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[{"type":"text","text":"If there's a better Christmas concert than this, we haven't seen it......"}]

Bonus vid 1 12 25 24

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

<title>Bonus Video 1: Wednesday, December 25, 2024 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If there's a better Christmas concert than this, we haven't seen it......

Bonus Video 1: Wednesday, December 25, 2024

 If there's a better Christmas concert than this, we haven't seen it......

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

A young female black bear evaded local law enforcement and wildlife authorities for two days as it wandered in and around Worland, raiding dumpsters and garbage cans.

She was finally treed in a resident’s backyard on Thursday afternoon, shot with tranquilizer darts and captured.

The bear was first spotted at the local golf course, Worland wildlife photographer James Yule told Cowboy State Daily.

He dubbed the bear, which weighed about 75 pounds, “Par 5.”

“She was out at the golf course for a day and then she decided, ‘To heck with this, I’m going into town to party,’” Yule said. “She spent a couple of days running back and forth and was in every single dumpster."

At one point, Par 5 evaded capture by going way back into some Creekside weeds and “lying down in some cool swamp water,” Yule said.

Authorities tried hazing the bear out with noisy “whistler” charges fired from shotguns, but that didn’t work, he said.

Washakie County Sheriff’s Office deputies “were able to guide the bear into a tree in the Crimson/Cardinal area of Worland,” before it was tranquilized, according to the sheriff’s office.

After it was captured, Wyoming Game and Fish personnel took custody of the bear, the sheriff’s office stated.

Yule was on site when the bear was captured. He said he was told by Game and Fish agents that the bear will likely be released back into the wild, though it might have been previously captured in the Sheridan area.

"She might be given another chance because she’s a breeding-age female,” Yule said.

An inquiry sent to Game and Fish about the bear’s status on Friday wasn’t answered by publication time.

Bears getting too used to human-provided food sources, what wildlife agencies call “food conditioning,” is one reason why bears are sometimes captured and killed.

That was the case with another 3-year-old Wyoming black bear, which was killed by wildlife agents last month in Grand Teton National Park after it repeatedly obtained human food and started approaching people in the Jenny Lake area.

Yule said he hopes nobody hand-fed Par 5 during her adventure in Worland.

“Once somebody hand-feeds a bear, it will start walking right up to people expecting to get more food,” he said.

Worland resident Ron Goyn told Cowboy State Daily that he came home for lunch on Thursday and found the bear lurking in his backyard.

“My dog just blew up barking, viciously in the house, by my sliding glass door,” he said.

“I’m glad I had that door closed, because I glanced out there, and there was this black bear, just standing on my porch,” he said.

The bear started wandering about the yard, showing great interest in Goyn’s chicken coop.

“Apparently, she thought it was a cave,” and tried going inside, he said, adding that thankfully, his chickens were behind a fence and were unhurt.

The bear clambered over his fence and ended up in his neighbor’s yard, where it was treed by deputies, he said. 

He added that he called Yule to come over and take photos.

Yule said the police tried shooting the bear with a tranquilizer dart, which made it drowsy, but didn’t knock it out. Then Game and Fish agents arrived and darted it again, which did the trick.

“When the bear fell asleep, it got wedged in a fork in the branches,” Goyn said.

Yule said that a cherry-picker lift was brought in from a local business, and a Game and Fish biologist and sheriff’s deputy used it to reach the bear and heave it out of the tree.

Goyn said the drama with the bear in his and his neighbor’s yards lasted about three hours before Game and Fish finally hauled it away.

“It was kind of a strange deal for Worland,” he said.

There are occasionally black bears in the general area, but one coming into town is highly unusual.

"You hear about bears every once in a while along the Bighorn River,” he said. "There’s a lot of good natural resources for them along that river."

Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com

Worland bear Chris 2 7 3 26

<title>Young Black Bear Leads Authorities On Two-Day Chase Through Worland | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A young female black bear evaded local law enforcement and wildlife authorities for two days as it wandered in and around Worland. “She spent a couple of days running back and forth and was in every single dumpster,” said a local who observed the bear.

Young Black Bear Leads Authorities On Two-Day Chase Through Worland

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily political columnist, Rod Miller.

Rod Miller

Opinion

CSD Columnists

When a New Hampshire federal district court recently ruled that the Trump Department of Justice had no legal right to confidential voter information from the state, it was the 11th time that the DOJ was shut down and told to keep their grubby paws off the states’ voter info. 

For those of you keeping track, it’s 11-0 on the scoreboard, and the states are pitching a no-hitter.

That begs the question, why did the Wyoming Secretary of State roll over and so readily provide that information to the feds based on a simple request, and not a formal subpoena? 

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray could have told the feds to shove their request where the sun don’t shine and, based upon those 11 aforementioned judicial decisions, he would have been on firm legal ground with the folks in black robes.

So, cynical minds might conclude that Gray had a political reason, rather than a legal reason, for sucking up to Trump’s DOJ. 

A conspiracy theorist might deduce that Gray offered our confidential voter information to the feds, because he wanted to curry favor with Trump and hoped for an endorsement for Gray’s congressional campaign.

And anyone who has heard Gray thump his shoe on the table, and sermonize about the dangers of federal overreach has to be scratching their head.

An email from Gray to the Washington Post adds credence to that conjecture, and supports those who think that he was tickled pink to make Wyoming the first state to kow-tow to the feds. 

In response to an inquiry from a reporter, Gray on January 28, 2026, said, “I am proud to have led other states in the nation in working with the DOJ…” and “Wyoming was the first state...to defend election integrity.”

Inquiring minds want to know why he sided with the feds over Wyoming, but Gray ain’t talking. Repeated requests under the Wyoming Public Records Act for Gray to reveal the reasoning behind his actions have been met with the same response. Gray says he was acting in close consultation with Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz, and any advice he received is protected by attorney/client privilege.

If Wyoming’s attorney general gave legal advice to the Secretary of State that hasn’t held up in 11 other states (and counting), then Wyoming citizens should have questions about that, too. 

Wyoming Senator Cale Case asked Secretary Gray to explain himself in a Feb. 3, 2026 email. Gray shared that he had met with Kautz, gone over the DOJ request, and decided how Wyoming would knuckle under.  

But, today when we ask Gray why he ran up the white flag, he just clams up.  

Kind of leaves you wondering whether Chuck and his brain trust ever considered any of the reasons that have led 11 courts to say the DOJ never had the right to ask for ask any state for their confidential voter information.  

The veil of secrecy between Wyoming government and it’s citizens is being ferociously defended at the expense of government transparency.

Wyoming’s Supreme Court was even given an opportunity to pierce that veil in favor of the citizenry, but squirmed their way off the horns of that dilemma on a legal technicality. So, nobody but Gray and Kautz know the legal justification for Gray’s release of the personal information of Wyoming voters to the DOJ, in clear violation of state law.

But, there’s an element of humor in this whole fiasco. The voter rolls that Gray sent to DOJ in August of last year, were obsolete as soon as they were sent. 

Information on Wyoming voters is a moving target, and constantly in flux. State agencies and county clerks are constantly updating voter rolls – removing people who have died or who have moved away, adding new residents and newly registered voters. The Secretary of State doesn’t have that info until those agencies send it to him, and what he sent to the feds is currently incomplete and out-of-date.

Once DOJ realizes that, they’ll likely send Gray another polite request for our updated confidential personal information. It will be interesting to see how he responds.

Or, in their zeal for “election integrity”, the DOJ might merely suggest to Gray, in another friendly letter, that perhaps the federal government should take over the responsibility of conducting elections in Wyoming, since all the Wyoming Secretary of State can produce is out-dated information. 

[{"type":"text","text":"That would really put Li’l Chucky in a pickle and test his loyalties!"}]

Author's note: "Pickle" is a baseball term denoting a player caught in a rundown on the base paths, and tagged out because he didn't stay on base.

Rod Miller can be reached at: RodsMillerWyo@yahoo.com

Rod miller headshot scaled

<title>Rod Miller: Chuck Gray’s Pickle Over Wyoming Voter Info | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Rod Miller writes, "Why did Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray roll over and so readily provide that information to the feds based on a simple request, and not a formal subpoena?"

Rod Miller: Chuck Gray’s Pickle Over Wyoming Voter Info

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

Andrew Rossi

Around Wyoming

Clyde “The Buffalo” will be the biggest celebrity in Cody for America’s 250th.

 was invited to participate in the Cody Stampede Rodeo and Parades on July 3 and 4.

On Thursday, the famous bison arrived. His first stop was the historic Irma Hotel. 

It might be the first time a buffalo was invited inside Buffalo Bill’s hotel. He was even served a drink at the bar.

“He likes bourbon and margaritas,” Clyde’s owner, Clint Mortenson, told Cowboy State Daily. “He drinks what I drink.”

Clyde will be first in line for the parades Friday and Saturday. He may or may not have a rider on his humped back.

[{"type":"text","text":"“We haven’t decided yet,” Mortenson said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Big Celebrity Bison"}]

Mortenson, who owns Mortenson Silver and Saddles in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has raised Clyde since he was two weeks old. He turned his “pet” into a celebrity through the connections he made after several years in the film industry.

“I actually lived in Lusk when I went to saddle-making school, and supplied horses, saddles, and other things for movies in New Mexico,” he said. “That's how Clyde became popular."

Clyde's "acting" credentials include appearances in Paramount's "Yellowstone," the Amazon Prime science-fiction series "Outer Range," and Apple TV’s "Pluribus.”

Clyde has also appeared in commercials for Banana Republic, Bass Pro Shops and YETI.

“When the Oklahoma City Thunder made the NBA Finals last May, Clyde took on the role of "Rumble the Bison" to support the team,” Mortenson said. “He had a place of honor outside the Paycom Center in downtown Oklahoma City.”

Between acting and endorsement gigs, Clyde is a highly sought-after model for all kinds of photo shoots. In November 2025, Mortenson transported Clyde to Jackson for a western-themed wedding shoot.

Mortenson has fully embraced his role as Clyde’s chauffeur, booking agent, and personal assistant. The bison is fully halter-trained, so he’s comfortable going wherever Mortenson leads him.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Buffalo At The Bar"}]

When Mortenson and Clyde reached Cody on Thursday, they were invited inside the Irma Hotel by owner Mike Darby. Clyde eagerly accepted Darby's invitation.

Far from being a bull in a china shop, Clyde doesn’t mind small spaces. He's become a bit of a bar fly.

“We've done a lot of photo shoots in saloons," Mortenson said. "I've taken him into little bars in Aspen, Vail, Telluride, Durango, and Silverton, Colorado. I even took him into the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth, Texas."

Clyde entered the Irma through the back door and easily navigated the winding, narrow corridors leading to the dining room. He even posed on the front porch.

“He did great,” Mortenson said. “He was confident as we twisted and turned through the hallways to reach the bar. It was super.”

Clyde also made an appearance in front of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. He was not invited inside.

At both places, Clyde got photo-ops with bronze sculptures of Buffalo Bill. Mortenson brought something extra special to add to the ambiance of those shots.  

“The saddle is a one-of-a-kind replica of a Buffalo Bill saddle I made in 1993,” he said. “It's based on one he used in the Wild West Show in Paris, France.”

The actual saddle is on display in the Buffalo Bill Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. Mortenson got to take his replica inside to show how closely it resembles the original. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Biggest Celebrity"}]

Clyde will be making the most of his trip to Cody. In addition to leading off the Cody Stampede Parades, he’ll be making a grand entrance during the Cody Stampede Rodeo.

[{"type":"text","text":"“He’ll be here through July 4,” Mortenson said."}]

Clyde’s other big accolade is that he’s saddle-trained. Mortenson’s son, Wyatt, an actor and stunt performer, broke into show business as “The Buffalo Rider" by sharing photos and videos of himself riding Clyde.

Clyde will be saddled up for the parades and rodeos but might go riderless for the occasion.

The secret to Clyde’s success is his temperament and his self-identity. He might be a big bull bison, but he doesn’t seem to know that, and Mortenson hasn’t tried to persuade his best client otherwise.

"I don't think he knows he's a buffalo," he said. "He's pretty trustworthy with me, so he let me lead him all over, which has made him popular with directors and photographers. But he's always been gentle. He's just like a person."

Clyde the bison wes cody 14 7 2 26

<title>Bison Drinks Bourbon In Buffalo Bill’s Bar In Cody, Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Clyde "The Buffalo" arrived in Cody for the Cody Stampede Rodeo and Parades, and his first stop Thursday was for a drink at Buffalo Bill's Bar in the legendary Wild West showman's historic Irma Hotel. "He likes bourbon and margaritas," said Clyde's owner.

Bison Drinks Bourbon In Buffalo Bill’s Bar In Cody, Wyoming

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Florida woman who owned a behavioral health clinic in Cheyenne has been ordered to pay back more than $870,000 to Wyoming Medicaid for bilking the federal agency with fraudulent claims.

Federal prosecutors say her daughter helped carry out the scheme by assisting with billing and falsifying service documentation while working for the clinic.

Tera Marie Campbell, 47, of Maitland, Florida, owned The Olive Branch LLC, a behavioral health clinic that provided autism services in Cheyenne and Minot, North Dakota, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said Thursday in a statement announcing the women’s sentences for conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Campbell used the business to submit fraudulent Medicaid claims over several years, including claims for services provided by employees who lacked required certifications, claims that were upcoded to higher-paying services and bills for appointments that never occurred, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Investigators said some of those claims were submitted for dates when the clinic was closed and even while Campbell was out of the country on vacation.

Campbell's daughter, Tayler Ann Krauss, 27, of McDavid, Florida, worked as the clinic's medical biller between December 2020 and October 2022. She was instrumental in providing service documentation used to support fraudulent claims.

The investigation concluded the clinic relied extensively on untrained employees, falsified certification and supervision records, and knowingly billed Wyoming Medicaid for services that did not meet Medicaid requirements, according to prosecutors.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Joint Investigation"}]

The case was investigated by the Wyoming Attorney General's Office Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

U.S. Attorney Darin Smith said in a statement that Medicaid fraud "steals taxpayer dollars from programs that millions of Americans depend on and undermines care for vulnerable patients.

"I am committed to holding accountable those who exploit these programs for personal gain."

Smith said his office will continue working with federal and state partners to investigate and prosecute health care fraud, saying the effort is aimed at protecting public resources and preserving confidence in the healthcare system.

Wyoming Attorney General Keith Kautz added in the statement that the prosecution and conviction of Campbell and Krauss demonstrates the value of cooperation between state and federal law enforcement agencies and praised the work of his office's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Smith nor Kautz responded to Cowboy State Daily's request for an interview beyond the prepared statements released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sentence Handed Down"}]

U.S. District Judge Kelly H. Rankin sentenced Krauss on Monday and Campbell on Tuesday in federal court in Cheyenne.

Campbell and Krauss were indicted May 21, 2025, and both pleaded guilty April 9 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Campbell was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. Krauss was sentenced to two years of home confinement.

The judge ordered the women to jointly pay $735,717.63 in restitution to Wyoming Medicaid. Campbell was also ordered to repay $135,890.91 to the military's Tricare health care program.

The court ruled Krauss is jointly responsible for up to $71,509.44 of that amount.

Campbell was separately sentenced in January in a related North Dakota Medicaid fraud case.

In that case, she received a three-year suspended sentence, three years of supervised release and was ordered to repay an additional $225,000 to North Dakota's Medicaid program.

Federal courthouse cheyenne 9 28 23

<title>Florida Woman, Daughter Ordered To Pay Back $870K They Stole From Wyoming Medicaid | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Florida woman who ran a Cheyenne behavioral health clinic, and her daughter, have been ordered to pay back more than $870,000 they stole from Wyoming Medicaid. They funneled fraudulent claims through the clinic for years, say federal prosecutors.

Florida Woman, Daughter Ordered To Pay Back $870K They Stole From Wyoming Medicaid

Agriculture

Jeffree Star’s favorite yak has been killed by lightning on his Casper ranch.

The social media personality, entrepreneur and “makeup mogul” 

 a 7-year-old male yak, on Thursday. The yak died June 25 after being struck by lightning on the Star Yak Ranch.

Star said his heart was “completely broken” and described Buster’s death as “one of those things you never think will happen until it does.”

“If you’ve followed my ranch journey, you already know Buster wasn’t just ‘a yak,’” he wrote. “He was the king of the pasture, the biggest lover, the snack inspector & somehow always knew exactly where I was. He had the kind of personality you just can’t explain.  You had to meet him.”

Star hoped his favorite yak was “somewhere up there stealing everyone’s treats and acting like you own the place … because let’s be real, you always did.”

Cowboy State Daily was unable to reach the Star Yak Ranch by publication time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'A Lot More Unique'"}]

Star started the 500-acre Star Yak Ranch in 2021. The ranch claims to have more than 500 yaks, some of which are processed into meat products sold online and at The Jeffree Star Store: Makeup & Meat, which opened in Casper in 2023.

Thirteen camels also live on the Star Yak Ranch. The ranch doesn’t sell any camel products.

Buster was one of the ranch’s breeding bulls. 

 of him giving Buster and some of “his ladies” some treats as recently as two weeks ago.

, Star shared a video of him scratching Buster, with the tagline, “I love animals more than people.”

[{"type":"text","text":"A still from that video was used when Star announced Buster’s death."}]

Cowboy State Daily interviewed Wade Wohl, the general manager of the Star Yak Ranch, 

“I’ve worked on a number of ranches throughout Wyoming,” Wohl said. “Mainly cattle, and I have worked around swine. Yaks have definitely been a learning process, but it’s fun. Yaks are definitely a lot more unique than a regular beef cow.”

Wohl said each of Star’s yaks ate 25 pounds of hay per day, and the herd required 4,000 to 6,000 gallons of water every two days. The Casper Landfill was eagerly taking all the yaks’ waste.

“The landfill has basically told us they will take as much manure as we can possibly give them,” he said. “That’s what they make their compost out of.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lightning Strikes"}]

All livestock are susceptible to lightning strikes, including celebrity animals.

 while out on the Chipeta Ranch near Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in July 2025. The camel had been a fixture at several annual events in northern Colorado for years.

“Everybody loved Larry,” Tracy DelliQuadri, a volunteer at the Chipeta Ranch, told Cowboy State Daily. “He was a beloved member of the family, a member of the ranch, and a member of the (Troublesome Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Inc). He can't be and won't be replaced.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Star seemed to have similar feelings about his dearly departed yak."}]

“Love you forever, Buster,” he wrote. “Thank you for every smile you put on our faces, every memory and every moment.”

Jeffree Starr and Buster composite 7 2 26

<title>Lightning Kills Makeup Mogul Jeffree Star's Favorite Yak On Casper Ranch | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Social media personality and "makeup mogul" Jeffree Star of Casper announced Thursday that he's mourning the death of “Buster,” a 7-year-old male yak that he says "wasn't just a yak." Buster died after being struck by lightning on the Star Yak Ranch.

Lightning Kills Makeup Mogul Jeffree Star's Favorite Yak On Casper Ranch

[{"type":"text","text":"CopBlocked, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman....."}]

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