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

<title>Today In Game Shows: Tuesday, May 5, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Today In Game Shows: Tuesday, May 5, 2026

 If you're going to go on Wheel of Fortune, this is the only way to do it......

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Around Wyoming

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the Hoback River Homestead — a legacy Wyoming ranch that brokers say has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River — has hit the market.

The 2,062-acre ranch located just south of Bondurant doesn’t boast a $20 million mansion, but is still listing as one of Wyoming’s most expensive properties on the market today at $59.5 million. 

That’s because it’s one of the rarest opportunities Hall and Hall real estate broker Pete Widener says he’s ever seen.

Widener, who specializes in high-end ranch properties, says the ranch’s size and its intact nature — including the original homestead — make it almost impossible to compare to anything else on the market. The ranch’s size is particularly notable given its proximity to heavily carved-up valleys near Jackson Hole. 

“If you took a ruler and made a line and had a radius around Jackson Hole and you did 100 miles out, this would probably be the largest ranch without encumbrances on it,” he said. “It’s probably one of the larger ranches in existence without easements on it — no encumbrances — and it’s certainly the only one I know of that’s never been sold since homesteading.”

The ranch’s marquee feature is its live water. The 2-mile stretch of the Hoback River means private access to a productive cutthroat trout fishery, all surrounded on three sides by mountains and federally managed land. 

“Every corner you go around that looks like the fish will be in it — they’re in it,” Widener said. “They’re nice-size cutthroat rising to dry flies … It’s just really fun, visual fishing, with the river and the mountains in the background.”

The Hoback isn’t the only live water on the ranch, either. Fisherman’s Creek provides important irrigation diversions that support large meadows across the valley floor, which in turn supports 45 to 100 livestock.

Today the ranch runs about 45 horses for one of the owners. In earlier times, from 80 to 150 cattle grazed there. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Wildlife And Wilderness"}]

The ranch lies in a major elk migration corner, and animals have been visible on most of Widener’s visits, from calving cows to bugling bulls in the fall. 

Widener has also seen sage-grouse and sandhill cranes. Grizzly bears and wolves use the property and the surrounding national forest.

The outdoor recreation opportunities are “massive,” Widener said. They range from off-roading, hiking, mountain biking and swimming in freshwater springs to horseback riding. 

There’s also a spot where previous owners maintained a private airstrip. The old windsock is still there, fluttering in the valley breeze.

The homestead’s historic bones are still visible, Widener said. That includes the original homestead and its associated cabins. Some of those cabins still have spent cartridge casings hammered into the walls after they were used to carve the occupants’ initials. 

Widener said the family selling the ranch has chosen not to be identified, but said they are well-known locally and have decided to go in a different direction after the passing of the family’s patriarch a few years ago. 

That history includes a lightning-struck tree near the entrance.

“It looks like a limber pine, but it could be a ponderosa,” Widener said. “It’s really big and old.”

The lightning bolt came straight down, striking the tree in the 1940s, leaving it half-dead. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A 'Show Ranch' Opportunity"}]

In an era when many legacy ranches are getting chopped into smaller luxury parcels, Widener said he sees Hoback River Homestead as a “show ranch” opportunity — the kind that doesn’t come around in every generation.

Other big ranches in the region, such as the Little Jenny, which sold 8 to 10 years ago, contend with public roads slicing through their heart. The Hoback River Homestead does not have that. It sits behind a locked gate on one side, and is surrounded by national forests on the other three sides.

Widener remembers thinking when he first visited how remote the ranch felt. 

“I remember looking around thinking, ‘Man, there’s nobody here,’” he said. “We see this ranch as far more valuable due to its privacy.”

The ranch sits halfway between Jackson and Pinedale, however, and is a short drive from either community, making it convenient for last-minute dinner decisions like sushi in Jackson or steak in Pinedale.

“This is a rare deal, and it would be a shame to see someone not continue on with keeping it as a large parcel — if not making it larger,” he said. “Very few landowners are making ranches larger. A lot of them are getting split up. I’d certainly like to never see this one get split up.”

Hoback 005 7 23 26

<title>2,000-Acre Wyoming Homestead On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For the first time since it was homesteaded 138 years ago, the 2,000-acre Hoback River Homestead is on the market. The legacy Wyoming ranch has the largest privately owned stretch of the Hoback River and is listed at $59.5 million.

2,000-Acre Wyoming Homestead On Market For First Time Ever At $59.5 Million

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

UPDATE 7:40 p.m.: Albany County Emergency Management reports that the fire is 90% contained and that all evacuation orders have been lifted. Also, "900 feet of handline was constructed today (Thursday) and the fire received substantial rain late this afternoon," the agency reported.

Elder Louis and Sister Debra Fico, a Casper couple serving as missionaries at Batel Ranch west of Tie Siding, had just finished preparing the church camp for another week of teenage campers when they saw lightning crack across the sky.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We saw the flash,\" Louis said."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Almost instantly, smoke began rising from the forest."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The couple called 911, realizing a wildfire had likely ignited nearby."}]

Within minutes, the peaceful mountain retreat shifted into emergency mode.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's time to get out,\" Louis remembered thinking."}]

As camp leaders hurried teenagers into vehicles and drove away from the ranch, they looked back toward the mountains.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"We saw the mountain burning,\" he said."}]

The blaze, now known as the Fish Creek Fire, prompted evacuations Tuesday and sent firefighters racing into the Medicine Bow National Forest.

As of 11:30 a.m. Thursday, the Albany County Sheriff's Office reported the fire was 50% contained with an estimated size of just over 16 acres.

Batel Ranch remained under a GO (Evacuate Now) order, while all other previously evacuated areas were in SET status, meaning residents should remain prepared to leave if conditions worsen.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'A Tinderbox' "}]

Just across the area at Fish Creek Ranch, Bill Fuller Jr. witnessed the same unfolding emergency.

[{"type":"text","text":"A homeowner called Fuller after hearing a loud crack."}]

"She said, 'I think our tree got struck by lightning,'" Fuller recalled.

The homeowner had looked toward the northwest corner of the roughly 4,600-acre ranch and noticed what he described as a small trickle of smoke.

[{"type":"text","text":"Fuller and the ranch manager drove to investigate."}]

"Within minutes that tree was up in flames," he said. "By the time I got there it was obvious it was going to be big."

[{"type":"text","text":"Fire crews were already arriving as the flames began spreading."}]

Fish Creek Ranch includes 13 homeowner partners and serves as a wildlife preserve. Fortunately, Fuller said, the apparent ignition point was on the ranch's northwest corner, meaning the fire would have had to cross multiple ridges before reaching homes.

[{"type":"text","text":"Still, the danger was obvious."}]

"It could happen," Fuller said. "Right now it's a tinderbox. It's as dry as it's ever been."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Time To Pack "}]

Batel Ranch hosts spiritual retreats for young women, blending scripture study with outdoor adventure.

Campers spend their days reading scripture, participating in faith lessons, playing games and learning wilderness skills, including building shelters from natural materials gathered in the forest and weaving rope from reeds collected around a nearby pond.

About 20 girls, ages 16 and 17, most from the Denver area, were attending camp when the fire broke out. Five adult leaders were also there.

[{"type":"text","text":"Another 80 girls were scheduled to arrive Wednesday."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"They never did."}]

The Ficos had spent days helping prepare the camp. Cabins were ready. Activities had been organized. Everything was in place for the next group of campers.

[{"type":"text","text":"Then the evacuation order came."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"\"There wasn't time to pack things up,\" Debra said."}]

Camp leaders focused solely on getting everyone safely off the mountain, leaving the camp almost exactly as it had been prepared.

Despite the urgency, every camper and leader evacuated safely, and no injuries were reported.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ranchers Stay To Help"}]

While some residents left immediately, Fuller said others stayed as long as it was safe to do so.

[{"type":"text","text":"They had horses, equipment and neighbors to look after."}]

"We basically told them, 'We're not leaving,'" Fuller said. "If you know ranchers, you know we're gonna stay until we can't stay."

The ranch had 23 horses on the property, and neighboring ranchers quickly began checking whether livestock needed to be moved.

Homeowners worked together to make sure families and animals were safe while firefighters battled the growing blaze.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"It's Wyoming,\" Fuller said. \"That's how it is.\""}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Homeowners Pulled Together"}]

The following day, Louis and Debra returned to Batel Ranch to assess the damage.

[{"type":"text","text":"To their relief, the camp was still standing."}]

No buildings had been destroyed, and they found no visible damage from flames or smoke.

For Fuller, the outcome reflected the work of firefighters and the community that rallied around them.

"Our main goal is to express our unbelievable appreciation for the men and women who came and got it out and stayed all night," he said.

Firefighters remained on scene overnight watching for flare-ups after containing the blaze.

Fuller also praised the volunteers, sheriff's deputies, emergency responders and neighboring ranchers who worked together throughout the incident.

"It was a great community," he said. "All the homeowners pulled together to make sure neighbors were safe and horses were safe. Ranchers in the area all came together to see if people needed help moving livestock."

As firefighters continue working to fully contain the Fish Creek Fire, officials are asking the public to avoid the area so emergency crews can safely continue their work.

Tie siding fire 7 23 26

<title>20 Teenage Campers Evacuated As Fish Creek Fire Explodes; Ranchers Won't Leave | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Moments after lightning struck, Casper missionaries watched the Fish Creek Fire explode to life and rushed 20 teen campers to safety. Meanwhile, residents stayed behind to look after neighbors and horses. "It's Wyoming. That's how it is," one said.

20 Teenage Campers Evacuated As Fish Creek Fire Explodes; Ranchers Won't Leave

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

Greg Johnson

Wyoming Life

RAWLINS — Six weeks ago, Carbon County Sheriff’s Sgt. Zach Burns was fighting for his life in the dirt parking lot of a Baggs apartment building after 

 from a gunman who later died in a shootout with law enforcement.

Wednesday, he was discharged from a Colorado hospital and got a hero’s welcome as he was escorted roughly 230 miles home by a long procession of law enforcement representing agencies across two states.

 streets through downtown Rawlins were lined with pockets of people who paused their workdays to wave and yell as Burns was driven by with a loud chorus of sirens following.

“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” said local resident Deanna Deffenbaugh about the turnout. “We take care of our own around here.

“Anytime an officer has gotten hurt in the line of duty — even his family — we get the community involved to step up and help take care of them.”

Deffenbaugh said she doesn’t know the Burns family personally, “but that doesn’t matter. If they’re willing to put their lives at risk for us, we need to take care of them.”

Maybe Deffenbaugh doesn’t know Burns, his wife and two young children, but the folks at the Carbon County Courthouse do. He’s their courtroom bailiff, said Jo Rieger, who had staked out a small patch of shade along 3

“Woo-hoo. He’s coming home!” she shouted. “This is cool and very inspiring. He deserves it. He deserves the biggest hero’s welcome ever.”

For Micah Johnson, who also works with Burns at the courthouse, Wednesday was 

, when Burns took bullets in the neck, arm and hip.

“You fear the worst when you first hear about that, you know?” he said. “I think a lot of us were just waiting to hear any kind of piece of news, right? Then I saw the post that he’s coming home today.”

He was referring to a Facebook post Sheriff Alex Bakken made earlier Wednesday telling people that Burns had been discharged from a Colorado hospital and was on his way home.

At 3:31 p.m., the small groups stationed at street corners and in front of the Carbon Building on the corner of 3

 and Pine streets began to cheer as they heard the sirens blaring louder, along with a medical helicopter circling the procession.

“There he is. I see him,” said a woman in the crowd as a Carbon County Sheriff’s Office truck slowly passed.

Sergeant Burns was sitting in the passenger side with the window rolled down and enthusiastically waving to those who gathered for him.

His beaming smile got just a little bit bigger when he saw a giant red, white and blue “Welcome Home Zach” banner.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘We’re All Family’"}]

About an hour earlier, Valeta Rogabaugh was anxious for the procession to get to Rawlins.

The longtime dispatch supervisor for the Rawlins Police Department walked into the bullpen at the department with tears in her eyes.

She had just heard a county dispatch bulletin that Burns and the procession had “come home” and had just passed into Carbon County on westbound Interstate 80.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said when Chief Michael Ward asked how she was holding up. “It’s just emotional. They even talked to (Burns’ wife) and told her welcome home too.”

Although Burns works for the county sheriff’s office, there are deep connections with the Rawlins PD and other agencies, she said.

“We’re all a team and we’re all family,” Rogabaugh said, adding that Burns’ wife also is a dispatcher for the sheriff’s office.

There are no lines between agencies, said Rawlins Police Sgt. Thom Gamblin, adding that he’s good friends with Burns.

“This isn’t just a guy in uniform coming home, he’s a guy who works and lives here. I’m saying that this is a community, this is home, and it isn’t just his workplace,” Gamblin said.

“This isn’t just his work office, it’s people who love him,” he continued. “These are the people who care for him. It’s the people he meets every day when he serves.”

There’s a reason close to 100 officers from multiple jurisdictions around Wyoming and Colorado responded to Baggs that afternoon when the bulletin went out about an officer down and a gunman was on the run, Gamblin said.

“This is personal,” he said. “He did his job and nearly lost his life over it. He didn’t — thankfully — and now he’s back here where we can protect him.”

Without the quick action of a pair of Baggs residents who 

, he likely would have died, said Chief Ward. Wednesday’s procession was for them as well.

[{"type":"text","text":"“They’re heroes, too,” he told Cowboy State Daily."}]

“It’s a miracle that he’s still with us,” Ward added. “All of us are grateful for that, every minute of every day. His daughter still has a father. His wife still has a husband. He’s still with all of us.

“We could not be more relieved, grateful and excited he’s coming home today.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Stopped ‘Large-Scale Act’"}]

The scope of the potential carnage Burns may have prevented unfolded in the days following, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken has said.

That includes Burns interrupting the suspect carrying out what appeared to be a devastating plan, the sheriff said

The man had a stockpile of semiautomatic weapon ammunition in his Baggs apartment and was likely planning a "large-scale act," Bakken reported June 17.

Burns was in the area June 8 when dispatchers relayed information about a suspect in an active shooting incident. Burns located the suspect driving in town and conducted a traffic stop at his apartment, the CCSO has reported.

“Upon coming to a stop, the suspect immediately exited his vehicle and opened fire on Sergeant Burns with a semiautomatic rifle,” Bakken said in the report.

The suspect — who so far has not been publicly identified — then 

The suspect tried to start his apartment complex on fire with numerous propane tanks inside, then sped away in his car again, according to the CCSO.

He was eventually killed in a shootout with law enforcement after crashing his car north of town off state Highway 789.

“Thanks to his bravery, (Burns) saved the lives of countless first responders and community members,” Bakken says in the report. “The gunman had stockpiled hundreds of AR-15 magazines in his apartment and, by all appearances, had been prepared to initiate a large-scale act of violence.”

At the Hilltop Conoco station along Cedar Avenue, Paige Garwood and Heather Stalinski were working Wednesday afternoon, handling a steady stream of locals and visitors driving through just off I-80.

They both said they were excited to learn that the long procession of emergency responders for Burns would go past their station.

Neither knows Burns or his family, but both said that Rawlins is a small town, and when one person is in trouble, everyone knows and responds.

“I’ve been reading about him and heard what happened to him. He’s a hero,” said Stalinski. “That he’s coming home is really good, and great for his family, his wife.

“I think he was really brave for what he did. He’s a brave, brave man. I think she should get a lot of (accolades). Would I call him a hero? Absolutely.”

Garwood said that Burns getting out of the hospital and getting back to Rawlins is a great boost for the whole town.

“I think it’s great that he’s coming home, because he almost died because of that idiot,” she said. “He deserves it.”

For Chief Ward and other law enforcement officers, the risk is always there, he said. While running toward danger while others run from it is what they sign up for, the hope is that they won’t have to.

“He took an oath to protect our community, and he almost gave his life doing so,” Ward said about Burns. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there.”

Sgt Burns Home 1

<title>Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sgt. Zach Burns — shot three times by a gunman in Baggs last month — got a hero’s welcome in Rawlins after a 230-mile escort from a Colorado hospital Wednesday. “On the scale of heroism, that’s pretty far up there,” said the Rawlins police chief.

Hero’s Welcome In Rawlins: Deputy Nearly Killed In Baggs Shootout Comes Home

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

After vocal Green River residents shut down the city’s attempt to secure grant funding for a license plate reader camera project, a police sergeant speaking on his own behalf Tuesday urged the council to reconsider.

Green River Mayor Pete Rust and Councilman Gary Killpack had speculated at a July 7 meeting that the group opposing the cameras drowned out a silent, alternate movement in their favor.

 against the $112,000 federal grant for the project, which had been slated for putting Motorola license plate reader (LPR) surveillance cameras at town entrances.

Green River Police Sgt. Brad Dodson, who said he was speaking for himself and not the department, brought that alternate view to the council’s regular Tuesday meeting.

“While I recognize that decision, I was a little disappointed you didn’t listen to the chief a little bit more and maybe take more time to reevaluate that decision,” Dodson said during the public comment section.

 the grant was characterized as an anti-terrorism effort, but he said the cameras would also be a tool in helping find missing and vulnerable people, as well as answering other real-time investigations.

Dodson told the council the department recently responded to a stolen vehicle incident, and was able to use LPRs from other areas.

In another stolen- vehicle attempt last week, “a license plate reader would have been great to have” to track down the vehicle, he said.

“This is something people ask, something people maybe even expect us to have,” Dodson said.

He urged the council to consider the camera project if it surfaces again, and said he’s happy to offer any information people seek.

“I’m happy to dispel some fear, some concerns, or maybe just give another side of the story,” Dodson said. “Especially from someone who’s on, essentially, the front line trying to solve these crimes for the citizens of this community essentially every day.”

Killpack delivered comments toward the end of the meeting to rebut what he described as an email from a Laramie resident on the topic, calling him dumb and dishonest.

He said he’d take the dumb critique but the “dishonest” claim is slander and “unacceptable.”

The people who opposed LPRs two weeks ago, said Killpack, “they don’t understand what happened.”

Killpack said if any of those people go to Salt Lake City, “they’ve been picked up” by the camera and their plates logged into the system.

Salt Lake City has LPRs. It also paused a plan to expand its system in December over privacy concerns, 

Killpack said the people in the audience two weeks ago also didn’t understand the council’s nay votes killed the grant, though not necessarily some later decision to raise cameras.

Marshall Burt, a former, and first, Libertarian state lawmaker for Wyoming bristled at that in a Wednesday interview with Cowboy State Daily.

[{"type":"text","text":"He said Killpack was “blaming people for being stupid and confused.”"}]

“Now I’m going to have to wait for the next city council meeting, show up and argue again,” said Burt, who rallied people via social media ahead of the July 7 meeting.

Dennis Laughlin, vice-chair of the Libertarian Party and a business owner in Green River, also protested at the July 7 meeting.

“Yeah I would say Killpack doesn’t understand what the people of Green River obviously want,” Laughlin said.

Laughlin said he had a qualm with the federal funding, and it’s wrong for people to believe that’s free money. But most LPR opponents were against the installation of the cameras alone, and lobbied against the grant as a means to prevent that, he said.

“People are seeing this constant encroachment on their liberties. It’s like being pecked to death by a duck, and one peck doesn’t hurt – but eventually you die,” Laughlin said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Laughlin said he’s glad Killpack is not running for council again."}]

Green river license plate reader 7 7 26

<title>Green River Police Sergeant Urges Reconsideration Of License Plate Cameras | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A police sergeant urged the Green River City Council Tuesday to reconsider license plate reader cameras, two weeks after vocal residents blocked the project. He said they are a valuable tool in helping find missing and vulnerable people.

Green River Police Sergeant Urges Reconsideration Of License Plate Cameras

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

Andrew Rossi

Outdoors

Two tourists were seen getting dangerously and illegally close to Grand Prismatic Spring on Sunday in Yellowstone National Park, enraging hundreds of spectators and millions of internet onlookers.

Tanya Saueressig of Livingston, Montana, was visiting Yellowstone with a friend when she witnessed the incident. She was standing on the Grand Prismatic boardwalk around 7 p.m. during what was otherwise a pleasant evening.

“It was a really nice crowd,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “People on the boardwalk were being lovely, giving each other space, and being quiet. It was a really nice experience.”

Saueressig was getting her final look of the evening when she saw something moving across the expansive microbial mats toward Grand Prismatic.

“I stopped in my tracks and was like, ‘Is that people? That can't be people. Nobody's that dumb,’” she said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"After all, temperatures in the spring run from 145 - 188 degrees. Deadly."}]

Two tourists got dangerously and illegally close to Grand Prismatic Spring on Sunday in Yellowstone. Montana resident Tanya Saueressig, who filmed them taking selfies right next to the scalding water, said she "was so furious" she had tears in her eyes.

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