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

<title>Daily Cartoon: Thursday, January 22, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, January 22, 2026

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's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Energy

When Wyoming oilman Howard Cooper finally got word he could drill two 2.5-mile-long horizontal wells in the Powder River Basin, it wasn’t just a triumph of geology. It was a marathon for the key federal lease that made his wells economic. 

Those two leases were but thin slices of the 2.5-mile-long lateral that made up each horizontal well, cutting across the line, but might as well have been the Great Wall of China as far as Cooper was concerned.

Cooper, who owns Three Crown Petroleum, told Cowboy State Daily he can permit and drill a typical oil well on private minerals in about five weeks in Wyoming, at least on paper. That’s two weeks for state permits, one week to build a pad and move in a drilling rig, and two weeks to drill. 

But when federal leases are involved, timelines can stretch dramatically, particularly if litigation and additional environmental reviews are triggered. 

That makes any well with a federal lease a gamble with million-dollar stakes.

Cooper’s two-well program is a case study in how even the tiniest sliver of federal land can hang up a drilling project, tying up capital while the operator misses out on economic opportunities vital to keeping smaller companies afloat. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Lease That Sat For Years"}]

The story starts long before Cooper, with a federal lease that sat in limbo for years. 

The lease was originally issued to Anschutz as part of a series of federal sales between 2015 and 2020 across several western states, including Wyoming, which accounted for 1,232 of the 1,323 leases sold during that time. 

The leases were challenged by conservationists, who said the environmental analysis of water usage, sage-grouse protections and greenhouse gas emissions were inadequate.

A judge agreed, ordering a 200-page supplemental environmental review to redo aquifer and sage-grouse analysis for the sales, which also included some areas in Nevada, Utah and Montana.

Bureau of Land Management spokesmen said at the time that such reviews have been required under the National Environmental Policy Act in similar cases to ensure impacts are fully considered before development moves forward.

To create a viable oil and gas well, Cooper needed to add Anschutz’s disputed lease to existing leases he already held in the area. He had already put together enough leases for a 1.75-mile and a 1.25-mile well, but for the project to be economic, Cooper said he needed each well to have a lateral of at least 2.5 miles.

“That essentially doubles your reserves,” he said. “But doesn’t add that much more to the cost.”

So Cooper signed an agreement to purchase Anschutz’s lease, despite the ongoing legal and regulatory uncertainty tied to it, on Nov. 4, 2025. 

They were the last two puzzle pieces he needed for a viable project. 

From then until now, when he’s finally received the go-ahead to drill, it’s been eight months. 

Taken together, though, that thin slice of federal minerals — from its original lease sale years ago to final permitting today — carries a timeline of roughly seven years. 

That piece was essential, however, to extending Cooper’s wells to 2.5 miles, making the overall project economic.

During that time, Cooper estimates he committed in excess of $1 million across the two Powder River wells — money he had to pay up front 

 while also keeping his business afloat. 

Putting a well together involves is an exercise in a bit of business gymastics, with a dash of mathematics and puzzle making thrown in.

Cooper sited his well pad just outside of the sage-grouse corridor Wyoming has established, saving him an additional $375,000 per well by not having to purchase sage-grouse credits. 

Cooper also bundled two other wells in nearby Johnson County into his Powder River project to further lower the cost of drilling. So, even though the Johnson County wells didn’t have the same federal complications, they couldn’t move forward either until the entire package was ready to go.

“By signing a four-well drilling program, we save a considerable amount of money,” Cooper said. “So we went down this road of one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight months of our capital is tied up. 

“It’s a lot of capital tied up. We know the oil is there, if they would just let us drill and produce it.”

Meanwhile, the market shifted substantially. 

“If we could have drilled these wells three months ago, we would have had three months of oil at $100 a barrel,” he said. “Now we’ve lost 30% of value. It’s gone from $100 a barrel to $70.”

Cooper estimates that, taken together, the four wells would have produced around 300,000 barrels of oil during that three-month period of $100 oil. He bases that figure on production from nearby offset wells, which have already extracted roughly 100,000 barrels each.

“We’re still going to get a return on our investment,” Cooper said. “But we’d have gotten a much better return … if we could have drilled these wells three months ago.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Reform Push Underway"}]

Getting his permits required more than waiting. 

“We worked with Gov. Mark Gordon’s office, Western (Energy) Alliance, both U.S. senators and House representatives,” he said. “We had to work with everybody to get this stuff, which should not be necessary. Why should I spend all that time when, if I drill on private minerals, I don’t have to do any of that. It takes a lot of my time, which I prefer to be focusing on putting together additional drilling deals, as opposed to spending a lot of time with all these different entities to try to get our permits issued.”

Industry leaders say Cooper’s experience is increasingly common. Wyoming Petroleum Association’s Ryan McConnaughey told Cowboy State Daily litigation has become common where federal leasing i involved, often due to the checkerboard nature of mineral leases in most western states. 

“I believe under President Biden’s administration was the first time that every lease sale was challenged,” he said.

While conservation groups have argued those challenges are necessary to ensure federal agencies fully comply with environmental law and account for cumulative impacts, McConnaughey said lawsuits are often filed late in the process, at the 11th hour, as a way to increase financial pressure on operators. 

“This isn’t really about making sure that the federal government is doing their due diligence,” McConnaughey 

said. “It’s become a concerted effort to stop oil and gas drilling on federal lands.”

Environmental reviews conducted for permits in many cases are now taking nearly a decade to complete, he said, which makes the flood of 11th-hour lawsuits even more troubling.

“Delays have become a hallmark of drilling on federal land,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And that’s one of the reasons we have been advocating for reform.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Building At SPEED"}]

McConnaughey supports legislation from Wyoming’s congressional delegation called the Let America Build Act and the SPEED Act, which sets deadlines for legal challenges and allows states to take larger roles in administering the permitting process. 

McConnaughey said the change would improve efficiency without removing federal requirements. Critics, however, have raised concerns that tighter deadlines could limit legal oversight.

“It should be about making sure that the federal government is following the law,” McConnaughey said. “If that’s the case, those challenges need to take place immediately.”

Taking over regulatory oversight doesn’t reduce or eliminate any existing restrictions, he added. It just means state agencies are helping eliminate a bureaucratic chokepoint.

“That way the work is being done by local people who understand the industry, understand what is required, and could really speed up the process,” McConnaughey said. “I think that would be a game-changer for the industry here in Wyoming.”

Looking over the history of the new wells he’s about to drill, Cooper sees a sharp contrast between federal and state processes. 

“It’s absolutely insane,” he said. “We are moving pretty fast now, but this is one of those things where … it would be really helpful going forward if the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Energy are focusing on streamlining the permitting process with the federal government. I would like to see it more in line with the way the state of Wyoming moves forward. fter you acquire the lease, then you approach the state of Wyoming and file for your permits. If you own the lease 100%, then it takes basically a two-week period from the time you apply for your permits to when they’re issued.

"After that, a rig moves onto the location, a well pad is built, and you’re “good to go.

“Then you just drill the well and tie your well to an existing oil line and an existing gas line, and you sell your product into the existing oil and gas lines and that’s how it works. It’s very efficient, and that’s what the federal government should strive for, because then it would generate a lot more revenue for the federal government.”

Three Crown Petroleum Campbell County 7 3 26 JPG

<title>Wyoming Company Missed Out On $100 Oil With 7-Year Wait To Drill On Federal Land | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Wyoming oilman says it missed out on $100-a-barrel oil during a seven-year fight to get the OK to drill on federal land in the Powder River Basin. "We would have had three months of oil at $100 a barrel,” the owner said. “Now we’ve lost 30% of value."

Wyoming Company Missed Out On $100 Oil With 7-Year Wait To Drill On Federal Land

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

Entertainment

The 250th birthday of the United States is being celebrated in communities across Wyoming, which means plenty of pyrotechnics in many — but not all — cities and towns.

Fireworks displays are planned in many of Wyoming’s largest communities on July 4, although many annual displays have already been canceled because of dry conditions.

Many shows in eastern Wyoming have been called off because of extreme fire danger, although their other Independence Day events are going forward. Personal fireworks have been banned in several communities or are only permitted during certain times. It’s best to check your local regulations to see if they’re allowed in your town.

Here’s a list of the biggest fireworks displays in Wyoming, along with the times and locations for the best celebrations and viewing locations. Unless otherwise noted, all the shows will be held on the evening of July 4.

If we’ve missed a Wyoming show, please email us at 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Alpine"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: American Legion Ball Field"}]

What Else: After a full day of vendors and activities at Marge Grover Park, the annual parade starts heading down Highway 89 at 7 p.m.

Lincoln County is staging a scavenger hunt where participants can win a commemorative Lincoln County America 250 Challenge Coin, along with other commemorative coins from Alpine and other communities.

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

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: After Dark"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Marbleton Hill"}]

What Else: The day starts with a pancake breakfast and Chuckwagon Chug in the Big Piney Rec parking lot at 7 a.m., followed by the 10 a.m. parade, and a post-parade barbecue at the Sublette County Fairgrounds. Residents can enjoy a cornhole tournament and street dance at the EnCana Picnic Shelter from 1-6 p.m.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Casper"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time:  Around 10 p.m."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Ford Wyoming Center"}]

What Else: The gates at the Ford Wyoming Center will open at 6 p.m. Families are encouraged to bring picnics and camp chairs, but the live music, vendors, and on-site activities will not be present this year.

Due to drought conditions, consumer fireworks are prohibited in the Casper area and adjacent public lands.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cheyenne"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: About 9:40 p.m."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Over the Capitol"}]

What Else: Cheyenne’s parade starts at 9 a.m., followed by Cheyenne’s America’s 250th on the steps of the Wyoming Capitol at 1 p.m. The fireworks finale will be accompanied by a live performance of the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra, starting at 8:30 p.m.

The fireworks will be launched from Frontier Park, which won’t be open for public viewing. Lions Park will only be open to foot traffic, and Carey Avenue will be closed to vehicles starting at 3 p.m.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Cody"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: Dusk (about 10 p.m.)"}]

Location: Across the Shoshone River, north of the Cody Nite Rodeo grounds.

What Else: The annual Cody Stampede Rodeo parade will begin at 9:30 a.m., along with the Wild West Arts Fest in City Park, and 2 p.m. matinee performances of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Spectacular at the historic Cody Theatre.

The Buffalo Bill Center of the West will be open with the exhibits “Arms of the American Revolution” and “Buffalo Nation.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Devils Tower"}]

The Devils Tower KOA campground will not host a fireworks show in 2026 due to extreme fire danger. Personal fireworks are “expressly prohibited.”

What Else: The Devils Tower KOA is hosting a cornhole tournament and its annual mullet contest.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Douglas"}]

The Douglas Volunteer Fire Department canceled the annual fireworks due to ongoing drought conditions and wildlife concerns.

What Else: The Freedom Fest Patriotic Kiddie Parade begins at 10:45 a.m. on Center Street and goes through Washington Park, where the annual First Responders Freedom Fest & 5K will be held. The City of Douglas 250th Street Dance begins at 7 p.m. on Walnut Street.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Dubois"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Dubois Town Park."}]

What Else: Events include an 8 a.m. pancake breakfast in Town Park, a “Touch a Tank” event hosted by the National Museum of Military Vehicles, a coin dig, duck races, and other events throughout town.

The Fourth of July parade starts at 2 p.m. at Town Park. Rodeo Time at the Clarence Allision Memorial Arena starts at 5 p.m., followed by a street dance at 7 p.m.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Evanston"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: 9:30 p.m."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: E Hill"}]

What Else: Evanston’s annual Fresh Air, Freedom, and Fun Festival will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Bear Meadows Greenway. Events include a Fun Run and Walk and the City Council Watermelon Bust at 1 p.m.

Fireworks are permitted in Evanston from 5 p.m. to midnight, as well as in Lyman. No fireworks are allowed in Mountain View, and U.S. Forest Service or BLM lands. There are no restrictions on private land.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Fort Laramie"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: Dusk, roughly 9 p.m."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Fort Laramie South Park"}]

What Else: The 250th Independence Day Celebration at Fort Laramie National Historic Site begins with a flag raising and cannon firing at 9:30 a.m. There will be a 38-gun salute at noon, followed by a historic baseball game at 1 p.m., a Pony Express demonstration at 2, and a retreat parade at 5:15.

The Fort Laramie Fire Department’s annual barbeque begins at 5 p.m. at Fort Laramie South Park.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Gillette"}]

The annual fireworks displays at the Cam-Plex have been canceled due to extreme fire danger.

What Else: After Gillette’s 10 a.m. parade on 2nd Street, the hot dog feed, mud volleyball, and strongman/woman competition begins at noon at Bicentennial Park.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lander"}]

Location: The DEQ parking lot at the Wyoming Life Resource Center & Mount Hope Cemetery

What Else: The Pioneer Day Parade begins at 10 a.m., followed by the Rotary July 4 BBQ at City Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The 132nd Fremont Toyota Pioneer Days Rodeo starts at 7 p.m.

The city of Lander allows open containers from 9 a.m. to midnight, and fireworks are permitted from 10 a.m. to midnight with some exclusions. Fremont County has banned fireworks outside municipal limits.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Laramie"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: About 10 p.m."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Harney and 22nd Street"}]

What Else: Laramie’s 35th annual “Freedom Has a Birthday” celebration will be held at Washington Park from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free event includes live music, food and retail vendors, and “old-fashioned games” for the kids.

The Fire in the Sky fireworks show, sponsored by the city of Laramie and WyoTech, will consist of over 300 aerial shells. Wolf Creek Broadcasting will feature a radio show synchronized to the fireworks display on their station 106.1 FM.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Jackson"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Time: Sunset (about 10 p.m.)"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and Snow King Mountain"}]

What Else: After a pancake breakfast on Town Square at 8 a.m., the Fourth of July Parade begins at 10 a.m. Concerts on the Commons start at 6 p.m.

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village will have fireworks displays. Snow King Mountain’s display starts at sunset.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Moorcroft\/Pine Haven"}]

The annual fireworks display at Keyhole State Park has been canceled due to extreme fire danger.

What Else: Pine Haven’s Independence Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. A cornhole tournament, water games, and a pie-baking contest, followed by a pie-eating contest, will be held at Waters Park starting at noon.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Pinedale"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Dudley Key Ballfields"}]

What Else: Pinedale’s 4th of July community picnic will be held at American Legion Park from noon to 2 p.m.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranchester\/Sheridan"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Tongue River Middle School."}]

What Else: Ranchester’s July 4th Celebration will be held at Town Hall Park and Event Hall. Events include an 8 a.m. pancake breakfast, the annual Wyo Wife Carry at 3 p.m.

Sheridan’s America’s 250th Community Picnic starts at 10 a.m. Kendrick Park, featuring volleyball and cornhole tournaments, and old-fashioned yard games will be at the Trail End State Historic Site.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rawlins"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Location: Radio Control Area near the Rawlins Family Recreation Center."}]

Wyoming fireworks 7 3 20

<title>Happy 250th, America: Where To Watch Fireworks Across Wyoming | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Dozens of Wyoming communities will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with bombastic fireworks displays, while others have been canceled because of extreme fire danger. Here's where Wyomingites can — and can't — see fireworks this Independence Day.

Happy 250th, America: Where To Watch Fireworks Across Wyoming

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. 

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?"

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, January 22, 2026

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