Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"I wonder what this knob does??"}]

Darwin 11 29 24

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, November 29, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

I wonder what this knob does??

Daily Darwin: Friday, November 29, 2024

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

Clair McFarland

Politics

People have wagered at least $189,000 on Wyoming’s governor’s race and at least $21,000 on its U.S. House race on political market sites such as Polymarket and Kalshi.

Both sites favor Steve Friess to win the Republican nomination to U.S. House, narrowly, over Secretary of State Chuck Gray, and Eric Barlow to win the GOP nomination for governor.

But they’re not a crystal ball, Dustin Olson, owner of American Pulse Research and Polling, told Cowboy State Daily in a Monday phone interview.

Generally the more money in a race, the more reliable it is, he said. Wyoming’s House race hasn’t garnered big money: about $11,000 on PolyMarket and Kalshi each.

The big drivers of these markets are pollsters, people conducting their own surveys, people with special insight and news headlines, Olson added. Also they don’t call the wagers bets: they call them contracts, “and that’s how they get around all the (sports betting) rules.

“It’s not a good barometer of what’s necessarily real in a race … because it’s based on who’s buying contracts.” 

But, Olson added as a caveat, the markets have at least the credibility factor that people were willing to put money on their predictions.

If anyone has some assurance that Gray will win the House race, now might be a good time to buy a “contract” in his favor, noted Olson.

As of 4:40 p.m. Monday, Kalshi has Gray at 42% odds behind Friess at 54%, and all other GOP House candidates trailing with 3% or less. Reid Rasner and Kevin Christensen are next, favored at 3% and 2%.

The other candidates in the Aug. 18 Republican primary election are Senate President Bo Biteman, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, former legislator Keith Goodenough, veteran David Giralt, and Richard Dodson.

Polymarket has Friess at 51% followed by Gray at 45%, Giralt at 5%, and the others trailing at 4% or less.

Gray’s Polymarket run was a near-steady climb through July, until Aug. 1, when he dropped from 66% to 46%.

That was two days after Friess unveiled 19 endorsements from former Wyoming legislators, industry leaders and former Gov. Jim Geringer.

Kalshi showed a similar dropoff Aug. 1 for Gray, but a flatter, though sizable, lead for him all summer.

That race, in those markets, doesn’t show the kind of money that suggests pollsters or big-time surveyors are involved, said Olson. It’s likelier a reflection of public messaging, news headlines, and released polls, he added.

[{"type":"text","text":"Olson said the odds get more accurate when the pollsters jump in."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Gov’s Race"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"As for the governor’s race, “This has a lot more money on it.”"}]

That’s $77,507 on Kalshi and $102,661 on Polymarket as of Monday afternoon.

[{"type":"text","text":"That means this race has more traffic, and likely more input."}]

Polymarket has Barlow at 58%, Degenfelder at 41% and Bien at 3%. Kalshi has Barlow at 62%, Degenfelder at 38% and Bien at 3.8%.

Odds for Degenfelder skyrocketed in January – right after President Donald Trump endorsed her. She kept higher wager favorability than Barlow all summer.

The two didn’t trade places on until about Aug. 1 – and they did so on both Polymarket and Kalshi.

It’s likely a lot of the same people are playing both markets, said Olson.

Barlow started to climb in mid-July before unveiling poll results July 21 showing him with a huge lead.

The markets may be out of touch with on-the-ground sentiment, said Olson, adding that many people leveraging money likely don’t live in Wyoming.

“They might be people who live in New York City,” he said. “They read the headlines, or they’re talking to the insiders, or who knows.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Headlines appear to be a large driver in this race as well, he said."}]

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

Olson said political wagering is, “I have to say, one of the more fascinating things to happen in politics in the last decade.”

But it carries risks of fixed races, dishonest polls, and even inside political maneuvering to fix the outcome of political events polls.

[{"type":"text","text":"“This is, honestly, not a good thing for democracy,” he said."}]

Whoever is placing the majority of these “contracts” isn’t heeding the influence of the Wyoming Republican Party leadership, which endorsed Bien last month.

Bien’s campaign outreach coordinator Cheryl Aguiar said the team doesn’t put much stock in the betting metrics the market has given to it.

“Since these prediction markets are not related to election campaigns and should not be confused with the results from actual scientific public opinion polls, and since most are held outside of the United States and reflect the betting actions of people who bet on them rather than the views of residents of Wyoming,” said Aguiar, “the Bien campaign does not consider these prediction markets to have any value whatsoever as indicators of the outcome of elections.”

Aguiar added, “In other words, these ‘predictions’ are not predicting votes, they are only laying bets. Not to mention, foreign betting markets do not have the best interests of the USA or free economies.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Kalshi’s website says it’s a U.S.-based company."}]

It was founded in 2018 by two people attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and became the first fully regulated financial exchange in the U.S. “specifically for event contracts,” the site says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Oh About That $2,700"}]

Kalshi has a $2,670 market going for Wyoming’s Republican U.S. Senate nominee.

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s not a competitive market."}]

Rep. Harriet Hageman is favored at 94.5% and Jimmy Skovgard at 3.8%. The other registered Republicans running aren’t on the market but curiously, House candidate Rasner is.

Betting on the races 8 3 26

<title>Gambling Sites Favor Steve Friess And Eric Barlow, Bettors Have Wagered $210K So Far | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Gambling sites PolyMarket And Kalshi both favor Steve Friess to win the Republican nomination for U.S. House and Eric Barlow to win the GOP nomination for governor. Bettors, so far, have wagered $210,000 on these two Wyoming races.

Gambling Sites Favor Steve Friess And Eric Barlow, Bettors Have Wagered $210K So Far

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Around Wyoming

[{"type":"text","text":"The room Roman Parra left behind still looks much the way he left it."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His Bible remains on the coffee table at his home in Worland. "}]

His truck still needs a suspension repair he never got to finish with his father.

And in the days since the 20-year-old former Worland athlete died from injuries suffered in a northern Colorado rollover crash, family members say those ordinary reminders have become priceless.

, Colorado State Patrol said Parra was critically injured July 25 when the Chevrolet Tahoe he was driving rolled on Weld County Road 80 near Eaton, ejecting all five occupants. Three Colorado passengers died at the scene. A fourth passenger survived with minor injuries. Parra remained hospitalized for eight days before dying Sunday. 

Cowboy State Daily requested the official crash summary from the Colorado State Patrol but had not received the report before publication. 

 that the State Patrol said that speed and impairment contributed to the crash, though a cause hasn’t yet been determined.

Now, those who knew Roman best say they hope he is remembered not for the crash but for the life he lived.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Mother's Worst Call"}]

Roman's mother, Alyssa McDonald, said Saturday had been an ordinary summer day.

She had taken Roman's younger sister to the fair parade before returning home to surprise her oldest son by cleaning his bedroom.

[{"type":"text","text":"Roman had driven to Colorado the night before for a concert with friends."}]

As she folded clothes and straightened his room, she expected him to walk back through the front door the next day.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, at about 5:15 p.m., her phone buzzed."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The Life360 app she used to keep track of Roman showed a collision."}]

"I texted, called, panicked when I saw there was no movement," said McDonald. 

She hoped his phone had simply fallen to the floor or been tossed across the vehicle.

[{"type":"text","text":"When the location never changed, she called police and waited."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Nearly two hours later, the hospital called."}]

"They told me there had been a bad accident and my son was involved," she said. "Three had passed away at the scene, but Roman had survived."

[{"type":"text","text":"Doctors rushed him into emergency brain surgery."}]

"The chance of him making it off the table was very unlikely," she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"For over a week, his family remained by his bedside before Parra died."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Faith Before Football"}]

Long before he became one of Wyoming's top linebackers, Parra was the little boy who wanted one thing more than anything else.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He just never wanted to let me down,\" McDonald said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His faith grew naturally alongside him, she added. "}]

As a second-grader, teachers noticed he signed the bottom of school assignments with the words "God is Good." 

Near graduation, one of his teachers asked what he wanted to do with his life.

"My first priority is my relationship with Christ," he replied, according to his mother.

Looking back, McDonald said she believes that answer explained the way he lived.

"I think that was probably his purpose in life — to spread that kindness, that joy and Christ's love," she said.

[{"type":"text","text":"His aunt, Daniela Parra, saw the same thing."}]

If someone challenged Roman's beliefs, she said, he didn't argue emotionally.

"He would fight for God all the time," she said. "If somebody said something, he could back it up with Scripture."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Competitor On Every Field"}]

In his final high school football game in the fall of 2024, McDonald said Parra tore his meniscus.

[{"type":"text","text":"Coaches wanted to pull him from the game."}]

He finished the game and scored the final touchdown of his high school career.

In the spring of 2025, he again played through the same injury during the state soccer tournament because he didn't want to leave his teammates behind.

When football ended, Roman spent the summer working construction alongside his father while preparing to attend Laramie County Community College this fall to study automotive technology.

Asked what his son had taught him over the past 20 years, Armando Parra paused.

"He taught me peace and patience," he said. "As much as you raise a kid, a kid raises you."

[{"type":"text","text":"He credits Roman with helping him become a better man."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"He changed my life,\" Armando said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Was That Loved'"}]

The waiting room rarely emptied during Parra's eight days in the hospital.

[{"type":"text","text":"Friends drove from Cheyenne after work."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Football families stopped in."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Strangers from Eaton, Colorado, brought food, water and supplies."}]

One mother loaned the family a wagon so they could haul meals through the hospital.

[{"type":"text","text":"For Daniela, none of it came as a surprise."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I expected it,\" she said. \"He was that loved.\""}]

She remembers her nephew as the young man who encouraged everyone around him.

[{"type":"text","text":"His father said Roman never limited his friendships to teammates."}]

"He was friends with everybody," Armando said. "He fit in everywhere. He talked to everybody."

 to help cover Roman's medical and funeral expenses.

Armando also asked for prayers for the lone survivor of the crash, saying he believes the young man now faces an unimaginable burden.

"I feel worse for him than I feel for anybody," he said. "That poor boy that has to live through this is going to need more guidance than anybody I know."

Roman Wesley Parra and new Colorado crash location 8 3 26

<title>Worland Man Dies Sunday, Eight Days After Being Ejected From Car In Colorado | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Worland athlete Roman Parra died Sunday, eight days after being ejected from his vehicle in Colorado. His family said Roman's greatest gift wasn't in sports, but making everyone feel loved. "His purpose in life was to spread kindness," his mom said.

Worland Man Dies Sunday, Eight Days After Being Ejected From Car In Colorado

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

Government & 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.

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.

Daily Darwin: Friday, November 29, 2024

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