Wyoming Life
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Hard To Imagine Now, But High Schools Used To Have Smoking Areas
It's hard to imagine now, but high schools across the country used to have designated smoking ares for students who liked to light up. At Cheyenne's East High, that was the courtyard outside the cafeteria.
David MadisonDecember 21, 2024
Wyoming History: That Time In 1929 When Santa Saved Greybull With Dynamite Bombs
History says Santa saved Greybull from a devastating flood when he tossed dynamite bombs out an airplane. That was George Scott, who bomb an ice jam that threatened to wash Greybull off the map. He would go on to be the town’s Santa for years.
Jackie DorothyDecember 21, 2024
Cody Native Living Dream As Notre Dame Makes Run For College Football Title
Cody native Luke Talich was on the field Friday as Notre Dame beat Indiana to advance in the College Football Playoffs. He told Cowboy State Daily that the playoffs are another chapter of an incredible season for the walk-on from Wyoming.
Leo WolfsonDecember 21, 2024
How A Loan Shark Enforcer Found His Calling As A Wyoming Biker Pastor
A former loan shark and enforcer who goes by the handle “Velcro” has a lot in common with the people he ministers to. The Cheyenne biker has found his calling helping prisoners find safe homes once they’re released from prison.
Jen KocherDecember 21, 2024
Saturday Is The Darkest Day Of The Year -- Especially If You Live Up North
Saturday is the shortest day of the year, but that’s relative to where you are in Wyoming. Folks in the northern reaches, like Sheridan, will have more than 30 minutes less sunlight than those in Cheyenne, Rock Springs or Pine Bluffs.
Andrew RossiDecember 20, 2024
Fueled By Wyoming Talent, Montana State Guns For National FCS Championship
If undefeated Montana State University wins a national FCS title this season, it will have Wyoming fingerprints all over it. The Bobcats feature a host of former Wyoming high school players and are coached by a longtime UW assistant.
David MadisonDecember 20, 2024
Locals Shellshocked After Historic Wyoming Union Pacific Water Tower Torn Down
A historic water tower along the Union Pacific line near the Wyoming-Colorado state line was a local landmark for about 80 years. Now it’s gone, torn down Tuesday without notice or discussion, leaving locals and railroad buffs shellshocked.
Andrew RossiDecember 19, 2024
A Denver Broncos-Buffalo Bills Playoff Game Could Test Wyoming’s Football Loyalties
The Buffalo Bills drafting Josh Allen in 2018 — and not the Denver Broncos — has split Wyoming’s die-hard Broncos fan base. Wyoming has adopted Allen and the Bills, and that loyalty to the Orange and Blue could be tested if the teams meet in the playoffs.
Justin GeorgeDecember 19, 2024
Report That Wyoming Lost Winter Days To Climate Change Is Misleading, Says Don Day
A non-profit environmental group's claim that Wyoming has lost two days of winter because of climate change is misleading and incorrect, says Wyoming meteorologist Don Day. “I almost laughed when I saw that,” Day told Cowboy State Daily.
Andrew RossiDecember 18, 2024
Did Nirvana’s Rise As Grunge Rock Royalty Begin With A Wyoming Garage Band?
The early 1970s was a heyday for Wyoming garage bands. Legend has it that a band from Casper went to Seattle and inspired Kurt Cobain to start the 1990s grunge rock movement.
Mark HeinzDecember 17, 2024
Santa Also Delivers Official Mail Through Wyoming With The Pony Express
Santa Claus spent part of Saturday delivering Christmas cards from Green River to Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Jolly Old Elf was an honorary Pony Express rider, delivering official U.S. mail.
Dale KillingbeckDecember 16, 2024
Wyoming History: It’s Been More Than A Century Since Marines Invaded Teapot Dome
It was August 1922, when five armed U.S. Marines arrived at Wyoming well in the Navy’s oil reserve at Teapot Dome. It was part of the first act in what remains one of the most sensational scandals in American history.
Dale KillingbeckDecember 15, 2024
Tiny Box In Southern Wyoming Can Detect Earthquakes Around The World
A new seismograph technology has positioned a tiny box in southern Wyoming capable of monitoring earthquakes around the world. It's expected to reveal answers to mysterious smaller quakes in the region.
Andrew RossiDecember 15, 2024
Much Of Wyoming May Be Safe If US Is Nuked, But Cheyenne Likely To Be Vaporized
A FEMA map showing the best places in the U.S. to survive a nuclear attack shows much of Wyoming clear. Cheyenne and surrounding areas, however, will likely be immediately annihilated.
Mark HeinzDecember 15, 2024
Douglas “Frost Artist” Creates Intricate Snowscapes On Wyoming Storefronts
Moving to Wyoming has inspired Douglas resident Dan Downs to return to doing his “frost art.” Now he creates intricate snowscapes and winter scenes on storefronts.
Andrew RossiDecember 15, 2024
Discovery In Wyoming Weed Field Started Vintage Collection Of Restored Gas Pumps
A Worland, Wyoming, man is obsessed with antique gas pumps, finding them and restoring them to their former glory — or better. The obsession began 15 years ago when he found a rusted old pump in a field of weeds.
Jackie DorothyDecember 15, 2024
Luke Bell’s Inspiring, And Devastating, Story Part Of Wyoming PBS Series
Luke Bell of Cody, Wyoming, was a rising country music star when his career and life were cut short with his unexpected death in 2022. Bell’s family shares his inspiring, and devastating, story in a recent installment of a Wyoming PBS series.
Amber SteinmetzDecember 15, 2024
Willie LeClair: Eastern Shoshone Spiritual Leader, Teacher And Storyteller
Eastern Shoshone tribe member Willie LeClair walked dual worlds as a cowboy and an American Indian in Wyoming. His legacy is as a spiritual leader, storyteller and teacher who also had a “wicked sense of humor.”
Jackie DorothyDecember 15, 2024
UW Fellowship Honors Phil Roberts, Who Taught Wyoming History To Thousands
Nobody knows Wyoming like Phil Roberts, the University of Wyoming professor emeritus who literally wrote the book on Cowboy State history. A new UW fellowship has been named for Roberts, who taught tens of thousands of students over the years.
Jackie DorothyDecember 15, 2024
Wyoming Dinosaurs Sold For $15 Million In Europe, But How Legitimate Are They?
Collectors might want to beware when bidding on dinosaurs at auction houses. A recent trio of Wyoming dinosaurs sold for more than $15 million at an auction in London, but how much of the dinosaur skeletons are legitimate vs 3D printed material?
Andrew RossiDecember 14, 2024
Wyoming History: That Time In 1907 A Cow Ate 19 Sticks Of Dynamite And Exploded
It was 1907 when a cow wandered onto a mining claim in Birdseye, Wyoming, ate 19 sticks of dynamite and exploded. "What hurts is that we had to pay $45 for the cow," lamented the owner.
Jackie DorothyDecember 14, 2024
Wyoming License Plate Collector Makes “Holy Grail” Find
Collin Townsend has spent 12 years collecting a complete run of license plates from Weston County. His latest acquisition is a “Holy Grail” find — a rare 1945 plate with its original wartime wrapper.
Andrew RossiDecember 14, 2024
Behind The Release Of The New Chris LeDoux Song
Before it could be transformed into a father-son duet, the original recording of a never-released Chris LeDoux song sat in storage for 20 years. Then the one copy of the song survived a FedEx trip from Utah to Tennessee and a technology disaster.
Clair McFarlandDecember 14, 2024
Rocky’s Siberian Training Site In “Rocky IV” Was Really In Wyoming
That time Rocky trained outdoors in the snowy desolate mountains of Siberia to beat Ivan Drago in “Rocky IV”? It was filmed 39 years ago in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The training montage is one of the best in the Rocky series.
Jake NicholsDecember 14, 2024