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

<title>Daily Cartoon 2: Tuesday, February 25, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 2: Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Kerry Drake

Business & Tourism

Business

LARAMIE — The closure of any rural Wyoming hospital is “an economic earthquake” in a rural state that already has huge holes in its access to health care.

That’s the message Natrona Collective Health Trust (NCHT) CEO Beth Worthen had Friday during a statewide Healthcare Policy Summit at the Hilton Garden Inn.

If that’s true, Wyoming could have up to six tremors — three within the next two to three years — if hospitals now at risk of closure actually shut their doors.

“It doesn't just mean patients drive farther. It means the employer anchoring that town's economy disappears,” said Worthen. "The payroll that sustained the main street, the school funding, the housing market — gone.”

Worthen said she’s worried that the future of these institutions may be impacted by an initiative Wyoming voters will see on their ballots in November’s general election, when they will be asked to exempt 50% of a primary residence’s assessed value from property taxes.

Worthen noted that many of Wyoming’s rural hospitals and the 18 hospital districts statewide depend on local property tax revenue to operate.

They are already dealing with the loss of 25% of property tax revenue that the Legislature approved in 2025, she said.

"That (property tax) revenue is part of what keeps emergency departments open, labor and delivery wards staffed, and the lights on in communities where no private operator would stay,” said Worthen. 

NCHT, Wyoming’s largest private foundation, is not taking a position on the ballot initiative.

But Worthen said voters need to understand that a significant reduction in property tax revenues in a community where a hospital is already operating on thin margins “isn’t a separate question from rural hospital sustainability. It's the same question.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Thin Margins"}]

To understand how thin hospital margins really are, Jeff Sollis, CEO of St. John’s Health in Jackson, shared how much his hospital receives in payments.

Sollis said 60% of the payer mix is from Medicare and 6% from Medicaid. A total of 29% is from health insurance payments, and 5% is self-paid by patients.

"We get paid around $90 million from Medicare and our costs are $120 million,” he said. “Medicaid reimburses us $2.8 million for $10 million of work. We lose about $43.7 million a year from providing services.”

Sollis said it’s only when private insurance pays that St. John’s is able to make up some of the difference, which annually leaves the hospital 5% in the hole.

“We have to figure out how we get to a 5% gain so we can reinvest in our people, our facilities, and technology,” he said. “So, it’s a very challenging set of circumstances.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Maternity Desert"}]

About 22% — more than one-fifth — of Wyoming is considered a “maternity desert” where communities don’t have birthing facilities or an obstetrical physician, the 

Since 2022, hospitals in Evanston, Rawlins, Kemmerer and Wheatland have closed their labor and delivery wards, Worthen said.

Wyoming now has 16 birthing hospitals across 97,000 square miles, she said, adding that hospitals find it exceptionally difficult to recruit and retain OB-GYNs.

Casper, a regional hub for health care services, had six OB-GYNs 18 months ago. Now there are two.

Marguerite Herman of Healthy Wyoming, which has long advocated for Medicaid expansion that the Legislature has repeatedly elected not to do, attended the summit and addressed the maternity desert issue.

“It’s one of those things where you have high fixed costs and low volume,” she said. “It’s just not going to pencil out for a hospital in Rawlins to have a full maternity ward.

“But at the same time, is this something that the state owes its residents, to not have to travel more than 100 miles to deliver a baby in the freezing winter?

Herman said the state may need to find supplemental money, whether it’s from the state or federal governments, to provide critical birthing centers in rural areas.

Worthen openly wonders if Wyoming officials have the political will to do that.

“Other states, like Alaska, are doing things better than we are, and they actually have more challenging geography than we have,” Worthen said. “We need the will to put the pieces together to keep our children here.”

Worthen, a sixth-generation Wyomingite, said her son Connor is a game warden in Saratoga, and his wife Kylie just graduated from the University Law School.

She said they want to have children, which fills Worthen “with a combination of joy and dread.”

The nearest obstetrician to Saratoga is in Laramie.

Worthen said that in the summer, it’s a lovely 45-minute drive over the Snowy Range, but in winter the trip must be made on Interstate 80, and the drive time at least doubles.

“A woman in her ninth month is not calculating that drive in ideal conditions,” Worthen said. “Two of my three children have left Wyoming for opportunities they couldn’t find here. I want to see my grandchildren born here."

Evanston Regional Hospital 6 12 26

<title>Six Wyoming Hospitals Are At Risk Of Closure, Wyoming Health Official Warns | Cowboy State Daily</title>

At a healthcare summit in Laramie on Friday, one health official said six Wyoming hospitals are at risk of closure. Natrona Collective Health Trust CEO Beth Worthen said closing rural Wyoming hospitals would be “an economic earthquake."

Six Wyoming Hospitals Are At Risk Of Closure, Wyoming Health Official Warns

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Utah car dealer is facing 15 felony charges in Wyoming after state investigators uncovered what they describe as a trail of forged signatures, fake notary stamps and dead vehicle owners.

Court records show Scott Keith Pryor, owner of The Good Car Dealer in Salt Lake City, has been charged with 15 counts of falsification, alteration, forgery or counterfeiting of vehicle title documents.

Each count carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

A Laramie County judge found probable cause June 4 to support an arrest warrant, and as of Friday afternoon, the warrant hand’t been served on Pryor.

The investigation centers on 15 hail-damaged Wyoming vehicles, but Wyoming Department of Transportation investigator Shane Fox wrote in an affidavit that Pryor bought 292 vehicles worth nearly $2 million through Copart auctions during the previous 12 months.

At the center of the case is an investigation by Fox, a senior investigator with WYDOT's Compliance and Investigation Section.

Fox wrote that the case began after employees in the Laramie County Clerk's Office noticed more than a dozen duplicate title applications they described as "very odd" and suspicious.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hailstorm Cars And Missing Titles"}]

The vehicles all trace back to a massive August 2025 Cheyenne hailstorm that caused widespread damage. 

Fox wrote that Pryor bought 15 Wyoming vehicles through Copart auctions in Colorado after insurance companies took possession of them following hail-damage claims.

Many of the vehicles were sold as "parts only," meaning they came with bills of sale rather than traditional titles.

Vehicles sold as parts-only units typically bring far less money than vehicles carrying clear titles. A clean title can dramatically increase a vehicle's resale value, the affidavit says.

Fox wrote that Pryor later submitted duplicate title applications through Laramie County in an attempt to obtain Wyoming titles for the vehicles.

[{"type":"text","text":"The applications all claimed the original titles had been lost."}]

Cheyenne auto dealer Dallas Tyrrell said dealers across southeast Wyoming are still dealing with the aftermath of the historic hailstorm.

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

One of Pryor's applications involved a Wyoming woman who died July 12, 2025, nearly three weeks before the Aug. 1 storm.

"It would have been impossible for (the woman) to sign the duplicate title application," Fox wrote.

The duplicate title application bearing her signature was dated March 5, 2026.

The investigator tracked down notaries and vehicle owners, the affidavit says. Several notaries allegedly told investigators the stamps were not theirs, the signatures were not theirs and they had never signed the documents in question.

Several vehicle owners also told investigators they never signed duplicate title applications.

In one case, Fox wrote that he met personally with a U.S. Air Force member stationed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The service member reviewed the paperwork and said he had never signed the application. The same pattern appears again and again, documented throughout an 11-page criminal affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Facebook Connection"}]

As investigators dug deeper, the trail led to a company called Tennessee Titles, the affidavit says.

Pryor allegedly told investigators he found the company through Facebook and paid about $150 per title application, Fox wrote.

The people he dealt with were identified only as "Rashard" and "Miss Catherine," and primarily communicated through Facebook Messenger.

When Fox asked to see proof, Pryor reportedly said the computer used for those messages had been replaced, and the records were no longer accessible.

Pryor could not provide documentation establishing the legitimacy of the company or proof of payment.

He did acknowledge obtaining lien releases from financial institutions and completing money orders that were mailed to the Laramie County Clerk's Office along with the duplicate title applications, the affidavit says.

By then, investigators had begun contacting vehicle owners scattered across multiple states.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Forged Names, Forged Stamps"}]

Fox wrote that one Colorado notary employed by Copart reviewed paperwork bearing her name and told investigators neither the stamp nor signature were hers. A Utah notary allegedly said the same thing.

Another notary denied notarizing multiple applications tied to the investigation, Fox wrote in the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"Several vehicle owners denied authorizing the documents."}]

One business executive told investigators a person listed on a title application had no affiliation with the company and no authority to sign documents on its behalf.

[{"type":"text","text":"Fox wrote that he became convinced numerous signatures had been forged."}]

The affidavit details vehicle after vehicle, owner after owner and notary after notary, each producing similar results, the affidavit says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Why Titles Matter"}]

The allegations may sound like little more than paperwork fraud, but Tyrrell said vehicle titles can dramatically affect a vehicle's value and whether buyers can insure, finance or legally operate it.

A clean title is every bit as important as what's under the hood, he confirmed. 

Tyrrell said reputable dealers carefully examine a vehicle's title history before offering it for sale.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We see victims to scams like this all the time,\" he said."}]

Tyrrell said consumers should work with licensed, reputable dealers and pay close attention to a vehicle's title history before making a purchase.

"It's so important to use somebody that has a license and is reputable," he said, adding that often these scamsters don't get prosecuted at all because the schemes are comlex. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Long Road Ahead"}]

Fox believes the duplicate title applications allowed vehicles that had moved through the insurance and salvage system to re-enter the marketplace with Wyoming titles.

He wrote that some of the vehicles had previously been sold through Copart as salvage or parts-only units.

The affidavit alleges Pryor later sold the vehicles to buyers in Utah with unbranded titles, and at a "nice profit." 

Fox declined to answer questions about the case and did not respond to additional requests for comment.

Good car dealer 6 12 26

<title>Car Dealer Faces 15 Felonies In Alleged $2 Million Resale Of Hail-Damaged Cars | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Utah car dealer is facing 15 Wyoming felony charges for the alleged attempted illegal resale of nearly $2 million worth of hail-damaged vehicles. Investigators describe a trail of alleged forged signatures, fake notary stamps and dead vehicle owners.

Car Dealer Faces 15 Felonies In Alleged $2 Million Resale Of Hail-Damaged Cars

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

Greg Johnson

A Carbon County Sheriff’s Office deputy remains in critical condition in a Colorado hospital days after taking bullets to the neck, arm and hip from an armed man in Baggs, Wyoming, who would later die in a shootout with law enforcement.

That Sgt. Zach Burns is alive at all is a miracle, said Baggs Mayor Matthew Howell, who lives next door to the apartment building Burns was responding to when he was shot Monday.

A deputy being shot, coupled with a high-speed chase and shootout with the suspect, is enough to make Monday one of the darkest days in the 116-year history of the tiny town of 411 people.

The way local residents rushed to save Burns’ life and maintain their composure during a daylong manhunt on lockdown also was one of the town’s best days, Howell said.

“It wasn’t a good thing that happened, but it was a great thing” in how people reacted, the mayor said.

Tragedy and conflict “really can bring out the best in people, and it really puts people here in a rural community like ours in a position to act like heroes,” he told Cowboy State Daily, adding that on Monday, that’s how they acted.

“Heroes are here,” Howell said. “I think the officer had a way better chance of making it through that (attack) because of the two people who rendered aid and slowed the bleeding down until the ambulance got there.

[{"type":"text","text":"“If nobody had come to his aid, he probably wouldn’t be here now.”"}]

That’s a sentiment shared by Wyoming state Rep. Bob Davis, R-Baggs, who said the suspect didn’t just shoot a deputy, he shot a member of the community and a friend.

“This particular officer, Zach Burns, he’s down there during the school hours patrolling the school zones,” Davis said on Thursday’s “Cowboy State Daily Show” with Jake Nichols. “For him to actually respond and basically … for somebody to shoot him was just unbelievable.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Expected To Pull Through’"}]

Burns was shot when he rolled up in response to a call of an active shooting at an apartment building near Wyoming Highway 789 near the south edge of the town, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office has reported.

“Sergeant Burns located the suspect vehicle and initiated a traffic stop in front of a small apartment complex in Baggs,” Sheriff Alex Bakken said in the report. “Upon coming to a stop, the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and opened fire on Sergeant Burns with a semiautomatic rifle.”

Burns was struck in the neck, arm and hip, the sheriff says in the report.

The suspect — who so far has not been named by law enforcement but 

Carbon County Coroner Brittany Nyman told Cowboy State Daily in a Friday email that “all public information shall be released as part of the public docket at the conclusion of the investigation.”

“The suspect proceeded to set fire to the apartment building before getting back in his vehicle and fleeing northbound on Highway 789,” Bakken wrote.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also called out the quick actions of locals who helped Burns."}]

“Residents of Baggs immediately rushed to provide aid to Sergeant Burns until EMS crews could arrive, providing cover and emergency wound treatment,” Bakken says in the report.

Burns was taken by helicopter ambulance “to a trauma center in Colorado, where he is expected to pull through,” the report says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘The Best In People’"}]

In the rural Snake River Valley near Wyoming’s southern border with Colorado, most everyone knows each other, Davis said.

It also means life has its own pace and it’s hard for a significant event to happen without everyone knowing about it, he added.

“You wake up in the morning, and you never think of an active shooter situation occurring in your backyard, you know,” Davis said. “And basically, what it was … the person from what we understand just lived (in Baggs) and worked in the state to the south there.

“For whatever reason, (he) just got off his rocker, I guess.”

By Tuesday morning, the town looked like it always had, with the dozens of law enforcement officers from multiple agencies gone and people heading to work.

But the coffee talk has taken a break from politics, Davis said.

“They’re at the Cowboy Inn and the Stage Stop General Store, where you’ve got your little stools up there and the coffee pot’s always on,” he said. “What happened, I mean, it’s being discussed. The pipeline (is going) and brother-in-law called you and said this is going on, and your daughter’s working at the store and said this is going on.

“I’m sure you can check the rumor mill and find out 100 different scenarios going on.”

For his part, Howell said he’s impressed — but not surprised — with how Baggs responded during a dangerous, emergency situation.

“There wasn’t a single moment that the response wasn’t fluid,” he said, adding that if he had left for work 10 minutes earlier, he would’ve been right next to the scene of the shooting.

“I just don’t know how you get that lucky to get that many people to work together that quickly,” Howell said. “The first two people who rendered aid to the sheriff’s officer own two businesses here close to my house and were there very quick.”

Without them trying to stop Burns’ bleeding before EMS arrived — which also was within minutes — Howell said he thinks the sergeant would’ve bled out.

“It really does bring out the best in people, and it really puts people here in a rural community like ours — it makes it so special,” he said. “Whether they were the first person caring for the injured sheriff or just people trying to help with whatever they need to do, that’s just our community. That’s how it works.”

Davis said Baggs also was lucky to have so many emergency responders show up in a short time.

“Our hats have to be off to the first responders. I mean our local EMS, fire department,” he said. “When the gentleman torched the building again and went in before the high-speed chase happened — these are the heroes.”

 has been set up for Burns and his family, which has raised nearly $42,000 by Friday afternoon.

Zach Burns and Baggs 6 12 26

<title>Deputy Shot In Baggs Saved By Quick-Acting Residents | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sgt. Zach Burns remains in critical condition after being shot multiple times by a gunman in Baggs on Monday. “It wasn’t a good thing that happened, but it was a great thing” in how people reacted, the mayor said, which was “like heroes.”

Deputy Shot In Baggs Saved By Quick-Acting Residents

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

Wildlife

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that it's investigating a graphic video of a man, allegedly a Wyoming resident, grabbing a seemingly wounded coyote by its tail, tossing the animal, then chasing it down to kick, stab and taunt it.

The video also was sent to Cowboy State Daily by a private investigator, Reece Soukoroff, who said he was the person who also sent it to Game and Fish.

Game and Fish Spokeswoman Amanda Fry said Friday that department is investigating the alleged incident.

Because the matter is under investigation, Game and Fish could not offer any further information or comment, she said.

Soukoroff’s correspondence names the man allegedly in the video and identifies him as a Wyoming resident. Because no citations or charges have yet been filed in the matter, Cowboy State Daily will not identify him. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What The Video Depicts"}]

The video takes place in what appears to be a winter landscape and begins with the man reaching under some sagebrush and grabbing the coyote by its tail while someone else takes video.

There’s blood on the ground near the sagebrush, indicating it had possibly already been injured. He pulls the coyote out from under the bush by the tail and flings it several yards.

The coyote, which appears to have blood on it, tries to run but its mobility appears to be compromised.

The man pursues the coyote, catches up to it and kicks it in the head. The coyote then apparently barks and falls over on its side.

The man produces a knife, circles the prone animal, and stabs the coyote once in the front shoulder area.

Then he kicks the animal again and taps it on the head with the knife’s blade while the coyote raises its head with its mouth open looking at the man.

Sourkoroff said he was hired by a client, who will remain anonymous, to look into the incident.

He sent correspondence to Cowboy State Daily as well as wildlife agencies, animal welfare groups and other organizations in several states and in British Columbia, Canada.

In a text message exchange with Cowboy State Daily early Friday, he said his client hasn’t yet been able to identify exactly when and where the video was taken.

Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, told Cowboy State Daily that his organization had received Sourkoroff’s correspondence.

After viewing the video, he called it “revolting and sickening.”

"In a certain way, it’s worse than Cody Roberts,” he said, referencing the Daniel, Wyoming, resident who attracted global attention after capturing, tormenting and killing a wolf in 2024.

Animal Wellness Action was among groups that raised money for a reward that helped bring a 

There was never video released of Roberts allegedly running the wolf down with a snowmobile, he said.

“Here (in the coyote video) you see the sadistic behavior of this man. This is the very essence of cruelty to animals,” Pacelle said.

Regarding whether Animal Wellness Action will take similar steps in the coyote case, and put up reward money, Pacelle said he “wants to know more before making an assessment.”

That could include determining whether the alleged offense too place on federal land, in which case federal animal cruelty charges might apply, he said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘This Is Not Us’"}]

Paul Ulrich, president of the Wyoming Sportsmanship group, told Cowboy State Daily that he was “thoroughly and utterly disgusted” by the video.

“Nothing in this video shows sportsmanship or any degree of predator control” Ulrich said, adding that it instead is rank animal cruelty.

Wyoming Sportsmanship was founded in response the Roberts incident.

The group was pivotal in getting the so-called “clean kill bill” passed by the Wyoming Legislature. That bill made it a crime to deliberately prolong the suffering of a predatory animal, rather than kill it as quickly as possible.

The investigation into what the video depicts could result in that law being applied, Ulrich said.

"Our expectation is that a county attorney will take a close look at this, take a close look at the hard work we put into the Clean Kill Bill and press charges,” he said. "Throw the book at this individual."

Wyoming Sportsmanship also lobbied for prosecution in the case of the alleged 

Like the cases involving the moose and the wolf in Daniel, what’s seen in the coyote video doesn’t reflect Wyoming hunters’ and conservationists’ values, and should be broadly condemned, Ulrich said.

“I’m grateful for every Wyoming resident that sees this as abhorrent and disgusting behavior. And makes it clear that Wyoming isn’t going to tolerate that,” Ulrich said.

Later Monday, Pacelle confirmed to Cowboy State Daily that Animal Wellness Action is offering a $2,500 reward for information “on the location and timing of the act of cruelty to an animal, and anything else that might lead to an arrest and conviction.”

Coyote incident Mix Collage 12 Jun 2026 11 56 AM 3030 6 12 26

<title>Investigation Launched In Graphic Coyote Torture Video Allegedly Shot In Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department is investigating a graphic video where an alleged Wyoming man tortures a seemingly wounded coyote. The video shows a man grabbing the coyote by its tail and then tossing, kicking, stabbing, and taunting the animal.

Investigation Launched In Graphic Coyote Torture Video Allegedly Shot In Wyoming

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily political columnist, Rod Miller.

Rod Miller

Opinion

CSD Columnists

I returned to the ID ranch where I grew up. My family (the blood) joined me, as did Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat). 

Here’s what went down in a country widely considered to be the original site of the Garden of Eden.

First – why the sheriff? Alex Bakken wears the same badge that my great-grandfather, I.C. Miller wore as territorial sheriff in Carbon County. So I’ve kept an eye on Sheriff Bakken, and I’ve been impressed with how he handles himself wearing that badge. 

I’m sure my patriarch would agree, had they ever met.

I called Alex and asked if he would like to see the ranch that I.C. put together. Alex had bow-hunted in the Seminoe Mountains, but hadn’t seen the rest of the outfit, or the headquarters with the massive 140-year-old stone buildings. He is also an avid history buff and jumped at the chance.

Since my third-born son, Kirk, was visiting from the City of Angels, this would be a great opportunity to gather the clan so they could revisit the place they had spent their childhood years. My former wife, Linda joined us, and had the chance to see the ID again, where she had spent years in the solitude, wind and rattlesnakes, 40 miles from town, raising our sons. 

I owe Linda an un-repayable debt for her maternal excellence. This sojourn was an installment.

I also invited family friend and videographer extraordinaire, Mike Vanata, to join us. I owe Vanata a debt for doing several thousand bucks worth of primo video work for my 2018 run for Congress and, when the campaign ran out of money, accepting my beloved AK-47 as payment. 

Another road trip with Vanata was a side benefit to this particular journey back in time.

Columnist Rod Miller writes: "So I took my family (the blood) and Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken (the heat), to the old ranch country where I expect my kids to scatter my ashes. Here’s what went down."

Daily Cartoon 2: Tuesday, February 25, 2025

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