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[{"type":"text","text":"Swan does not approve of his putting...."}]

Bonus vid 1 1 23 25

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

<title>Bonus Video 1: Thursday, January 23, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Swan does not approve of his putting....

Bonus Video 1: Thursday, January 23, 2025

 Swan does not approve of his putting....

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Wyoming Life

Entertainment

CASPER — For one week each June, thousands of competitors, families, vendors and spectators pour into Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo. Hotels fill. Restaurants buzz.

Parking lots become crowded with flatbeds carrying license plates from around the country, and from across the border in Alberta, Canada.

Along with immersing themselves into rodeo, Wyoming and the West, they share another passion — looking the part.

Across the city, Western wear flies off shelves as people weave through rows of vendors buying boots, hats, turquoise jewelry and enough fringe to stir questions about America's suede supply.

A mechanical bull at the Wyoming Sports Ranch expo spins in the middle of the ring, bucking a little girl with a sparkly cowgirl hat covering her eyes.

Moms stand nearby making a fashion statement in cheetah-print and cowhide, holding shopping bags overflowing with Western merchandise.

Teenagers drift past in pressed, cuffed Wranglers and striped pearl snaps. Musky cologne fills the air as the reflection off huge, polished belt buckles can be blinding at just the right angle.

The rodeo itself unfolds across the street at the Ford Wyoming Center, where college athletes spend the week chasing national titles, prize money and belt buckles.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Boots And Hats"}]

Downtown, every floor of the legendary Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters is packed.

People stand shoulder-to-shoulder beneath towering walls of boots with the smell of leather hanging thick in the air.

Felt hats move through the aisles like migrating wildlife. Customers stare into mirrors, turning their heads side to side beneath freshly shaped brims.

Some are buying their first cowboy hats. Others have worn the same one practically their entire lives.

For Lou Taubert, whose family has spent generations outfitting the West, that distinction matters less than people might think.

The store was built on ranchers, farmers and homesteaders. Today, the customers come from everywhere. Some work cattle and others work behind desks.

Some arrived in Casper specifically for the rodeo. Others wander in because they want to see what all the fuss is about.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Western wear is a lifestyle,\" Taubert said."}]

CNFR week brings one of the biggest surges of the year, rivaled only by the holiday shopping season. The rodeo itself helps. So do the tourists flowing through Wyoming in June.

"The cowboy spirit is the way of the West," said Will Wenn, a lifelong Wyoming resident and owner of a local sound and lighting company. "It's our culture and people like to dress for the event and support rodeo."

Wenn has attended the CNFR for more than a decade, calling it "a weeklong celebration of cowboy culture."

The sprawling market at the Sports Ranch has become a destination all its own, drawing visitors who spend as much time shopping as they do watching bronc riders and barrel racers.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Gotta make hay while the sun shines,\" Wenn said with a grin."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranch Vs. Rodeo"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Western fever spreads quickly."}]

Teenagers wearing starched Canadian tuxedos drift past retirees in pearl snaps who remember Chris LeDoux during his bull riding days. 

Paisley wild rags bloom from collars like Indian paintbrush along a June highway. Tiny children stomp through the crowd like pint-sized ranch bosses conducting important business.

And while Rockies jeans and lace-up ropers have yet to make a comeback, nostalgia certainly has. Vintage Western prints, oversized belt buckles and squash blossom necklaces abound. 

Among the crowd are identical twins Dax and Brax, students in Laramie who spend winters playing hockey and summers working on a ranch.

[{"type":"text","text":"Most days when they're not working, they wear shorts and T-shirts."}]

For the CNFR, both had their shirts tucked neatly into their jeans. Their belt buckles sat centered with precision between their belt loops.

They insisted they weren't trying to stand out. Which, at the CNFR, may be the surest sign that this wasn't their first rodeo.

Asked how to spot someone who isn't a "real" cowboy, Brax didn't hesitate.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Gas station cowboy hats,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"No dirt on their boots\" added Dax, glancing down at his own pair."}]

 dirty," he acknowledged, but pointed out evidence of well-worn creases.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mustaches And Mullets"}]

Not everyone browsing the vendor booths plans to climb onto a horse. Most are perfectly content to watch the bull riding from the grandstands in rhinestone boots. 

Casper resident Ryan Domson, owner of Ruby Wyld, said there is a growing market for Western streetwear with people drawn to the culture and aesthetic of the West.

The look she sees most often blends Western and bohemian influences — Lace, fringe, flared denim, straight-leg Wranglers, sheepskin coats, and lots of turquoise. 

The result is a style equally at home at a rodeo, country concert or downtown bar.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wenn has noticed the same shift."}]

When he isn't working at CNFR events, he often handles sound and lighting at local bars like the Backdoor Lounge.

There, he said, Western fashion has evolved into something distinctly modern — a neo-Western look influenced by country music, social media and celebrities like Post Malone, Morgan Wallen and Lainey Wilson.

[{"type":"text","text":"Taubert has noticed the same phenomenon."}]

Popular television shows like “Yellowstone" and country stars with distinctive Western styles routinely send customers searching for a particular hat, pair of boots or look they've seen online or on TV. Wilson's influence in particular shows up regularly in customer requests.

[{"type":"text","text":"The trend isn't new."}]

Taubert remembers the frenzy surrounding John Travolta's 1980 classic movie "Urban Cowboy," when customers flocked to Western stores hoping to capture a little piece of Travolta's swagger.

Today's social media stars and country musicians are simply the latest chapter in a long tradition of celebrities shaping Western fashion.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Modern West"}]

Taubert believes part of Western wear's enduring appeal is that it never really goes out of style. Fashion trends come and go. Colors change. Cuts evolve.

But a good pair of boots remains a good pair of boots, he said. A Western shirt from decades ago still looks like a Western shirt today.

Perhaps that's why the CNFR for some feels less like a sporting event and more like a week of celebrating all things cowboy.

Some people arrive wearing clothes that have spent years collecting livestock hair and Wyoming dust. Others buy a Western wardrobe five minutes before walking through the gate.

Whether they're wearing boots scarred by ranch work or leather that still squeaks fresh out of the box, they're all chasing the same thing: experiencing the Cowboy Way. 

CNFR IMG 5439 3 copy 6 20 26

<title>Rodeo Week In Casper Means Mustaches, Mullets And Visitors Buying Up Western Wear | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Fringe, pearl snaps and enough cologne to stun a horse. For one week each June, thousands of competitors, families, vendors and spectators pour into Casper for the College National Finals Rodeo. Judging by the attendees, western fashion is alive and well.

Rodeo Week In Casper Means Mustaches, Mullets And Visitors Buying Up Western Wear

Bill Sniffin

Opinion

CSD Columnists

A week ago, Friday, I was sitting in my daughter’s backyard in a Dallas suburb. It was 94 degrees, thick with humidity, and still clinging to the dampness of a brief shower. The kind of heat that just wraps around you and won’t let go.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Then came Sunday morning."}]

We woke up at our home in Lander to a crisp 44 degrees. A 50-degree swing in less than 48 hours. Now that is what I call a welcome home.

My wife Nancy and I love going to Dallas. It has been very good to us, especially because of the outstanding medical facilities there. And, of course, our daughter Amber spoils us shamelessly, which doesn’t hurt one bit.

But there is something special, something almost medicinal, about returning to Wyoming. The cool temperatures, the low humidity, the steady breeze that reminds you you’re alive. You don’t appreciate that until you’ve spent a few days in a Texas summer.

A couple of years ago, we hosted our Dallas granddaughter’s wedding in our backyard. Nearly 100 Texans made the trip, and it was fun just listening to their reactions. The evening temperature hovered around 72 degrees, and several of them described it as “outside air conditioning.” They weren’t kidding. The humidity was about 20 percent. It was one of those perfect Wyoming evenings. Something we take for granted but probably shouldn’t.

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

We’ve made that trip to Texas enough times now to know the drill, and it can be a bit of an adventure.

We fly United, and for reasons known only to the airline gods, they often land their Dallas flight at the A concourse in Denver. United’s main hub there is the B concourse. It is a long, long ways away. And wouldn’t you know it, our little regional jet back to Riverton is always parked at the far end, usually around B90.

That means a trek of more than a mile and a half.

Nancy requires a wheelchair, and with my bad hip acting up, this time I did, too. The gentlemen pushing the wheelchairs had their work cut out for them. It is no small haul through that airport. I tipped them $20 each, and it was money well spent. There is no way we could have made that connection on foot in the time we had.

Interestingly, both men were from Africa, one from Ethiopia and the other from Mauritania. They had been in the United States for five and seven years and spoke excellent English. I’ve noticed over time that most of the wheelchair attendants seem to come from that part of the world. They work hard, they are courteous, and they keep things moving.

Whenever Nancy flies, we’ve come to rely on these folks. They make what could be a very stressful situation manageable.

Airports are also great places for Wyoming reunions.

We ran into Dr. Sandy Mossbrook, formerly of Riverton. She is the widow of Wyoming.com founder Steve Mossbrook. Sandy has recently sold her Wyoming home and is now living in California, but she had rented a place in Lander to spend the July 4 holiday with family.

Then there was author Sam Lightner of Lander, just returning from some mountain climbing in Scotland. He looked like a man who had crossed a few time zones, bleary-eyed but still going strong. He had been scaling some world class rock walls with Mike Lilygren of Lander.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"And then there was the cowboy hat."}]

We were having lunch in the Dallas airport next to an older fellow wearing a hat that just didn’t quite look Texan. Sure enough, he turned out to be Chuck Bidonde from Buffalo, traveling with his wife Sandra and her little dog.

They had been in Texas for a week watching their grandson compete in bareback riding at the Texas State High School Rodeo. Small world: he knew Jim Hicks, of course. Wyoming connections are never far away.

Hicks told me: “Chuck is a genuine hand. His dad was Basque and tended bar at one of my favorite watering holes back in the day when 2am bedtime was reasonable a couple of times a week.”

They were on our flight to Denver but then headed on to Gillette, with a drive home to Buffalo waiting for them.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"That’s Wyoming travel for you."}]

When it works, our air service is pretty remarkable. The planes are fast, comfortable, and a real lifeline for a rural state like ours. But it does not come cheap.

Here in Fremont County, voters will soon decide on a three-quarter cent sales tax to help fund revenue guarantees for that air service, along with ambulance and local bus service. These are not glamorous things, but they are essential. In a place like Wyoming, connections, both medical and transportation, can make all the difference.

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

There is an old joke that Wyoming has four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.

Well, folks, we are now officially in construction season.

Orange cones are blooming like wildflowers, and highway crews are making up for lost time. But given the unusually mild winter we just experienced, perhaps some of these projects got a head start. One can hope.

In the meantime, we will take our cool mornings, our breezy afternoons, and those perfect summer evenings that feel like nature’s version of air conditioning.

After all, not everyone gets to come home to that.

Bill can be reached at Bill@cowboystatedaily.com

Sniffin headshot 7 2 25

<title>Bill Sniffin: Texas Humidity To Wyoming Coolness – A Wonderful Summer Transition | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Columnist Bill Sniffin reminds: “Traveling by air from Wyoming is always an adventure. It has been a truism that even when you die and go to heaven, you still have to go through Denver first.”

Bill Sniffin: Texas Humidity To Wyoming Coolness – A Wonderful Summer Transition

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

Andrew Rossi

There was a lot of wet weather and strong winds across Wyoming on Saturday, and they combined to produce a short-lived but threatening landspout tornado in Sublette County.

Big Piney resident Stephen Nelson was out on his deck when he noticed something swirling around north of town.

“I was doing something and thought, ‘That’s a dust devil.’ Then it was a big dust devil. Then it was a funnel cloud," Nelson told Cowboy State Daily.

The funnel cloud snaked its way from the ground up to the ominous storm clouds overhead. Nelson spotted it around 11:55 a.m., and it was gone by noon.

“The storm has moved over towards the Pinedale area,” he said. “I’ve heard, second and third hand, that they’ve lost power in Pinedale.”

, over 732 Rocky Mountain Power customers reported power outages in Sublette County around 1:30 p.m. The issue had been addressed by 2 p.m.

However, landspout tornadoes weren’t the primary concern of Wyoming’s meteorologists on Saturday. They were keeping a closer eye on potential 70-mph wind gusts and whether this weather would bring any precipitation.

“We’re busy today,” said meteorologist Taylor Wittman with the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Riverton. “We’ve got some active weather, but the tornado was a bit of an anomaly. Our major concern is 50 to 70 mph wind gusts across Wyoming Saturday."

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s A Twister?"}]

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said the funnel cloud spotted near Big Piney was “a well-formed landspout.” It’s like, but not exactly, a tornado.

“A landspout is defined as a tornado that does not arise from organized storm-scale rotation,” he said. “You get a circulation near the ground that is brought into an updraft, that then causes that funnel situation.”

Even though they tend not to be long-lived, landspouts should be taken seriously. Day said they have a destructive potential comparable to that of a regular tornado.

“You can get 70, 80, 90 mph wind gusts in a landspout,” he said. “They're not going to bring the intensity of the wind and the destructive power of a tornado, but they can certainly cause damage.”

Landspouts tend to be more common in the spring and summer, especially when Wyoming’s area gets humid. When summer thunderstorms carry moisture into Wyoming, the likelihood of landspouts increases, as was seen in Sublette County on Saturday.

As the system moves, there’s a chance more landspouts could form. Day believes it’s a risk worth taking seriously.

“We should be on our guard for more of these, especially in northern and far-eastern Wyoming, for the next 36 hours,” he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Watches And Warnings"}]

for Riverton and Lander on Saturday afternoon, anticipating penny-sized hail and wind gusts as high as 60 mph.

Meanwhile, 15 counties in central and eastern Wyoming were under a 

 until 9 p.m. Saturday. The NWS was monitoring “a cluster of strong thunderstorms” with gusty winds and hail.

By 2 p.m., there were thunderstorm storm clouds over northwest Wyoming, too.

Wittman said the sudden surge of severe weather is primarily due to an abundance of moisture, which is what most of Wyoming needs.

“We actually have some okay moisture in the area today, by Wyoming standards,” he said. “The system moving in is bringing enough moisture to make clouds and produce storms. The physics in the air is enough for some of the stronger storms we’re watching.”

Some spots in Wyoming, like Johnson County and the Bighorn Basin, might get 0.1 inches of precipitation from this system. It's not a lot, but every drop is welcome.

Severe summer thunderstorms often come with a higher risk of strong winds and hail, which is exactly what Wittman and his colleagues were watching on Saturday.

“The main hazard will be Saturday afternoon and evening,” he said. “We’ve already seen some 60-mph gusts, but the primary threat will be along western Fremont County, and the Wind River Range, down to Rock Springs and the South Pass area, and that will move eastwards toward Casper.”

Wittman emphasized that this was a dynamic system that was being closely monitored. The timing and severity of its impacts can change quickly, so everyone in the affected area needs to be on their toes.

[{"type":"text","text":"“These storms can intensify as the day continues,” he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Sunnier Sunday"}]

All the watches and warnings issued by the NWS end before midnight, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be sunny and dry on Sunday. Wittman said the Saturday system might continue impacting Sunday’s weather.

“Saturday should be the bigger day for thunderstorms, hail, and wind, but we do have the chance of showers lingering overnight, and storms again on Sunday,” he said.

However, Wittman doesn’t anticipate an ongoing threat of landspouts. The Sublette County landspout was an oddity during a day of active summer weather in Wyoming.

“That landspout was probably the result of a storm initiation,” he said. “That’s how you might get a little spin-up, but the bigger risk is strong winds, not landspouts.”

Sublette county tornado 6 20 26

<title>Rare Tornado Spotted In Sublette County On Saturday | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A tornado made a rare appearance in Sublette County on Saturday, bringing with it more than 700 power outages. Meteorologist Don Day called it a "landspout" tornado which has the capability of 90 mph winds. "They can certainly cause damage," Day said.

Rare Tornado Spotted In Sublette County On Saturday

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Government & Politics

Politics

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” New York state and California have moved to ban printers capable of making them. 

A New York law signed last month states that 3D printers should come with technology blocking them from making firearms or firearms parts. A similar measure is before the California Legislature. 

The gun-blocking technology for printers might not be available until 2029 at the earliest, the 

Gun control advocates are hailing the printer ban as a way to get a handle on so-called “ghost guns,” or untraceable firearms made with 3D printers and lacking serial numbers.

Advocates for banning 3D-printed guns argue that those guns are increasingly being used in crimes.

In Wyoming, a gun rights advocate and 3D printing business owner told Cowboy State Daily that the California and New York measures are pointless. 

People have always made their own firearms and should have the right to do so, said Mark Jones of Buffalo, a national director for Gun Owners of America (GOA). 

Banning 3D-printed guns, or the printers that make them, won’t change that, he said. 

From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

As he sees it, there’s no way to make printers that won’t produce certain items. Printers will produce whatever they’re programed to.

“The printer itself can’t determine what is being printed,” he said. 

The New York law and California bill direct experts to craft algorithms that could detect firearm blueprints. 

Hypothetically, the technology would analyze 3D printing designs against a digital library of firearm parts, and reject those that match the parts. 

Some industry experts have told lawmakers in those states that won’t work. 

Thomas agreed, saying that’s because 3D printer operators would still have the final say through “G-codes” they enter in their machines telling them what geometric shapes to cut. 

Trying to control G-codes would not only be impractical, but it would also amount to an infringement on freedom of speech and expression, Thomas said. 

Moreover, major firearms manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson also use gun-design software, he said, adding that efforts to regulate firearms out of the 3D printing world will backfire. 

“What will end up happening is there just won’t be any 3D printers for sale in California, so people there will just go across state lines to get them,” he said.

Firearms parts or accessories can be 3D-printed for sale, except lower receivers, Thomas said. The lower receiver is the part of the firearm including, for instance, the trigger assembly. 

Lower receivers can be created for personal use only. 

Thomas said he doesn’t print firearms parts or accessories because of possible legal complications.

For example, if he made a rifle stock for a customer, and that stock became part of a firearm that was later used in a murder, that might come back on him, he said. 

Jones said that concern over “ghost guns” is hyperbolic. 

“People have been making their own firearms since 1776,” he said. 

Democrats have also tried using firearms serial numbers to create databases for a national firearms registry, Jones added.

“It’s actually illegal to keep a registry of what guns people have, and we think it should be,” he said. 

Ghost gun 6 19 26

<title>California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the latest twist in efforts to ban 3D-printed “ghost guns,” lawmakers in New York and California are pushing to ban printers capable of making them.  From a technical standpoint, the bans won’t work, said Kevin Thomas, owner of T&G 3D Printing in Basin.

California, New York Aim To Ban 3D Printers That Can Make ‘Ghost Guns’

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

RIVERTON — A 33-year-old Lander man faces up to 42 years in prison and fines in connection with the Wednesday evening Riverton crash in which two people died.

Micheal Odom was already on probation for DUI, police interference, and reckless driving convictions out of Campbell County when the truck he was driving sped through Riverton’s busiest 30 mph thoroughfare at more than 75 mph, Fremont County deputy attorney James Weck told the Lander Circuit Court on Friday.

Odom, who is in custody, appeared in court for his initial hearing that afternoon.

Weck noted that besides the Campbell County convictions, Odom is also on parole for 

heft, burglary, and property destruction felonies out of Natrona County.

Friday’s filing marks his third DUI charge in five years, and Odom tried to flee the scene of the crash, Weck added. 

The prosecutor asked Lander Circuit Court Judge Jefferson Coombs to set Odom’s bond at $5 million cash-only.

Coombs warned Odom that he doesn’t have to incriminate himself, but asked if he wanted to speak about his life in response to Weck’s bond argument.

[{"type":"text","text":"Odom took that opening to apologize instead."}]

“I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said. “I’ve just been fighting addiction my whole life. I do not really know what happened or remember anything. I just apologize to the victims’ family and everything.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Coombs set Odom’s bond at $1 million, cash-only."}]

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

Cowboy State Daily arrived on scene Wednesday to find a white Dodge pickup with front-end damage on its side in the middle of Riverton’s busiest thoroughfare, Federal 

About a half-block away sat the mangled remains of what eyewitnesses said had been a Jeep.

An evidentiary affidavit by Riverton Police Department Officer Jesse Francher, filed by the Fremont County Attorney’s Office, says a 23- or 24-year-old woman lay on the ground at least 20 feet away from the Jeep. 

A man that same age, the Jeep’s passenger, remained inside the vehicle, the document says.

A Lander man faces homicide charges and up to 42 years in prison in connection with a Wednesday Riverton crash that killed two people. “I’m terribly sorry about what happened,” he said in court on Friday. “I’ve just been fighting addiction my whole life.”

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