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[{"type":"text","text":"That de-escalated quickly, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman....."}]

Inman 6 9 26

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

<title>Steve Inman: Tuesday, June 9, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

That de-escalated quickly, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman.....

Steve Inman: Tuesday, June 9, 2026

 That de-escalated quickly, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman.....

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

The Powder River at Arvada in Sheridan County has essentially stopped flowing for nearly a month, encapsulating severe drought conditions persisting across the West.

The river’s flow levels there have been sitting at zero to near-zero cubic feet per second (cfs) since mid-July, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) communications specialist Cheryl Miller told Cowboy State Daily.

When the river hits 0 cfs, “there could be a little pool there, but it is not moving," Miller said. "There is no water going downstream from there.” 

The Powder River's main steam flows for 375 miles from the Bighorn Mountains into the Yellowstone River near Terry, Montana. It is susceptible to wild fluctuations because it is one of the last free-flowing prairie river systems in the country.

During a typical year, the Powder at Arvada is flowing at 135 cfs, Miller said. 

[{"type":"text","text":"On June 16, it was at 17.5 cfs."}]

When the river reaches zero cubic feet per second, native fish such as sauger, channel catfish and sturgeon chub have evolved to survive in deeper pools.

“This is not unheard of for that site," Miller said of zero cfs, "but it is uncommon.” 

Records dating to 1930 indicate the Powder River has hit a standstill at Arvada about a dozen times, though there are no records for length of time at zero flow. The Powder also reached 100,000 cubic feet per second in 1923.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Why So Low?"}]

Unusually light snowpack coupled with a relative lack of rain during the spring and summer have contributed to the scarcity of water this summer, Miller said. Irrigation has also taken water from its tributaries, 

fishing guide Gene Pruett told Cowboy State Daily.

Dry ground along the upper stretches can absorb some of the river’s runoff.

The main Powder River’s tributaries include the North, Middle and South forks, which are still flowing.

The Middle Fork is typically fishable until late June or early July, when the water becomes too warm for responsible angling, said Pruett, owner of the Thermopolis-based Wyoming Trout Angler fishing guide service.

He guides anglers on the North Fork in Outlaw Canyon above Kaycee.

Wyoming State Engineer Brandon Gebhart recently told the Legislature’s Select Water Committee that this is one of the 

“Over 83% of the state is in severe or extreme drought,” he said. "Luckily, no parts of the state are under exceptional drought, as of right now.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Time To Stop Fishing"}]

Flows along the upstream forks of the Powder River is “generally low,” said Mike Cassidy, fishing guide with Rock Creek Anglers, based out of Saddlestring in Johnson County.

It is probably weakest on the South Fork, he told Cowboy State Daily.

“We shut down our fishing on the Middle Fork because of high water temperatures,” he said.

Stretches of the North Fork on private property remain “fishable” because cold water from tributary springs has kept water temperatures lower, he said.

As a general rule, it’s best to stop even catch-and-release trout fishing once the water temperature hits 68 to 70 degrees because of stress to the fish, Pruett said.

In addition to shutting down his operations on the Middle Fork, Pruett said he’s limited trips to early mornings only on other rivers because of rising water temperatures.

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department hasn’t mandated catch-and-release fishing shutdowns but is asking anglers and guides to suspend their fishing on numerous waters.

On the Bighorn, the Green, the Salt, the Snake, and the New Fork rivers, there are voluntary closure signs everywhere,” Pruett said.

“I think it’s the guides’ and the anglers’ responsibility to preserve the resource” and refrain from catch-and-release fishing when the water is too hot, he said.

As for the Powder, it was still near zero cubic feet per second at Locate, Montana, but picked up some water by the time it reaches Moorhead, where the flow was 10-12 cubic feet per second Thursday. 

Arvada 8 13 26

<title>Under Severe Drought Conditions, Wyoming’s Powder River Has Completely Stopped Flowing | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Powder River in Sheridan County has completely stopped flowing for nearly a month due to severe drought conditions and irrigation. During a typical year, the Powder at Arvada is flowing at 135 cubic feet per second, now it's at zero cubic feet per second.

Under Severe Drought Conditions, Wyoming’s Powder River Has Completely Stopped Flowing

Wildlife

Tourists might like the idea of watching Yellowstone National Park’s top two predators locked in a bloody battle royale, but when it comes down to it grizzlies and wolves would rather work things out. 

That was evident when a young wolf and a grizzly reached what a witness described as a “gentleman’s agreement” over a bison carcass in the Yellowstone River recently, wildlife photographer Marcela Herdova told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday. 

About the worst it got was the bear giving the wolf a grumpy “side eye,” said Herdova, who was among numerous visitors who saw the drama in Yellowstone's Hayden Valley. 

The grizzly “eventually made one swipe with a paw but didn’t seem to have any intent of actually slashing the wolf,” she said. 

Retired Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist Mark Bruscino told Cowboy State Daily that wolves and grizzlies generally get along better than people might think.

“These kinds of interactions probably happen very frequently,” he said. 

Biologist Doug Smith, who led the Yellowstone wolf program for nearly three decades, said wolves and bears have adapted to each other. 

"This is a common interaction. They both respect each other. The bear us stronger, the wolf is quicker. Hence neither want to do anything dramatic,” Smith said. “They (wolves) just go slow, watch the other and see what they can get. If the bear wants to control you carcass it can, but the wolf can nimbly dart in when opportunity arises.” 

The grizzly apparently was a large, older bear and seemed confident in laying claim to the carcass, Herdova said. 

The bear at one point dug a bed next to it and went to sleep, apparently completely confident it wouldn’t be bothered. 

Then two young wolves, from the Wapiti pack, approached. 

The bolder of the two walked up the grizzly and, for a while, it appeared there might be trouble, Herdova said. 

“We watched it unfold, but there was no direct conflict,” she said. “This went on for a long time, the way they were just dancing around each other.”  

Eventually, the wolf capitulated and sat nearby. The grizzly went back to feasting off the carcass, she said. 

The encounter was ended not by the animals but by an irresponsible human, Herdova added. 

“Somebody flew a drone over the grizzly and ran it off,” she said. 

It’s illegal to fly drones in Yellowstone. In June 2025, a tourist was caught and 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Avoiding Fights"}]

After the grizzly left, the wolves moved in to eat from the carcass, Herdova said. 

Next in line were eagles and ravens, which took over after the wolves left, she added. 

Animals can usually work out a pecking order without coming to blows, Bruscino said. 

“I think animal behaviorists would say animals almost always prefer to work out dominance through body language, vocalizations, non-contact aggression, or a combination of those. Fighting can have serious consequences, injury or death, for the participants,” he said. 

After viewing a video clip that Herdova took of the encounter between the bear and the wolf, he said it was a prime example of wildlife settling things without violence. 

“I think that bear is communicating that he doesn't want to fight but he doesn't want to give up the carcass during that short moment that is filmed,” he said. 

‘One Of The Greatest Things I’ve Ever Seen’

Herdova said watching the wolf and bear part ways peacefully was “one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in Yellowstone.”

“They’re a lot smarter than we give them credit for. They know that conflict is costly,” she said.

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<title>Wolf-Grizzly Drama Over Carcass Shows Yellowstone Visitors How Predators Coexist | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A grizzly and wolf initially had a tense standoff over a bison carcass in Yellowstone, but opted to resolve it peacefully. The photographer who filmed the interaction said they're smarter than people think. "They know that conflict is costly," she said.

Wolf-Grizzly Drama Over Carcass Shows Yellowstone Visitors How Predators Coexist

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

A former office manager for two Goshen County businesses is facing eight felony forgery charges after state investigators allege he siphoned nearly $700,000 from the companies over a four-year period.

Logan Patrick Reifschneider, 31, was arrested by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Wednesday night. Reifschneider, already on probation for grand theft involving a Wyoming credit union, faces up to 10 years in prison for each felony count.

A probable-cause affidavit written by DCI Special Agent Jon Briggs says Reifschneider worked for Zell Heating & Cooling and Big Wood Tree Service from June 2020 until about October 2024.

Briggs wrote that money moved out of the businesses in a variety of ways — through payroll, customer payments, checks and transfers, with some payments disguised to look like ordinary business expenses.

By the time investigators finished tracing the money, Briggs put the businesses' losses at approximately $688,477.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Something Wasn't Adding Up"}]

As office manager, Reifschneider had access to the companies' finances, including payroll, accounting information and Automated Clearing House, or ACH, transactions.

Eventually, the business owner began noticing they were experiencing financial problems and hired an accountant.

The accountant's review uncovered a substantial amount of missing money, the affidavit says.

The owner and others confronted Reifschneider about the suspected thefts. Reifschneider stopped working for the businesses around October 2024.

The accountant also turned over checks believed to contain forged signatures.

By February 2025, the Goshen County Sheriff's Office had asked DCI to investigate.

[{"type":"text","text":"Briggs began following the money."}]

Investigators served numerous search warrants on financial institutions in Wyoming and Nebraska, as well as others around the country.

The financial records were eventually given to an FBI forensic accountant for another look.

What investigators say they found was money leaving the businesses in several different ways.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'Ill-Gotten Gains' "}]

DCI identified $161,790 in payments allegedly made directly to Reifschneider but disguised to look as if they were to legitimate suppliers.

The affidavit says another $159,634 came from customer payments allegedly diverted through Square or Intuit rather than going to the businesses.

Payroll accounted for another $138,609, which investigators characterized as excess payments to Reifschneider, including some coded as though the money belonged to other employees.

Through ACH transactions, checks and other transfers, another $113,177 allegedly landed in accounts belonging to Reifschneider or businesses he controlled.

Then there were expenses allegedly paid on his behalf. Investigators identified $81,267 in unauthorized payments from Zell Heating & Cooling and Big Wood Tree Service, along with a separate $40,000 payment from one of the businesses to an account belonging to Reifschneider.

Investigators also looked at what Reifschneider should have legitimately earned.

Between June 2020 and October 2024, Briggs calculated his legitimate income at approximately $298,214.

Based on that income and the financial records, Briggs described the additional money paid to or on behalf of Reifschneider as "ill-gotten gains."

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Eight Checks"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Then investigators turned their attention to the checks."}]

The accountant provided DCI with a number of checks suspected of containing forged signatures. Eight written between April and September 2024 are specifically identified in Briggs' affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"The smallest was for $292.95. The largest was for $8,318.30."}]

Some were written to suppliers. Others were made directly to Reifschneider.

An April 17 check made out to Reifschneider was for $815.12. Another, dated Aug. 23, was for $3,195.81. A Sept. 7 check was made out to him for $1,025, while another dated Sept. 19 was for $2,158.

Other checks were made out to Torrington Office Supply, Dennis Supply, Gustave A. Larson and Johnstone Supply.

[{"type":"text","text":"Investigators claim Reifschneider signed Patrick's name to the checks."}]

The official charging document filed in Goshen County contains eight felony counts of forgery.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Money Trail Continues"}]

Briggs wrote that Reifschneider returned some money, and Briggs said those repayments were taken into account when DCI calculated the businesses' losses.

After Reifschneider stopped working for the businesses, he paid one business owner about $6,000 through personal checks.

[{"type":"text","text":"Other money had been returned while he was still employed."}]

Another check mentioned near the end of Briggs' affidavit tells a smaller story.

A man with 308 Plumbing told investigators he performed work at Reifschneider's home in Torrington on Oct. 24, 2025.

[{"type":"text","text":"The bill was $782.50."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Reifschneider paid with a personal check, but it bounced."}]

The man told investigators the check was returned for "insufficient funds" and that he still had not been paid when Briggs prepared the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Grand Theft Case"}]

The new charges come just over two months after Reifschneider was sentenced for a separate grand-theft conviction involving a Wyoming credit union.

That case began with another series of transactions that didn't have enough money behind them.

In February 2025, Reifschneider used the third-party payment platform ProPay to put thousands of dollars into accounts he held at WyHy Federal Credit Union, alleges a second affidavit written by Cheyenne police detective M. Webster.

[{"type":"text","text":"The money initially appeared in his accounts."}]

Reifschneider then transferred, withdrew or spent it, investigators alleged.

[{"type":"text","text":"But the underlying transactions didn't clear."}]

Four transactions totaling $8,902.47 were ultimately returned for insufficient funds, and WyHy calculated its loss at $8,725.59.

When Webster spoke with Reifschneider on May 16, 2025, he acknowledged that the credit union had contacted him about problems with the accounts, according to the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","text":"He said he would pay the money back by May 23."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"He didn't, Webster wrote."}]

When the detective contacted him again June 17, Reifschneider again said he would get the money paid.

[{"type":"text","text":"By July 11, the credit union still hadn't been repaid."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"On June 4, Reifschneider was found guilty of grand theft."}]

He was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison, but the prison sentence was suspended, and he was instead placed on three years of supervised probation.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Already On Probation "}]

Reifschneider was on supervised probation for the grand theft conviction when DCI arrested him Wednesday, although the conduct alleged in the new Goshen County case predates that probation.

It wasn't Reifschneider's first conviction involving money, or his first suspended prison sentence.

On Nov. 27, 2017, he was found guilty of fraud for writing a bad check for $4,000.

He was sentenced to 3-5 years in prison. That sentence also was suspended, and Reifschneider was placed on five years of supervised probation.

Court records also show a separate grand theft charge against Reifschneider was dismissed in September 2023.

[{"type":"text","text":"Reifschneider now faces eight felony forgery charges in Goshen County."}]

Court records did not indicate as of Thursday that he had yet made an initial appearance on the charges.

Wheatland 700k man 8 13 26

<title>Goshen County Man Charged With 8 Felonies For Allegedly Stealing $700k From Businesses | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A former Goshen County office manager, already on probation for grand theft from a Wyoming credit union, is facing eight felony forgery charges after nearly $700,000 was lost from two local businesses. He faces up to 80 years in prison.

Goshen County Man Charged With 8 Felonies For Allegedly Stealing $700k From Businesses

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

Public Safety

This story was updated at 4:45 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.’”

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.

Steve Inman: Tuesday, June 9, 2026

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