aren’t really part of the story,” Jones told Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Controversial Order"}]

The controversy traces back to Trump’s March 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”

It called upon the Park Service to remove or revise exhibits, signs and educational materials that the administration deemed negative toward the United States by promoting “false revision of history.”

Burgum followed up in May 2025, directing implementation of the policy. That included reviews and QR codes calling for public complaints about “negative” material.

On June 12, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley blocked the administration’s policy and ordered the restoration of dismantled signs and exhibits within 21 days.

The administration filed an appeal shortly after the ruling to block the mandated restoration.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Chilling Effect"}]

Dalley said that while she was still working for the Park Service, personnel were ordered to document displays or signs that might be deemed inappropriate under the executive order and send that information up the Interior Department chain of command.

She said that was mostly done quietly until somebody leaked the database of inappropriate material.

Dalley said she started tracking the censorship herself and noticed a chilling effect among Park Service employees.

She said when it got to where she felt she was being asked to lie to the public, she quit in protest.

“I do hope to go back, and plan to go back to the Park Service after this administration,” she said.

She said current employees have reached out to her and reported terrible morale in the Park Service.

She added that when she was in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, she didn’t pry into park employees’ feelings and opinions because she didn’t want to put them in an “uncomfortable position.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Ghost Of The Sign’"}]

Dalley said that, to her knowledge, when the call went out to the Park Service for an inventory of problematic material, Yellowstone “had nothing to report.”

However, the placard in the Grand Teton visitor center was deemed inappropriate and removed, she said.

It mentioned 19th-century explorer and U.S. Army officer Gustavus Cheyney Doane.

Doane was remembered for the 1870 Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition to the Yellowstone region, which helped lay the groundwork for the national parks.

The placard also mentioned Doane’s involvement in the massacre of Piegan Blackfeet people near the Marias River in Montana on Jan. 23, 1870. Soldiers killed 173 to 200 Native Americans.

Doane is said to have bragged about his involvement in the massacre.

“In the visitor center, you can still see the ghost of the sign,” or the place on the wall where the placard was mounted, Dalley said.

During her visit, Dalley said she handed out printouts depicting the placard before it was removed and invited people to have conversations about it.

“The Blackfeet are still around, they are active and they are American citizens, they deserve to have their story told along with everyone else,” she said.

She hopes that her actions can “inspire other people” to start pushing back against censorship.

Jones said he doesn’t consider actions such as removing the Doane placard to be censorship.

Rather, the Trump administration is trying to restore the Park Service’s mission of preserving history directly relevant to national parks and other sites.

“The Park Service was always one of the best agencies for interpreting the history of each area,” he said.

However, he said he thinks that over the past decade or so, other material has been added to historical accounts to push a “woke” narrative.

Materials such as the Doane placard added details that were “minor, irrelevant and derogatory to the story that was being told,” he said.

Trump former ranger and Grand Teton sign headquarters MN via Alamy 8 3 26

<title>Ranger Who Quit Over Trump Policies Calls Removing Grand Teton Placard Censorship | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Park Service ranger who quit over Trump's policies says removing a placard at the Grand Teton visitor center about a massacre of Blackfeet was censorship. A retired ranger from Wyoming says Trump's just doing away with years of “woke” misguidance.

Ranger Who Quit Over Trump Policies Calls Removing Grand Teton Placard Censorship

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

[{"type":"text","text":"The attack ads against governor candidate Sen. Eric Barlow continue."}]

A federal PAC earlier this summer dispatched a TV commercial saying Barlow had voted to allow sex change procedures “to be done on kids” in 2023. The record, conversely, shows that Barlow voted in favor of a child sex-change ban that year.

The new attack ads say Barlow voted to send money to illegal immigrants. He denies making such a gesture, saying his nay votes on two immigration bills were due to the short, rushed nature of the budget-planning sessions that fall on even-numbered years.

“This is getting super wonky,” said Barlow in a Monday phone interview. “It truly is.”

He said the bills he's now being criticized for opposing were either poorly written or rushed - sometimes both. 

"So look, good bills make strong laws that work for the state of Wyoming," said Barlow. "Hastily done things that are less than complete in both their policy approach and their consideration just need more time." 

[{"type":"text","text":"First, The Race"}]

The race for the GOP nomination for governor pits Barlow against Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Corps Col. Brent Bien, and Curt Blake.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barlow, Bien and Degenfelder each gained bragging points last month."}]

Bien won the Wyoming Republican Party’s endorsement, as about 50 members of the party’s state central committee broke tradition to endorse him and other statewide candidates.

For Degenfelder, President Donald Trump reiterated the endorsement he gave her in January.

And Barlow touted the results of a poll, which Cowboy State Daily has reviewed, showing him with a 42% support rating and well above the other candidates.

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

[{"type":"text","text":"Second, The Ads"}]

A federally registered 501(c)4 issue group called Women For Responsible Government Action produced attack ads earlier this summer casting Barlow as liberal on social issues involving kids.

The group claimed Barlow voted to allow sexual orientation and gender identity to be taught to kindergarteners and to allow sex change procedures “to be done on kids.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The record tells a different story."}]

Barlow voted against the 2023 Senate File 111, which would have applied a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison to anyone involved in medically transitioning a child from one gender to another, with exceptions for intersex and other unique situations.

Barlow criticized the bill’s definitions, calling it imprecise. But that same year he voted in favor of “Chloe’s Law” – which sought to strip medical professionals of their licenses for medically transitioning kids.

Barlow had, as the ad notes in a subtext, voted against the 2023 Senate File 117. The bill sought to ban teaching of gender ideology to public-school kids in grades kindergarten through third grade.

But Barlow voted in favor of that bill’s 2024 successor, Senate File 9, which became law.

The sequel legislation bans schools from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity without permission, and compels schools to notify parents if their children experience psychological changes, which may include a newly-voiced transgender identity.

[{"type":"text","text":"He told Cowboy State Daily that the 2024 bill was simply written better."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The PAC Talking About Immigration"}]

Barlow supporters voiced consternation on social media last week and over the weekend, in response to fliers and commercials characterizing him as liberal on immigration.

“Liberal Eric Barlow can’t be trusted with your money,” begins the TV commercial. “Barlow voted to spend Wyoming tax dollars on illegal immigrants.”

The ad cites two bills: the 2016 House Bill 135 and the 2018 House Bill 105.

“Eric Barlow keeps sending your money to illegals,” says the ad, after saying Barlow voted to fund sanctuary communities.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barlow countered in a Monday interview."}]

“None of these votes were about sending money to anybody. They were about restricting how money could be spent,” he said. “I’ve never voted to send money to illegal immigrants. Period. I’ve never had that bill.”

[{"type":"text","text":"The ad touts Degenfelder as fighting for Wyoming families and businesses."}]

Those ads are from a Wyoming-based group, Wyoming’s Turn PAC, which Cheyenne resident Joe Milczewski incorporated on Jan. 14.

Milczewski serves on the board of directors for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming.

The association has endorsed Degenfelder but has nothing to do with this PAC, its spokesman Ryan McConnaughey told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone interview.

Barlow said he has had business dealings with Milczewski and thought those went well.

Milczewski did not respond by publication to phone messages placed with the number he listed as an incorporator, or another one listed to him online.

[{"type":"text","text":"Degenfelder is not listed as an incorporator or director of the PAC."}]

Her campaign said prior that she is not affiliated with the federal issues group that had spoken to gender issues. Regarding the state-level PAC with the immigration ads, Degenfelder’s campaign manager Charlotte Jones said, “The campaign has not and is not permitted to communicate or coordinate with outside groups."

“Megan Degenfelder is the only candidate for governor with a proven record of delivering wins for conservatives,” added Jones.

[{"type":"text","text":"Break Down The Bills"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Both immigration votes the ad highlights happened on even-numbered years."}]

That means the legislative session was about 20 days long rather than 40. The Legislature’s top priority in even-numbered years is passing a two-year budget for the state.

Barlow said the rush of a budget session drove both his nay votes, which he cast on the introductory votes before either bill had entered the chamber for full debate.

The Legislature numbered 275 proposed bills in 2016, and 118 of those became law.

Then-Rep. Mark Jennings, R-Sheridan, brought the 2016 bill seeking to ban public benefits for illegal immigrants.

[{"type":"text","text":"Barack Obama was president."}]

Jennings told the House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2016, that the bill was a response to other states acting to condition eligibility for public benefits on lawful presence in the U.S. The bill had carveouts for emergency medical conditions, disaster relief, public health, soup kitchens, crisis counseling, and short-term shelters.

Rep. Ken Esquibel, D-Cheyenne, asked why the bill didn’t exempt prenatal care as well, since women afraid of seeking prenatal care might end up in emergency birth situations that also cost the public more via Medicaid bills.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jennings said he wanted to add that exemption."}]

The bill died on a 26-33 vote. It needed two-thirds approval to enter the chamber during the budget session. Only Republicans backed it. A mix of Democrats and Republicans opposed it.

That bill was numbered two days before its introduction vote, Barlow noted in his Monday interview.

“This is a significant issue that had implications for local governments,” said Barlow. “We got that bill literally two days before that vote was taken.”

Had it passed, the bill would have added to the duties of local governments by requiring them to verify the lawful presence of each person age 14 or older applying for state, local, or federal public benefits.

Barlow voted in favor this year of a bill, by Senate President Bo Biteman, restricting public welfare benefits across health and family services programs like food stamps, Medicaid and the Power program. He said Biteman worked this bill more carefully during the non-session months.

[{"type":"text","text":"Biteman did not immediately return a voicemail request for comment."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then Came 2018"}]

In 2018, then-Rep. Chuck Gray, who is now secretary of state, brought a House Bill 105 seeking to ban sanctuary communities by withholding state money from local governments with any sanctuary-style policies.

“We’ve seen a disturbing trend where … cities and counties and states are refusing to follow immigration law and trying to use that as leverage to gain concessions,” said Gray on Feb. 14, 2018.

Two Democratic legislators pressed Gray on whether that was an issue in Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","text":"Gray said he had seen it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The bill fell short of the two-thirds threshold, 33-26."}]

“There were just big implications in both of these bills,” said Barlow, referencing again the short budget session and, for HB105, the eight-day window from its numbering to its introductory vote.

When Gray resurrected the bill in another budget session in 2020, Barlow voted nay again.

Barlow in the longer 2025 general session voted in favor of a bill to ban sanctuary cities. That bill became law.

[{"type":"text","text":"The Bill The Sheriffs Hated"}]

A Wyoming’s Turn PAC mail flier Cowboy State Daily received Monday also criticizes Barlow for his nay vote on the 2025 bill Senate File 124.

That was a huge immigration bill that would have required all Wyoming sheriffs to work with federal immigration authorities. Even sheriffs who work well with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 

Sheriffs said by requiring them to contract with ICE, the bill put them at a negotiating disadvantage. They also feared small-town sheriffs couldn’t afford ICE’s contracting requirements, which could involve mandatory jail housing.

The bill proved unpopular in the Senate: 10 Republican senators voted in its favor while 20 senators – 18 Republicans, including Barlow – voted to kill it.

Within days of his nay vote on SF 124, Barlow voted in favor of House Bill 133, banning sanctuary cities. He called the latter bill better-written.

Barlow during session 8 3 26

<title>Barlow Says Attack Ads On Sex Changes And Illegal Immigrants Aren't True | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sen. Eric Barlow on Monday said attack ads accusing him of voting to allow sex changes and voting to send money to illegal immigrants are not true. He said the bills he voted against were poorly written or rushed and are being twisted against him.

Barlow Says Attack Ads On Sex Changes And Illegal Immigrants Aren't True

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

 an 87-pound elderly man with cerebral palsy in her care who’s mostly deaf, mostly blind and wears adult diapers that allegedly hadn’t been changed in 10-14 days has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors.

The deal would knock down a felony charge of intentional neglect of a vulnerable adult to a misdemeanor neglect charge.

Under the deal, Colleen Blakesley, 67, will plead guilty or no contest to the lesser charge and, if the judge follows the sentencing recommendation outlined in the agreement, avoid jail time and have a year of unsupervised probation.

A no-contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt, but acknowledges there’s enough evidence to secure a conviction.

Had she been convicted of the felony, Blakesley faced up to 10 years in prison.

She had a hearing on the plea Friday, but paperwork on whether the deal was accepted, and if so, if sentencing had been set, hadn’t been filed by Monday, according to the Hot Springs County District Court.

A call to the county attorney to clarify wasn’t immediately returned. This story will be updated when the results of Friday's hearing are available.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Started With A DFS Report"}]

The man’s condition came to the attention of the Thermopolis Police Department on Feb. 24 when a doctor doing a home visit for the man reported his condition to the Department of Family Services, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Sgt. Nicole Andersen filed in the case.

Andersen and a DFS agent “received a complaint regarding an elderly male being neglected,” the affidavit says. “The complaint included that the male, who wears diapers, had not been changed for 10-14 days. This complaint came from a trained professional.”

They arrived to be hit with “a pungent, strong, foul smell in the home, although the living room area seemed relatively clean,” the affidavit says. “At this time, the victim … was in clean clothes.”

The elderly man isn’t vocal, and a family member told Andersen that he’s deaf, nearly blind and that they communicate with him by tracing letters in his hand, she wrote.

“I observed Robert was very skinny and not mobile,” she added, later documenting that at the hospital, the man “weighed approximately 87 pounds at the time of admission.”

A Thermopolis woman accused of neglecting an 87-pound elderly man who’s mostly deaf and blind, and wears diapers that allegedly hadn’t been changed in 10-14 days has reached a plea agreement. The deal calls for no jail time and a year of probation.

Daily Darwin: Friday, March 8, 2024

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