Daily Cartoon

Cartoon 2 4 4 26

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

<title>Daily Cartoon 2: Saturday, April 4, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon 2: Saturday, April 4, 2026

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Around Wyoming

Public Safety

A violent storm ripped through southern Campbell County on Wednesday afternoon, tearing roofs from buildings, demolishing a vacant mobile home, flipping a camper upside down and requiring emergency crews to rescue four people from a damaged home.

Whether it was a tornado isn't official yet, but witnesses might have caught something on video, Campbell County Fire Marshal Stuart Burnham told Cowboy State Daily.

The storm struck near Rattlesnake Road and South Highway 59 shortly after noon, leaving pieces of roofs and other debris scattered across the rural landscape.

"Crews were called out to South Highway 59 near Rattlesnake Road (at about 12:36 p.m.) for a report of occupants stuck in a residence due to a possible tornado," Burnham said.

When firefighters arrived, Burnham said, crews were able to help the four people out of the house. All four were evaluated by emergency medical personnel, and Burnham said he did not believe anyone suffered significant injuries.

Firefighters then began working through the surrounding neighborhood, checking other damaged properties to make sure nobody else was trapped or hurt.

"We have not located anybody with significant injuries, fortunately," Burnham said.

By midafternoon, the response was beginning to wind down as officials turned their attention toward recovery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Roofs Ripped Off"}]

Photos from the area show metal roofing ripped from structures, debris scattered across fields and the camper thrown onto its side.

"The structure that sustained the most damage, yeah, the roof was removed from it," Burnham said. "There are multiple buildings with roofs that have been removed. There was a mobile home that was demolished as well. However, that mobile home was vacant."

[{"type":"text","text":"Exactly how many properties were damaged was unknown Wednesday afternoon."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Multiple,\" Burnham said."}]

Crews were still surveying the neighborhood, and some damage might not be discovered until property owners return home and inspect their land and buildings.

Powder River Energy Corp. was checking electrical infrastructure throughout the affected area.

The storm had moved out of Campbell County shortly after 2 p.m., and officials said there was no longer an immediate threat. South Highway 59 remained open.

[{"type":"text","text":"The American Red Cross was also preparing to help."}]

Robby Gallob said the organization was "working to get into contact with the primary family affected."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Did A Tornado Touch Down?"}]

The original emergency call reported a possible tornado, but nobody had called Campbell County's 911 center to report actually seeing a funnel, Burnham said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Highway 59 is heavily traveled, making that absence notable."}]

"That's not to say that there wasn't one," Burnham said. "It just wasn't necessarily noticed."

[{"type":"text","text":"Officials were beginning to find potential evidence Wednesday afternoon."}]

Burnham said responders were talking with people who had been in the area, and shortly before speaking with Cowboy State Daily he had watched a couple of videos taken during the storm.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It looks like they may have had something on camera,\" he said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Those videos could now help meteorologists piece together what happened."}]

The National Weather Service office in Rapid City, South Dakota, will make the official determination about whether a tornado touched down.

Campbell County officials were coordinating with NWS on a damage assessment, but Burnham didn't yet know when meteorologists would arrive.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Familiar Date"}]

Exactly 21 years earlier, on Aug. 12, 2005, one of Wyoming's deadliest tornadoes tore through Wright, about 30 miles south of Gillette.

[{"type":"text","text":"Jim Konyn remembers that afternoon."}]

He wasn't in Wright, he was working at Midway Supply in Gillette, an oilfield supply company located off Lakeway Road.

[{"type":"text","text":"Konyn and his coworkers happened to be outside when the sirens began."}]

From Gillette, they couldn't quite see the tornado, Konyn recalled, but they could see the storm looming in the distance.

[{"type":"text","text":"The next day, Konyn had to travel through the Wright area."}]

"I've been here for a long time, and I just remember that day because there's a lot of damage," he said.

The tornado Konyn remembers touched down north of Wright before moving southeast into town and striking the Cottonwood Mobile Home Park.

The Wyoming State Climate Office said the F2 tornado killed two people and injured 13. About 40 mobile homes were destroyed. 

Twenty-one years later, Konyn was again watching severe weather move across Campbell County.

Wednesday morning and early afternoon brought rain, lightning and thunder around Gillette, he said. Then a severe thunderstorm warning appeared for Campbell County.

Konyn recalled the warning tracking the storm from around Savageton toward the area between Gillette and Wright and the mines. He said the warning mentioned hail around the size of ping pong balls.

"They never said no tornado," he said. "They just said a severe storm."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Campbell County Tornadoes"}]

Two summers ago, an EF2 tornado struck the North Antelope Rochelle Mine south of Gillette, flipping vehicles and empty railroad cars and tearing portions of roofs and walls from mine buildings.

[{"type":"text","text":"Seven people were injured, but nobody was killed."}]

Then, just seven weeks ago, on June 22, another EF2 tornado crossed Campbell County between the Savageton and Wright areas.

The National Weather Service estimated its peak winds at 115 mph. It traveled nearly 13 miles, damaged a home and snapped more than a dozen power poles. No injuries or deaths were reported.

Now Campbell County is waiting to learn whether Aug. 12 will be added to that list.

For the moment, Burnham said the important news was that despite the destruction responders had not found anyone seriously hurt.

Tornado 1 8 13 26

<title>Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Suspected Tornado Rips Through Campbell County, Leaving Widespread Property Damage

Business & Tourism

About 20 miles southwest of Independence Rock, where Wyoming Highway 220 meets U.S. Highway 287, is the blink-and-you-miss-it outpost of Muddy Gap.

[{"type":"text","text":"There's not much there. But there is gasoline."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"On Wednesday, a gallon of regular cost $5.99."}]

"I think it's pretty ridiculous," said Casey Long, a Pavillion native who has a house in Riverton and has spent 26 years working in Wyoming's oil fields.

That price stood out even during a week when Wyoming motorists were already paying considerably more at the pump. AAA put the statewide average for regular unleaded at $4.24 Wednesday, meaning the Muddy Gap price is roughly 42% higher than the Wyoming average.

[{"type":"text","text":"The difference adds up quick. "}]

Fifteen gallons at the statewide average would cost about $63.50. At Muddy Gap, the same fill-up rings up at $90.

Yet out in the middle of nowhere, motorists don't have the luxury of shopping around.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Very Sparse'"}]

The lonely station sits at a crossroads connecting travelers headed toward Rawlins, Casper, Lander and Riverton.

[{"type":"text","text":"Wyoming Highway 220 runs nearly 73 miles between Muddy Gap and Casper."}]

On Wednesday, the parking lot offered a snapshot of who depends on the place.

A camper from Minnesota. An RV from Indiana. Another car with Minnesota plates.

[{"type":"text","text":"A couple of motorcyclists were there, too."}]

Ron Star and his riding companion, Nikki Knuckles, had been in South Dakota and were making their way west toward Reno, Nevada. Most places they'd encountered were charging around $4 a gallon, they said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"They knew Muddy Gap was going to be different."}]

Star said they look ahead for fuel stops because their motorcycles don't give them the option of simply driving until something cheaper appears.

One bike gets about 51 mpg, but its small tank gives it a range of about 80 miles. Typically, the riders begin looking for gasoline after 60 or 70 miles.

For Star, who frequently rides cross-country, that's part of traveling through places like Wyoming.

He said another gas station is usually within 50 or 60 miles, although he's encountered stretches approaching 80.

[{"type":"text","text":"In Nevada, he knows of a 100-mile stretch where he carries extra gas."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'We Get Some Angry Customers'"}]

Inside the station, Tavienna Lozier hears about it from motorists "all the time."

Lozier recently moved to Jeffrey City to be near her grandmother, Nancy Nuzum, who has managed the Muddy Gap station for about five years.

Nuzum now manages the operation from home, and Lozier came to help after her grandmother needed a crew to keep the station running.

"We get some angry customers," Lozier said. "We get some that know what to expect, especially being in the middle of nowhere."

She said the station gets its gasoline from Rawlins and they are charged heavily for it.

"They charge him a lot," she said of the station's owner, who lives in Florida.

The station did not provide its wholesale fuel price or delivery costs, so it's unclear how much of the $6 retail price is attributable to transportation, operating expenses or other costs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Going The Distance"}]

Running almost anything in Muddy Gap is different from a place like Casper.

Dozens of competing convenience stores aren't clustered around the next interchange. There isn't a large local population stopping for coffee on the way to work every morning.

[{"type":"text","text":"Instead, customers arrive from everywhere."}]

For travelers, the stop is a place to use the restroom, grab snacks or cigarettes, and pick up beer or wine before getting back on the road.

Lozier recalled recently serving travelers from Thailand whose son attends college in Idaho.

Truckers pull in, too. Some park behind the business when their driving hours run out, sleep and continue down the highway the next morning.

Summer brings recreational travelers and groups participating in pioneer treks through the historic trails country.

[{"type":"text","text":"Over the years, some travelers have literally left their marks."}]

Travelers passing through Muddy Gap have been leaving their names behind for years.

It is less a neighborhood gas station than a way station for people trying to get from one distant Wyoming place to another — a modern Independence Rock.

Lozier pointed out the names, hometowns, dates, drawings and messages scrawled across the ceiling and shelves of the store. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Wyoming Problem"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"That dependence on the next available pump is familiar to Long."}]

His job has taken him all over Wyoming, and he still spends a lot of time on the road.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"Every day I'm going somewhere,\" he said."}]

Long drives a diesel, so his prices aren't directly comparable with the $6 regular unleaded at Muddy Gap, but he's been watching the same geographic swings.

He said he filled up in Riverton at $5.09 a gallon for diesel, then noticed the price there had jumped to $5.25 the following day.

If he's traveling and encounters an unusually expensive station, Long said he'll keep going — provided the fuel gauge gives him that choice.

"If I'm traveling and I've got enough in the tank to make it somewhere else, I will," he said.

[{"type":"text","text":"That's the catch in Wyoming."}]

In Riverton, Long said, avoiding local prices could mean driving 24 miles to Lander or heading the other direction toward Shoshoni.

"You do because it's either that or you're driving 24 miles to Lander or going to Shoshoni the other way," he said of paying the local price.

[{"type":"text","text":"But paying $5.99 for a gallon is \"just insane,\" said Long. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"In A League Of Its Own"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Gasoline isn't cheap anywhere in Wyoming right now."}]

AAA's $4.236 statewide average Wednesday was up from $4.153 a week earlier and $3.877 a month ago. Diesel averaged $5.283.

Even within Wyoming, geography matters. AAA's county averages Wednesday ranged from about $3.87 in Goshen County to $4.72 in Teton County.

[{"type":"text","text":"That puts $6 well beyond even the expensive end of the county averages."}]

In fact, the regular unleaded at Muddy Gap was more expensive than Wyoming's statewide average for premium gasoline, $4.83, but with the next fuel stop over 40 miles away, travelers continue to pull up at the pumps. 

Bikers at muddy gap 2 8 12 26

<title>Zoinks! Gas Is $6 A Gallon In Muddy Gap — That's 42% Higher Than Wyoming Average | Cowboy State Daily</title>

If you need gas while traveling on Wyoming Highway 220 near Independence Rock, get ready to pay for it through the nose. Gas is selling for $6 a gallon — 42% higher than the state's average. "We get some angry customers," says manager Tavienna Lozier.

Zoinks! Gas Is $6 A Gallon In Muddy Gap — That's 42% Higher Than Wyoming Average

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

A 37-year-old Casper man faces potential prison time for allegedly driving a Polaris UTV side-by-side while intoxicated and causing serious injury to a passenger who fell off while sitting in the back on a cooler.

Michael Ray Watts is charged with driving under the influence with serious bodily injury after the incident Saturday evening in Alcova. A preliminary hearing on the charge is set for Aug. 27.

An arrest affidavit states that the victim as of Sunday was still on life support and had significant head injuries. Attempts to obtain an updated condition report Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Court records show Natrona County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the area of 24000 Lakeshore Drive about 8 p.m. Saturday for a report of a vehicle accident. They found a male on the ground bleeding from the face and head with significant injuries.

As two deputies administered first aid, they lost the victim’s pulse and began CPR.

“Soon after the CPR was administered the male regained consciousness,” the affidavit states. “Deputies continued to render aid until Natrona County fire personnel arrived and took over care of the patient.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Accelerated On Incline"}]

During an interview with Watts, he shared with a deputy that they was driving a 2021 Polaris RZR 1000 turbo when the victim came off the RZR. During the interview, the deputy could see that Watts eyes were bloodshot and glossy and he smelled of alcohol, the affidavit states.

Watts initially told the deputy that he two beers and a shot but later admitted to drinking two shots, four beers, and four or five Ranch Water cocktails.

Watts said he and two men and two women had been drinking at Alcova Lakeside Marina and just before 8 p.m. left with Watts driving the RZR. The victim and two women were sitting in the back on a cooler.

“Watts advised that he drove under the speed limit on Lakeshore Drive. When Watts turned into a trailer park … he stepped on the gas to go up an incline on the road,” the affidavit states. “Watts heard one of the females advise that (the victim) fell off.”

Watts told the deputy he stopped and got out to check on the man. Deputies arrived shortly after the incident.

Watts said one of the females told him the man slid off as he accelerated, but he did not see the man fall off.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Failed Field-Sobriety Test"}]

A field-sobriety test showed Watts could not maintain his balance, could not walk heel-to-toe, or walk a straight line. He also could not follow a direction to turn, swayed while trying to balance on one leg, hopped to balance, used his arms to balance and put his foot down — failing several field-sobriety tests.

Watts agreed to a chemical breath test at the Natrona County Detention Center at 10:16 p.m., two hours after the incident. He blew a .16% blood alcohol content, well above the legal limit of 0.08%.

The driving under the influence with serious bodily injury charge carries a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of not less than $2,000 or more than $5,000 or both.

Watts is currently free on a $5,000 cash or surety bond.

Alcova michael watts 8 12 26

<title>Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Casper man faces prison time after authorities say he drove a side-by-side while intoxicated and caused a passenger to fall off a cooler in the back. The passenger is on life-support after sustaining head injuries in the fall at Alcova Reservoir.

Casper Man Charged With Driving UTV Drunk; Passenger On Life Support After Fall

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

Greg Johnson

Courts

A Tinder date gone horribly wrong ended with a Newcastle man dead with a hollow-point round in his chest and a South Dakota man facing a second-degree murder charge — and vastly different stories from the couple who had just met for a hook-up.

The woman Drake Alexander Ingalls of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, had driven nearly 90 minutes to meet this past weekend told investigators that Ingalls “did not need to shoot that gun at all.”

Ingalls, however, says he shot the other man in defense of his Tinder date after the woman screamed for “help” several times, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Zack Miller.

The shooting happened a little before 5 a.m. Sunday, and Ingalls had his initial court appearance Tuesday, where a Weston County Circuit Court judge gave him a $250,000 cash-only bond and set an Aug. 19 preliminary hearing.

By the time Newcastle police responded to the home of the victim, identified in court documents as Jason Greene, he was lying face-down on the floor and obviously dead, wrote Miller.

An officer “entered the trailer home and located the victim … lying face-down on the floor between the hallway and living room with a large pool of blood underneath his chest,” the affidavit says. “Officers and emergency medical personnel confirmed Greene was deceased.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What She Said"}]

In separate interviews with the woman and Ingalls, both told investigators how they met on Tinder and had been talking for anywhere from a couple weeks (according to her) to a few months (according to him) before Ingalls drove to Newcastle on Saturday so they could meet up, the affidavit says.

They had a room at a local hotel and had been drinking for hours by the time the woman got a text from Greene calling her a “whore,” Miller wrote.

The woman then allegedly proceeded to claim Greene had mistreated her, but later told investigators that Greene had “never assaulted her and the two were not in any physical altercation,” the affidavit says.

Upset after getting the text, the woman asked Ingalls to take her to Greene’s place “so she could talk to him,” Miller wrote.

The woman “told Ingalls about the text message and that Greene had abused her in the past,” the affidavit says. “(She) told Ingalls that if he heard her yell for help to come and help her.”

Greene didn’t know they were coming to his residence, the document adds. Miller’s affidavit also doesn’t elaborate on how the woman and Greene knew each other.

The woman and Greene were in a “heated verbal argument” with her “yelling loudly,” which Ingalls reportedly heard, the affidavit says. So, he left his car outside the trailer and went to the woman.

The woman also told investigators that she didn’t actually see the shooting, “and adamantly stated Greene never assaulted her and the two were not in any physical altercation,” the affidavit says.

She continued to say that Ingalls “did not need to shoot that gun at all,” Miller wrote about her statement.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"What He Said"}]

That’s not how the confrontation went down, however, Ingalls said in his own interview with investigators, the affidavit says.

“Ingalls claimed he came around a shed and observed Greene struggling with (the woman) near the doorway threshold,” Miller wrote. “Ingalls described the struggle as Greene behind (the woman) and he had his arms hooked under her armpits and another hand on the back of her head or hair, and it appeared he was trying to pull (her) into his trailer.”

Ingalls said he tried to pull the door open, then pointed a handgun at Greene and demanded he let the woman go, according to his statement detailed in the affidavit.

“At which point, Ingalls said he fired his handgun,” Miller wrote. “Ingalls could only see Greene’s chest as (the woman) was in front of him and he believed he shot him right in the middle of the chest.”

That’s when Greene stumbled back into the trailer and fell onto the living room floor.

Ingalls had the gun because he had it in his car and grabbed it when he heard the woman yell for help, the affidavit says.

“Ingalls retrieved his 9 mm Glock 17 handgun from the center console of his car and chambered a hollow-point round into the handgun as he approached the side entrance of the trailer,” Miller wrote.

Ingalls and the woman then got back into his car and drove around the block before returning to the scene and the woman called 911.

If convicted of second-degree murder, Ingalls could get anywhere from 20 years ot life in prison, a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.

Newcastle highway sign Drake Alexander Ingalls 8 12 26

<title>Tinder Date Ends With Newcastle Man Shot Dead, S.D. Man Facing Murder Charge | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Tinder Date Ends With Newcastle Man Shot Dead, S.D. Man Facing Murder Charge

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

Andrew Rossi

This story was updated at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

A multi-vehicle accident between Cody and Yellowstone National Park involving multiple motorcycles on Wednesday morning resulted in one confirmed fatality and five serious injuries, the Wyoming Highway Patrol tells Cowboy State Daily.

WHP spokesman Aaron Brown said the multi-vehicle incident at Wapiti involved four motorcycles, a pickup truck, and a Wyoming Department of Transportation vehicle.

“What we know is we had one fatality,” Brown said. “One (victim) was LifeFlighted to a hospital in Billings, Montana, and the other three were taken to Cody Regional Health via ambulance. I don't know who was taken or transferred where, but they all had severe injuries."

Because the investigation into the accident is ongoing, Brown didn’t know what the contributing factors might have been. He could confirm that the driver of the WYDOT truck was not injured.

“The WYDOT vehicle looks to have been struck toward the end of the crash,” he said

WHIP will release the deceased victim’s name once next-of-kin is notified, Brown said.

As of 2:50 p.m., U.S. Highway 14/16/20 was cleared of debris and open to traffic in both directions.

At 9:38 a.m., WYDOT closed all lanes on the highway due to the crash. First responders were rushing to the scene, which an eyewitness says involved multiple people who appeared to be seriously injured.

According to exchanges on the Park County Public Safety-WyoLink radio scanner, first responders had received “a report of two fatalities.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Too Grisly"}]

Wapiti resident Jimmy Rush was heading toward Cody for work when he observed the scene of the incident. It happened sometime between 8 and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday near the Old Faithful RV Park, just outside Wapiti.

“When I passed by, it was still a very early stage of the accident,” he said. “There were no first responders on the scene. There were at least four to five motorcycles and debris everywhere. I counted at least three bodies that I could see lying on the ground, not moving, with more down in ditches."

Rush said the victims were being attended to “by all of the gracious people of Wyoming,” who immediately pulled over and jumped out of vehicles to help.

A Silver Ford pickup truck, either an F-250 or F-350, had been “ejected out into a field,” according to Rush. From what he could see, it appeared to have "impacted something.”

“I immediately called (Park County Dispatch) and said, ‘You guys got to send everybody. There’s multiple bodies and multiple injuries, and one ambulance ain't going to get it done.’”

As Rush continued into Cody, he saw five Park County Sheriff’s deputies, multiple fire trucks, a Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper, and two ambulances heading to the scene.

An accident involving multiple motorcycles and a WYDOT truck has resulted in at least one fatality and serious injuries on U.S. Highway 14-16-20 near Cody. "I counted at least three bodies that I could see lying on the ground, not moving," one witness said.

Daily Cartoon 2: Saturday, April 4, 2026

More in Daily Cartoon

Daily Cartoon 2: Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Daily Cartoon 1: Wednesday, August 12, 2026

Daily Cartoon 2: Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Daily Cartoon 1: Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Most read