Opinion
News
Bill Sniffin: Looking Back At 2025 – Prominent Deaths & Continuing Energy Boom
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “This past year was full of incredibly good economic news and a lot of horrible news with the many deaths of important people plus more than our share of tragic deaths.”
Bill SniffinDecember 27, 2025
Joan Barron: Chances Dimming For A Woman Governor
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The office of governor always has been regarded as the best political job in Wyoming. I always thought Lummis would be the one to become the first woman elected governor on her own merits. Even after her announcement, supporters are urging her to run."
Joan BarronDecember 27, 2025
Dennis Sun: The Need to Support
Ag columnist Dennis Sun writes, "As 2025 comes to an end, those in the ranching business are looking forward to 2026, as we recognize policies implemented by President Donald Trump are changing the West for the better."
Dennis SunDecember 26, 2025
Jonathan Lange: Federal Judge Vindicates Wyoming Family’s Rights
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes, “Teachers are hired to supplement the education that parents provide, not to supplant it. Now, a federal judge has ruled that supplanting parental rights violates Due Process, Free Exercise of Religion and Free Speech rights.”
Jonathan LangeDecember 26, 2025
Dale Killingbeck: Mystery And History, Where Did This Wooden Airplane Propeller Come From?
Dale Killingbeck writes, "History and mystery are two of my favorite things. Who doesn’t love a cool mystery especially when it involves an airplane? "So, when I received an email about a wooden propeller found in the middle of nowhere and gifted to a woman and her husband in return for their kindness, I was intrigued."
Dale KillingbeckDecember 24, 2025
Renee Jean: Prison Gave Pete Bass A Second Chance In Life
Renee Jean writes, "Pete's lived a life that sounds like it came from a movie, and I was immediately hooked into listening. It starts with him running away from home to Hollywood, where he was almost raped. "That scared him back home, but didn’t scare him straight. Eventually, his drug addictions landed him in prison. "But remarkably, he’s not bitter about any of that. He sees that as God’s way of offering him a second chance in life. A chance that he embraced."
Renée JeanDecember 24, 2025
Andrew Rossi: "Wyoming's Dinosaur Mummies" Was My Favorite Story Of 2025
Andrew Rossi writes, "I immediately knew that this story was special. I wanted to do a story on "Wyoming's dinosaur mummies" since I started at Cowboy State Daily, and here was an exciting new discovery from Lusk, published by Paul Sereno and his colleagues in Chicago. I had to cover this one."
Andrew RossiDecember 24, 2025
Clair McFarland: The Byron Tragedy Was The Most Significant Story Of My Life
Clair McFarland writes, "I drove to Bryon to interview people about the mother who'd shot her daughters, then herself, in their snowclad home. Her husband voiced a grim resolve to tell me the truth so that at least - at least - the gaping public would have the most accurate account of this already-exposed tragedy."
Clair McFarlandDecember 24, 2025
Greg Johnson: Shutdown Of Lexington Beef Processing Plant Similar To Coal Mine Shutdown In Gillette
Greg Johnson writes, "Just like when the Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr coal mines were shut down abruptly in Gillette, the same thing happened in Lexington, Nebraska. "Less than a week before Thanksgiving, Tyson Foods showed up and informed the 3,200 workers there that as of Jan. 20, they’re out of jobs. The company is closing the huge beef processing plant."
Greg JohnsonDecember 24, 2025
Zak Sonntag: I Wrote About A Homeless Couple Thinking It’d Help. Did I Make Their Lives Harder Instead?
Zak Sonntag writes, "I felt so terrible to learn they were 'evicted' from their only shelter – the abandoned sedan – as a result of the story I wrote. "The day after it published, Casper Police knocked on the roof of the car early in the morning and explained they were on private property and needed to leave immediately, Springer told me."
Zakary SonntagDecember 24, 2025
Bill Sniffin: Going to the Killpecker Sand Dunes Is Like Going To Another Planet
Bill Sniffin writes, "For all my Wyoming life, at the top of my bucket list, has been a visit to the huge Killpecker Sand Dunes north of Rock Springs. I finally made that trip in August. It was a wonderful trip and I wrote a big story about it for Cowboy State Daily."
Bill SniffinDecember 24, 2025
Jackie Dorothy: Wyoming Sleuths Help Return WWI Dog Tags Buried In France For A Century
Jackie Dorothy writes, "As a historian, I have heard it said that a 'second death' occurs is when someone is forgotten here on earth. It is thus one of my greatest joys when I get to be part of someone coming back to life, so to speak, when their story is shared. "Of all the stories I was able to unearth in 2025, my favorite story that exemplifies someone ‘coming back to life’ would be the story of the World War I dog tags and how strangers came together half a world apart to find the families that they belonged to."
Jackie DorothyDecember 24, 2025
Mark Heinz: Cancer Took Randy Svalina's Leg But That Didn't Stop Him
Mark Heinz writes, "if you twisted my arm, I'd have to say the tale of Randy Svalina of Laramie was my favorite of 2025. "After a decades-long battle with bone cancer, he ended up losing most of a leg recently. But he wasn’t about to let that stop him, or even slow him down much, from working, spending time with his family, or even hunting."
Mark HeinzDecember 24, 2025
David Madison: The Wyoming Guy Who Killed The Unlimited Speed Limit In Montana
"Rudy Butch Stanko was a complicated character with traits ranging from heroic to pioneering to puzzling. He was a bare-knuckle fighter in life and in the courtroom. "When he got out of prison, he was clocked driving over 121 mph in Montana, which had no speed limit at the time. "And he ended up putting an end to the Montanabahn — that glorious era of no-speed-limit travel under the big sky."
David MadisonDecember 24, 2025
Jen Kocher: A Drug Runner For Pablo Escobar Or A Wyoming Kid Gone Bad
Jen Kocher writes, "I scanned the pages about Richard’s story that read more like a spy novel full of action-packed moments of flying planes feet above the ocean in the dark dodging radars, outwitting bandits and drug lords hellbent on stealing his loot, and years in a Mexican prison where he was simultaneously tortured then allowed to start a fitness equipment business. "In short, the life of a drug runner for the notorious cartel head, Pablo Escabar, during the height of the cocaine epidemic in the 1980s. "I immediately messaged my source back: 'This a Wyoming guy????'" "'Yeah, Thermopolis,' he replied. 'A Wyoming kid gone bad.'"
Jen KocherDecember 24, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Christmas Opportunities
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "It was Christmas Eve. I was a teenager, which meant I already knew everything worth knowing and listened to almost nothing."
Tom LubnauDecember 24, 2025
Ken Buck: The Freedom of Christmas
Columnist Ken Buck writes, "Religious intolerance and violence is occurring all over the globe. Thousands of Christians have been slaughtered by jihadists in Nigeria. Fifteen Jews were recently murdered at a Hannukah celebration at an Australian beach."
Ken BuckDecember 23, 2025
Dave Simpson: Only White Lights On The Tree? No Way!
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "About 10 years ago, my wife said our Christmas trees should have only white lights. No colored lights. 'I hope you and your NEW HUSBAND enjoy those Christmas trees,' I replied."
Dave SimpsonDecember 22, 2025
Gail Symons: Trigger-Happy Misconduct Complaints Will Scare Off Good Local Leaders
Columnist Gail Symons writes: "If we allow a 'remove them' reflex to replace our braver culture of confrontation, we'll teach good people to stay home, and we'll hand power to the loudest and most relentless factions."
Gail SymonsDecember 21, 2025
Cassie Craven: Hold Onto Christmas, Even Once It Fades Back To Politics
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “Mary is the legend, the holder of the promise in the dark night. She is our Winter Solstice love song. I hope that we hold onto that long after the tinsel is taken down and we get back to politics."
Cassie CravenDecember 21, 2025
Joan Barron: Freedom Caucus Subpoenas Burn Bridges
Columnist Joan Barron writes, “The Freedom Caucus members were reckless and overly aggressive in their decision to issue subpoenas to local officials over some questionable audit findings.”
Joan BarronDecember 21, 2025
Bill Sniffin: Last Night Was The Longest Night Of Wyoming’s Year
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “Although winter is now officially here, this date also means the days will be getting longer and the darkness of the nights will be getting shorter. Wonderful!”
Bill SniffinDecember 21, 2025
Dennis Sun: Christmas Way Out West
Columnist Dennis Sun shares a Christmas poem by Rhonda Sedgewick Stearns
Dennis SunDecember 19, 2025
Jonathan Lange: Wyoming’s Delegation Delivered Coal for Christmas
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes: The repeal of the Buffalo RMPA was a wonderful Christmas present to the people of Wyoming. Hageman, Barrasso, and Lummis preserved an entire economic ecosystem for generations to come.
Jonathan LangeDecember 19, 2025