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Writer

Zak Sonntag

Zak Sonntag is a general assignment and features reporter for Cowboy State Daily and is based in Casper, Wyoming. Previously, Zak wrote for the Casper Star-Tribune, along with the City Journals and Deseret News in Utah. He's an award-winning journalist with the Wyoming Press Association and the Utah Society of Professional Journalists Headliners Contest.

Latest from Zak Sonntag

The Idelman Mansion across the street from the Wyoming State Capitol

Spirits Haunt Old Morgue In Basement Of Cheyenne Mansion-Turned-Government Offices

Wyoming state government workers swear clients of the century-old morgue in the basement still haunt the 1883 Idelman Mansion across from the Capitol. “I’ve never been so scared in my life,” said Buck McVeigh, former chief of staff for Gov. Mark Gordon.

Zakary SonntagOctober 26, 2025

A pair of vehicles that burned up after a head-on collission on U.S. Highway 287 on Oct. 17, 2025.

Notorious ‘Highway Of Death’ Between Laramie And Ft. Collins Keeps Claiming Lives

A fiery head-on that killed two people last week is the latest deadly crash on U.S. Highway 287 between Laramie and Fort Collins. The 65-mile stretch of highway has been so deadly over the decades that it’s earned the nickname “Highway of Death."

Zakary SonntagOctober 25, 2025

Colorado Rockies announcer Jerry Schemmel saved an 11-month-old baby girl and survived one of the most gruesome plane crashes in American history 36 yearw ago. But sometimes surviving can feel worse than death.

Rockies Announcer Jerry Schemmel Shares How Plane Crash Changed His Life

After surviving United Flight 232, which killed 112 people in 1989, Jerry Schemmel went back in the wreckage to save an 11-month-old baby girl. Years later, wracked by survivor's guilt, he did something he'd never done before: he said a prayer.

Zakary SonntagOctober 12, 2025

From a tiny, rural agency to a modernized force, the Shoshoni Police Department has changed — even if its infamous speed check and reliance on revenue from tickets haven’t. And don’t call it a “trap,” the chief says.

Shoshoni Police Write Thousands Of Speeding Tickets — But Don’t Call It A Trap

Although the town of Shoshoni has a reputation for having a speed trap, the chief of police disputes that. He says the reason 2,372 speeding tickets were issued last year is that people were a threat to public safety and without consequences, you can’t change behavior.

Zakary SonntagAugust 24, 2025

Cattle are detained in the pens of the Chihuahua Regional Livestock Union at the Jeronimo-Santa Teresa border crossing in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Nov. 27, 2024. The United States stops imports of Mexican cattle due to the presence of screwworm. After a case of screwworm was identified in the town of Catazaja, in Chiapas, the United States chose to temporarily suspend imports of live Mexican cattle.

Wyoming Rancher Still Has Nightmares About Flesh-Eating Screwworm As U.S. On Alert

As the threat of a nasty flesh-eating screwworm grows, cattle ranchers across the United States are on high alert. One rancher in Crook County, Wyoming, saw screwworms feast on her family’s cattle decades ago, and says it’s the stuff of nightmares.

Zakary SonntagAugust 23, 2025

When a pair of electricians from Casper found Bob Newman lying face-down along Wyoming Highway 28 on Monday, they thought he was dead. Then he groaned. While Newman's daughter calls the men heroes, they say they did what anyone would have.

They Thought The Biker Lying Face-Down By Wyoming Road Was Dead, Then He Groaned

When two electricians from Casper found a biker lying face-down along Wyoming Highway 28 on Monday, they thought he was dead. Then he groaned. "They're my dad's angels,” sobbed the man's daughter from an Intensive Care Unit at the University of Utah Hospital.

Zakary SonntagAugust 17, 2025

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