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Daily Smile: Monday, April 27, 2026

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Daily Smile: Sunday, April 26, 2026

CSD Staff

Dog loves playing with his ball by the sea and catching because he thinks the sea will steal the ball from him.....

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Daily Smile: Saturday, April 25, 2026

Monkeys don't like the stringy things on the banana either..

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Daily Smile: Friday, April 24, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, April 23, 2026

100 tennis balls and somehow none are right.....

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, April 22, 2026

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Now let's all enjoy a puppy fighting some cauliflower.....

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Daily Smile: Monday, April 20, 2026

When your mom is a horrible singer but you can't complain because she is your treat dealer....

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Daily Smile: Sunday, April 19, 2026

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

Andrew Rossi

Around Wyoming

Libby Lane of Red Lodge, Montana, was going about her usual business Monday at the Top of the World Resort on the Beartooth Highway. As of 1:30 p.m., it was still snowing up there.

“We’ve got about three inches of snow, and it's still snowing,” Lane told Cowboy State Daily. “It's blowing and melting off the road, but the road looks slick, icy, and slushy.”

The only vehicle Lane had seen was a snowplow that drove past in its effort to clear the highway, heading for Cooke City.

“I was hoping they’d open it today,” she said. “I haven't heard anything from anybody. Sometimes we're the last to know. Unfortunately, we have to look for the cars coming over the pass to know when it’s open.”

The Beartooth Highway was temporarily closed at 4:53 p.m. Sunday in anticipation of incoming snow. Monday’s snow vindicated the precautionary closure.

This is Lane's fourth season living and working at the Top of the World on the Wyoming side of the pass. When the Beartooth Highway closes, she and her coworkers are stranded at the summit until the road is deemed safe enough to traffic to resume. 

However, this wasn’t unusual from Lane’s perspective. Snow-related closures, even in late June, are “not a surprise at all.” 

“It’s very common,” she said. “We got our boots out this morning and just kept working.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Yellowstone’s Dunraven Pass Closes"}]

Dunraven Pass in Yellowstone National Park also closed Monday morning due to “winter weather conditions.”

“We’re looking at an inch of snow in Cooke City, Montana,” said Tessa Stetzr, with the National Weather Service office in Billings. “We were forecasting around 1 to 2 inches along the Beartooth Pass and 6 inches in the higher elevations.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Snow also fell farther south in Wyoming."}]

Stuart Pierson of Centennial was heading over the Snowy Range toward Saratoga when he encountered “a pleasant surprise.”

“I left my house around 10:30 a.m., and there was light snow as I went over the top near Barbara Lake Road,” he said. “Nothing was sticking yet, but there was a lot of snow in the air.”

None of this winter weather was expected to escape the mountains, and a cooler-than-average Monday will give way to temperatures in the 80s and low 90s by July 4.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Where’s That Coming From?"}]

The snow in northwest Wyoming came from a cold front moving across Montana, originating in the Pacific Northwest.

“There’s an upper-level low over Montana,” Stetzr said. “That's allowing cooler temperatures to make their way into the state and lowering the snow levels to around 7,000 feet.”

Lance VandenBoogart with the National Weather Service office in Riverton said that’s not unusual for northwest Wyoming or Yellowstone, even in the last days of June.

“Yellowstone and any high-elevation spot in northwest Wyoming can see snow any time of the year,” he said. “The high at Old Faithful was 44 degrees, and that’s not even record-breaking cold for this time of year.”

Still, there were cooler-than-average temperatures across Wyoming on Monday. Daytime highs were in the low 70s in central Wyoming and only in the mid-50s to mid-60s in the Bighorn Basin.

Many spots in Wyoming would welcome an inch or two of moisture. VandenBoogart said they’ll be going without.

“It’ll fizzle out by this evening,” he said. “This weather system will be weakening as it pushes through the mountains. The Bighorn Basin might see a couple of rain showers, but we’re not looking for much notable precipitation from this.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Heat Of The Moment"}]

If it’s cool and wet on June 29, what does that mean for the upcoming celebrations of the United States 250th anniversary on July 4?

VandenBoogart and Stetzr agreed that Monday’s high-elevation snow was an anomaly. By Friday, it’ll look and feel like summer again.

“We'll continue to have daily chances for afternoon showers and thunderstorms, but we're expecting temperatures to return to the upper 70s and low 80s for the second half of the week,” Stetzr said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Central and southern Wyoming could get even warmer."}]

“We’re looking at the low to mid 80s through the middle of the week,” VandenBoogart said. “By the time we get to Friday, through the Independence Day holiday, we're going to be probably upper 80s to around 90, closer to mid-summer normals.”

As for the Beartooth Highway, the National Park Service said the road would be opened “when conditions improve.” Based on the amount of snow seen on webcams in Cooke City, that probably won’t be until Tuesday.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Don’t Read Into It"}]

After a record-breaking dry winter and spring, some might be inclined to see June snow on the Beartooth Highway as a promising sign. After all, El Niño’s on the way and promises to disrupt global weather patterns in a way that could, possibly, benefit Wyoming.

The latest outlook from the NWS’s Climate Prediction Center still favors above-average moisture for Wyoming this summer. VandenBoogart doesn’t think anyone should read into it too much.

“Climatology isn’t going to be your best forecast,” he said. “The latest update is a slight lean toward above-normal precipitation for the western half of Wyoming in July, August, and September. It's not a sure thing, just that the odds are a little better than normal.”

Meanwhile, the snow on the Beartooth Highway isn’t indicative of anything other than the fact that anything can happen at a 10,000-foot elevation.

“If Casper got snow right now, that would be impressive,” VandenBoogart said. “When you're getting it up in the mountains and Yellowstone, snow happens when these cold systems ride through.”

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

<title>Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Winter is back in Wyoming as a late June snowstorm closed the Beartooth Highway and Yellowstone's Dunraven Pass. At 9,400 feet, the Top of the World store recorded three inches of snow. “We got our boots out and just kept working," said Libby Lane.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Rare June Snow Closes Beartooth Highway, Parts Of Yellowstone

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

Greg Johnson

Government & Politics

Politics

A late entry into an already crowded slate of candidates is getting nearly unanimous support across all parties and political ideologies in Park County.

Perhaps it’s Greta’s platform that’s making local voters universally jump on her bandwagon: “More belly rubs for all.”

“I certainly would like to know what Greta is running for so I can vote for her,” said Cody resident Peter Victor. “She certainly can’t be worse than, like, half the people running.”

That Greta’s a German shepherd doesn’t bother voters like Victor, who said that while he enjoys the joke of a dog running for office, it’s not so funny that there’s some truth behind people’s tongue-in-cheek support for a K-9.

“I think there’s certainly an element of everything becoming so politicized,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “It’s so exhausting, so it’s refreshing to have someone who you can say you know won’t do anything bad — because it’s a dog.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Something That Tickled Me’"}]

Greta was the beloved pet of Elizabeth Jenkins’ parents, who said she made up the campaign sign as a joke.

She put it out near the Cody Post Office along Stampede Avenue in Cody late last week with a host of other signs from political candidates. Then she posted a photo of the sign to a local Facebook page.

In the days since, Greta has had hundreds of comments of support, and Jenkins said she’s received even more private messages from people.

Some of them seem a little sad that Greta really isn’t running for something, Jenkins told Cowboy State Daily.

“I saw a bunch of political signs out there and I got a wild hair,” she said. “I had made this a few years ago for my parents as a joke, so I pulled it out again.

“Due to the oftentimes divisive nature of our political season, I thought we could benefit from a smile.”

Jenkins would have some insight on political seasons, having once spent a seven-year stint working for former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson in Washington, D.C.

“There have been a boatload of comments, well over 300, and it’s fun to see the outpouring of humor our community has for something that tickled me," she said. "I got a kick when I created that sign.”

Aside from being a dog and not declaring a particular office she’s running for, Greta is actually deceased, Jenkins said.

If she were a real option for Park County voters, what office would Greta be most suited for?

“I wouldn’t have a clue,” Jenkins said after a bit of thought, then offering a more politically safe, “I’m not going to jump into the partisan debate there.”

If Greta Gets Write-In Votes, They’ll Be Counted

Besides being dead and a dog, there’s something else in the way of Greta’s political future, said Park County Clerk Colleen Renner.

[{"type":"text","text":"She missed the deadline to declare her candidacy for any office."}]

Even so, that likely won’t stop some people from writing in Greta in some races, which wouldn’t be the most outrageous write-in Renner’s seen.

“We see all kinds of things” as write-in options, she said. “It can be anybody, or so-and-so, Donald Duck, whoever. We’re used to it.”

That Greta seems to have such widespread support is “a very nice message with what is going on in the world these days," she said.

If Greta gets some write-in votes, Renner said the Park County elections staff will count them like any other write-ins.

“When we look at write-ins, we look at all the names,” she said. “Most of the time, write-ins don’t play in conflict with anything because we just don’t get many.

“(Greta) is not a candidate, but we will count the write-ins for her.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘A Ham Sandwich’"}]

[{"type":"text","text":"If Greta were on the ballot, she’d have Bryan Mick’s vote."}]

The Park County resident and candidate for precinct committeeman in Wapiti said he got a kick out of the sign.

“I thought Greta would do a better job than most Freedom Caucus candidates,” he said. “We have to have some alternatives for what’s been happening over the past couple of years with all these red-herring national issues.”

While he admits that “Greta’s getting real popular,” Mick said he hopes she doesn’t get a lot of write-in votes because it would draw from actual political races.

Mick likened Greta’s support to the cliché that people would vote for a ham sandwich over some candidates.

“'A ham sandwich would do better than so-and-so,' people say,” he said. “So, Greta’s the K-9 equivalent to a ham sandwich.”

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<title>‘Vote For Greta’: German Shepherd Has Huge Support In Park County | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Greta, a German shepherd with a platform of “more belly rubs for all,” is getting huge support in Park County since a “Vote For Greta” sign went up in Cody. “She certainly can’t be worse than, like, half the people running,” said one voter.

‘Vote For Greta’: German Shepherd Has Huge Support In Park County

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

Clair McFarland

The Wyoming school district based in Rock Springs apologized Saturday for a message a staffer sent through a school communications app to some parents and kids, asking for help with a gubernatorial candidate’s efforts.

 teacher dispatched the message June 25. The text indicates it was sent to parents and students in the Rock Springs High School Academy of Public Service (APS).  That “academy” is a specific course plan from sophomore to senior year that focuses on career opportunities in law, fire and military.

“Hi All,” begins the message high school teacher Lyndsey James sent via school communications app ParentSquare. “Susie Von Ahrens is looking for volunteers to walk in the parade on Saturday for the Eric Barlow campaign. If you would like to walk in the parade and hand out campaign materials please contact Ms. Ahrens.”

The message concludes with Von Ahren’s cellphone number, and well wishes from James.

Former state House Speaker and now-Sen. Eric Barlow is running for the Republican primary nomination for governor against Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder, retired Marine Col. Brent Bien, and Curt Blake of Centennial. Kenneth Casner 

 is running for the Democratic nomination.

Rebecca Bextel, a new convert to the Wyoming Constitution Party, received that minor party’s nomination at its convention earlier this month and will challenge the winners of the GOP and Democratic Party primary elections, which are Aug. 18.

 apologized publicly Saturday for the ParentSquare message’s political nature.

“The communication in question shared a volunteer opportunity that was associated with a specific political candidate. We recognize that this was an error, and we sincerely apologize to our community and families,” says the district’s statement.

“The intent behind the message was to share what appeared to be a community volunteer opportunity, not to endorse or promote any political candidate or party," the statement says. "Unfortunately, the association with a single candidate’s campaign was not identified prior to distribution, and the message should not have been sent in the manner it was. Had this opportunity been shared at all, it should have been extended equally to all candidates and all parties in the spirit of civic engagement.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Interviews And Disclaimers"}]

Von Ahrens, contacted Monday by Cowboy State Daily, referred the outlet to Barlow’s campaign communications director Rebecca Fitzgerald.

Fitzgerald said in a Monday phone interview that Von Ahrens is a “county chair” for Barlow’s Sweetwater County campaign efforts, and that she’s a volunteer, not a paid staffer.

The Barlow campaign never directed the use of the public school app, Fitzgerald said.

The message referenced the Flaming Gorge Days parade held Saturday in Green River.

“Susie reached out to Sweetwater County schools just letting them know that Senator Barlow’s team was going to have a float, and also generally candidates were going to be around in the parade, if people would want to participate,” Fitzgerald said. “We certainly don’t encourage people to be using school resources.”

Fitzgerald said Von Ahrens is not a school employee; and James is not affiliated with the Barlow campaign.

“We’ve reiterated to our team that even in well-intentioned communications with folks … (make) sure you’re making the appropriate asks, to the appropriate people,” Fitzgerald added.

James declined Monday to comment, referring Cowboy State Daily to the district’s human resources department.

[{"type":"text","text":"Headlines, Headlines"}]

Sweetwater County School District has made statewide headlines more than any other Wyoming school district this year.

News and reports of issues within the district prompted Degenfelder to launch a state investigation into its special education division, and that revealed 

On the other hand, a staffer in Degenfelder’s office was reportedly involved in the release of unredacted student information upon a public-records request – an incident for which Degenfelder 

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<title>Sweetwater County School District Apologizes For Barlow Campaign Message On Parent App  | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Sweetwater County School District No. 1, already a magnet for headlines, apologized Saturday for what it called the error of a staffer releasing a campaign message for gubernatorial candidate Eric Barlow through the ParentSquare messaging app. 

Sweetwater County School District Apologizes For Barlow Campaign Message On Parent App 

Many relics from the age of the steam engine in Wyoming remain. Some are grandiose, like 

One of these relics is the Lusk Water Tower, a point of pride in eastern Wyoming. It’s one of the few structures of its kind remaining in the United States, still standing strong 140 years after it was built.

“It's pretty important and iconic to the community,” said Leslie Stewart, a volunteer at 

. “I think there would be a drive to save it again if we needed to.”

It's also significant as one of only six surviving redwood water towers in the United States, according to the Niobrara County Historical Society.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Built Better"}]

In 1886, the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Railway was establishing a line to connect Douglas and Chadron, South Dakota. This necessitated new depots and water towers along the route to ensure the steam engines kept running.

Lusk was chosen because it had, at the time, the only post office along the intended route.

Stewart, who’s also a commissioner for Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, said the establishment of this railway was an important development for the newly incorporated town.

“The railroads were coming this way to transport livestock, grain, mining equipment, and coal, but they also provided ready access for ranchers, farmers, and homesteaders coming to settle this area,” he said.

Water towers were essential for steam engines, but the Lusk Water Tower was built to be better. That’s reflected in the specifics of its design.

“It’s mostly made of Douglas fir, but the tank is four-inch planks of redwood,” Stewart said. “It wasn’t an aesthetic choice. They wanted something that would expand with water and hold the thing together tightly when it was wet.”

According to Stewart, adjustability was essential. The circular tank is 25 feet in diameter and equally as tall, but the redwood allowed it to expand and contract as needed.

“It was built like a barrel with metal bands around the outside,” she said. “When the tank was empty, they could tighten the bands. When it was full, they could loosen them up and expand the tank while keeping a tight fit.”

A windmill was used to move water 25 feet up into the tank. At full capacity, it could hold around 44,000 gallons of water.

In a certain sense, the Lusk Water Tower was ahead of its time in design and construction.

The tower and the railway were built by the Wyoming Central Railway, a subsidiary of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Railway. The director of the subsidiary was Frank Lusk, for whom the town is named.

The Wyoming Central Railway was established specifically to ensure that a Wyoming company would build the line and all its infrastructure.

“That was one of the requirements for the railway,” Stewart said. “They had to have a Wyoming company do the construction.”

There’s another way the Lusk Water Tower happened to be ahead of its time: It was deemed worth saving before it was too late.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Standing Strong"}]

When the original Lusk train depot was destroyed by fire, the water tower was moved from the center of town to the eastern edge, where it stands today. The tower continued to service steam locomotives until diesels took over.

The railway, which is still in service, changed hands multiple times over the next several decades. However, there were concerns that the Lusk Water Tower might be destroyed by the very railway it had been built to service.

“The Chicago and North Western Transportation Company was moving a lot of heavy coal traffic past the tower,” Stewart said. “The Niobrara County Historical Society was concerned that the vibrations from the trains would destroy the tower.”

In 1971, the Niobrara County Historical Society purchased the Lusk Water Tower. A campaign was immediately started to raise money to restore and repair it.

By 1982, enough was raised for Gillette LNT Fabrication and Construction to do a thorough restoration.

“A lot of different organizations helped fund that restoration, including the Wyoming Legislature and the Chicago and North Western Transportation Company,” Stewart said. “I don't think the railroad had any interest in saving it, although they did help in the end.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Lusk’s Own"}]

In 1991, the Lusk Water Tower was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rheba Massey, the historian who submitted the form for its consideration, said the tower was “one small part of that great expansion” that had “a major effect on the settlement history of the area.”

“The Lusk Water Tower represents this early development of rail transportation, including steam locomotion from the period of 1886 to World War II,” she wrote. “Massive water towers and windmills were regular features of station sites during the age of steam, (and) the Lusk Water Tower is Wyoming's only surviving railroad structure of its type.”

The railway is currently owned by Union Pacific, which still sends plenty of freight past the iconic tower.

As of 2026, the only other tower of its type that’s easy to track down is the Gerlach Water Tower, built in 1909 in Gerlach, Nevada.

Stewart wasn’t sure how many redwood water towers were built or how many remain. She’s content that the Lusk Water Tower isn’t going anywhere.

“We still get people asking about the tower,” she said. “Alumni come home and say they had to swing by the tower to make sure it was still there.”

She also applauded everyone who recognized the tower’s historic significance and organized the successful effort to save it, at a time when historical preservation wasn’t as popular as it would become.

“If those historically astute people hadn’t recognized that, I’m not sure it would have been saved,” she said.

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<title>Lusk's Redwood Water Tower, One Of 6 Left In US, Still Standing After 140 Years | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The redwood water tower in Lusk was built in 1886 to keep steam engines running between Wyoming and South Dakota. While the engines are gone, the tower endures 140 years after it was built and is one of six such relics still standing in the United States.

Lusk's Redwood Water Tower, One Of 6 Left In US, Still Standing After 140 Years

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

Renée Jean

Wyoming Life

In a modern West where history is increasingly paved over or fenced in, Wyoming’s notorious Hole in the Wall outlaw hideout stands out as one of few places that remains just as wild as it was more than a century ago. 

Here, a towering red rock wall rises 400 feet and stretches, seemingly unbroken, for 35 miles. 

There’s an ocean of blue sky above and a sea of green prairiegrass below without another human soul for endless miles. This cliff appears both seamless and impassible — a beautiful, if formidable, sight.

Hidden within that long wall, however, is a single passage where a man can slip past the rock and simply vanish. 

And that is what gave this place its name, the Hole in the Wall. 

It’s not really a hole in the wall, cowboy historian Clay Gibbons tells visitors on his tours of the remote hideout. It’s more like a notch, just wide enough for a single man on horseback to squeeze through. 

Beyond that notch lies a secluded and lush valley just right for grazing stolen cattle and horses, and impossible to see from the outside.

The narrowness of this nearly invisible notch also makes it easy to defend. A lone gunman with plenty of ammunition can hold off a much larger force. 

That helped keep lawmen at bay for decades, creating a haven for outlaws ranging from Harvey Logan — better known as Kid Curry — to Butch Cassidy. 

Though Cassidy didn’t spend as much time here as he did a place further west called 

 where three states meet, giving him three  directions to escape the law.

In a modern West where history is increasingly paved over, Wyoming’s notorious Hole in the Wall outlaw hideout remains just as wild as it was more than a century ago. Here, a towering red rock wall rises 400 feet and stretches for 35 miles. 