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Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Dale Killingbeck

Dale Killingbeck

Crime & Courts

Public Safety

BAR NUNN — Natrona County firefighters were called to a fire in the 1900 bock of Mandan Trail on Thursday night that left a Bar Nunn family of three homeless and claimed the lives of two pets.

Mills Fire Department Chief Wil Gay said both Natrona County Fire District 1 and his department were dispatched at 11:01 p.m., and on arriving at the fire 15 or so minutes later found smoke and flames coming from the kitchen window on the left side of the upper level of the bilevel home.

“When the crews went in and made entry through a garage door and went upstairs basically to the kitchen, the kitchen was on fire,” he said. “There was a neighbor on his side watering down his house so it didn’t catch fire.”

Gay said there was no one at the home at the time except for the family’s four dogs. 

He said two of the dogs rescued from the home ended up dying, likely from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters carry pet masks that are put over an animal's snout to force oxygen into its lungs, Gay said. 

One of the dogs initially looked as if it was responding to the oxygen by lifting its head, but later died after being transported to a veterinary facility.

“The fire was contained to the kitchen, but the entire first floor suffered damage from the smoke,” Gay said.

A couple who own the home both work nights, and a son who lives in the home had left for an errand about an hour earlier, Gay said. 

When a neighbor saw the flames, he ran to the house and got on the Ring camera that notified the owners about the blaze.

Gay said in addition to rebuilding the kitchen, it’s likely the home’s drywall and interior on the upper level will have to be replaced due to the extensive smoke damage on that floor. 

Two or three trusses above the kitchen area ceiling will also probably have to be replaced, he said.

Firefighters left the scene around 2:30 a.m., Gay said.

Friday morning, trucks from the Natrona County Fire District and Bar Nunn Fire Department were still at the fire scene, checking to ensure no hot spots remained in the home.

Attempts to reach the homeowners were unsuccessful by the time this story was published.

Gay said the fire department, through a city and county firefighters' fund, offered the family a motel stay until they could figure out housing, but their daughter who also lives in Bar Nunn provided temporary housing for the couple and their son.

Gay said the department was still planning to deliver the family a check from the firefighters' fund to help them get clothing and meet other immediate needs.

The Natrona County Interagency Fire Investigation Task Force continues to investigate the cause of the fire, Gay said.

In addition to the fire departments, the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office, Banner Health EMS, Rocky Mountain Power, Black Hills Energy and the Bar Nunn Water Department assisted at the scene.

Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com

Bar Nunn fire Hot Spots inset 5 29 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Fire Burns Through Bar Nunn Home, Kills Two Family Dogs | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Bar Nunn family’s kitchen was destroyed by fire and upper level of the home suffered extensive smoke damage after a late Thursday blaze. Four dogs were rescued by firefighters, but two of them died, the Mills fire chief reported.

Fire Burns Through Bar Nunn Home, Kills Two Family Dogs

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Executive

Gillette-based attorney Steve Titus is so sick of reading about local governments debating and denying grants to Gillette Reproductive Health,

 not everything he said about it is safe to print.

Titus on Thursday announced he’s sending a $25,000 donation to Gillette Reproductive Health.

That’s the amount the nonprofit group requested this year from the Campbell County Commission, 

 for wellness exams for uninsured and underinsured women in the community.

Three of the five commissioners in an informal 

The county is holding a budget hearing June 15, and won’t adopt a final budget until June 17, says the denial letter a county official sent Thursday to Gillette Reproductive Health

irector Taylor Ortega on the commission’s behalf.

“I’m so sick and tired of the ass-backwards bullshit in the Commissioners’ office,” wrote Titus in a Thursday Facebook post.

letter to Gillette Reproductive Health, with a $25,000 check placed slantwise across it.

“I am COMPLETELY tired of hearing year after year that Reproductive Health must beg for scraps from the dumb, short-sided (sic) f***s that run the Campbell County Board of Commissioners,” says Titus’ letter. “Preventative health care is one of the smartest investments a community can make, and refusing to fund it is both shortsighted and irresponsible.”

 phone interview with Cowboy State Daily.

“I think maybe the County Commission would be more apt to support it if they (GRH) provided Viagra and penis enlargement pills,” he said.

“The people that run that organization have better things to do than beg for $25,000 from our ungrateful County Commission, so I thought it’d be easier (to donate) so they can get to their work instead of begging five men for pennies,” Titus said. 

“Don’t get me wrong, $25,000 is a lot of money, but in the scheme of our county budget, it’s an accounting error,” he added. "It’s fractional. It’s nothing.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The Why, Over The Years"}]

Gillette Reproductive Health has made local headlines since at least 2020, when questions and controversies around whether the clinic provides abortion services or referrals surfaced.

[{"type":"text","text":"The controversy has recurred over the years. "}]

It erupted again in 2025, this time on the Gillette City Council side, when the mayor 

 a link to Power to Decide — which in turn provided links to abortion clinic connection sites like AbortionFinder — on GRH’s website.  

 Director Julie Price Carroll told the Gillette News Record at the time that she’d been unaware that Power to Decide had contained links to services such as AbortionFinder.

Ortega in a Friday phone interview said the clinic isn’t involved with abortions.

“We have never done anything with abortion care, and we will not be doing anything with abortion care moving forward,” said Ortega.

Regarding Titus’ donation, Ortega laughed and said the attorney “surely caused a little ripple for us didn’t he?” 

Still, she said she hopes the county and city will still provide the 

 1% tax grant funding, since it’s a more consistent revenue than private donations.

Another controversy that has dogged the clinic over the years, said Ortega, is that it provides Plan B contraceptives, an emergency pill that works by delaying ovulation to prevent pregnancy.

“Plan B is not an abortion pill,” said Ortega. “You can purchase Plan B from your local grocery store. It does nothing once a woman is pregnant.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"These Concerns Specifically"}]

Campbell County Commissioners Scott Clem and Jim Ford told Cowboy State Daily that in the informal straw 

, they both signaled favor toward funding the clinic, while the other three commissioners voted to deny the money.

Those other three are Commission Chair Bob Jordan and Commissioners Kelley McCreery and Jerry Means.

McCreery told Cowboy State Daily he keeps hearing that the clinic provides birth control to minors without notifying their parents, and sexually transmitted infection treatment to minors without notifying their parents.

 should be fueling those efforts, since they involve parental autonomy, said McCreery.

“There’s just enough stuff I don’t know about that I’m having reservations on giving taxpayer money to fund them,” he said.

McCreery said he doesn’t see any evidence the clinic is providing abortions, and heard from a woman who received services there when she was 17 and pregnant that the clinic didn’t try to coerce her into having an abortion.

“Of course, that’s just one person, but to me that gives them some pretty good credibility (on the abortion front),” said McCreery, who emphasized that he is pro-life.

As for Plan B, McCreery said he hadn’t heard of that 

 and that didn’t factor into his thinking at all.

[{"type":"text","text":"“I’m surprised he talks the way he does,” said McCreery of Titus."}]

Wyoming law allows minors to consent to receive sexually transmitted infection treatment.

It is silent as to whether minors can obtain birth control unilaterally, 

Jordan and Means did not immediately return Thursday morning text and voicemail requests for comment.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"That Little Comment"}]

Ford categorized grants for GRH as a discretionary, not vital, use of public money.

[{"type":"text","text":"No funding shortfall worries factored into this budget decision, he said."}]

Though he’d cast his informal aye in the clinic’s favor, Ford emphasized that, “Like most things that matter … it’s not quite as simple as folks want to make it on social media.”

Whether to give grant money to the clinic has been a 

Last year, the commission urged GRH to raise $40,000 from other sources to unlock the grant money.

The clinic answered the commission’s call to raise more money and received a grant last year, Ford recalled.

He also said that the money is “reimbursable,” meaning given on a pay-as-you-go structure rather than a one-time grant.

The county, city, and local appointee-occupied Community, Advocacy, Resources, Education (CARE) Board had recommended the county fund the grant.

At a May 19 work session, “kind of at the last moment,” three commissioners said they didn’t want to fund GRH, said Ford.

[{"type":"text","text":"He and Clem said they wanted to fund the clinic."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Ford laughed aloud at a question about Titus’ approach to the issue."}]

“I think it’s great to have people who are passionate about funding causes that are important to them, and to have public support, you know, for all these social service agencies, for every charity, for all these things,” Ford said. 

“I guess I would say his one comment, about the commissioners, maybe shouldn’t be (referencing) all the commissioners,” he added.

He said he hopes more people will give to causes that matter, “not out of spite or protest, but maybe out of a consistent and sincere desire to support a cause.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Not Substantiated"}]

Clem also harkened to the past claims and concerns of the clinic providing abortion referrals or services, adding, “I don’t think any of that is really substantiated.”

Both he and Ford said there was no discussion on the merits of the decision when the informal vote unfolded May 19.

Clem said he hadn’t heard of the clinic treating minors, but noted that for STIs at least, state law specifically calls for that.

“I think it’s proper for our local government to help fund that social safety net, and I consider that this is part of that,” said Clem.

[{"type":"text","text":"It’s also a smart decision, he added."}]

People without insurance and without meaningful access to preventative care, he said, could exacerbate their medical problems and end up in the emergency room — where their inability to pay impacts everyone else on a much larger scale.

“I do think it’s money that’s well spent, and I think the concerns raised in the past are pretty well put to bed,” said Clem.

Steven Titus and Gillette Reproductive Health 5 29 26

<title>Gillette Lawyer Gives $25K To Reproductive Clinic, Calls Commission ‘Ass-Backward’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Gillette-based attorney is so sick of Gillette Reproductive Health being denied money, he wrote a scathing letter and cut the group a check for $25,000. “I’m so sick and tired of the ass-backwards bull**** in the commissioners’ office,” he wrote.

Gillette Lawyer Gives $25K To Reproductive Clinic, Calls Commission ‘Ass-Backward’

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Energy

Talks about how to accommodate roughly 1,600 temporary and 250 permanent workers at the TerraPower Nuclear power plant that’s on a fast-track for construction in Kemmerer are heating up.

At least three permanent housing developments are kicking off in Lincoln County’s county seat, along with talks about temporary workforce housing.

The city of about 2,400 people is bracing for explosive growth with the first-of-its-kind sodium-cooled nuclear power plant a month into construction.

Multiple companies are eyeing various properties to build a temporary workforce hub that could house workers when the plant comes online sometime around 2030.

“It’s more than just a man camp,” Kemmerer mayor Robert Bowen told Cowboy State Daily about the vision for the development. “This is living quarters. It’s like a little city within a city.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Requests For Proposals"}]

Bechtel, an engineering, construction and project management company partnering with TerraPower, put out a request for proposal to build workforce housing, said Bowen.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bechtel did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment."}]

What the man camp looks like, what it will cost to build and where it is will depend on who is awarded the contract, Bowen said. 

He estimated the project is being considered by between five and seven bidders.

“All the companies have identified different properties they would like to use,” he said.

Some of the properties are in Lincoln County, some are on private property, and others are owned by the city, the mayor said.

“There are too many variables and moving parts to say what’s going happen,” Bowen said “Each bidder is going to have their own proposal.

[{"type":"text","text":"\"They’re not all going to look the same.”"}]

One area being considered for the development is undeveloped city-owned property between the local justice center and the Antelope Ridge subdivision. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Bowen said one developer has shown interest in that land."}]

Not all details of the request for proposals were shared with the city. However, the city council has formally heard about possible details being proposed as part of the project.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Amenities"}]

Bowen stressed that none of the items mentioned are guaranteed to be part of the buildout, but developers are considering adding amenities such as a dining facility that would provide three meals a day to workers, a recreational facility and a cantina.

A cantina, or bar, on a temporary workforce housing site drew mixed reactions from both members of the Lincoln County Planning and Zoning and the Kemmerer City Council.

Some people believe an on-site drinking establishment would lower the risk of drinking and driving because workers would remain at the housing site. 

Others see it as a threat to local bars because a cantina would compete with already-established business.  

The man camp would be an “on-demand buildout,” Bowen said, with the developer creating a base number of housing units and scaling from there according to need.

“Some could be modular. Some could be stick-built. It depends on the bidder,” he said.

The hub would accommodate temporary workers for about a year. Bowen said it could later be used for other area projects — a data center, for example, or if TerraPower were to build a second unit.

[{"type":"text","text":"Bowen said he's excited by the workforce hub’s possibilities."}]

“The thing I love about the workforce hub is it keeps us from getting stuck in the boom-bust cycle,” he said. “We won’t have to worry about overpriced houses that people are upside-down in when a bust comes.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"More Permanent Housing Coming"}]

The Canyon Road Development in town is a 291-acre mixed-use project that will include apartments, up to 1,000 units, along with possible retail and other amenities.

The Gateway Development is underway on 116 acres and plans call for 270 single-family homes.

A third development on private land will see higher-end, custom-built homes. Bowen said that development could draw interest from permanent TerraPower workers such as construction foremen and supervisors.

Jesica Fox Lozier, president of the Fossil Basin Chamber of Commerce and a local Realtor, told Cowboy State Daily she believes there might come a time when Kemmerer will need more workforce housing, adding that permanent housing growth is exciting. 

But she questions how taxpayer money is being used to fund private developers of the housing sites.

“It is definitely important that people stay within the community if at all possible and utilize the services available here,” she said.

Last year, the Wyoming Business Council awarded more than $4 million in business-ready community (BRC) grant money to Lincoln County for crucial infrastructure updates.

The State Land Investment Board (SLIB) unanimously approved the funds, according to a statement from the Business Council.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Nation’s First Advanced Nuclear Power Plant"}]

TerraPower officially began building the first-of-its-kind nuclear power plant last month. 

It will be the nation’s first utility-scale advanced nuclear power plant and will house the country’s first commercial-scale sodium-cooled reactor.

 that the advanced nuclear power plant will have more cops than the local Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.

TerraPower has estimated its system will produce electricity at half the cost of a traditional nuclear plant, while boosting safety, in a system that’s been designed with interruptible power sources like wind and solar in mind.

Terra Power construction 1 5 29 26

<title>Kemmerer Plans For Man Camp To House 1,600 TerraPower Nuclear Plant Workers | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Developers are making proposals to build a man camp for the up to 1,600 workers who will build the TerraPower nuclear power plant near Kemmerer. “It’s more than just a man camp. It’s like a little city within a city,” said the mayor.

Kemmerer Plans For Man Camp To House 1,600 TerraPower Nuclear Plant Workers

A Kearney, Nebraska, man who loves the giant 

suffered a small fracture to his spine when he fell off a ladder trying to climb into the cab of the locomotive during its historic whistle-stop tour on Thursday.

Trevor Allen Bentley told Cowboy State Daily that he was about to fulfill a longtime dream of riding inside the cab of the world’s largest operating locomotive. 

 and had one more step to go on the five-rung ladder to get into the cab when he fell backward about 8 feet, landing hard on the ground.

A 16-second video posted (see below) shows the heavyset man, wearing a bright yellow construction vest, jeans and tennis shoes, gripping the handles on either side of the ladder and struggling to get up to the last step. 

After a few seconds, he slips and falls to the ground, landing on his back between the train tracks.

Three others nearby, also in bright-colored vests, were at Bentley’s side immediately. Instinct seemed to kick in as they attempt to help him sit up.

Bentley said he was able to sit up and that he wanted to get up right away.

“I felt fine,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “Obviously, I was sore. But I just wanted to get up.”

He said he was more embarrassed than anything, “because the Big Boy attracts a show.”

He guessed a few hundred people had turned out to see the Big Boy at the station.

It also was raining, a factor Bentley said likely contributed to his slip.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Ride Of A Lifetime Dashed"}]

Bentley, who works for the online news site CentralNebraskaToday.com, had planned to ride Big Boy 4014 on its approximate 40-mile leg between Kearney and Grand Island, Nebraska, documenting the trip on video for the outlet. 

He said he had emailed Union Pacific to request the ride, which the railroad granted.

In a social media post he shared after the fall, he wrote, “A boyhood dream got dashed as I fell 8 feet off of Big Boy 4014 before I got the ride of a lifetime.”

He later told Cowboy State Daily he has been a train enthusiast all his life. He had been in the Big Boy cab before, he said, “which is why I thought I could do it.”

[{"type":"text","text":"“I just couldn’t get that last step in,” he added. "}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"30-Minute Delay"}]

Big Boy was already running behind schedule when it pulled into the Kearney station, said Bentley. His fall caused an added 30-minute delay.

North Platte resident James Burns said he frequently visits the tracks and had decided to follow Big Boy from North Platte to Kearney. 

He was at the stop, taking pictures of Big Boy 4014 when Bentley fell, though he told Cowboy State Daily he did not see the fall. He also confirmed the incident caused an approximate 30-minute travel delay.

The fall sparked a lot of speculation on social media, with comments ranging from prayers that Bentley was OK to sharper criticisms of Bentley’s attempt to climb aboard. One such criticism was his wearing tennis shoes rather than work boots.

Bentley was taken via ambulance to CHI Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney and said he was released later that day.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'No Fault of UP'"}]

He was home resting when he spoke with Cowboy State Daily via phone Friday.

“I’m just stiff more than anything,” he said, adding that he hopes to be back to work next week. “I am just extremely lucky.”

Bentley wanted to make it clear that his fall was no fault of Union Pacific or anyone but himself. He said what happened was a total accident and that’s why he signed a waiver with UP about riding in the locomotive.

“I do not fault them in any way, shape, or form,” he said. “I don’t want to put a blemish on their tour. It was no fault of Union Pacific. It was on my own accord.”

Union Pacific publicly responded to the incident in a 16-word statement: “We are glad the person is OK and appreciate the concern we've heard from rail fans.”

Contact Kate Meadows at kate@cowboystatedaily.com

Big Boy fall 2 5 29 26

<title>Nebraska Man Fractures Spine After Falling Off Big Boy Locomotive At Whistle-Stop | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Nebraska man told Cowboy State Daily he suffered a spine fracture in a fall climbing into the cab of the Big Boy 4014 locomotive on Thursday. “A boyhood dream got dashed as I fell 8 feet off of Big Boy 4014 before I got the ride of a lifetime,” he said.

Nebraska Man Fractures Spine After Falling Off Big Boy Locomotive At Whistle-Stop

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Courts

A now-former Newcastle police officer is behind bars, accused of stalking a nurse at Weston County Health Services Hospital and demanding she come outside, then sprinting toward her vehicle with a loaded gun in his hand.

Nicholas Joseph Kaminski, 36, was arrested Sunday by Newcastle Police Chief Derek Thompson, as first reported 

. Thompson later contacted the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation because Kaminski was employed as a sergeant by the Newcastle Police Department.

[{"type":"text","text":"He’s being held on a $35,000 cash-only bond."}]

DCI recommended the Weston County Sheriff's Office investigate the case, according to an affidavit of probable written by Weston County Sheriff's Deputy Daniel Fields.

A now-former Newcastle police officer has been charged with stalking a nurse and chasing her with a loaded gun. "U made this worse by not coming outside,” police say he texted her during an hourslong vigil outside a local hospital where she was working.

Kenneth Bradley "Brad" Snedeker, 50