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After a series of parking mishaps, Andrew Rossi and Bill Sniffin spent all day Sunday practicing how to park outside of Cowboy State Daily's newsroom.....

One more for no play 6 29 26

One More For The Road: Monday, June 29, 2026

Celebrating their truce, Bill Sniffin and Andrew Rossi buy a boat and invite the Cowboy State Daily staff over for a party.....

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One More For The Road: Sunday, June 28, 2026

After two weeks of fighting, Andrew Rossi and Bill Sniffin try to bury the hatchet by going camping together.....

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One More For The Road: Saturday, June 27, 2026

Outraged to see that Bill Sniffin had taken his parking spot again, Andrew Rossi opts for a permanent solution.... 

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One More For The Road: Friday, June 26, 2026

After another parking dispute, Andrew Rossi teams up with Mark Heinz to throw Bill Sniffin's motorcycle off a cliff..... 

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One More For The Road: Thursday, June 25, 2026

Fed up with Bill Sniffin stealing his parking space, Andrew Rossi employs drastic measures.....

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One More For The Road: Wednesday, June 24, 2026

In an ever-escalating feud, Andrew Rossi makes a music video showing Bill Sniffin's last day on a motorcycle.....

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One More For The Road: Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Andrew Rossi has gotten so tired of Bill Sniffin taking his parking place he decided to destroy Bill's car.....

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One More For The Road: Monday, June 22, 2026

Live footage of Clair McFarland arriving at Sunday's Cowboy State Daily news meeting....

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One More For The Road: Sunday, June 21, 2026

Sadly, the inaugural Cowboy State Daily 500 was a miserable failure.....

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One More For The Road: Saturday, June 20, 2026

While down in Texas, Cowboy State Daily's Bill Sniffin picked up some winter driving tips....

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One More For The Road: Friday, June 19, 2026

Live footage of Andrew Rossi and Bill Sniffin trying to get a parking space before the Cowboy State Daily morning news meeting....

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One More For The Road: Thursday, June 18, 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.”

Libby lane snow 6 29 26

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.”

Greta IMG 0569 6 29 26

<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 

[{"type":"text","text":"After 152 million years, Big Al is back."}]

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open in the Historic Red Shell Schoolhouse in Shell on July 27. The centerpiece exhibit is an exact skeletal replica of “Big Al,” a local icon and one of the most famous dinosaurs ever found.

 found near Shell in 1991. Now, 35 years after its discovery, 

 has brought the famous dinosaur back to its old stomping grounds.

“Big Al’s a big deal for us,” said Erik Kvale, president of the Wild West Dino Den. “Bringing this particular dinosaur back is going to put us on a lot of people’s radars before too long.”

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

While countless children and dinosaur enthusiasts know dinosaurs by their scientific names, many people know Big Al on a first-name basis. That’s because this dinosaur’s story is one of the most famous in paleontological history.

The fossilized skeleton of Big Al was found by Swiss paleontologist Kirby Siber in 1991. Because it was on federal land, the specimen was excavated by paleontologists from the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, the University of Wyoming Geological Museum, and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology in Alberta, Canada.

Big Al’s skeleton was 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.

The specimen became even more notable when a 2002 paper revealed 19 distinct skeletal injuries and diseases preserved in Big Al’s fossils.  Those afflictions include several fractured ribs, a torn-up hand, and a massive bone infection on the right middle toe.

Big Al was 17 years old when he died and still wasn’t a fully-grown adult. The still-unprecedented number of injuries revealed that this dinosaur was a survivor, despite the pain and debilitating life it would inevitably have endured before its demise.

“Big Al (is famous) because of the record of its life and times in its bones,” John Scannella, the John R. Horner curator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, 

. “The more studies we can apply to this particular dinosaur, applying different techniques and analyses, the more we can learn about that animal’s life and the world around it.”

Big Al’s story was so compelling that it was featured in the 2000 BBC documentary, “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Ballad of Big Al.” The half-hour special, narrated by legendary Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, won two Emmy Awards and made Big Al an international celebrity.

“It is the most famous dinosaur from our area,” Kvale said. “Now, he’s back on his home turf for the first time in 150 million years.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Bring ‘Em Home"}]

The actual fossils of Big Al are in the permanent collections at the Museum of the Rockies, which is a repository for fossils from federal lands. A replica of the finished specimen still stands at the UW Geological Museum.

Big Al returned to Shell in a massive shipping crate last week. It will be officially unveiled to the public when the Wild West Dino Den officially opens Saturday.

“Our non-profit is registered as the Big Horn Basin Dinosaur and Geoscience Center, but we found that name was way too cumbersome,” Kvale said. “The world will know us as The Wild West Dino Den.”

Big Al will hang out in the Shell Schoolhouse for the discernible future, but not forever. Kvale’s goal is to open a permanent 4,000-square-foot museum in Greybull, where Big Al will be joined by replicas of other famous dinosaur specimens from the area.

“This is a big deal for us, but what people will see in Shell is a postage-stamp view of what we hope our larger museum will be like,” he said.

When the Wild West Dino Den opens June 27, people will get to see replicas of two other significant fossil finds from the area.

“Baby Toni” was acquired with a grant from the Big Horn Rural Electric Company. The 5-foot-long baby sauropod was found in the famous Howe-Stephens Quarry, a stone’s throw away from Big Al’s final resting place.

[{"type":"text","text":"“It’s the world's most complete baby sauropod,” Kvale said."}]

The other display is a nest of Allosaurus eggs. The only Allosaurus nest ever found was excavated by the Smithsonian Institution between Greybull and Shell.

“We have casts of 24 reconstructed Allosaurus eggs,” Kvale said. “The other 24 are on display in the Smithsonian’s dinosaur hall.”

Kvale said the museum already has the funds to acquire a replica of another exceptional dinosaur found near Shell. “Sophie,” the world’s most complete Stegosaurus, is on display in the Natural History Museum of London.

“We don’t have room to fit another dinosaur in the Shell Schoolhouse,” Kvale said. “Once we get a bigger museum, Sophie will be right down the pike.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hometown Hero"}]

On Friday, Kvale and several Wild West Dino Den board members gathered in Shell to assemble Big Al’s skeleton.

The 1:1 replica was purchased from Research Casting International in Ontario, Canada. It’s one of the most renowned companies in the world for skeletal replicas of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals.

“They were very excited about Big Al coming home,” Kvale said. “They said they’d share the link to our museum on their website, so they’ll be giving us international attention.”

Everyone who helped assemble Big Al felt that they were participating in a historic moment.

“It felt like an honor,” said paleontologist Jessica Lippincott, author of “Wyoming’s Dinosaur Discoveries. “It felt historic. We were able to bring Big Al back to the place where he lived, died, and was discovered. It was awesome.”

Meanwhile, news of Big Al’s return has already gotten locals excited. Many remember the international media frenzy that descended on Shell surrounding the dinosaur's excavation.

“I spoke to someone who remembered going out to see Big Al being excavated when he was a kid,” Kvale said. “He’s in his 40s now, and he’s thrilled that Big Al is back.”

Kirby Siber, the man who discovered Big Al, went on to build 

. One of Europe's largest dinosaur museum, Sieber filled it with dozens of spectacularly well-preserved dinosaurs from Shell, including Baby Toni and “Big Al 2,” a similarly injured Allosaurus.

Kvale got an email from Siber, who said he was proud to call the Wild West Dino Den “our sister museum.”

The Wild West Dino Den will officially open to the public between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.  June 27. From there, Kvale hopes they’ll have the schoolhouse open to the public “most days of the week” this summer.

Meanwhile, the museum’s board is working with the town of Greybull to pursue funding for Big Al’s permanent home.

“At the rate we’re progressing, that’ll be three to four years down the road,” he said. “The agreement we have is that the town of Greybull will pursue the funding for the building, and we’ll acquire the dinosaurs to put inside.”

“Big Al,” a world-famous 152-million-year-old dinosaur found near Shell in 1991, is back home in Shell, Wyoming. Big Al’s skeleton is 95% complete, making it one of the most complete dinosaur specimens ever found.