Rod Miller: The Wyoming Freedom Caucus And See-Through Government
Rod Miller writes: "If the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is serious about government transparency, then they have a stalwart ally in yours truly. If they want to shred all the veils of government secrecy, then I’ll pull my weight in the trenches with ‘em."
Rod MillerDecember 18, 2024
Candy Moulton – Three of Wyoming’s History Keepers
Wyoming has a long list of people who help preserve and promote the history of the state. Glen Call in Afton, Jack States in Lander, and Dick Perue in Encampment, are three people I've worked with this year who are keeping history alive in their communities.
Candy MoultonDecember 17, 2024
Sheriff's Auction: How Much Life Is Left In These Cars & How Much Should You Bid?
Automotive writer Aaron Turpen says the three police cruisers being offered at a sheriff's auction on Wednesday could be a good purchase for the right amount. He thinks there should be plenty of life left in them, but, as always, buyer beware.
Aaron TurpenDecember 17, 2024
Bentley’s Amazing Paint Protection Film and Why It’s Not for the Rest of Us -- Yet
There are few things as expensive as the paint on a Bentley. Many of them have a paint cost that is equal to the average price of a car for the rest of us. There's a reason for that.
Aaron TurpenDecember 17, 2024
Dave Simpson: They're Not Worried About The Debt
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "Some of the smartest guys I know aren't very concerned that our national debt topped $36 trillion last week. One told me, "'Why worry about it? We'll be dead before the (bio material) hits the fan.'"
Dave SimpsonDecember 16, 2024
Cassie Craven. Aliens Are Real. And So Are Moderates In The Senate
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “In addition to aliens being real, I also know that there are moderates in the Senate in leadership positions. While these facts seem stranger than fiction, here they are nonetheless."
Cassie CravenDecember 15, 2024
Rod Miller: Wyoming's Signature Cocktail Is The Ice Slough Mint Julep
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "When the julep hits your gullet, it’s like drinking brimstone distilled in lye, with an after-taste of death on the trail. But you’ve come this far, so you drink it all. Momma keeps making juleps ‘til the jug is empty."
Rod MillerDecember 15, 2024
Joan Barron: The 2025 Wyoming Legislature Is An Aberration
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "After 50 years of tracking the Legislature I have no clue about what the new class will do when they gather next month for the general and budget session."
Joan BarronDecember 14, 2024
Bill Sniffin: For Christmas, Lots Of Wonderful Gifts To Buy Right Here In Wyoming
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “Let’s just give a plug to all the locally-owned stores in your city or town. They range big-to-small. Spending your money there not only helps them, but that money spreads itself around your community.”
Bill SniffinDecember 14, 2024
Jonathan Lange: Lawfare Against Sorority Sisters’ Attorneys Tries To Stifle Debate
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes: "In this case, activists have been playing both ends against the middle for years. When it is advantageous they publicize the transgender sorority member's chosen name to the world. But when it is disadvantageous, they censor it and punish those with the temerity to say his name."
Jonathan LangeDecember 14, 2024
Dennis Sun: Farm Bill Needs To Get Passed
Columnist Dennis Sun writes, "If Congress fails to pass the farm bill by Jan. 1, 2025, dairy prices, corn, cotton, rice and wheat would end up with price supports much higher than 2024 market prices."
Dennis SunDecember 14, 2024
Sally Ann Shurmur: It's An Obsession Rooted In Flour, Sugar And Butter
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, "As we pass the halfway point of Advent, it’s time to confess my newest and completely out of control obsession. Cookies."
Sally Ann ShurmurDecember 12, 2024
Tom Lubnau: Military Academy Candidate Interviews Were An Inspiration
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "Last weekend, I had the great pleasure of serving on the military academy interview committee. The committee interviewed 21 young people seeking to get a nomination to a military academy. Those 21 young adults were a true inspiration."
Tom LubnauDecember 11, 2024
Candy Moulton: Hooray for Wyoming History at UW
Candy Moulton writes: “As someone who loves and writes about Wyoming history, I’m thrilled about the university and the state’s commitment to the study of our past with the Phil Roberts Faculty Fellowship in Wyoming History and the West.”
Candy MoultonDecember 10, 2024
Rod Miller: Wyoming Democrats & the Elusive “Different Result”
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "So, Democrats in the Wyoming Legislature were cold-shouldered when committee assignments were recently handed out. As expected, they grumped and groused about being left out. That’s really the only response available to them because they simply don’t control enough seats to effect any other outcome."
Rod MillerDecember 09, 2024
Dave Simpson: She'll Never Re-Gift This Present
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, "My late father in-law, a great guy, once gave his wife a butcher knife and a meat grinder for Christmas. There was speculation in the family about what she might cut off and grind up."
Dave SimpsonDecember 09, 2024
Cassie Craven: Live Not By Lies
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “Justice Jackson’s Imaginary Equal Protection Clause theory reimagines that the law must protect you as a special category, even if your category is outside of reality. If this logic holds, next up are classifications for astrological sign, furry identification and favorite sandwich.”
Cassie CravenDecember 08, 2024
Rod Miller: The 10 Worst Things In Wyoming In 2024
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "Number 6 – The 'out of order' signs, and police tape that encircles the Independence Rock rest area as you are on your way home from Frontier Days, with your intestines full to bursting with funnel cakes. And you lock your keys in the car."
Rod MillerDecember 08, 2024
Joan Barron: The Fight Over Triple Trailers -- The Undemocratic Initiative Process
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "If you add up the number of ballot questions Wyoming voters approved over the years, the number is mighty puny. This was the intent of the legislators who passed the initiative and referendum law in 1968."
Joan BarronDecember 07, 2024
Bill Sniffin: Yogi, Smokey, And Old 399 Have Been Wyoming’s ‘Three Bears’
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “The most famous bear in the world was ‘Old 399,’ a much beloved grizzly sow that liked to hang around the highways south of Yellowstone and in the Jackson Hole and Togwotee Pass areas. She was an amazing breeder.”
Bill SniffinDecember 07, 2024
Jonathan Lange: Talk Of 'Secondary Sex Characteristics' Endangers Children By Avoiding The Primary Fact
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes: While euphemisms and medical sleights of hand can make discussion of “puberty blockers” and “cross-sex hormones” seem almost normal, even the most radical ideologues can’t defend putting children under the knife and cutting off perfectly healthy and normally functioning sex organs.
Jonathan LangeDecember 06, 2024
Dennis Sun: Keeping Consumers Informed
Columnist Dennis Sun writes, "People always ask me when the price of beef will come down. I have to tell them prices are currently not high – they reflect what beef is worth at this time. And then I tell them why this is so."
Dennis SunDecember 06, 2024
Sally Ann Shurmur: The Wyoming Cowboys Season Is Over For Some, But Not For Me
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, “The Wyoming football season may be over, but there is still much to watch for and think about.”
Sally Ann ShurmurDecember 05, 2024
Tom Lubnau: The Wyoming House Stalling Committee Appointments Is A Bad Idea
Tom Lubnau writes: "The Speaker of the House should appoint committees based on the strengths of his members, not some perceived fear of what the Senate might do. The Senate is going to do what the Senate does, and they don’t give a damn what the House thinks."
Tom LubnauDecember 05, 2024
Candy Moulton: A Return to Christmas Past at Wyoming’s Frontier Forts
Three of Wyoming’s pioneer trail historic sites are hosting special Christmas events this month that give visitors the opportunity to step back in time to see and experience a time long past.
Candy MoultonDecember 03, 2024
Dave Simpson: Government Waste And Inefficiency? Where?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “In the past, lawmakers have been a lot more interested in getting re-elected than in cutting waste and inefficiency. Maybe it will be different this time."
Dave SimpsonDecember 02, 2024
Rod Miller: Mutton Conductin’ in the Cowboy State
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "Coyotes are the reason Dad finally got out of the sheep business. He tried everything to keep them from murdering our sheep. He even bought a helicopter to hunt coyotes and that didn’t even make a dent. Coyotes are smart as hell, and they just kept out-thinking us."
Rod MillerDecember 01, 2024
Cassie Craven: Did You Talk About Politics At The Turkey Table?
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “I asked my soon-to-be 9 year old, what I should write a column about this week. She thought for a moment and said, if you could tell Jesus something what would you say? Well, I would tell him thank you."
Cassie CravenDecember 01, 2024
Jonathan Lange: Governments Should Encourage Worship, But Church Should See It Done
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes, "Give the government an inch and it will take a mile. One day Congress is 'requesting a recommendation from the president' and the next day the governor is issuing a 'health order' that forbids certain kinds of worship altogether."
Jonathan LangeNovember 30, 2024
Bill Sniffin: Here’s Why Trump Will Be Successful – He Will Apply Business Principles
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes, "Can you run government like a business? If you could, should you? I think Donald Trump is about to find out the answers to those questions and the people of America will benefit from it."
Bill SniffinNovember 30, 2024
Dennis Sun: Humans Are Part Of The Ecosystem
Columnist Dennis Sun writes, "California outlawed hunting of mountain lions in 1990, and in the 34 years since, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has had to kill many more lions every year than were killed when permitted hunting was a policy."
Dennis SunNovember 29, 2024
Sally Ann Shurmur: Wyoming School Boards Association Salutes Its Own, Rings Those Bells And Does It Well
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, “In my former life, banquets and formal fundraisers were part of the deal. It had been awhile since Owen and I attended one.”
Sally Ann ShurmurNovember 29, 2024
Rod Miller: Dear Li’l Chucky, Let’s Rumble!
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "On 'The Cowboy State Daily Morning Show With Jake last Monday, Secretary of State Gray accepted my months-long challenge to a debate. Needless to say, my nostrils flared and my pupils dilated with anticipation."
Rod MillerNovember 27, 2024
Tom Lubnau: Wayne Newton, Up Close And Personal – An Evening Well Spent
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "I must admit that my reaction to the possibility of seeing Mr. Newton was a resounding 'Meh!' But that vanished within a minute of him taking the stage."
Tom LubnauNovember 27, 2024
Candy Moulton: Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving
Candy Moulton writes: “Give thanks in any way you prefer, but taking a day to enjoy the company of family and friends is a tradition that we can all be thankful the native tribes and the early settlers in this nation started over 400 years ago.”
Candy MoultonNovember 26, 2024
Clair McFarland: Not Letting An Airborne Desk Chair Have The Last Laugh
Clair McFarland writes, "But in my hatred for the alien throne, I forgot (or never had the commonsense) to measure my desk’s height. So the huge inflatable ball posing as my new desk chair arrived three inches too high."
Clair McFarlandNovember 25, 2024
Dave Simpson: The Ugly Cookies Taste Just As Good
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Whenever Gramps visits, cookies are to be baked, first with the assistance of one grand daughter, then two years later, with two. (Red hair, blue eyes, both cute as buttons.)”
Dave SimpsonNovember 25, 2024
Rod Miller: Free Speech and the Hypocrisy of the Wyoming GOP
Rod Miller writes, "It’s almost as if the Wyoming Republican Party wants to prevent any voice other than their own from being heard out in the Big Empty. It’s almost as if Party leadership wants Wyomingites to hear only their officially-sanctioned speech."
Rod MillerNovember 24, 2024
Cassie Craven: I Did Vote for Women
Columnist Cassie Craven writes, “If the women of the Left care about women’s rights at all, they should wake up and see the world for what it actually is and act. We are so much more than a set of pronouns. We must be more than radical zealots fighting to kill our own babies."
Cassie CravenNovember 24, 2024
Joan Barron: Bob Tanner Was A Gutsy Lawmaker
Columnist Joan Barron writes, "We have 52 sales/use tax exemptions. The amount of money the state is losing through sales tax exemptions is in the billions with a B.”
Joan BarronNovember 23, 2024
Bill Sniffin: Over My Career, My Favorite Award Was An Old Battered Miner’s Helmet
Columnist Bill Sniffin writes, "Exposing the stories about the horrible deaths of Fremont County uranium miners in the 1980s ended up being one of the most fulfilling events of my 60-year journalism career."
Bill SniffinNovember 23, 2024
Jonathan Lange: Judge Who Struck Down Abortion Bans Resurrects Outdated Law
Columnist Jonathan Lange writes: "Prenatal life has constitutional rights in the state of Wyoming. That is a fact of law and of the Constitution. But nowhere is it disputed, refuted, or even acknowledged in Judge Owens’ opinion on abortion."
Jonathan LangeNovember 22, 2024
Dennis Sun: Against The West
President-Elect Donald Trump has campaigned to bring the DOI and BLM back under commonsense management that will listen to experts in Western states. I can’t wait.
Dennis SunNovember 22, 2024
Sally Ann Shurmur: UW vs Boise State -- Of All The Reasons To Go, Which Will You Choose?
Columnist Sally Ann Shurmur writes, “Should the unthinkable happen and Wyoming pull off the upset of all upsets, Boise will be done in the playoff talk and Jeanty’s Heisman hopes likely will be done as well. So all of this brings the question, does the football fan go to see the home team or the quality competition?"
Sally Ann ShurmurNovember 21, 2024
Dave Simpson: What Was Your Favorite Whopper?
Columnist Dave Simpson writes, “Oprah Winfrey told us if we didn't vote for Kamala Harris, it could be the last time we ever get to vote in an election. Hoo-boy, what a knee-slapper that was.”
Dave SimpsonNovember 21, 2024
Tom Lubnau: A Deeper Dive On The Wyoming Judge's Abortion Analysis
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "In a prior column, I examined the Wyoming district court abortion decision from a high level. Now I’ll look at it on a granular level."
Tom LubnauNovember 21, 2024
Rod Miller: Gen Z Around the Ol’ Campfire – or – Kids These Days
Columnist Rod Miller writes, "A yellow bus from Big Empty High School had pulled up to cow camp in the pale pre-dawn, and dropped off a dozen or so juniors and seniors for their annual field trip to the sticks. Their broncpeeler chaperons paired off with a newbie apiece, and set out to do cowboy work."
Rod MillerNovember 21, 2024
Tom Lubnau: The Wyoming Abortion Decision Explained
Columnist Tom Lubnau writes, "Without opining one way or another on the abortion issue itself, examination of the Court’s decision and the reasoning behind the 35-page decision is helpful to understanding this important decision."
Tom LubnauNovember 20, 2024