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Cooking 7 27 26

Today In Cooking: Monday, July 27, 2026

When your husband takes playtime very seriously....

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You Still Here? Monday, July 27, 2026

Golfing next to train tracks has its own challenges......

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Bonus Video 1: Monday, July 27, 2026

Dumb decisions, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman.....

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Steve Inman: Monday, July 27, 2026

When RATT joined The Temptations and released "Get Ready For Lack Of Communication."

Mix Collage 25 Jul 2026 10 21 AM 74

You Still Here? Sunday, July 26, 2026

At the age when our playlist does not match our hobbies.....

Bonus vid 1 no play 7 26 26

Bonus Video 1: Sunday, July 26, 2026

Baby leads bus passengers in round of applause......

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Today In Happy Babies: Sunday, July 26, 2026

Thousands of years of evolving and this is where we are.....

Progress 7 26 26

Today In Human Progress: Sunday, July 26, 2026

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Bonus Video 2: Sunday, July 26, 2026

The end result of spanking the monkey, as narrated by MMA announcer, Steve Inman.....

Inman 7 26 26

Steve Inman: Sunday, July 26, 2026

When you find someone who matches your personality..... 

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Today In Relationships: Sunday, July 26, 2026

My day instantly got better after watching this.....

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Today In Robot Vacuums: Saturday, July 25, 2026

Kerry Drake

Crime & Courts

A Cheyenne woman who was added to Laramie County’s “10 Most Wanted” list last year was arrested earlier this month and waived her preliminary hearing Monday on a February 2023 charge of child endangerment for smoking methamphetamine and using fentanyl around her two children.

Ashley Nicole Bennett was also charged with two counts of forgery in 2023. Bennett, 40, skipped town after posting a $5,000 cash bond and was not arrested until Aug. 2 of this year. She is being held at the Laramie County Detention Center.

Bennett’s daughter, who is listed as “NB” in court documents, called the Cheyenne Police Department in February 2023, when she was 15 years old. 

According to an affidavit filed by police, who asked her if Bennett had smoked with her or provided her drugs, NB stated she overdosed in 2022 by taking her mother’s Suboxone and had intended to take her own life.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not Taken To Hospital"}]

“Although Ashley did not provide the fentanyl or Suboxone on this occasion, Ashley did nothing to prevent the accessibility of these drugs to NB,” the affidavit states. The teen said her mother used Narcan on her but did not call emergency medical services or take her to the hospital.

Bennett was one of five fugitives added to the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office “most wanted” list in December.

NB’s 9-year-old brother, called “MM” in court documents, was allegedly also exposed to the two controlled substances. If convicted of this felony, Bennett faces up to five years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Try Fentanyl"}]

NB told police her mother let her use fentanyl after she said she wanted to try it, and her mother said it tasted like “burnt popcorn.” 

The daughter said Bennett took her to a convenience store and had her act as a “lookout” while her mother smoked drugs, and another time smoked drugs in a bathroom stall at a gas station while NB also served as a lookout.

NB told police Adam Schmidt, then 39, and James Dykema, then 50, also lived in the family’s trailer house and smoked methamphetamine there, according to the police affidavit.

When police attempted to do a welfare check on the children on Jan. 24, 2023, Dykema allegedly answered the door and said they needed Schmidt’s permission to enter, and he was not home. 

Police called Schmidt, who said he was at work and did not want them at the trailer while he wasn’t there.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Scared Of Arrest"}]

The next day NB contacted police and told them the two men were scared they would arrest Dykema because he had an outstanding warrant, and affidavit says. NB told police Schmidt hid the drugs in the yard but did not know exactly where.

She also said her mother had a lock box where she kept some drugs, pipes and Narcan.

The affidavit said Bennett allowed police to do a welfare check at 2:30 p.m. Jan. 25, 2023, and they asked if they could search for drugs. An officer said he could not complete a thorough search at that time.

The next day, the officer said he spoke with NB, who told him she took a photograph of her mother’s drugs. “I observed a small, partially melted blue pill on a piece of tin foil, with burnt residue around it,” he wrote. Through his training, he noted, he knew people often consume fentanyl pills by placing them on aluminum foil, heating the underside and inhaling the fumes.

The officer said that process was consistent with what he observed in NB’s photo.

On Jan. 26, 2023, police obtained a search warrant and said they found used drug paraphernalia commonly used to smoke methamphetamine and fentanyl, used plastic bags with methamphetamine residue, and burnt foil. The bags tested presumptively positive for methamphetamine, the officer wrote.

Bennett’s two children were then placed in protective custody.

On the two forgery charges, Bennett is accused of cashing two fraudulent checks made out to Otis Burchett, who died in November 2022. Bennett was identified by an employee at First Education Federal Credit Union as the person who cashed the two fraudulent checks. The account was drawn from WyHy Federal Credit Union.

The two checks cashed totaled $1,345. The forgery count are felonies and punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com

Ashley bennett with cops 8 10 26

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

<title>Cheyenne Woman Who Allegedly Let Teenage Daughter Use Fentanyl Captured | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Cheyenne woman who has been wanted by the police since 2023 for child endangerment after allegedly letting her teenage daughter use fentanyl and acted as her mom's "lookout" was captured earlier this month and waived a preliminary hearing on Monday.

Cheyenne Woman Who Allegedly Let Teenage Daughter Use Fentanyl Captured

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

Andrew Rossi

Wyoming Life

 on Saturday. Its prognosis for Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region is “cold, snowy at times, and breezy.”

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day is aware of this and other long-range forecasts coming out for the upcoming winter. He's not buying what anyone's selling.

“I'm not going to follow the herd into slaughter this time,” Day said. “The Farmer’s Almanac does what the Farmer’s Almanac does. The National Weather Service will do what they do, and people on social media can post every computer model that they want, but I’m not going there yet.”

With a Super El Niño on the horizon after several consecutive historically dry months, Day was willing to discuss the broad trends that could impact Wyoming this winter. As for the specifics, there’s such a thing as being too early.

Day's message: trust these at your peril, especially when it’s still summer.

“Last year was a good example of getting too far ahead of your scheme, but it's so easy,” he said. “I’ve learned the hard way, so I’m not seeing expectations when we’re still in August.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Super, But How Super?"}]

The “biggest player” this winter, according to Day, will be 

the much-anticipated “Super” El Niño

. Weather patterns and water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, which have been 

, are manifesting as one of the most intense El Niños in recent years.

“We're definitely going to have this very strong El Niño,” Day said. “It's going to be the dominant factor this winter, but it's not the only one.”

Many long-range forecasts circulating are relying on historical data from past El Niños to provide an outlook for how it will impact global weather.

Day is a huge proponent of using historical data, but there might not be a historical precedent for what’s coming. A strong El Niño can be great for Wyoming or miss it entirely.

“The El Niño can be so strong it shifts the storm track to our south,” he said. “The enhanced rain and snow you can get in the winter can bypass Wyoming. It can just miss.”

In other years, a strong El Niño has tracked farther north, inundating parts of Wyoming with precipitation.

A strong El Niño is a given this winter. At this point, its trajectory could take it either way, which is why Day isn’t giving into the pressure to release a long-range forecast.

“The north-south extent of the El Niño signal is a real concern I have,” Day said. “It's really too early to glob onto and go all-in on either a model-driven forecast or what we would call an analog forecast of looking at El Niños from the past.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Hangover"}]

The top reason to be skeptical of any long-range winter forecasts for this winter is the lessons still to be learned 

Day acknowledged how his long-range forecast for the 2025-2026 winter season, released in August 2025, was radically different from the winter Wyoming got. That stung, but his misery had good company.

“That’s the cautionary tale,” he said. “We had 90 blocking patterns this winter. Nobody anticipated that, and no models predicted it. Simply put, our models fail.”

Those “blocking patterns” were stubborn ridges of high pressure that essentially 

 from reaching Wyoming and siphoned it elsewhere. That’s why it was historically dry in the western U.S. and historically cold and snowy in the eastern U.S.

By November 2025, it was clear that the colder, snowier winter forecasted wasn’t going to plan. Nearly every month since then has been 

“This summer was a hangover from last winter, especially through July,” Day said. “Last winter, all our weather went north. A really strong El Niño can direct all the storms south. That is a concern.”

El Niño isn’t known for having frequent blocking patterns. Instead, it tends to have one blocking pattern that can last for several months without let-up.

According to Day, very persistent, stubborn blocking patterns are “a concern” with the incoming El Niño. Where those patterns could set up, and how it would impact the winter, remain to be seen.

That’s one area where Day had a sliver of confidence when looking ahead. Historically, the enduring block patterns have favored Wyoming.

“You can have a semi-permanent high-pressure system over central Canada that migrates back and forth,” he said. “El Niño patterns can lock in between December and February, which is a concern, but it's not in the Pacific, which was our problem last year.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Who’s On The Bench?"}]

For Day, putting out a long-range forecast for the 2026-2027 winter season would be like betting on the winner of a barely started chess game. The game’s afoot, and there’s no way to confidently say what the winning move will be.

However, Day can look at the board and see which pieces are and aren’t in play. Many of the factors that came together to make last winter so warm and dry aren’t a factor now.

“What we can say about the upcoming winter is that it does not look like we have all of the big players that we had last winter,” he said.

The 2025-2026 winter season started with a weak La Niña. Since the Super El Niño is already manifesting, La Niña won’t be a factor going forward.

The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is a cyclical pattern of wind directions in the troposphere, the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere. It has enormous impacts on global weather.

According to Day, the QBO was in “an easterly phase” last year. This year, winter will begin when the QBO is in its opposite, westerly phase.

Then there are the North and South Poles, which are already colder than they were at this point last year.

Several elements that affect long-range weather and seasonal forecasting are different this year. How it all plays out with a strong El Niño remains uncertain.

“El Nino is going to be the quarterback and head coach this winter, bar none,” Day said. “There are other players involved, but that's why we've got to understand these players and those that aren't going to come off the bench until a little bit later on.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Given"}]

Historically, El Niño has been favorable for Wyoming’s winter, bringing colder temperatures and precipitation. That’s a possible scenario for this winter, but there are no guarantees.

That’s another reason Day doesn’t want to make people more optimistic or pessimistic than they need to, especially in August. Many people who are seeking salvation from a strong El Niño might not get it.

“If you take a critical look at El Niños in Wyoming, it’s extremely rare that the entire state benefits from it,” he said. “If we do get into stubborn holding patterns, El Niños can be feast or famine, and Wyoming is a big state.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Voodoo That You Do So Well"}]

As Day was discussing his concerns about long-range winter forecasts in August, he didn’t even consider what the Farmer’s Almanac was forecasting.

“I'm not going to include the Farmer’s Almanac,” he said. “They're either taking models verbatim, or they're taking El Niños that have occurred in the past. These approaches aren't necessarily wrong, but I don't think that's the right way to approach the winter forecast when we're still on the backside of summer.”

Day’s hoping to have his winter forecast ready by mid-September, when the impacts of the Super El Niño are starting to roll in. It’s going to be so critical that its impact shouldn’t be anticipated so soon.

“A lot of things that are going to drive this winter, in addition to El Niño, aren't going to really start showing themselves until we get deeper into fall,” he said. “I am not going to go there yet. I’m not setting expectations. We need to be patient.”

Day’s word of caution to Wyomingites was to be extremely skeptical of any long-range winter forecast they might see for the next month or so. Any person or agency that’s confident in their forecast, in his opinion, doesn’t have enough critical information to be credible.

“The problem with doing long-range weather forecasts is that weather is so dynamic,” he said. “If you make a graphic that's good for three or four months, and subtle things change, then you have to throw it out the window. That’s why we have to be careful.”

That goes double for the Farmer’s Almanac. While it still has its uses in the 21st Century, long-range weather forecasts aren’t one of them.

“I don't know what voodoo magic they use to get their forecasts,” he said. “I don't think we should be talking about any detailed winter forecast till maybe mid to late September. Until then, it’s not helpful for anybody.”

Don day winter 8 11 26

<title>Meteorologist Don Day Calls New Farmer's Almanac Winter Forecast 'Voodoo Magic' | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Farmer’s Almanac has released its winter forecast, and Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day calls it "voodoo magic." However, he does believe a very strong El Niño is on the way but he's "not going to follow the herd into slaughter this time."

Meteorologist Don Day Calls New Farmer's Almanac Winter Forecast 'Voodoo Magic'

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

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Politics

Laramie County’s sheriff says the public records lawsuit two Freedom Caucus-aligned Cheyenne residents have filed against him is at least partly a political maneuver – and that his investigation of the February “CheckGate” controversy has “stirred the hornets’ nest.”

Colorado-based firm Lichter Immigration and its investigator Kevin Lewis 

 against Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak and his office June 30.

The lawsuit accuses Kozak’s office of wrongly withholding body camera video and information that a Mexican national, Mario Fabian Valenzuela Robles, needed for his ongoing immigration case.

The plaintiffs through their attorney Drake Hill filed a Thursday motion asking Laramie County District Court Judge Robin Cooley to hold Kozak in contempt of court. They allege Kozak’s office hasn’t obeyed Cooley’s order to turn over documents pertaining to Robles.

“The situation presented here creates the potential for the sheriff to face serious legal consequences, including contempt of court charges, as in this motion, fines, or removal from office,” the filing says.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak bristled at the filing and cast the case’s motivation as dubious."}]

He told Cowboy State Daily on Friday his office has turned over the body camera video, which he indicated was initially withheld to ensure it could be released according to the narrow provisions allowed in public records law.

As for other documents, Kozak said his counsel, Laramie County Attorney Mark Voss, had already conferred with the plaintiffs and worked out a time extension, since the search terms the plaintiffs requested returned around 7,700 generally irrelevant emails.

[{"type":"text","text":"The documents were originally due Aug. 5, court documents say."}]

“It’s confusing to us why this contempt motion was filed when there was an agreement we could go beyond the deadline date, when the search criteria was so large,” Kozak said Friday.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak took a stronger stance in a Saturday email."}]

“It is clear to me that the motive behind the motion and original court filing was, at least in part, to discredit the Sheriff’s Office for political reasons,” he wrote, adding that he hopes Cooley will “take appropriate action” if the plaintiffs’ filings were “misleading or unethical.”

“If the Court does not impose sanctions against the plaintiffs, I will consider filing a complaint with the Wyoming State Bar,” he added.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cooley has set a hearing for Oct. 16."}]

In response to Kozak's statements, Lewis said the sheriff is shifting blame. 

"Rather than trying to blame others, he should focus on doing his work and complying with the Court’s order," said Lewis in a Monday email. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The Presentation"}]

Kozak said several members of the Laramie County Conservative Coalition warned him that would happen, and they gave him a copy of an email notice of a meeting Wyoming Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ann Lucas, R-Cheyenne, dispatched.

Cowboy State Daily asked Kozak to extend the outlet’s interview invitation to the anonymous members. They declined, he said.

The email in question, which Kozak sent to Cowboy State Daily, shows a July 9 letter from Lucas previewing “a very interesting program for this coming Sunday” for the Laramie County Conservative Coalition.

“Cindy Hill and Kevin Lewis will discuss the recently filed lawsuit against Sheriff Brian Kozak,” the email says. The email also recounts details of the case from Cowboy State Daily’s reporting.

Cindy Hill is Drake Hill’s wife. She’s also the former state superintendent of public instruction, whom the Legislature tried, unconstitutionally, to remove from office, and who waged an unsuccessful defamation case against former legislator Tim Stubson.

“These allegations point to issues regarding civil rights,” says the email. “This subject is guaranteed to stimulate conversation. Don’t miss it.”

Cindy Hill did not respond by publication to a Monday-morning request for comment.

Kozak pointed to his decision to launch an investigation into “CheckGate.”

That was the Feb. 9 incident in which Teton County activist Rebecca Bextel, who’s now the Constitution Party nominee in the governor’s race, handed out campaign checks to Freedom Caucus members on the floor of the state House of Representatives – two days before they were set to vote on a bill she’d championed.

Multiple legislators and the entire Wyoming Senate condemned the act, but the House of Representatives cleared its involved members of bribery and misconduct after an in-house investigation.

[{"type":"text","text":"Kozak said his criminal investigation into the matter is still ongoing."}]

“The Sheriff’s Office’s recent search warrants in the CheckGate investigation have clearly stirred the hornets’ nest,” he said in his email. “There also appears to be a connection between Lewis and Hill through their involvement with Honor Wyoming and the Freedom Caucus, some members of which are reportedly subjects of the Checkgate investigation.”

Kozak added, “It is unfortunate to see this type of political activity in Wyoming, especially when I am upholding conservative principals (sic).”

“However,” the sheriff continued, “it will not discourage me from doing my job. I will gladly take the criticism and political pressure if it allows my deputies to perform their duties without political influence.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Lucas in a Monday text message to Cowboy State Daily countered."}]

She wasn’t involved in CheckGate in any capacity and doesn’t see a connection between that investigation and “an education community meeting about immigration law and the Constitution.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“Calling this political isn’t accurate,” added Lucas. "}]

She said at the July 12 meeting in question Lewis walked meeting attendees through the case and the surrounding legal issues. Lucas also said she’s not involved in the legal case and attended the talk only for the education.

[{"type":"text","text":"Here Kozak volleyed back."}]

“Have you ever heard of a (litigant) doing that before – a public meeting on a case they’re representing an immigrant on?” asked the sheriff. “Seems a little weird.”

Lucas had said in her text that the group has invited Kozak to speak and he’s done so twice. He said he’s never gone to one of their events and never been invited.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘That’s A Lie’"}]

Lewis said in a Friday phone interview that the sheriff’s office did not secure an extension for handing over documents.

“That’s a lie, right,” said Lewis. “And Kozak’s counsel set the due date for compliance … So there’s no extension. No request for extension. No communication about extension.”

Lewis emphasized that a judge’s order should be taken seriously and said that Kozak has “simply ignored the deadline of the court order.”

As of Friday, Lewis said, plaintiffs were still waiting on documents from the sheriff’s office.

[{"type":"text","text":"Cowboy State Daily asked if this case has political implications."}]

“I’m not commenting about politics. I’m working for an attorney in Colorado,” said Lewis, before promptly saying he had to leave the call.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lewis expounded in a Monday email. "}]

"We had to sue (Kozak) for evidence and he waited until the day of an emergency hearing to provide only partial evidence," said Lewis. "Then we had to bring a motion for his contempt of the Court Order, and then he did not provide a complete response to what the Court has ordered." Lewis asserted that as of Monday, Kozak has not complied with the order. 

"The Sheriff’s excuses are ridiculous.  He was sued for not doing what he was clearly required to do under the law.  Now he has violated the Court’s Order, purely and simply," he said, adding that Kozak "invents motives."

Drake Hill, whom Cowboy State Daily emailed Friday and Monday, had referred the outlet to Lewis for comment. 

Kozak noted correctly that Drake Hill and Lewis are both linked with Honor Wyoming.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bextel is too."}]

The 2026 business filing for Honor Wyoming lists three directors: Carol Armstrong, Thomas James Anderson, and Blair Maus. They all list their addresses as the same location on Columbia Drive in Cheyenne – which Laramie County mapping records in turn list as Lewis’s property.

Drake Hill represented the group at a November meeting of the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Council.

Lewis was a lead staffer under Superintendent Hill, and Lewis and Drake Hill 

Bextel has worked as an organizer for Honor Wyoming, and in a 2024 Facebook post called herself an “active volunteer” for the group.

Bextel did not respond to a Monday-morning text message request for comment by publication.

[{"type":"text","text":"‘In That Direction’"}]

Lewis was an unpaid lobbyist for Honor Wyoming during the 2024 legislative session and registered with the Secretary of State’s Office for it. Lewis 

 that, given his past political activities, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that he’s involved with the group.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Everybody knows I lean in that direction,” he said with a laugh."}]

Honor Wyoming appears to equate Freedom Caucus-style policymaking with integrity. Its website contains a “Wyoming political integrity index” that it says is based on constitutional rights and major party platforms.  

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says the lawsuit two Cheyenne politicos are waging against him is at least partly political in nature, and tied to his investigation of the 'CheckGate' controversy. Recent search warrants have "stirred the hornets' nest," he said.