Headlines

Explore a chronological display of Cowboy State Daily’s articles.

After a “state-of-emergency” power outage in Canada last week — on the heels of a massive outage in Wyoming — some Wyomingites say they’re thankful for off-grid power options. Others say they just hate power companies.

Home Generator Owners Say Peace Of Mind Is Worth The Investment

After a massive “state-of-emergency” power outage in Canada last week — on the heels of a massive outage in Wyoming — those who have invested in generators and other off-the-grid options say it's worth it. Others say they just hate power companies.

Mark HeinzJanuary 05, 2026

Craig Johnson reacts to being the 2025 recipient of the Tucson Festival of Books' Founders Award.

Inside The Loft That Inspires Wyoming Author Craig Johnson’s Award-Winning Career

It was a great year for Wyoming author Craig Johnson who received four lifetime achievement awards from prestigious writing and Western organizations. He created his popular “Longmire” mystery series in a tiny UCross cabin he built himself.

Renée JeanJanuary 05, 2026

Cowboy State Daily Video Newscast: Monday, January 5, 2025

Monday's headlines include: * Tragic Murder-Suicide In Lyman * The 17 White Bison On Sublette Ranch * Man Who Chauffeured Mr. Spock In Yellowstone

Mac WatsonJanuary 04, 2026

Kristy Van Der Hoeven lived to do random acts of kindness. After the Cheyenne wife and mother died from a sudden heart attack, her giving spirit lives on with family and friends continuing her kindness, including leaving quarters in gumball machines.

Even After Sudden Death, Cheyenne Is Keeping Mom's Kindness Alive

After Cheyenne mom Kristy Van Der Hoeven’s sudden death, friends and families created a nonprofit to carry on her tradition of committing random acts of kindness like dropping quarters in gum ball machines or leaving dollars in toy aisles.

Renée JeanJanuary 04, 2026

The American West: Calamity Kid Tamed Horses For Buffalo Bill, Tried To Tame Calamity Jane

Clarence L. Oliver broke horses for Buffalo Bill, rounded up Texas longhorns and had a memorable encounter with Calamity Jane in 1901. That's when, to win a bet, he ran down and caught a drunken and naked Calamity Jane in the middle of Cody.

David MadisonJanuary 04, 2026

Wyoming’s own Anna Gibson flexed both uphill and downhill skiing skills in Solitude, Utah, to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. She will compete in an individual Skimo speed event, and a mixed relay with teammate Cam Smith of Crested Butte, Colorado.

Wyoming’s Surprise Olympian Started Training As An 8-Year-Old For Uphill Skiing

Anna Gibson was 8 when she started begging her parents to let her break Jackson Hole resort rules and ski uphill. Eighteen years later, she’s headed to Italy as America’s surprise Olympic hopeful in a sport she’s been training for most of her life.

David MadisonJanuary 04, 2026

LAPD Policeman Jack Brush would take his vacations in Yellowstone National Park every year and eventually signed up as a law enforcement ranger where his favorite assignment was riding his horse, Ace, on patrol around Old Faithful.

LA Cop Who Helped Catch Charles Manson Found Escape By Patrolling Yellowstone On Horseback

Jack Brush was a hardened Los Angeles cop who worked during the L.A. riots and helped catch Charles Manson. In the summers, he would escape the big city to work as a cop in Yellowstone, patrolling the park on horseback.

Jackie DorothyJanuary 04, 2026

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth listen as U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the media during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on January 03, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida.

Letter To The Editor: Wyoming Has Bigger Problems Than Venezuela

Dear editor: The idea that the United States will now administer a foreign nation — overseeing its oil infrastructure and political future — may excite cable news panels and partisan loyalists. But it does nothing to help the Americans who have quietly been left behind at home.

January 04, 2026

Letter To The Editor: Casper City Council's Gift To Citizens

Dear editor: Without even having a formal public hearing, just a discussion in a work session and a vote in a general session, they have given the residents of our city an unexpected gift that we will not forget; utility rate increases for sewer of 34% in 2026 and 18% in 2027 and for water 8% in both 2026 and 2027.

January 04, 2026

Women Have Run District Court System In Park County For More Than 100 Years

For over a century, Park County’s District Court record has been written by women. Since 1922, every clerk of District Court in the county has been female, possibly making it the longest-running gender-specific elected office succession in Wyoming.

Wendy CorrJanuary 04, 2026

Leonard Nimoy, dressed as "Star Trek's" Mr. Spock, at Minerva Terrace in Yellowstone National Park. Nimoy and an 11-person production unit from Paramount Pictures did a three-day shoot at Mammoth Hot Springs for "Star Trek: the Motion Picture," using the unearthly personality of the real-life Minerva Terrace as a substitute for the alien planet Vulcan.

The Man Who Chauffeured Spock Around Yellowstone For 'Star Trek' Movie Shoot

When Leonard Nimoy flew to Yellowstone in August 1978 to shoot a scene for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture, " Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel worker Eric Ostensen got the job of being Mr. Spock's chauffeur. He recalls it being a "weird" and surreal experience.

Andrew RossiJanuary 04, 2026

How Sheridan Couple Invented An Automated 'Smart' Coop For Backyard Chickens

A Sheridan couple has invented a smart-home system that automates coop care for people who keep backyard chickens. Their Hen Hub recently won $50,000 in a start-up challenge for seed money to bring their invention to market.

David MadisonJanuary 04, 2026

Family Still Desperate To Find Missing Wind River Man After 5 Years

Rupert Brown vanished from his sister’s Wind River Reservation home on New Year’s Eve 2020, leaving his coat behind. Five years later, his family remains desperate to find him amid circulating rumors and a renewed investigation.

Jen KocherJanuary 04, 2026

Guest Column: Behavioral Health v Churches – A Fictitious Conflict Which Only Harms Wyoming

Guest columnist Jon Conrad writes, "It is past time for Rep. Bear and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus to step up, advocate and support funding suicide prevention and the Behavioral Health Division; who have historically voted ‘NO’, against their constituents and our citizens of this great state."

Guest ColumnJanuary 04, 2026

Chef Vincent Fiore was touring Wyoming filming for his new television series “Cookin With Cowboys” when he stumbled on the Wagon Box Inn in Story. Fiore will take the struggling restaurant over starting this month.

Story's Wagon Box Inn Lands Celebrity Chef Vincent Fiore

Celebrity Chef Vincent Fiore didn’t have Story, Wyoming, on the itinerary for his new "Cookin' With Cowboys" episodes, which stream on YouTube. But the Wise Guy Kitchen chef is always up for a new adventure - like taking over as chef at Wagon Box Inn.

Renée JeanJanuary 04, 2026

The Marlatt family was a baseball team of all Wyoming brothers, seen here in 1920 with a few members of the Stanczak family of Illinois, another all-brother team. They made national headlines playing each other.

Wyoming History: All-Brothers Baseball Team Was A National Sensation In 1929

Nine brothers from Hawk Springs made headlines across the country in 1929 fielding a full baseball team. The patriarch of the Marlatt family would start teaching them the game as “soon as each had emerged from the cradle.”

Dale KillingbeckJanuary 04, 2026

Faced With Her Own Terminal Diagnosis, Thermopolis Mom Helps Others With Cancer

When Thermopolis mom Connie Hoffman was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she was overwhelmed by expenses and relied on fundraising to travel to specialists. In the time she has left, she is spending her time raising money for others who have cancer.

Jackie DorothyJanuary 04, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the media during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club on January 03, 2026, in Palm Beach, Florida. President Trump confirmed that the U.S. military carried out a large-scale strike in Caracas overnight, resulting in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.

Barrasso, Lummis, Gordon Cheer Trump's Military Strike On Venezuela

U.S. Sens. John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis and Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon on Saturday all commended President Trump's capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. "Peace through strength works," Lummis said. "Maduro will finally answer for his crimes in American courts.”

Sean BarryJanuary 04, 2026

Billionaire Joe Ricketts’ white bison herd thrives at Jackson Fork Ranch in Wyoming’s Upper Hoback Valley. Started in 2004, the 17-head herd roam the property and can be seen by guests.

17 White Bison Thrive At Billionaire Joe Ricketts’ Jackson Fork Ranch

Billionaire Joe Ricketts’ herd of 17 white bison thrive at Jackson Fork Ranch in Wyoming’s Upper Hoback Valley. To him, the white bison represent a piece of American West history, a spiritual connection to the land and a feature he's proud to share with guests

Kate MeadowsJanuary 03, 2026

A rural county in New Mexico makes children sit inside cage-like roadside shelters called “wolf houses" while waiting for school buses. That’s because their parents worry that wolves in the area might attack the children.

Why New Mexico Kids Wait In Protective ‘Wolf Houses' At School Bus Stops

Parents in a New Mexico county are worried their children might get attacked by wolves so they've built cage-like shelters for them at bus stops. Critics say it's ridiculous as there hasn't been a fatal wild wolf attack on a human in the lower 48 for 100+ years.

Mark HeinzJanuary 03, 2026

Sixty of 88 books written by Michael and Kathleen Gear had been illegally downloaded and used by Anthropic to train their AI program how to write using the authors’ personal voices. While the couple received a settlement for the illegal use of their books, Anthropic can still legally scan and use their books to train their robots to think like them.

Wyoming Authors Win Against AI Stealing Their Work, But May Ultimately Lose

Best-selling authors Michael and Kathleen Gear had 60 of their books illegally downloaded and used as training tools for an artificial intelligence company. A judge ruled that their books were stolen, but that it's OK to use legally bought books to train AI platforms.

Jackie DorothyJanuary 03, 2026

Wildlife filmmaker Casey Anderson set motion-activated cameras in two grizzly dens north of Yellowstone National Park in 2015. He finally recovered the cameras during the summer of 2025, and found they’d captured images of numerous wild animals.

Man Leaves Cameras In Grizzly Caves north Of Yellowstone, Captures Decade Of Video

Wildlife filmmaker Casey Anderson left stop-motion cameras in two grizzly dens north of Yellowstone in 2015 and forgot about them. Last summer, he went back to the caves and, to his amazement, recovered the cameras and more than a decade of footage.

Mark HeinzJanuary 03, 2026

Joan Barron: Don't Get All 'Cheugy' About New Words

Columnist Joan Barron writes, “With the new year we have new words to ponder, like 'sportocrat,' and 'fleek.' The German word 'Backpfeitfengesicht' means 'a face that deserves to be slapped or punched.'”

Joan BarronJanuary 03, 2026

Bill Sniffin: Wyo Economy Last Year Was Wonderful - Looking Ahead, 2026 Might Be Better

Columnist Bill Sniffin writes: “By all accounts, 2026 could be a watershed year for Wyoming when it comes to energy development and overall good times. Let’s hope so.”

Bill SniffinJanuary 03, 2026

Page 152