Dave Simpson: 400 Bullet Holes, And They Made It Back
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “As his son-in-law, I'm biased. But this new book is a riveting look at the incredible sacrifice, and the deadly price paid by many everyday Americans who risked it all for love of country.”
Dave SimpsonMarch 24, 2025
Clair McFarland: Don't Harass Your Banjo Player
Clair McFarland writes, "Little-Feisty played ‘Joy to the World.’ Even with that banjo being just a pan, a neck, five strings and some invisible sprites, I could hear it well above the sound of ‘Thunderstruck.’”
Clair McFarlandMarch 24, 2025
Cassie Craven: Don’t Get Your Medical Advice From CNN
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “If an ultrasound were not completed prior to taking abortion pills, and a woman merely guessed at how far along she was and was wrong, the results could be devastating."
Cassie CravenMarch 23, 2025
Joan Barron: What About Accountability For New $7,000 School Voucher Payments?
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "What protection, readers have asked, is there to prevent a parent from taking the $7,000 school voucher and letting the kid sit on the couch and watch TV all day?"
Joan BarronMarch 22, 2025
Bill Sniffin: Too Hot! Too Cold? Too Windy! Why Do Old Men Talk About The Weather So Much?
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “The elderly talk about the weather because it appeals to everyone. The elderly get detached with what many younger people are interested in and often feel like they have nothing to offer. The elderly want to be heard.”
Bill SniffinMarch 22, 2025
Jonathan Lange: Barbuto’s Miscalculation Released The Flying Monkeys
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes, "By Wednesday, the protesters in Laramie totally forgot the narrative. Instead of looking like MAGA with misgivings, they looked like Portland anarchists. It was a disgrace."
Jonathan LangeMarch 22, 2025
Dennis Sun: The Post Office is Not Listening
Ag columnist Dennis Sun writes, "The outgoing postmaster general wants DOGE to examine the 'unfunded mandates imposed on USPS by Congress,' as he calls them. Some of these are delivering mail six days a week and maintaining rural post offices. I believe those are services vital to rural America."
Dennis SunMarch 21, 2025
Sally Ann Shurmur: Hip, Hip Hooray And A Great New Book
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, “I have a new hip and it is a miracle, less than 24 hours in. But I also want to share a first novel by a longtime Casper resident that is available for purchase Tuesday.”
Sally Ann ShurmurMarch 20, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Some Of Wyoming's New, Amazingly Stupid Laws
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes: "How did these bills become law? Legislators who do not want to be labeled as gun grabbers or abortionists chose not to amend them. So we got crappy laws instead."
Tom LubnauMarch 19, 2025
Candy Moulton: When The Women Ran Jackson
Columnist Candy Moulton writes, "A group of strong-willed women took over the town of Jackson in 1920 when the town elected an all-female town council. And the women quickly swept the town clean – both literally and figuratively."
Candy MoultonMarch 18, 2025
Joan Barron: Alan Simpson Grew To Be A Statesman
Columnist Joan Barron, who has covered the Wyoming legislature since 1970, writes, "Calling themselves ‘just a couple of country lawyers,” Simpson and Herschler outsmarted the hot shot attorneys who flew in from New York and D.C. The trona industry won and the defeated eastern lawyers flew out of Cheyenne."
Joan BarronMarch 18, 2025
Dave Simpson: These Nuts Oppose Cutting Waste
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Our Democrat friends have painted themselves into an impossible corner. And they're determined to keep right on painting."
Dave SimpsonMarch 17, 2025
Cassie Craven: What Is A Woman? Ask Esther Hobart Morris
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “Our Governor allowed the 'What is a Woman Act' to become law without his signature. He cast women's quest to have privacy rights and a biological reality in law as a 'national political itch to be scratched.'"
Cassie CravenMarch 16, 2025
Clair McFarland: Mom Says No More Mountain Haggery On The Video News
Columnist Clair McFarland writes: "Mom wants me to look clean and polished on Cowboy State Daily’s video newscast. But I want to exude enough mountain haggery to terrify the out-of-staters."
Clair McFarlandMarch 15, 2025
Joan Barron: More Wyoming Women Should Run For Election
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The three senior women Senate leaders to watch are Tara Nethercott, a Cheyenne lawyer and majority floor leader; Sen. Cheri Steinmetz, a Torrington rancher; and Wendy Schuler, a retired Evanston teacher."
Joan BarronMarch 15, 2025
Bill Sniffin: The World Says Good-Bye To A Giant – Big Al Simpson’s Style Will Rarely Be Seen Again
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “The biggest news story I ever wrote was done working closely with Big Al. In 1990, a Lander gal named Midge Olson told me her husband died of cancer caused by working in the uranium mines. His body was so radioactive, grass would not grow on his grave."
Bill SniffinMarch 15, 2025
Jonathan Lange: The Weston County Clerk’s False Filing Cannot Be Ignored
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes: "Clerk Hadlock has had more than four months to explain to the public how her false report of November 6, 2024, was not willfully false. Now the ball is in Governor Gordon’s court."
Jonathan LangeMarch 14, 2025
Dennis Sun: The Volatile Egg Industry
Ag columnist Dennis Sun writes, "With egg prices at a record high and rising, multiple management methods are at work to try to solve the issue of low egg supplies. However, high egg prices are not entirely due to highly pathogenic avian influenza."
Dennis SunMarch 14, 2025
Sally Ann Shurmur: How Big Is The Window On Your World?
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, “Once upon a time, there was an editor who didn’t talk much to me. He did say once though that in writing my columns, he appreciated the way I ‘put it all out there.’ Consider yourselves warned.”
Sally Ann ShurmurMarch 13, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Seeing The Eagles Hits Differently On This Side Of Life
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "My home life in the 1970s was dysfunctional, oftentimes violent. The Eagles’ “Hotel California” struck a chord with me. But seeing that opening number Friday in the Sphere was like putting prescription glasses on for the first time."
Tom LubnauMarch 12, 2025
Candy Moulton: Off The Grid, At Least Temporarily
“We had no power for 22 hours in Saratoga and Encampment this weekend. I thought briefly about the things I could do with no power – like clean the house – but I successfully resisted that opportunity. And the outage pales in comparison to the 25-year outage that once happened here.”
Candy MoultonMarch 11, 2025
Dave Simpson: Good News – Legislature Was Not 'Horrible'
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "You might not have thought we needed 165 new laws, but it could be a lot worse. Hundreds of bills were proposed.”
Dave SimpsonMarch 11, 2025
Cassie Craven: The Wyoming I Know Is Back
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “We bucked the system, stirred the pot, spoke the truth and didn’t back down. Both chambers did the people’s work. And it was damn good work.”
Cassie CravenMarch 09, 2025
Bill Sniffin: Can I Whisper ‘Golden Age’ As We Contemplate Wyoming’s Immediate Future?
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes, “Wyoming will benefit greatly by the presidency of Donald Trump. With a fossil fuel-friendly administration, a friendly Congress, and the sensible Supreme Court, Wyoming’s capacity for generating energy here has not seen such a green light in decades."
Bill SniffinMarch 08, 2025
Joan Barron: Maybe Next Year Will Be Better
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "It was a good thing for the Legislature to quit two days early this year. That way the lawmakers could not do any more damage to the Legislature as an institution than they already have."
Joan BarronMarch 08, 2025
Jonathan Lange: This Year’s Flood Of Election Integrity Bills Accomplished Great Things.
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes, "Kudos to Secretary of State, Chuck Gray for tirelessly pushing the legislature to fulfill its constitutional mandate to “pass laws to secure the purity of elections, and guard against abuses of the elective franchise.”
Jonathan LangeMarch 07, 2025
Dennis Sun: The World Has Gotten Smaller
Columnist Dennis Sun writes, "America needs to stop accepting beef from Paraguay as it doesn’t have strict health regulations over its cattle. Ranchers are worried about imported meat bringing in disease, especially foot and mouth disease."
Dennis SunMarch 07, 2025
Sally Ann Shurmur: Farewell To Colleague And Friend Jason Marsden
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, "Back before the big corporate buyout, before reporters thought they should make a union, before home delivery stopped, we were a family."
Sally Ann ShurmurMarch 06, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Actually, The Wyoming Senate Is More Conservative Than The House
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "The Senate did not react well to pressure from mysterious puppet masters. When dealing with the budget the upper chamber instead coalesced into a cohesive body. Leadership agreed to kill the budget, and no one on the Senate floor made a move to overrule Leadership."
Tom LubnauMarch 06, 2025
Candy Moulton: All Aboard! Let’s Get Amtrak Back
Candy writes: “Next to traveling on a wagon, taking a ride on a train very well may be my favorite mode of transportation.”
Candy MoultonMarch 05, 2025
Clair McFarland: Sure, False Spring, I’ll Fall For You
Columnist Clair McFarland writes, "I’m not blind to the fact that it’s going to snow tomorrow. This warm spell was a trickster and a flirt, designed to put me off my guard. And it succeeded."
Clair McFarlandMarch 03, 2025
Dave Simpson: Blame It All On The Freedom Caucus?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Keep in mind that the awful stuff you hear about the Freedom Caucus might be what Sen. Larry Hicks calls fertilizer.”
Dave SimpsonMarch 03, 2025
Cassie Craven: The Wild Bunch Is Wyoming
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “Gordon’s letter quoted an unnamed neighbor: ‘This wild bunch doesn’t understand Wyoming.’ With all due respect, Governor, the wild bunch was elected in a near landslide, despite your big-time money and endorsements trying to stack the deck. Maybe you and your friends don’t understand Wyoming.”
Cassie CravenMarch 02, 2025
Rod Miller: The 800-Pound Gorilla In The Wyoming Classroom
Columnist Rod Miller writes: "Absent the immediate writing and passage of an amendment to the Wyoming Constitution that says lawmakers can do what they damn well please with school funding, our citizen legislature has its work cut out for it. And it all circles back to our Constitution."
Rod MillerMarch 02, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Wyoming's Constitution Demands Fairer Teacher Pay
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes: "The Legislature has played games with teacher pay. Sometimes lawmakers dole out an increase just for one budget year, so the pay would slump right back down after that year - falling even further behind inflation."
Tom LubnauMarch 02, 2025
Joan Barron: Legislature Pedaling Back 50 Years
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "The recent movement to ignore the supplemental budget is clearly Freedom Caucus-inspired and is meant, at least partially, to target and embarrass Gov. Mark Gordon."
Joan BarronMarch 01, 2025