It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming for Thursday, April 16th. I’m Mac Watson.
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The Wyoming Army National Guard says someone is targeting military aircraft with lasers at its Camp Guernsey training center. Cowboy State Daily’s Greg Johnson reports that not only is it dangerous for pilots, it can get whoever’s doing it prison time.
“The Guard training facility out of camp Guernsey is reporting that someone, or someones, they don't know yet, has been targeting their military aircraft with lasers. The military says it can actually, you know, it can blind pilots. It can really be dangerous for people flying and while it might seem fun to, you know, just stand on the ground and point lasers it's a serious thing. It's a federal charge. What these lasers do is they can temporarily blind or they can disorient pilots.”
According to the Guard, two incidents have been reported in the Camp Guernsey area since January, and three since March 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Bar Nunn woman and longtime employee of Special Olympics Wyoming was arrested on suspicion of embezzling more than $200,000 from the organization. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that Casper police say it took months to unravel a scheme that involved “sophisticated methods.”
“57-year-old Christine Rodriguez is facing felony theft and forgery charges after investigators caught her stealing up to $206,000 this was a months’ long investigation, according to allegations, she's been misallocating funds for several years. Investigators say that she used her role of handling financial records and donations to deposit unauthorized checks, forged approvals and withdrawals estimated around $206,000. Casper police say they are working with the IRS and that Special Olympics Wyoming is fully cooperating. Rodriguez has her initial appearance on Thursday at the Townsend Justice Center in Casper.”
Investigators say the case began in June 2025 after Special Olympics Wyoming reported financial irregularities following an internal review conducted after Rodriguez’s employment ended earlier that year.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Wyoming reporter was in a Wheatland courtroom again Wednesday to face 10 felony forgery charges. Cowboy State Daily’s Dale Killingbeck reports that’s on top of 10 other felonies she's been charged with for allegedly submitting forged documents and lying under oath while opposing a wind farm.
“April Marie Morganroth, also known as Marie Hamilton, was in court for a very short time today in Wheatland circuit court, and that was to hear to face initial charges, 10 felonies, five of them forge recharges, five of them possession of forged documents, charges, and that's all related to an attempt, according to court documents, that she and her husband made, to acquire a property, a home, and property that using documents that did not come from the alleged agencies, she said they came from. Three documents were from the USDA, and two documents were from supposed contractors who had performed work on the house they were trying to buy.”
Judge Jacqueline Brown didn’t schedule a preliminary hearing on the charges against Morganroth, but did say she would be back in court within 20 days.
Read the full story HERE
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An Oregon man accused of violating Yellowstone National Park’s fishing restrictions and a road closure is challenging the park’s rules as unconstitutional overreach. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that if Tate Pulliam wins, it could upend the park’s ability to enforce many of its rules.
“Tate Pulliam is arguing through his council, Pacific Legal Foundation, these rules aren't properly tethered. The Constitution says here's a specific way that you're going to appoint officers that have authority, and it says lawmaking power is vested in Congress. And now there's been a body of case law since then, basically saying agencies can, under certain circumstances, make rules to carry out the laws that Congress has made. So here we are seeing it again in the case of a man accused of fishing and driving improperly in Yellowstone National Park in December.”
Tate Pulliam filed a motion to dismiss his citations on Monday in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming, asking the park’s Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick to dismiss three citations he faces as government overreach.
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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A Yellowstone wolf showed its more playful side Monday, somehow removing and carrying off a sign put up warning tourists about hungry grizzly bears. Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that the researcher who captured video of the wolf says clearly the pup had better things to do with it.
“Taylor Rabe, who's a biologist who's been studying wolves in yellow a biologist who's been studying wolves in Yellowstone for 13 winters, saw a young Wolf with the Junction Butte pack run across the road with a large stick in its mouth, and that stick turned out to be a sign warning people, warning tortoise to avoid this particular area because there were Grizzlies feeding on carcasses there. So this wolf stole a sign that was intended to protect people from Grizzlies, and it seemed just to treat it like a big stick like any dog would see a stick that size and get super excited about it.”
Ultimately, the wolf dropped his toy and wandered off with the rest of the pack.
Read the full story HERE.
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First-generation Ford Broncos are all the rage with collectors, easily fetching $50,000 or more. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that a 1971 Ford Bronco Sport sold at a Nebraska auction Tuesday for $56,000, which a Wyoming vintage Bronco fanatic says was a bargain.
“I also talked to Aaron Turpin, who's an automotive writer, and he says it's just, right now it's us, as in Gen Xers. He said those are the types of vehicles that Gen X is going for. We Gen Xers are going for these old Ford Broncos, or the old Chevy Blazers, the old square body pickup from the 60s and 70s. Because that's what, you know, we got attached to as kids.”
Bronco fanatic Ed Schreiner of Torrington tells Cowboy State Daily that
prices for vintage Broncos have gotten “softer” over the past few years, but they’re still highly sought-after.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Gillette woman charged with plotting to have her husband kill her brother is back in jail in Washington state after an off-duty police officer saw her drinking at a Gillette bar. Cowboy State Daily’s Kolby Fedore reports that her husband got 39 years in prison last month for stabbing the other man.
“65-year-old Phyllis Krogman was at a horse palace in Gillette, when an off duty officer spotted her drinking in the back of a casino. Krogman was violating terms of her probation. She was not supposed to be drinking after being charged last summer with conspiracy to commit attempted murder in the first degree. Now, this is connected to a stabbing that happened in July of 2025 in Washington, when her husband stabbed her brother in the head multiple times. Krogman now faces up to life in prison. She's expected to make an appearance next week in a Washington courtroom for a pre trial.”
65-year-old Phyllis Krogman is charged with conspiracy to commit attempted first-degree murder in connection with the July 2025 stabbing of her brother — by her husband — in Washington state. The charge carries a possible sentence of up to life in prison. Her husband, Thomas Krogman, was sentenced March 16 to 39 years in prison for attempting to kill his brother-in-law.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Cheyenne-area man says he’s “not messing around anymore,” declaring war on the raccoons that keep killing his chickens. Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that Kevin Gunter says spent $1,300 building an impenetrable “chicken fortress” to protect his flock.
“He built what he called a chicken fortress, or he actually calls it the henitentiary. It's like a fortress for chickens. He even went so far as to around the perimeters, about a foot deep. He buried really heavy duty, like wire cloth. He said, think of something like you put on your screen door, but like, way, way heavier duty. So he's got that all the way down, you know, 12 inches down and about a foot out. So even if they try to dig, they can't get to it. So he's hoping this will keep the chicken fortress, or the henitentiary will keep his chickens alive.”
Gunter, a Navy veteran, moved to Cheyenne about a decade ago. He started raising backyard chickens when he still lived in the city limits.
Read the full story HERE.
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And that’s today’s news. 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. Thanks for watching - I’m Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.
