Features Reporter

Jake Nichols

Jake Nichols hosts the Cowboy State Daily Morning Show, each weekday from 6-10AM.

Find Jake Nichols

Envelope

Latest from Jake Nichols

For 21 years, Andy and Jim Nelson of Pinedale, Wyoming, have been doing their radio show and podcast the only way they know how — the cowboy way.

Wyoming People: Pinedale’s Nelson Brothers Keeping Cowboy Culture Alive For 21 Years

Andy and Jim Nelson are as famous as a couple of horseshoers get in rural Sublette County. The brothers’ western-themed radio show and podcast "Clear Out West" has aired weekly for 21 years.

Jake NicholsJune 01, 2024

The cast consists of 26 school-age youth who had three weeks to rehearse and stage a 90-minute original work.

Champions Of The Outdoors Featured In Original Jackson Musical

Just about everyone in Jackson who has ever hiked, biked or paddled in the backcountry knows of famed conservationists Olaus and Mardy Murie. Celebrated Jackson playwright Andrew Munz has made a musical celebrating them.

Jake NicholsMay 27, 2024

Bob Bing works a hat at the Cowboy Shop in Pinedale.

Cowboy Hat 101: What Your Western Topper Says About You

From cut to color to cost, a cowboy hat tells a story. Buying a new cowboy hat when visiting out West is fun and flirty, but wearing one for real Wyoming cowboys and cowgirls is serious business.

Jake NicholsMay 26, 2024

Wyoming Native ‘Bee Guy’ — Hero Of MLB Game — Gets His Own Bobblehead

Matt Hilton, the pest control technician who grew up in Wyoming and saved an Arizona Diamondbacks game from a swarm of killer bees last month, has been rewarded with a sold-out Topps baseball card and a collector’s edition bobblehead.

Jake NicholsMay 21, 2024

Elmer Lovejoy hauls a load of Crescent bicycles with his Locomobile Steamer in 1897. A year later he would become the first person to drive an automobile in Wyoming, one of his own making.

Laramie Inventor Elmer Lovejoy Built And Drove Wyoming’s First Car

No one in Wyoming had yet seen an automobile in 1898. That all changed when Elmer Lovejoy took a little drive in the car -- that he built -- in downtown Laramie on May 7, 1898. He was going an unthinkable 8 miles per hour.

Jake NicholsMay 19, 2024

A Cub Scout carries a matched set of antlers to the auction stage at a past ElkFest. Workers who prepare the antlers for auction try to match sets whenever possible as they bring in more money per pound.

Huge Wyoming Elk Racks Sell For Big Money At World’s Largest Antler Auction

The 57th annual ElkFest auction -- the world's largest antler sale -- is being held this weekend in Jackson. Last month, more than 100 scouts gathered 8,162 pounds of antlers at the National Elk Refuge. Proceeds are split between the scouts and the National Elk Refuge.

Jake NicholsMay 18, 2024

Thursday is the 38th anniversary of the Cokeville Elementary School bombing, which nearly was the scene of the worst school incident in U.S. history. While the bomb injured 79 people, the only deaths were the bomber and his wife.

Cokeville Bombing: The Miracle That Was Almost The Worst US School Disaster

On May 16, 1986, David Young wheeled a bomb into the Cokeville, Wyoming, elementary school planning to blow it and 154 hostages into oblivion. Many who were there that day say angels saved them from becoming the worst school disaster in U.S. history.

Jake NicholsMay 15, 2024

The iconic bar at the Silver Dollar in Jackson is a throwback to Harold’s Club Silver Dollar Bar in Reno, Nevada.

Drinking Wyoming: The Fascinating History Of Jackson’s Silver Dollar Bar

‘Meet Me at the Wort’ is more than a slogan. Jackson’s Silver Dollar Bar packs history-making stories of gambling, movie stars and unforgettable nights into its 74-year legacy. It’s a go-to spot in a town full of go-to spots.

Jake NicholsMay 11, 2024

Bryce Meredith rocks a UW sweatshirt at an MMA weigh-in.

Former All-American UW Wrestler Bryce Meredith Now An Undefeated MMA Fighter

Cheyenne's Bryce Meredith was one of the toughest, most successful athletes in the history of University of Wyoming wrestling. But he always wanted to punch someone, and that doesn’t go over too well on the mat. So he turned to MMA and he's undefeated.

Jake NicholsMay 11, 2024

U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Maj. Drew Dix during a Congressional Medal of Honor Society reception at the East Room of the White House on Sept. 12, 2018, in Washington, DC. The president hosted a reception to honor Medal of Honor recipients.

Medal Of Honor Recipient Maj. Drew Dix In Wyoming Promoting U.S. Patriotism

Fifty-five years after President Johnson awarded Maj. Drew Dix the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Vietnam War, Dix was in Pinedale to promote patriotism. “It starts with family, then schools. Families can’t be looking to the government to raise their kids.”

Jake NicholsMay 04, 2024

Periodic Spring runs hard once it is flowing 5 4 24

Periodic Spring In Star Valley Is World’s Largest On-Again, Off-Again Stream

Periodic Spring in Swift Creek Canyon outside Afton turns itself on, then off, then back on. There's only a few of these in the world and Wyoming's is the world's largest. Scientists have no idea why it happens.

Jake NicholsMay 04, 2024

Beekeeper Matt Hilton removes a colony of bees that formed on the net behind home plate during a delay to the MLB game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on April 30, 2024, in Phoenix, Arizona.

Former Wyoming Man Is Hero Beekeeper From Dodgers Game

Matt Hilton, who grew up in Buffalo, Wyoming, is the hero beekeeper who saved Tuesday’s Diamondbacks-Dodgers game from 20,000 Africanized bees. After completing the task to a standing ovation, he was invited to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

Jake NicholsMay 02, 2024

Other Authors

Yeah, they ride reindeer in Mongolia, J.B. Zielke learned.

Globetrotting Wyoming Wrangler J.B. Zielke Has Cowboyed On Six Continents

Saratoga cowboy J.B. Zielke has travelled all around the globe, taking ranch jobs and learning how the world does Western. In Mongolia, he rode reindeer. In Sweden, he coaxed cows into a trailer because roping is illegal.

Jake NicholsApril 28, 2024

Bullfighter Dusty Tuckness fights off a bull named Hangover as he tries to protect Brennon Eldred after he was thrown during the bull riding competition during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Stadium on March 13, 2015, in Houston.

Wyoming’s Dusty Tuckness Is The Best Rodeo Bullfighter In The History Of The Sport

Rodeo bullfighter Dusty Tuckness, from Meeteetse, has been fighting bulls for 25 years. With an unequaled 15 trips to the National Finals Rodeo and 10 times voted PRCA Bullfighter of the Year, his cowboy kin call him “Tuck,” and say there's none better.

Jake NicholsApril 26, 2024

A horse takes a practice dive at Atlantic City's Steel Pier Park in 1978.

For 100 Years, Horse Diving Was A Thing, And Was Every Bit Crazy As It Sounds

For about a century, the novelty of horse diving from great heights into a tiny tank of water was all the rage in America. And was every bit crazy as it sounds.

Jake NicholsApril 20, 2024

A visit to Yellowstone National Park is a bucket-list item for Chinese tourists visiting the United States for the first time. Many don't know about Wyoming, but they know Yellowstone.

Sometimes International Tourists In Yellowstone Just Don’t Know What They Don’t Know

From trying to pet the bison to destroying toilet seats, some international tourists visiting Yellowstone aren’t ignoring the rules, they just don’t know what they don’t know, says a cowboy from Wyoming who lived in China.

Jake NicholsApril 14, 2024

Micro Wrestling Building A Huge Following In Wyoming And Beyond

With superstars like Syko, Pinky Shortcake and Andrew the Giant, the Micro Wrestling Federation is building a huge following in Wyoming and across the U.S. Their live shows are a combination of wrestling bouts and Jerry Springer shows gone wrong. It’s the WWE for “South Park” fans.

Jake NicholsApril 13, 2024

Parking lots at Teton Village fill up fast even at $35-$45 dollars a day. Because Jackson Hole Mountain Resort workers are required to pay for parking, they've been exploiting a hack to park free — until a local cartoonist outed the hack.

Locals Outraged At Cartoonist For Exposing Free Parking Hack At Jackson Ski Resort

Hundreds of employees at Wyoming’s largest ski resort had finagled a way to park for free (regular rates $35 - $45 per day) until a popular Jackson cartoonist accidentally exposed the hack. Now the free ride is over and so too, perhaps, the love affair with the artist.

Jake NicholsMarch 24, 2024

A pro-class competitor races up Snow King Mountain during the 2023 World Championship Hill Climb.

Jackson Hill Climb A High-Octane Snowmobile Sprint Up North America’s Steepest Ski Run

The World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb in Jackson this weekend is NASCAR for sledheads, an annual highmarking event that’s high-octane, adrenaline-fueled mayhem straight up the steepest ski run in North America on a snowmobile.

Jake NicholsMarch 24, 2024

The ‘Wyoming Way’ Of Knowing For Sure When Spring Has Sprung

Spring officially arrived this week, but next week’s forecast calls for snow every day in some parts of the state. Therein lies the difficulty of pronouncing the change of seasons in the Cowboy State. Those who live here use the "Wyoming way."

Jake NicholsMarch 23, 2024

15-year-old Jillian Nordberg is taking Cody by storm.

The Next Taylor Swift? Discovering Cody's Teen Sensation Jillian Nordberg

Jillian Nordberg says she would not mind being the next Taylor Swift. The teen singer out of Park County could be on that type of trajectory with an estimated thousand gigs already under her belt buckle.

Jake NicholsMarch 22, 2024

Page 20