Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"He's so proud of his stick....."}]

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

<title>Daily Smile: Monday, March 30, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

He's so proud of his stick.....

Daily Smile: Monday, March 30, 2026

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

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Before the Carbon County emergency services scanner went dark at around 3:30 p.m. Monday, the dispatchers, officers, deputies and troopers on it described an 

 and manhunt in which at least one law enforcement officer was injured and a Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper’s car was “shot up.”

The saga ended with scanner reports saying the fleeing truck had come to a stop, and one person was dead inside it. 

Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced via press release late Monday evening that the shooter died on scene. 

"The subject opened fire on the initial responding deputy, striking him several times," the statement reads.

"The suspect fled the scene in a small truck.  Additional responding deputies and troopers with the Wyoming Highway Patrol engaged in a pursuit with the suspect vehicle on Highway 789 north of Baggs. 

"The suspect opened fire on law enforcement again before driving off the highway and coming to a stop. The suspect was declared deceased at the scene. 

"The wounded deputy was transported to a medical facility in Colorado by Intermountain Air Ambulance."

[{"type":"text","text":"How It Unfolded"}]

The public learned of the incident when Carbon County emergency services called for a shelter in place due to an active shooter situation around 1 p.m. 

Scanner traffic erupted at about that time, when a female dispatcher informed units that a “lady” had called to report a man emerged from a home near or about 49 West Cedar Street, Baggs. That's across the road from the mayor's home. 

The man "came out of the house with a long gun, fired a shot, and now he’s walking around trying to get into an apartment,” the female dispatcher related from the caller’s report. “RP (reporting party) says he has tactical equipment on.”

The male had red hair, a mustache, no shirt, and green camo pants, the dispatcher related. She’d later add from a secondhand description that he had a fanny pack containing ammunition.

A Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper who called himself “132” said he was on his way.

“He’s gone into apartment number one, and now he came out and he’s heading back upstairs,” the dispatcher narrated.

[{"type":"text","text":"The man still had a gun, she added."}]

“He’s getting into a small black truck at this time,” said the dispatcher. Male officers, troopers or deputies pressed the dispatcher for a better description of the truck, and after several minutes personnel said it was reportedly a Toyota Tacoma.

The man headed north through Baggs. The caller didn’t know his name or who he was, the dispatcher said.

One male law enforcement officer said one of the officers was stopping the vehicle.

“Subject is now shooting at the patrol vehicle,” said a male voice on the scanner.

Personnel called in night shift deputies or troopers. They asked for help from Moffat County Colorado, which reportedly later sent two drones along with other help. They asked for a special response team from the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.

“It appears one of the apartments is on fire,” said the dispatcher at about 1:18 p.m. Eyewitnesses in Baggs said the fire was related to the shooting and chase. 

Traffic indicated at some point the fleeing black truck turned back south. 

The town clerk told personnel, reportedly, that shooting sounds resounded “up on the hill south of Baggs,” said a male officer.

One man asked if law enforcement personnel had heard from a deputy called “66.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“That is negative,” answered the dispatcher."}]

Later someone on the scanner said that residents of the area were “applying aid to 66” and that “66 is down,” while the suspect had fled northward in the black Tacoma.

The sheriff’s evening statement says the suspect opened fire and struck the deputy several times. The deputy was flown to care in Colorado. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Multiple parties on the scanner coordinated medical personnel responses."}]

At 1:29 p.m. a male trooper or other officer shouted, “Shots fired! Shots fired! He’s shooting at – “

[{"type":"text","text":"“He’s right there,” an agent added after a brief silence. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"What Trooper 132 Saw"}]

Around this time the scene was unfolding around mile marker 40 on Highway 789.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Shots fired!” said a male voice again."}]

“He hit my windshield,” said a male voice that sounded like the trooper called 132. “Getting water, he hit my tire.”

But 132 wasn’t done with the incident. He asked a deputy called “64” to pick him up and take him to the next part of the incident so he could keep helping.

A deputy called “68” reported, while catching his breath audibly, that personnel had a “barricaded suspect” just off a two-track or county road, headed west, but that by then, “we have no movement.”

The dispatcher said a special response team had been “activated.” That was about 1:40 p.m.

[{"type":"text","text":"Agents coordinated shutting the highway down."}]

“Sounds like he’s barricaded in the vehicle,” said a male. “I know he shot at 132.”

One agent asked if he should bring an “OIS Bag,” or officer-involved shooting kit.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I don’t know if 132 fired a round or not,” answered the male."}]

The Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation confirmed via email to Cowboy State Daily that it was asked Monday afternoon to respond to an officer-involved shooting south of Baggs.

At least one agent requested a “Bear Cat” armored vehicle. It’s unclear where that vehicle was coming from: agents mentioned both Sweetwater County and Casper.

Meanwhile, a “potential structure fire and chemical situation” reportedly progressed on Cedar Street.

[{"type":"text","text":"A propane leak “appears to be there on purpose,” said a dispatcher."}]

The suspect’s vehicle was stationary. Agents weren’t sure if the suspect was still in the vehicle. The final shot was fired at about 1:08, an officer said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Someone called for a bomb squad. "}]

Cowboy State Daily asked the Carbon County Fire District to confirm whether, as scanner traffic indicated, propane tanks had exploded, and the department said it could not confirm.

The trooper known as 132 asked someone to shoot several photographs of his vehicle for the investigation.

“You can’t miss it, it’s a highway patrol car on the side of the road that’s shot up,” said 132.  

Officers wondered aloud if the suspect had fled on foot or was still in the vehicle. Multiple drones were on the way to confirm.

“One occupant deceased,” said an officer, adding a directive to notify the coroner. 

Bakken confirmed late in the evening that the shooter was dead on scene. It’s unclear how he died.

The Sweetwater County bomb squad responded to the apartment complex around 6:45 p.m. 

The Carbon County Sheriff's Office lifted its shelter in place notification for the town of Baggs at 7:48 p.m. - nearly seven hours after implementing it. 

[{"type":"text","text":"\"I Passed 17 Emergency Vehicles\""}]

Cory Overton, a Baggs resident, said he was headed home from his work in the Craig area when a Steamboat Springs, Colorado-based SWAT team passed him on the highway, also headed toward Baggs.

[{"type":"text","text":"He also saw a medical helicopter leaving the town, Overton said."}]

“I passed 17 emergency vehicles before I hit Craig,” he added. Overton said he and his son jumped into the car and headed north, then he took photographs of the aftermath of the incident.

One of the photographs Overton took shows a Carbon County Sheriff’s deputy vehicle with the window seemingly open.

It appeared to be shot by bullets, Overton said, adding that the deputy is a “local guy” known to the community.

Overton said he doesn’t know the shooter. Many people who work in Craig live in Baggs due to cheaper housing costs, he added.

Overton said he’s not sure if the apartment fire is related to the shooting incident. But when law enforcement personnel refer to “the apartment complex,” he said, only one comes to mind.

“That’s really the only apartments we have,” said Overton. That is, except for an old motel used for rent just north of town, he added.

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<title>Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead | Cowboy State Daily</title>

An active shooter manhunt unfolded Monday in Baggs where one deputy was injured and the shooter died on scene, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken confirmed late Monday. The sheriff said the suspect opened fire on law enforcement before driving off a highway.

Deadly Shooting In Baggs, Wyoming: Deputy Injured, Shooter Dead

Politics

 voted Monday to pause its ongoing work to cancel two controversial wind farm leases in Converse and Niobrara counties while the Wyoming Supreme Court decides whether at least one of the two, similar leases was lawful in the first place.

State Auditor Kristi Racines said pausing to wait on the court isn’t about being “pro-project or anti-project.”

It’s about “how deep of a legal hole we are trying to dig ourselves in, to unwind, once the Supreme Court makes that decision,” said Racines.

Secretary of State Chuck Gray countered, saying the process had involved “dithering and delaying” that “was tactically done” to prevent the cancellation process from unfolding.

“I just think this has been really troubling the way this has been handled,” Gray said.

The board comprises Wyoming’s top five elected officials: Racines, Gray, Gov. Mark Gordon, Treasurer Curt Meier, and Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.

Now the Pronghorn H2 and Sidewinder H2 wind farm projects hang in limbo while the Wyoming Supreme Court considers whether Converse County District Court Judge Scott Peasley was correct in concluding that the Pronghorn lease — the only one challenged in court — was not legal anyway.

Peasley had read the state board’s rules to mean that the lease couldn’t be legal since the power it seeks to generate wouldn’t necessarily tie into the electrical grid.

The Attorney General’s Office has read those rules differently, and both Pronghorn and the Wyoming Attorney General's Office have appealed the issue to the high court, which has not yet set the matter for oral argument.

In April 2025, Gray was the lone nay vote in the board’s 4-1 decision to approve leases pertaining to the state-held lands within each project.

Sidewinder H2 LLC, a Delaware-based company that’s a subsidiary of Acciona and Nordex Green Hydrogen, which has teamed up with Focus Clean Energy on the project, had asked to build a wind farm 10 miles west of Lusk. The project is expected to span 120,110 acres, of which 19.4%, or 23,290 acres, is state land. 

That project is expected to use 352 megawatts of energy sited on state trust land, subject to state approval, which would create 201 permanent jobs and $7 billion investment. It would be estimated to produce 1,000 megawatts of wind energy.

Pronghorn H2 LLC, another Delaware company owned by Acciona & Nordex, had asked to build 45 wind turbines on private and state lands 20 miles east of Casper over 46,000 total acres, of which 13,838 acres or 30%, is owned by the state. 

This project would include a capacity of up to 110 megawatts of electricity and be about one-third of the size of the Sidewinder project.

Michael Stephens of Stephens Land and Livestock challenged the Pronghorn approval in court, days after the board approved it.

In December, Peasley declared the Pronghorn lease unlawful because it wouldn’t necessarily feed the grid.

While the case and now the appeal have continued, public angst toward the projects galvanized.

Landowners have repeatedly voiced concerns that industry growth will lead to a “

” of turbines across the Laramie Range and irreversibly turn 

In February, Degenfelder, Racines, and Gray 

 to start the process to cancel both leases.

[{"type":"text","text":"The board did not outright cancel both leases at that time."}]

Jeff Pope, the attorney for Pronghorn, said the company would sue if that happened.

Also, state laws restrict the terms under which Wyoming can cancel a lease, and the board’s own policies allowing due process for the developer before cancelling.

The Office of State Lands and Investments, which is the board’s administrative arm, asked the district court on May 12 to weigh in on both contested cancellation processes, since the cases “involved an important legal question” still pending, the AG’s conflict attorney Chris Brown recounted Monday to the board.

Meanwhile, on May 19, Peasley granted a different request by Pronghorn to pause his earlier order voiding the company’s lease, while the company and AG waited for answers from the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Meier asked the board on Monday to pause cancellation proceedings for both leases until Peasley’s stay is lifted. While only the Pronghorn is being challenged in court, the leases are similar.

As originally pitched, the projects would send power into 

 rather than necessarily providing energy directly to the electrical grid. Construction on both was originally slated to start in 2028.

The board voted 3-2 in favor of Meier’s motion, with Gray and Degenfelder voting nay.

[{"type":"text","text":"Woke Wind And Insiders"}]

Gray made multiple motions to the board Monday, including requests to proceed with the cancellation process for both leases.

[{"type":"text","text":"None of his motions on the wind farms succeeded."}]

 Sunday, one day before the meeting, to assert that “insiders” were trying to advance the wind farm.  

“Just behind me is where Governor Gordon and other insiders are trying to plot down this woke wind lease on state land, which is totally inconsistent with our Wyoming values,” said Gray in his Facebook video. 

“We fought so hard to stop and rescind and remove this woke wind lease over a 10-month period and now Governor Mark Gordon is trying to pull off an Empire-Strikes-Back maneuver and bring the woke wind lease back," he said.

But the board, Gray continued, should continue with its cancellations “for this proposed woke wind lease in Converse and Niobrara counties.”

[{"type":"text","text":"‘It’s Not Outsiders Or Insiders’"}]

Racines, who had helped to lead the February effort to start cancellation processes, described Meier’s motion as a commonsense move to simplify the legal process — not a grand statement about wind farms.  

“We hung our hat on Judge Peasley’s decision. … That’s the reason that I wholeheartedly supported the moving forward with cancelling and rescinding these leases,” said Racines. 

[{"type":"text","text":"But, she added, “That judge himself has stayed his decision."}]

“It is not this board. It is not insiders or outsiders,” she said. “(He) said, great, your leases are illegal, but we’re going to wait and have the Supreme Court ultimately decide.”

If the high court upholds Peasley’s ruling, then the Pronghorn lease would be void and the board could continue trying to cancel the Sidewinder lease, she noted.

If the high court overturns Peasley’s decision, “that in no way means the projects are greenlighted,” said Racines, adding that at that juncture, the remaining issues in the Pronghorn case could continue at the district court level.

Acting before the high court makes that decision would “dig us into a worse legal mess to unwind” and complicate the case further, if it remains viable, Racines said.

Gray said, “Again, I think this has been very irregular,” and that he has “major questions about the timing of the stay” and the timing of the board meeting.

“This is all going to be decided by the Supreme Court, not the board,” said Gray.

Degenfelder confirmed with Brown that the board couldn’t override Peasley’s stay on his own order.

Meier said, “Like it or not, the Supreme Court is the top dog in the situation, and it gets there one way or another.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Gray confirmed that the Sidewinder project isn’t under the stay."}]

Mix Collage 08 Jun 2026 12 59 PM 3380

<title>Wyoming Land Board Decides To Wait For Court To Rule Whether Wind Farm Is Legal | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The State Land Board voted 3-2 Monday to pause its work to halt two controversial wind leases — until a court decides a major legal question on them. Secretary of State Chuck Gray called it "irregular," but Auditor Kristi Racines cast it as common sense.

Wyoming Land Board Decides To Wait For Court To Rule Whether Wind Farm Is Legal

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Two German tourists had to call Big Horn County Search and Rescue (BCSAR) for help after Google Maps led them astray.

The tourists were were visiting the Medicine Wheel in the Bighorn Mountains when they decided to head to Shell on May 31, BCSAR reported Sunday. Instead of recommending U.S. Highway 14 either westbound or eastbound, Google Maps sent them down a backcountry road that blew out two of their tires.

The pair was evacuated by BCSAR volunteers on ATVs that evening, but their Jeep Compass was stuck in the mountains until the tires could be replaced.

“They were on a road that they shouldn't have been in the car that they were driving,” said Adam Potter, owner of Big Horse Point S Towing in Greybull. “If you're going to be in the Bighorns, don't trust Google.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Mission 26"}]

This was BCSAR’s 26th mission so far  in 2026. Potter wasn’t officially dispatched to rescue the German tourists when they got stuck, but he expected to be sent into the mountains at some point.

“I got a call from one of my buddies with the Big Horn County Sheriff's Department who told me BCSAR might be calling, so I sat tight,” he said. “Two of the guys who work for me in my shop are BCSAR volunteers, and they said the same thing.”

Potter didn’t get the call he was expecting until the next morning. The driver of the Jeep, named Matthias, asked if he could get his rental car out of the mountains.

Potter said Matthias and his wife were trying to take Alkali Road from Medicine Wheel to Shell. When they encountered a locked gate, Google Maps recommended an alternate route that they weren’t equipped to travel.

“They were on a road made for ATVs,” he said. “Matthias was probably about 10 miles down there when he realized that that wasn't going to work. He couldn’t get that Jeep Compass down there.”

Matthias managed to turn around and start going back the way he came. As he did so, his low-profile Jeep scraped against a large, sharp rock that punctured two tires.

The stranded Germans contacted the Big Horn County Sheriff’s Office, which sent BCSAR volunteers to pick them up. The Jeep Compass was left where it was, as there wasn’t anything that could be done right away to save it.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Down, Up, Down, Up Again"}]

Once Matthias and his wife reached Greybull, he called Potter about getting the vehicle out of the mountains, which was stuck near South Trapper Rim, an area that Potter’s familiar with.

“At this time of year and hunting season, we’re up there quite a bit,” he said.

Potter knew there was no point in trying to tow the Jeep out, as he wasn’t sure his tow truck could get to the spot. Instead, he had Matthias guide him to the stranded vehicle.

“It was just the tires,” Potter said. “The rest of the suspension looked good, and he never hit anything on the undercarriage, but we can’t replace a tire on a rim on the side of the road out in the mountains.”

The solution was to jack up the Jeep, remove the punctured wheels, and take them back down to the tow shop. By that point, it was already getting dark.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It was a four-hour round trip to reach that spot, Potter said."}]

On Monday morning, Potter and Matthias went back up again to replace the tires and get the vehicle going. Then, Matthias drove it out of the mountains, shadowed by Potter.

“He drove himself up out of there,” Potter said. “He got himself down there, so it wasn't too hard for him to get back out. I just worked him up the road.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What Do You Know, Google?"}]

Google Maps is one of the most popular web mapping platforms in the world. However, Wyoming consistently tests its reliability.

When the East Entrance to Yellowstone National Park opens every year, Google Maps tends to 

 and redirects drivers several hours out of their way to the North Entrance in Gardiner, Montana. When Yellowstone’s South Entrance opens, Google Maps has the same issue.

When Interstate 80 shuts down for winter weather, Google Maps occasionally tries to send drivers down closed, 

 because they’re still on the map and, as far as Google Maps is concerned, are still viable shortcuts.

“It's hard for Google to navigate change,” Rick Howe, president and CEO of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce, told Cowboy State Daily. “It works when things are consistent, but seasonal openings and closures of specific locations are really hard for the current platform to handle, and there’s no clear way to change that.”

Matthias and his wife were back on well-traveled roads after they got their rented Jeep out of the Bighorns, and they’re on their way back to Germany.  

Potter ensured they wouldn’t have any more navigational issues for the final stretch of their journey.

“I pointed him in the right direction on the maps and websites that clarify ATV roads versus groomed, maintained roads,” he said. “Google Maps doesn’t know the difference.”

Stuck German tourists 6 8 26

<title>German Tourists Get Stuck In Bighorns After Following Google Maps | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Big Horn County Search and Rescue had to rescue two German tourists after Google Maps got their rented Jeep stuck on a backcountry road. “If you're going to be in the Bighorns, don't trust Google,” is the takeaway, said a Wyoming tow truck driver.

German Tourists Get Stuck In Bighorns After Following Google Maps

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

Around Wyoming

After 64 years, Casper’s real-life version of the “Little Engine That Could” will return to its hometown to help put the spotlight on the city’s railroad and refinery legacy.

Fort Caspar Museum has announced that the muscular little 0-4-0 steam locomotive known as “Standard Oil No. 1” that once chugged along the miles of rails at the Standard Oil Refinery starting in 1920 will soon be on display at the museum.

In Colorado, they renamed the machine “Lulu Belle” for a time.

Colorado Railroad Museum Executive Director Paul Hammond said the return of the locomotive comes after the Golden, Colorado, facility re-evaluated its collection and identified items it wanted to get rid of that are not connected to Colorado’s rail past.

“By moving Standard Oil No.1  to the grounds of the Fort Caspar Museum, we will be returning an important piece of Casper’s history and displaying it less than a mile from the center of the refinery where it spent its lengthy career,” he said.

Local historian and Fort Caspar Museum volunteer Con Trumbull has been working with the Colorado Railroad Museum to bring the transfer about, Hammond said.

Trumbull, who has chronicled the state’s rail past and works as a steam locomotive engineer in Nevada, said the acquisition began with a conversation he had with Hammond more than a year ago. 

He said the director was talking about how the locomotive was taking up space that could be better used for Colorado artifacts and needed to “go home” so there could be more Colorado equipment displayed.

As a kid, Trumbull said his grandparents would take him down to the Colorado Railroad Museum when they went down to Denver.

“I’ve always loved trains and loved railroading and that little locomotive hit close to home because it said ‘Casper, Wyoming,’ on it,” he said. “I got to crawl on it as a kid, I got to ring the bell, I got to see it and I always thought that it should come back to Casper.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Rail History Void"}]

While many of Wyoming’s towns, including Gillette, Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Douglas have some sort of display featuring a locomotive or caboose paying homage to their railroad past, Casper has never had something to tie to its rail history.

The little 0-4-0 will allow the Fort Caspar Museum to do that, Trumbull said.

Hammond told Cowboy State Daily that when his museum purchased the locomotive in 1962 they used it as a “billboard” to advertise the museum.

“It got dolled up a little bit with paint and was placed on some tracks to attract attention,” he said. “That’s where it picked up a name that it’s had ever since at this museum called the ‘Lulu Belle.’”

After some years, the billboard role became unnecessary and the locomotive was given back its Standard Oil logos and placed as a centerpiece of an area of the museum used for picnicking. 

He said when the museum announced the train was returning to Casper their social media had several comments about people remembering it as a child.

Hammond said with the museum’s reconfiguration and dispersed picnic areas, it meant the timing is right for the engine to find a new home.

The engine was made in 1920 by the American Locomotive Company of Paterson, New Jersey, which was one of the largest manufacturers of steam locomotives at the turn of the past century.

Trumbull said the locomotive was built to last and it worked around the refinery for 42 years before being put up for sale.

“Even though it’s just a small switching engine, it’s still a testament to that engineering prowess and stuff that American railroads were known for,” he said. The Standard Oil Refinery for a time was the largest one in the world and there were a “maze” of tracks throughout the refinery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hauling Tank Cars"}]

Trumbull said it probably mostly “banged tank cars around” but also would have been used to haul other freight cars bringing in supplies or other materials for the refinery.

The current look of the locomotive does not reflect its bulk when it was sold to the Colorado museum.

Trumbull said switchers were very “utilitarian” and tank locomotives were boxy and often museums would alter them to make them look more like a traditional locomotive. 

More than a century ago, “Standard Oil No. 1” steam locomotive was at work at the company’s Casper oil refinery, but has been gone for 64 years. Now it’s coming back to Casper after decades at a Colorado rail museum.

Daily Smile: Monday, March 30, 2026

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