Happy New Year! From the Cowboy State Daily Newscenter, I’m Mac Watson.
2025 was an amazing year for Cowboy State Daily. Not only did we increase our audience by more than 24% jumping from 50 million page views to 62 million page views but subscribers to our newsletter exploded by 33% -- from 79,000 to 105,000.
Today, we’ll talk to our reporters about the most-read stories on Cowboy State Daily….
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Dale Veseth runs cattle on the same Montana ranch his father did and his grandfather before him. He’s now donated the 38,000-acre, $21 million ranch to the Ranchers Stewardship Alliance. Cowboy State Daily’s David Madison reported the reason why the couple donated their ranch was to ensure that it stays a working cattle operation rather than being sold off or converted to other uses.
“The story about that place really struck a nerve with readers, I think, because it really highlighted the need to take drastic action to keep working ranches going. And in a world where real estate or hunting properties, you know, the ranchers are lured away from that, keeping the ranch alive by selling out to to some kind of real estate venture or resort venture…What's also happening is that the conservation group American prairie reserve is buying up ranches and creating a really impressive bison range, but that's really controversial in that part of Montana and and so the Veseths found a different route…they created this, their own foundation to preserve a way of life and to preserve a special place.”
As ranch communities in Wyoming know well, it’s harder than ever for younger generations of ranch families — and anyone else interested in running sheep and cattle — to break into the business.
Read the full story HERE.
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Twelve hours after his wife shot her four children and herself, Cliff Harshman sat in a hospital waiting room. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland interviewed Cliff who said that he lost his best friend, kids, everything.
“I had reported that this mother was involved in this tragic murder suicide incident. I had reported that the girls had died, that one was hospitalized, and so I was on top of the hard news, part of it, but then I called Cliff Harshman, the dad, the husband, and he was devastated. He was very raw with me. He said that his wife had essentially been through hell, mental health wise, and he wanted to let people know what had happened.”
A coworker organized a GoFundMe account to help Cliff deal with funeral and other expenses, and allowed him to focus on grieving.
Read the full story HERE.
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A recent dust-up in the U.S. Senate over Australian tariffs opens a discussion about unfair trade practices. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reported that Sen. John Barrasso says that while $29 billion of Australian beef has been sold in the U.S., “not one hamburger” from America is allowed there.
“Why can't we sell Wyoming beef in Australia? We have some of the best beef in the world. And I think the thing is like for this commodity, what we do is we import a lot of our ground chuck comes from foreign countries so we can get that affordable hamburger on the dinner plate. Our beef that we raise here is really high quality. It's not ground chuck, it's the premium steaks, and that's really what we're trying to get in Australia. But Senator Barrasso’s frustrated they won't even buy a hamburger from us. Did kind of make the point that we've been trying to get in that market for a long time, and we just can't seem to make any headway.”
Australia only accepts U.S. beef if it can be proven that the beef was sourced from cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the United States. That’s an issue because many exporters also source beef born in Canada and Mexico for their operations.
Read the full story HERE.
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I’ll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.
Cowboy State Daily news continues now…
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After years of questions and wondering what happened, DNA confirmed the remains found in a rural area near Gering, Nebraska, in October were Chance Englebert. Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher spoke with the mother of the Moorcroft man missing for more than six years who had a hard time believing his death was accidental.
“His family has no problem believing that he did fall, as investigators say, between 130 and 290 feet from the top of Scott's bluff monument. However, the bone of contention is how he got onto the top of that monument. It was quite out of the way for him to get up there. It was a steep climb. It was roughly between, depending on where he accessed it between two and five miles. So that's, that's the question, how on earth did he get up there? His family does not believe he got up there on his own…the Gary Police Department and the other law enforcement entities involved in the case have ruled it accidental. However, his family questions it, and there's a huge public outcry on the internet.”
The 25-year-old Englebert disappeared over the July Fourth holiday weekend in 2019 on a visit from Wyoming to Gering, Nebraska, to visit the family of his wife, Baylee, and their infant son.
Read the full story HERE.
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President Donald Trump pardoned Troy Lake back in November. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reported that the 65-year-old Wyoming diesel mechanic spent seven months in federal prison for tweaking and removing emissions systems on ailing engines. When he got the news, he wept.
“This one was edgy, because if it's not your newspaper, it's always a little bit dodgy to be out there featuring convicted felons. And so it was with a lot of deliberation and talking to my dad about the whole situation with diesel deletes, and contemplating and hearing Troy Lake stories, sifting through court documents, interviewing truckers. And I ultimately decided, ‘Yeah, we're gonna feature a convicted felon and write about his bid for a pardon.’ I was the first reporter to do so, and it generated such a firestorm of coverage nationally that ultimately he was pardoned.”
The Wyoming diesel mechanic spent seven months in federal prison for tweaking and removing emissions systems on ailing engines. He was originally sentenced to one year and one day in prison, but was released early to home confinement with an ankle monitor in September.
Read the full story HERE.
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A tourist in Grand Teton National Park found himself between a grizzly and its mate earlier this month, so he took the only escape available — he dove headfirst through the open window of his car. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reported that a tour guide got a photo of the man’s moment of escape.
“I reached out to the photographer who captured that moment, and she told me that the guy was actually caught completely unaware and wasn't really doing anything wrong. There was a male grizzly that was booking it through the area, and just had me crossing the road. People alerted this guy…The grizzly approached him, and then he did the most sensible thing possible, looked for the nearest safe spot where he could be safe, and that was inside a vehicle. But the only way to get inside that vehicle was through the open window. So that's what he did. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and made for one heck of a funny photo.”
If you’re going to visit Grand Teton or Yellowstone National Park in 2026, the National Park Service asks visitors to keep at least 100 yards between themselves and the bears.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s just some of the most-read stories of 2025 from Cowboy State Daily. Remember, you can get your free digital subscription to Wyoming's only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app.
Have a happy and healthy New Year. I’m Mac Watson for Cowboy State Daily!
