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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

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

Jennifer Dyke with father and brother at Sturgis.

Sturgis In The Rear View Mirror: A Father’s Memory Lives On At The Annual Rally

Another Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has come and gone. For Jennifer Dyke, who has made the pilgrimage for decades, it's an annual honoring of her father’s passion for riding and preserves a family tradition shared by bikers from around the world.

Zakary SonntagAugust 16, 2025

Bikers, Journalists and even cops — everyone gets red at One Eyed Jack’s Saloon during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The only thing that kills the buzz is some guy named “Insufficient Funds.”

Drinking Sturgis : One Eyed Jack's Saloon Makes Everyone Blush

The main level of One Eyed Jack's is a vast, open-air layout with a dozen separate island bars. It feels kind of like a junior high cafeteria. That is, if in this junior high cafeteria women wear thongs, bartenders paddle patrons on the derriere and random dudes invite you to pet a 30-pound boa constrictor.

Zakary SonntagAugust 10, 2025

Special Officer Aaron Conner says working the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is a bucket-list item for his career in law enforcement.

A Night In Sturgis Jail Isn't Pretty

When arrests at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally get too high, officials resort to an overflow jail, a quasi-retired 1950s era jailhouse. “When you have 50+ drunk individuals who aren’t happy to be there, haven’t showered in a few days, highly intoxicated, it gets thick back there,” a prison official said.

Zakary SonntagAugust 10, 2025

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