Daily Darwin

In his defense, by using an escalator he was able to get the shopping carts down much faster....

Darwin 12 8 25

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

<title>Daily Darwin: Monday, December 8, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Darwin: Monday, December 8, 2025

 In his defense, by using an escalator he was able to get the shopping carts down much faster....

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

In the first significant poll of Wyoming’s primary election season, Secretary of State Chuck Gray leads a crowded GOP U.S. House race with 21% support.

Casper businessman Reid Rasner is second at 14%, Teton County philanthropist Steve Friess at 10%, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow at 8%, and state Senate President Bo Biteman at 7%, according to a poll memo Gray sent to Cowboy State Daily.

The poll also shows 33% of those surveyed are “hard undecided.”

Fabrizio, Lee & Associates, a survey and research firm that ran polls for President Donald Trump’s campaigns,

 compiled the poll of 400 Wyoming Republican voters from May 13-16.

Casper-based veteran Kevin Christensen followed at 5%, with Moran rancher Frank Chapman at 1% and David Giralt at less than 1%.

The poll lists former state Rep. John Romero-Martinez at less than 1%, but Romero-Martinez did not register to run for the seat by Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"But What ‘Information’?"}]

The pollster’s methodology says the survey 

 gave voters “information” about Gray, Rasner and Friess. 

Gray told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the “information” included “different points on our records” but upon inquiry, he did not list those points by publication time.  

 jumped to 48% over “hard undecided” at 22%, with Rasner and Friess falling to 3% and 6% respectively.

Balow, whose record was apparently not included in the “information” discussion with each voter, rose to second place in the post-information survey at 8%.

“Chuck Gray is currently best positioned to win this race,” the pollster’s memo asserts.

Half the survey recipients were male, half were female, and 90% were white, says the poll memo.

“This race is about focusing on the truth — my track record of advancing the America First, conservative priorities of the people of Wyoming and my record of getting those priorities to the finish line,” wrote Gray in a statement. 

“I do not back down, even in the face of false attacks from insiders and the radical Left. That is what the people of Wyoming want, and that is why we are in a strong  lead,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Kinda Early"}]

Rob Wallace, a longtime Wyoming politico, cast skepticism on a poll conducted so early in the race.

The filing period for candidates ended Friday, and the primary election is Aug. 18.

Wallace served as assistant secretary to the U.S. 

nterior during the first Trump administration and years prior worked multiple political campaigns as an advisor for the late U.S. Sen. Malcolm Wallop. 

He also ran for Congress in 1994 and finished second in a crowded primary to Rep. Barbara Cubin.

“Polling this early in the campaign is like endorsements,” he said. “It’s good to have favorable information, but the real part of the race isn’t going to get going until probably after the Fourth of July.”

Wallace also hesitated to attach significance to the poll since the “information" the Fabrizio team gave voters is unknown.

“Without really understanding all the pieces of the poll, it’s hard to give a complete assessment of what it means,” he said.

Now that the filing period has ended, the other nine candidates in 

 are going to burst into public view as much as they can, Wallace said.

Between the poll and the filing deadline, two more candidates registered: Keith Goodenough and Richard Dodson.

[{"type":"text","text":"That puts the primary race at 10 contenders."}]

Whoever wins that race will have to face the Democratic candidate, plus the Libertarian nominee Shawn Johnson, who gained momentum when his party selected him unanimously at its Sunday convention.

“There are a couple reasons for putting a favorable poll out” at this phase, said Wallace. One reason could be to dissuade others from running; and another could be to reassure one’s base and supporters.

“It’s like a good-news story for the people you want to attract,” he added.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hey, Trump"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The big unknown, said Wallace, is what Trump will do."}]

The president has endorsed Megan Degenfelder for governor over her GOP opponents.

[{"type":"text","text":"He has not endorsed anyone in the crowded U.S. House primary race."}]

Friess, Rasner, Gray, Balow, and Biteman all have dispatched messaging indicating alignment with Trump.

Rasner and Gray tout themselves as MAGA-style candidates. Biteman has for years had a collaborative relationship with the president. And Friess reportedly helped Trump formulate executive orders ahead of his 2017 inauguration.

Christensen is a strong outlier there: he condemned the president’s April social media post of an AI-generated image depicting Trump as a Jesus-like figure, healing an ailing man while others circle him in gestures of prayer.

A Trump endorsement, said Wallace, “could be a game-changer if he decides to do it. And maybe he won’t — maybe he won’t endorse anybody.”

Chuck Gray 6 1 26

<title>Chuck Gray Leads U.S. House Poll With 21%, Followed By Rasner And Friess | Cowboy State Daily</title>

In the first significant poll of Wyoming’s primary election season, Secretary of State Chuck Gray leads a crowded GOP U.S. House race with 21% support. Casper businessman Reid Rasner is second at 14%, and Teton County's Steve Friess is third at 10%.

Chuck Gray Leads U.S. House Poll With 21%, Followed By Rasner And Friess

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

A corrupt Cheyenne mayor and his chief of police ran a protection racket in 1944 that extorted money from black bar owners and encouraged prostitution, leading to their own criminal convictions.  

A new book about how their criminal operation unraveled because of a sting operation is coming out soon.

While working at the University of Wyoming’s American Heritage Center as its associate director, now-retired Rick Ewig remembers longtime Laramie County Attorney Byron Hirst mentioning his prosecution of Cheyenne’s former mayor in 1944.

Hirst, who served as county prosecutor from 1943 to 1947, was filing his papers with the American Heritage Center around 2000 or 2001 and Ewig helped him with the project. 

The topic about the mayor came up more than once.

“I thought, that’s really kind of interesting,” Ewig said. “I thought, when I retire, I should write something on that.”

After retiring in 2016, the historian came back to the idea around the time of the pandemic and, once he started digging into the story, found that there was a “lot more to it than just corruption.”

Four years later he is coming out with his book titled “We Are In Charge Now, The Story of Corruption & Intrigue in World War II Cheyenne.” 

The 200-page history delves into the election of Ira L. Hanna and how after arriving in office, along with his police chief and two officers, they attempted to extort “protection money” from black businesses in the city.

Ewig’s research sent him into Hirst’s papers that were at the American Heritage Center and the Old West Museum in Cheyenne as well as through the daily newspapers to get the context of wartime Cheyenne in 1943 and 1944.

“It turns out that Cheyenne was segregated at that time,” Ewig said. "If you were African American, you lived on the west side and that’s where Lola West ran the Black and Tan Club (Cafe), and there was another African American bar owner, Pop Grimes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“He ran the Porters and Waiters Club.”"}]

Hirst had kept the information he compiled for his prosecution case, although there was not a trial transcript, Ewig said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A New Mayor"}]

Hanna, who had served as the Laramie County treasurer and then was elected as the county assessor, ran for the mayoral office in 1944. 

After becoming mayor he appointed Jesse Ekdall to be his police chief.

Shortly after coming to power, he and Ekdall approached the two black club owners to sell them protection as well as encourage prostitution, gambling, and illegal liquor sales, Ewig said. 

They were told they would be protected from the Cheyenne Police Department and the military police at Fort F.E. Warren.

“Hirst had kept all those documents related to that,” Ewig said.

The “most fascinating” one he found was related to West and Grimes going to Hirst after being instructed by the mayor and police chief to “not tell anybody” about his protection offer. 

A sting operation was set up between Hirst, two federal IRS agents, and the club owners.

Hirst and the feds were able to obtain a dictaphone device and place a microphone under Pop Grimes’ desk at the Porters and Waiters Club and recorded a meeting between the two black club owners, Hannah, Ekdall, and the two officers in his department.

During the hours-long meeting, Hanna and Ekdall were recorded saying that: “This is what we are going to do. We are in charge now. You have to pay us. If you don’t pay us we are going to shut down your business,” Ewig said.

Ewig said there is no evidence showing that the mayor or police chief attempted to strong arm any white business in town. 

Due to the war and the soldiers at Fort Warren in addition to the other war-support efforts that brought workers to town, prostitution was an issue.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Money Changed Hands"}]

Newspaper trial accounts show money was paid by West and Grimes to the mayor and police and the serial numbers of the bills were recorded.

Fort Warren was putting pressure on the city to get rid of all prostitution due to issues with venereal disease among the troops that hampered training, Ewig said.

But Ewig said the mayor and new police chief were trying to “open up” the city to more prostitution and illegal money to bring in funds despite the city’s stance against it.

His research found newspaper ads from Hanna as he ran for office that promised voters “good, clean government.”

Although all he had was the old newspapers to go by, Ewig did not find any evidence of any election manipulation that may have brought Hanna to power. 

Hanna’s record of public service to that point as the county assessor appeared above board.

“I didn’t find anything that really explained why after 20 years of not any issues at all, all of a sudden, he sees an opportunity to extort money from a certain group in Cheyenne,” Ewig said. 

“In the last part of the book, I do provide answers to what other people thought, but I never found anything that explained it directly,” he said.

During the trial of the quartet, the Casper Tribune-Herald reported on May 5, 1944, that Hanna testified that the money collected were “fines” for illegal activities and were destined for the city’s park and recreation fund.

Hanna said he and Ekdall decided to make the black business owners “pay fines” if the Fort Warren military police allowed prostitution, gambling, and the sale of liquor in the businesses, the newspaper reported. 

Hanna testified he received $340 from his police chief and put it in an envelope with other funds collected and a list of “from whom for what.”

Hanna testified he was found with three $5 bills that had been paid by West on his person because he wanted to “get a $5 bill to contribute to the Red Cross.” 

He exchanged a $20 bill for four fives that were in the envelope, he said.

West’s daughter testified at the trial and said she paid $100 on two different dates to police for protection. 

One of the officers on trial told her that if she received a phone call and “told us to wash our necks, there was going to be a raid,” the newspaper said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ewig said all four men were convicted."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sentenced And Commutation"}]

The Casper Herald-Tribune reported on May 7, 1944, that both Hanna and Ekdall were sentenced to not less than seven or more than 10 years in prison on charges of soliciting and accepting a bribe. 

The officers and E.K. Violette received a sentence of two to three years, and officer G.J. Morris a one to two years.

However, on Oct. 4, 1945, the Casper Tribune-Herald reported that both Hanna’s and Ekdall’s sentences had been commuted by a state board of pardons and they would be eligible for parole on Dec. 15, 1945, and discharged from parole on Dec. 15, 1946.

The newspaper reported the board of pardons had received more than 200 letters encouraging the commutation of their sentences. 

While in prison, both men quickly obtained trustee status with Hanna keeping the books for prisoner accounts at the prison and Ekdall serving as a caretaker for the governor’s mansion.

Ewig said his research did not corroborate something that Hirst had told him a couple of decades ago about mafia from Denver and Chicago being involved with criminal activities as well. 

He said there is a chapter devoted to one individual who may have had ties to the mafia, but he could not prove it.

The book is about more than the corruption of the mayor. 

Ewig said he tried to portray the whole atmosphere of Cheyenne during that time in the war.

“I’ve done a lot of Wyoming history, and this one was so Cheyenne specific that it was fascinating about life in World War II Cheyenne,” he said. “It’s not only the story about Ira Hanna and Lola West, I also look at what Cheyenne was like during World War II. 

"It was a boomtown, and there was a housing shortage, and all these issues come up.”

The book, Ewig’s third, is published by WordsWorth Publishing of Cody and will be available in bookstores in the next week or two, he said. It can be ordered now from 

A bonus from his research led to a friendship with Lola West’s grandson, Leon Reed of Cheyenne, Ewig said.

“He allowed me to use some of the family photographs in the book,” he said. “I’m going to sit with Mr. Reed and do and oral history with him because he would like the story of the African American community in Cheyenne to be better known, and to be explored more. So, that is going to come out of this research as well.”

Black and Tan Cafe inset 5 31 26

<title>Wyoming History: Cheyenne's Mayor, Police Chief Convicted Of Extorting Black Bar Owners | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It was 80 years ago that Cheyenne’s mayor and police chief were convicted of running a protection racket and extorting black bar owners. "You have to pay us. If you don’t pay us we are going to shut down your business,” federal agents recorded them saying.

Wyoming History: Cheyenne's Mayor, Police Chief Convicted Of Extorting Black Bar Owners

Mac Watson

Daily Video News

It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Monday, June 1st,  I’m Mac Watson

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

In a setback to the Wyoming Republican Party’s long mission to gain independence from state law, a Uinta County judge Friday upheld multiple Wyoming election laws, dismissing the state Party’s claims that its rights trump them. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Uinta County District Court Judge James Kaste’s Friday ruling gives a concrete, but appealable, answer.

“What we had was a hot springs county Republican party spat that exploded into a much bigger debate about whether the Wyoming Republican Party and its counterparts are private groups that have associational rights that trump the restrictions that state law places on them, and at least for this struggle, which pertains to some county membership and voting criteria, and the involvement of this basically the state party's arbitration committee, the judge said,  ‘No, the party's associational rights aren't that burden. The state does have a legitimate electoral public interest in keeping these processes orderly, and the laws are constitutional.’”

If it so chooses, the party can appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court challenging the judge’s decision.

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

Trucker Riaz Ahmad Noori is now facing homicide charges, accused of triggering a 26-vehicle crash in the Green River Tunnel in 2025 that killed three people. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that an affidavit says “human error was the primary factor contributing to these crashes.”

“Investigators say that Noori was going over the speed limit when he ran into the back of a pickup, setting off a multi-vehicle collision and pile up. He was going about 10 miles per hour over the illuminated posted speed limit. Despite snowy conditions, there was also ice on the road. So he's also facing litigation from a lawsuit that was filed in September, saying that he was driving recklessly and caused the fatal crash.”

The Feb. 14, 2025, initial crash ballooned into a 26-vehicle catastrophe that filled the westbound Interstate 80 tunnel near Green River with fire, explosions, and thick, black smoke.

Living homeless in a Las Vegas wash, hooked on meth, and surviving by the reflexes of his past gang life, Rusty Rawson turned to his adolescent son for guidance. Cowboy State Daily’s Zak Sonntag reports that the answer brought them back to Casper and a path toward recovery.

“So they've been back in Casper 18 months, and they're going through the rescue missions discipleship program, and that has been a big change for Rusty specifically. But just having a bed to sleep in, a place to get a hot meal, and a community has provided the stability that they need to start thinking about the future again. And for Sterling, who is now 14-years old, the improvements are just monumental. I mean, here's a kid who didn't finish sixth grade, didn't attend a single day in seventh grade, and then he comes back, jumps into the end of eighth grade, and here he is graduating his freshman year from Kelly Walsh High School this week with a 3.8 GPA, and that's just because he has the support of this community.”

For the last 18 months, Rusty and Sterling have been staying in beds at the Mission, where Rusty has joined its Discipleship Program, and getting back to being a truck driver.

Halle Crozier of Buffalo is inspiring Wyoming’s high school rodeo community as she fights to recover from a vaccine reaction that destroyed her body. Cowboy State Daily’s Julie Mankin reports that Halle says she could’ve chosen to not get better, or choose to be positive and work hard to get better.

“Rodeo is something that has allowed Halle to heal, and it makes her feel alive, and honestly, she has the heart of a cowgirl, it's been in her blood her entire life. Halley's grit and determination is so inspiring, and fans have gone so nuts to watch her, that the Wyoming High School Rodeo Association changed their rules after decades to allow this timed event star to partner with her as his second partner. It's usually only one partner, but they love Hallie and what she's done for the culture of rodeo.”

Despite limitations with lifting her arms and lingering balance and coordination problems, things are looking up for Halle. The 16-year-old got her driver’s license last year. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"– "}]

I’ll have more news from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom right after this.

Cowboy State Daily News continues now….

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"},{"type":"italic"}],"text":"–  "}]

Despite a series of bizarre, controversial, and sometimes outrageous campaign videos, Wyoming politicos say Reid Rasner’s campaign for U.S. House is not a parody. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that state Rep. John Bear says, “Why would somebody spend this much money on a joke?” 

“You find commenters piling up in an ever-increasing mountain, asking, is this a parody? Is this satire? Because some of the videos are zany. I talked to people from both ends of the political spectrum in Wyoming, serving in offices or that have run statewide campaigns, and they said no. No one's going to spend $1.3 million ish, on a joke, and so, which is, you know, as of April 1, that's about the size of the Raisner campaign. His spokesman said that they reach people through social media, but they do also take hard policy stances and forward-thinking positions. I also spoke to one drama coach, Michael Stadile, out of Casper. He coached drama for 45 years. He said, ‘If this is satire, this man gets an A.’”

Rasner was among the earliest to declare for what’s now a 10-person GOP primary contest for the House seat, which incumbent Rep. Harriet Hageman is vacating to run for U.S. Senate.

A century after Union Pacific stopped using it, decades of work has saved and restored Evanston’s historic Roundhouse and Railyards. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that $28 million has been spent so far but it’s one of the rare roundhouses in the U.S. that’s still completely operational.

“It's all part of the vision of a guy named Jim Davis. He was hired as the urban renewal manager, worked for the city for many, many years. His charge was to revital. He happened to meet and befriend an architect along the way, and that guy knew how to do historic preservation, and so you know by teaming up with people in the community they were able to forge a path forward to save the depot.  That became a springboard for the larger project, the Round House; he built a core of people who could see the value in saving these old buildings, which there aren't many of them left in the country.”

 is a 63,000-square-foot, 96-foot-deep curved brick-and-mortar behemoth built around a post-and-beam interior.

FBI files from 1933 reveal that $90,000 in ransom loot from a Machine Gun Kelly kidnapping scheme ended up buried somewhere around Cheyenne. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports about $25,000 is still unaccounted for.

“According to FBI documents I found in a newspaper article at the time, the money supposedly they turned out the money to the FBI, but there's only of their take, there was $75,000 apparently in that suitcase, and the FBI accounted for like 38,000, but so there's like $25,000 that has never been recovered, whether that’s remained in Cheyenne, was it taken to the West Coast. We don’t know for sure.”

FBI documents from the time are not clear about whether all of that money was removed or recovered; however, the ground somewhere around the Wyoming Capitol in those months played a part in one of that decade’s notorious gangster sagas.

New research published by the Geological Society of America has revealed that Devils Tower is actually constantly moving. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that an international team of geologists determined that it's perpetually and ever-so-slightly swaying, twisting, and turning in the wind.

“Now, the thing is, you'd never know that, because the amount of movement is less than a micro meter, that's 1,000,000th of a meter, so it's not happening on a scale that humans can see. They put two sensors at the base of the tower and one sensor at the top of the tower, and then they had the climb up, put the sensor up, then climb up the next day to collect it and analyze that data, and what they found were the signatures of vibrations that have a definite movement to them.”

Devils Tower is a giant, eroded plug of volcanic rock. It was an intrusive body of magma that cooled under the surface and was gradually exposed by millions of years of erosion.

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

And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on 

 - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our 

 channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.

News image v2 6 1 26

<title>Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 1, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Monday's headlines include:
* Trucker Charged In Green River Inferno
* Rodeo Healing Wyoming Teen After Vax Reax
* Homeless Casper Father & Son Saved Each Other

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, June 1, 2026

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Perched atop a rocky knoll along the Snowy Range Scenic Byway in the Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming, the Libby Flats Observation Area rises nearly 11,000 feet above sea level.

Its weathered stone wall, turret facade and steep wooden staircase lead to a platform where visitors can look out at the Snowy Range to the north and the Laramie Valley to the south.

It looks more like what’s left of the ruins of a Medieval castle than a modern attraction.

For Laramie photographer David Peel, it's been a source of fascination for much of the last half-century.

"It's like an old ancient structure," Peel said. "Your mind kind of starts making up some fancy histories about it.”

Peel said its weathered stone and isolated perch above the tree line remind him of places far from Wyoming — Ireland, old European ruins and the kinds of structures that are much older than the observatory.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Mystery Of The Tower"}]

The site is managed by the Medicine Bow National Forest and was approved in 2024 as a $5-per-vehicle day-use recreation site.

It’s also not ancient. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s, according to F.E. Warren Air Force Base.

Aaron Voos, public affairs specialist for the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest and Thunder Basin National Grassland, said U.S. Forest Service maps mark the location as an "observation point" as early as 1956 in its records.

Engineering blueprints from 1959 show plans for a parking area, footpath, restroom and the stone observation tower visitors see today, said Voos. 

The overlook typically opens with the Snowy Range Scenic Byway each spring and remains accessible through the summer and fall before winter snow closes the road.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where The Stars Take Over"}]

Peel said he has spent countless nights at Libby Flats photographing the Milky Way, auroras, and sunrises.

The high elevation and lack of light pollution create some of the darkest skies in Wyoming for photographers.  

"Up in the Snowies, it's nearly pristine," Peel said, adding that the tower is one of his favorite places to take photos. 

On moonless nights, the Milky Way stretches across the sky with a clarity that's difficult to appreciate until you're standing beneath it, he continued. 

Illuminated by starlight, Peel says the structure resembles a watchtower guarding the edge of the continent. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Flats Of Libby' "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Peel has lived in Laramie for nearly 47 years."}]

He's hiked the Snowies, camped beside alpine lakes and brought his children into the mountains when they were young.

[{"type":"text","text":"The observation tower remains one of the places they always returned to."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"His children thought it looked like a castle."}]

After decades of hiking, camping and photographing the Snowies, Peel found himself writing about them too.

One of his Irish compositions, "The Flats of Libby," borrowed its name from the windswept landscape surrounding the overlook .

More than 60 years after it first appeared on Forest Service maps, and nearly a century since the CCC built it, the overlook remains one of the most recognizable stops in the Snowy Range, drawing everyone from road-trippers and hikers to photographers chasing the stars.

Libby Flats Observation Tower Pat and Chuck Blackley via Alamy 5 30 26

<title>What The Heck … Is That Medieval Castle-Looking Thing On The Snowy Range Byway? | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The observation deck that looks like a Medieval castle ruin has turned heads for decades in the Medicine Bow range. For Laramie photographer David Peel, the 11,000-foot elevation and lack of light pollution make it a great place for astrophotography.

What The Heck … Is That Medieval Castle-Looking Thing On The Snowy Range Byway?

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

In the early 1960s, the stress of being an advertising executive in New York was taking a toll on Paul Newman’s health. 

Calling himself Paul Newman “The Original” — he’s not the Oscar-winning actor — he was on a fishing holiday in Wyoming when he told his wife Georgina (Gina) that instead of dying on the streets of New York, he was going to buy the old Carpenter Hotel in Atlantic City as their new home.

Gina wasn’t ready to give up her career and friends in the East, according to her former employee Lynn Kinter. 

Twenty years younger than Paul, Gina loved her job as executive editor of Living for Young Homemakers, a popular ladies magazine based in New York City. 

For 30 years, the Miner's Delight restaurant in remote Atlantic City, Wyoming, was the place to go in the Cowboy State. Started by an advertising executive from New York, the upscale French cuisine attracted diners from hundreds of miles away.

Daily Darwin: Monday, December 8, 2025

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