Clair McFarland
Clair McFarland is a general assignment reporter for Cowboy State Daily and is based in Riverton, Wyoming. She specializes in crime and court reporting and social issues coverage. Clair also writes a twice-monthly column on motherhood and country living.
Previously, Clair wrote for The Ranger, the Lander Journal and the Wind River News. She is an award-winning journalist, columnist and poet, who joined Cowboy State Daily on Valentine's Day, 2022.
Latest from Clair McFarland
Judge Orders Colorado To Put Trump On Ballot; Wyoming Challenge Next
With a lawyer for Donald Trump arguing that Liz Cheney's Jan. 6 evidence against him was warped by "personal animus," a Denver District Court Judge has ordered Colorado to put the former president on its 2024 ballot.
Clair McFarlandNovember 20, 2023
Family Of Missing Cody Woman Warns About Crowdfunding Effort
The stepmother and sister of Katie Ferguson of Cody, who has been missing for six weeks, warn that a GoFundMe campaign started by a family member “may not go to where you think they’re going to.”
Clair McFarlandNovember 20, 2023
Casper Man Accused Of Brawling His Way Through Walmart Employees With Stolen TV
Jeffery Leon Garner, 56, is accused of punching, elbowing, ramming and knocking down female Walmart employees who wanted to see a receipt for an allegedly stolen TV.
Clair McFarlandNovember 20, 2023
Clair McFarland: Only Idiots Get Lost (And I Got Lost)
Clair McFarland writes, "It’s gonna sting, but I have to tell this story. I wrote in an earlier column that if I did not beat my 13-year-old son in a 5-kilometer footrace three days later, I’d crumble into obscurity like an 8-track tape."
Clair McFarlandNovember 18, 2023
Adoptive Father Can’t Ignore Court-Ordered Visitation For Grandparents
A stepfather's adoption of his two boys doesn't cancel out a judge's earlier order letting the boys' grandparents stay in contact with them, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Clair McFarlandNovember 17, 2023
Parents Sue Wyoming School, Teacher Over Fifth Grader's Suicide
The parents of a Carpenter Elementary School fifth grader who was suicidal and hanged himself in a school bathroom have sued, claiming the school district, principal and a teacher could have prevented the tragic act.
Clair McFarlandNovember 17, 2023
Wyoming Sheep Shearer Guilty Of Manslaughter For Killing Fiancé
A Lincoln County jury on Friday didn’t buy a New Zealand sheep shearer’s claim she acted in self-defense when she stabbed and killed her fiancé, returning a guilty verdict of manslaughter.
Clair McFarlandNovember 17, 2023
Jury Out In Murder Trial Of Sheep Shearer Who Stabbed Abusive Boyfriend
A New Zealand sheep shearer working near Kemmerer, Wyoming, says it was self-defense when she stabbed and killed her boyfriend, who had reportedly been abusing her. After deliberating all day Thursday, a jury hasn’t yet returned a verdict.
Clair McFarlandNovember 17, 2023
Nearly Half Of FBI Cases On Wind River Reservation Are Child Sex Abuse
Of the felony-level crimes the FBI has investigated on Wyoming’s Wind River Indian Reservation this year, nearly half are child sexual assaults, a federal agent told state lawmakers Thursday.
Clair McFarlandNovember 16, 2023
Fremont County Man Accused of Beating, Killing Puppy
Accused of beating and stabbing a puppy into a bloody heap and killing it, a Fremont County man faces up to two years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
Clair McFarlandNovember 16, 2023
Hunter Marvels At Odds Of Finding Human Skull In Vast Red Desert, Says 'Higher Power’ Led Him
Rock Springs hunter and taxidermist Marc Zancanella said he was shocked to find a bleached-white human skull while hunting in Wyoming’s vast 9,300 square-mile Red Desert on Saturday. The odds are so low of coming across it he feels like a “higher power” led him to it.
Clair McFarlandNovember 15, 2023
‘Unconstitutional Idiocy’: Hageman Blasts Attempt To Scrub Trump From Ballot
Calling it boneheaded, tyrannical and unconstitutional idiocy, Rep. Harriet Hageman blasted a Laramie lawyer’s attempt to keep former President Trump from Wyoming’s ballot. The challenger fired back, accusing Hageman of failing to read his filing.
Clair McFarlandNovember 15, 2023
Reality TV Star Suing Wyoming Game And Fish Also Appealing Poaching Convictions
A Wyoming hunting guide who won a reality TV hunting competition is also appealing four illegal hunting convictions from this year as she sues the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Clair McFarlandNovember 15, 2023
Kappa Kappa Gamma Kicks Out Two Lifetime Members After Opposing Transgender's Admittance to Sorority
A pair of lifetime Kappa Kappa Gamma members, who have been associated with the sorority for more than 50 years, have been kicked out of the sorority for opposing the admittance of a transgender member at the University of Wyoming.
Clair McFarlandNovember 14, 2023
Laramie Lawyer Sues To Get Trump, Lummis Off Wyoming Ballot
A retired Laramie attorney is asking a state judge to bar former President Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis from Wyoming’s election ballot because of their actions after the 2020 presidential election.
Clair McFarlandNovember 14, 2023
Rock Springs Massage Parlor Raided On Suspicion Of Sex Trafficking
Local and federal authorities raided a Rock Springs, Wyoming, massage parlor Tuesday afternoon as part of a “months-long human trafficking investigation,” according to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office.
Clair McFarlandNovember 14, 2023
Smell Of 'Putrefied Blood' In Car Of Missing Wyoming Woman's Ex-Boyfriend
Katie Ferguson was in her ex-boyfriend’s Dodge Durango when they left Alabama to drive back to their home in Cody. She never made it home, and when investigators found the Durango it had a bullet hole in the door and reeked of “putrefied blood.”
Clair McFarlandNovember 14, 2023
Local Case Dropped Against Missing Cody Woman's Ex In Favor Of Bigger Charges
Misdemeanor charges against a man connected to in a missing person's case were dropped on Monday in favor of much more serious federal charges. The missing mother has not been seen for about a month.
Clair McFarlandNovember 13, 2023
Hunter Finds Human Skull ‘In The Middle Of Nowhere’ In Wyoming’s Red Desert
A hunter found a human skull “in the middle of nowhere” in Wyoming’s Red Desert on Saturday, and a missing persons' advocate hopes the discovery leads to closure for the family of one of a dozen open cold cases of missing people from the area.
Clair McFarlandNovember 13, 2023
Cheyenne Man Who Shot At Attackers Acquitted In Stand Your Ground Case
A Cheyenne man was acquitted of felony assault charges when the jury ruled he acted in self-defense when he fired back on a truck after being rammed, shot at, and followed home.
Clair McFarlandNovember 11, 2023
Reality TV Star Accused Of Poaching Sues Wyoming Game And Fish
A reality TV star and hunting guide is suing the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, saying they violated her privacy, hurt her reputation and caused her emotional distress while pursuing a poaching case against her.
Clair McFarlandNovember 10, 2023