Wyoming
Cowboy State Daily Video News: Thursday, July 25, 2024
It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Thursday, July 25th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom – brought to you by Wyoming Senior Olympics, reminding you that this year’s Summer Olympics start July 31st in Cheyenne – and volunteers are needed! Become a volunteer today at Wyoming senior Olympics dot org.
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U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman is catching heat from the Wyoming Democratic Party for saying Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris was hired by President Joe Biden to be his VP, not because of her qualifications, but because her race and gender fulfilled the president’s diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, goals.
Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports that the Wyoming Democratic Party took offense to these comments, calling them “racist.”
“This stems from a comment that President Joe Biden made back in 2019 when he said he was looking to find a person of color and a woman to fill his VP role, which obviously Harris fulfills both those requirements. But the Democratic Party of Wyoming finds this was a racist comment on Hageman’s part, and they want her to apologize for making it.”
Hageman said, quote, “If you don’t want people to say she was hired only because she’s a black woman, then maybe Biden shouldn’t have said he was only gonna hire a black woman.” Endquote.
Read the full story HERE.
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On Tuesday, the Black Diamond Pool in Yellowstone National Park violently erupted. The force of the eruption sent rocks hundreds of feet into the air and destroyed the boardwalk that dozens of people had been standing on when it blew.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi spoke to Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, about the science behind the event, which Poland categorized as a “small” hydrothermal explosion.
“A hydrothermal explosion happens when water converts to steam, because it expands so much, up to 1000 times, just creates a lot of energy, and that’s what happened beneath Black Diamond Pool on Tuesday… Poland told me that these kind of hydrothermal explosions happen, maybe not all the time, but there are at least a couple of them every year… I guess the scary thing is, they can happen anywhere at anytime in Yellowstone.”
The Biscuit Basin boardwalk remains closed to visitors while geologists and National Park Service teams assess the damage and current behavior of Black Diamond Pool.
Read the full story HERE.
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Residents in a small Montana town were saddened and angered when they learned a headless grizzly carcass that was left in the Yellowstone River was a popular bear well known to townspeople.
The 15-year-old male was Grizzly 769, a bear dubbed the Blacktail Lakes Bear. And outdoors reporter Mark Heinz says this was the same bear that had made trouble in Gardiner, Montana, and had to be put down by wildlife agents.
“They shot it when it was in the river, because they figured that was the safest option, rather than trying to shoot it in the middle of a bunch of houses and stuff. And it died and the carcass sort of floated down the river… and it finally got hung up and stopped in a place where they just couldn’t get it from shore… So what they did is they cut off the head and the paws of the grizzly because grizzly claws can bring a lot of money on the black market.”
Despite what some see as a terrible waste, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks sees as nature taking care of business, as the carcass of the bear is already being scavenged by bald eagles and other predators.
Read the full story HERE.
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The collapse in coal production continues out of the state’s energy-rich Powder River Basin in northeastern Wyoming.
Second quarter data released Wednesday by the Wyoming State Geological Survey shows coal production has slipped nearly 30% from the second quarter of 2023 – and that’s on top of the 21% drop in the first quarter, according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“The reasons are because, you know, there’s a lot of stockpiles out there still of coal, and the winter was very light, and natural gas prices are low. And, you know, there’s not been a rebound in the market, which is bad for the Powder River Basin.”
But Travis Deti, executive director of the Wyoming Mining Industry, said he’s cautiously optimistic of signs of a rebound coming in the second half of the year, and into 2025.
Read the full story HERE.
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Former President Donald Trump has scheduled a campaign stop in Wyoming early next month.
Trump is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for his campaign in Jackson on Aug. 10. It will be his second visit to the Cowboy State in the last two years, according to politics reporter Leo Wolfson.
“He came here in 2022 for a campaign fundraiser for Congresswoman Harriet Hagaman. The event that’s going to be taking place on August 10 is big money all the way, which is no surprise that they selected Jackson, which is one of the wealthiest towns and counties in America for the event. It will cost 5000 to get into the event just to get in itself.”
A photo with Trump at the event will run $35,000 or a pledge to raise $70,000. Co-hosting, which includes a table, photo with Trump and an entry to the lunch reception, comes with a $150,000 price tag.
Read the full story HERE.
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And two men involved in saving an 11-year-old boy who’d fallen into the whitewater rapids of the Popo Agie River in May say they are convinced the rescue was a miracle from start to finish.
Lonnie Porter and Ronnie Disbrow were recognized during Cheyenne Frontier Days as Hometown Heroes, in front of a crowd of at least 10,000 spectators, earning them a standing ovation. The men told Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean that a series of fortunate coincidences that day saved the boy from certain death.
“This kid lost a croc. So he reached down into the water to pick it up, and the water just was going so fast, it just grabbed him and swept him in… There’s about 10 things that if any one of them had been different, that kid would have gone into the Sinks Canyon and we would have never seen him again.”
It only takes 10 minutes of hypothermic conditions to put most people out of commission, and the child had already been in the water for 35 minutes by the time the rescuers arrived. Porter and Disbrow credit divine intervention for the happy ending to this story.
Read the full story HERE.
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A massive ground search is underway for a visiting University of Wyoming professor who has been missing for more than two weeks.
Nash Quinn, a 39-year-old fine arts professor, avid cyclist and disc golf player, has not been seen or heard from since July 8 – although the sheriff’s department didn’t get involved in the search until this past Sunday, according to Cowboy State Daily’s Jen Kocher.
“There were dozens and dozens of volunteers out today. And the it’s a lot of territory was covered. So far, no sighting of him. I just checked in with the Albany County sheriff who is since joining the search as of Sunday. And they’ve got all kinds of assets out there. They’ve got a search and rescue crew and they also have ATVs and all different stuff.”
Quinn is described as a white man with a thin build, with dark blonde hair and blue eyes and a mustache, and wears glasses. His Ridley bike is white with a brown leather seat and 29-inch wheels.
Read the full story HERE.
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The Wyoming Game and Fish Department have come up with a seemingly sci-fi way to combat brook trout that have been taking over the Game Creek area, part of the upper Snake River drainage, from native cutthroats.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that biologists have genetically-altered male brook trout, which then can mate with wild brook trout, but the offspring produced can only be male. That means years of interbreeding with these Trojan fish should produce an all-male population, unable to reproduce.
“They’re called Trojan male fish, brook trout. Basically, they have two Y chromosomes instead of the usual x and y of a male. I’m not sure how all the science works, but … the idea is you’re eventually going to get to the point where the entire brook trout population is nothing but males. Of course, what happens is, they die out. And so that’s a way to effectively eradicate the brook trout from this drainage, where they’ve been competing with native Yellowstone cuts.”
If things go well in Game Creek, Game and Fish might consider using this method for population control in other fisheries.
Read the full story HERE.
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A Douglas woman has agreed to spend at least the next 10 years in prison for causing her 81-year-old mother’s death.
54-year-old Edwina “GiGi” Leman pleaded guilty to one count of elder abuse and no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter this month for breaking her mother’s femur, which led to health complications that ended up killing her. Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland explains the plea deal.
“Pleading guilty to abusing a vulnerable adult, she had to essentially confess in court to give a factual basis for what she had done. Whereas pleading no contest to the actual killing, to the fatality of it, All she had to do was agree that the state has enough evidence to convict her. So she’s admitted to abusing her mother. And she’s simply not disagreeing that she killed her mother.”
Leman accepted a plea agreement that allow her to serve no fewer than 10 years, while prosecutors can ask for up to 20 years, the legal maximum for manslaughter. The terms will be decided at sentencing.
Read the full story HERE.
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During Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Cheyenne Train Depot is the scene of a long-standing tradition that’s about as Americana as it gets.
Three times during each celebration, a free pancake feed is held that – in total over the years – has served 4.5 million pancakes to over 1.4 million guests. Cowboy State Daily’s Renee Jean reports that it’s an incredible sight.
“There’s just a river of people flowing into the depot from every possible direction… The original purpose of this, though, was not just a grand gesture of Western hospitality for Cheyenne Frontier Days, it was actually an emergency management training exercise to practice feeding as many people as possible in as short a time as possible. And these guys could feed 10,000 people in two hours.”
It takes 5,000 pounds of batter to pull the event off each year, along with 425 gallons of syrup. About 30,000 people in all will be served this year.
Read the full story HERE.
Radio Stations
The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings.
KYDT 103.1 FM – Sundance
KBFS 1450 AM — Sundance
KYCN 1340 AM / 92.7 FM — Wheatland
KZEW 101.7 FM — Wheatland
KANT 104.1 FM — Guernsey
KZQL 105.5 FM — Casper
KMXW 92.5 FM — Casper
KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson
KROE 930 AM / 103.9 FM — Sheridan
KWYO 1410 AM / 106.9 FM — Sheridan
KYOY 92.3 FM Hillsdale-Cheyenne / 106.9 FM Cheyenne
KRAE 1480 AM — Cheyenne
KDLY 97.5 FM — Lander
KOVE 1330 AM — Lander
KZMQ 100.3/102.3 FM — Cody, Powell, Medicine Wheel, Greybull, Basin, Meeteetse
KKLX 96.1 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep, Greybull
KCGL 104.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin, Lovell, Clark, Red Lodge, MT
KTAG 97.9 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KCWB 92.1 FM — Cody, Powell, Basin
KVGL 105.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Basin, Ten Sleep
KODI 1400 AM / 96.7 FM — Cody, Powell, Lovell, Basin, Clark, Red Lodge
KWOR 1340 AM / 104.7 FM — Worland, Thermopolis, Ten Sleep
KREO 93.5 FM — Sweetwater and Sublette Counties
KERM 98.3 FM — Goshen County
Check with individual radio stations for airtime of the newscasts.
The Platte County Attorney’s Office has nearly doubled the possible penalties for a Wyoming reporter accused of forging exhibits in an environmental case tied to her staunch opposition to a wind farm.
The 10 new counts against April Marie Morganroth, also known as the Wyoming-based reporter Marie Hamilton, allege that she convinced her landlords that she’d been approved for a home loan to buy their property, and grants to upgrade it.
Hamilton was already facing 10 felony charges in a March 9 Wheatland Circuit Court case, as she’s accused of submitting forged documents and lying under oath before the Wyoming Industrial Siting Council.
That’s an environmental permitting panel that granted a permit to a NextEra Resources wind farm, which Hamilton has long opposed. She’s also reported on NextEra’s efforts and the community controversies surrounding those.
Then on Wednesday, Platte County Attorney Douglas Weaver filed 10 more felony charges: five alleging possession of forged writing, and five more alleging forgery.
The former is punishable by up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines; the latter by up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines.
Hamilton faces up to 65 years in prison if convicted of all charges in her March 9 case. The March 25 case would add up to 75 years more to that.
Both cases are ongoing.
Hamilton did not immediately respond to a voicemail request for comment left Thursday afternoon on her cellphone. She bonded out of jail earlier this month. The Platte County Detention Center said Thursday it does “not have her here.”
The Investigative Efforts Of Benjamin Peech
Converse County Sheriff’s Lt. Benjamin Peech investigated both cases at the request of Platte County authorities, court documents say.
When he was investigating evidence that Hamilton submitted forged documents and lied under oath for Industrial Siting Council proceedings, Peech also pursued Hamilton’s claim that she owned property on JJ Road, and that she’d bought it with a U.S. Department of Agriculture loan.
The property, however, is registered under Platte County’s mapping system to a couple surnamed Gillis, says a new affidavit Peech signed March 19, which was filed Wednesday.
Peech spoke with both husband and wife, and they said they had the home on the market to sell it, and Hamilton contacted them in about July of 2025.
Hamilton told the pair that she and her husband wished to buy the property and were pre-qualified for a USDA loan through Neighbor’s Bank, wrote Peech.
But the property didn’t meet the standard of the loan, Hamilton reportedly continued. Still, she’d been approved for a USDA grant to work on the problems with the property and bring it up to the standards to qualify for the loan, she allegedly told the homeowners.
Papers
Hamilton provided the couple and their realtor with letters from USDA showing her loan pre-approval and grant approvals, the affidavit says.
During the lease period that followed, Hamilton was late “often” with rent and didn’t provide the couple with work logs until pressed, Peech wrote.
In early 2026, the lieutenant continued, the homeowners became concerned and asked Hamilton about her progress improving the property.
Hamilton reportedly sent the homeowners two invoices from contractors, showing she’d paid for work to be done. She said the wind had delayed that work, wrote Peech.
The affidavit says the Gillis couple sent Peech the documents Hamilton had reportedly given them, along with supporting emails showing those had come from one of Hamilton’s email addresses.
The Loan approval documents showed the respective logos for USDA Rural Development and Neighbor’s Bank at the top of each page, the lieutenant wrote, adding that the documents assert that Hamilton and her husband had been approved for the loan.
“There was then a list of items that needed to be completed — 14 items — prior to Final Loan Approval,” related Peech in the affidavit.
A signature at the bottom reportedly read, “Sincerely, USDA Rural Development Neighbors Bank Joshua Harris Homebuying Specialist.”
Grant Document
The documents purporting Hamilton had received a grant also showed the USDA Rural Development logo at the top of each page, with the names of Hamilton and her husband, other boilerplate language and a description of a $35,000 home buyer’s grant.
The project was about 65% complete at the time of review, the document adds, according to Peech’s narrative.
Peech describes more documents: a January notice, an invoice bearing the logo and name of “Cowgirl Demolition and Excavation, LLC,” and another invoice bearing the logo and name of “Pete’s Builders Roofing and Restoration.”
Real Estate Agent
Peech spoke with the Gillises’ real estate agent, Kay Pope, and she said she’d tried to verify the USDA grant and pre-approval by calling Susan Allman, who was listed in the documents as the Casper-based USDA agent. Pope left several messages without response, the affidavit says.
Pope spoke with Hamilton’s real estate agent, and he said he’d spoken to Allman, and he gave Pope a phone number.
Cowboy State Daily has identified Hamilton’s real estate agent and tried to contact him for further clarification.
Pope called that number and left messages without response, wrote Peech.
Peech then called a USDA Rural Development office and spoke with a Janice Blare, deputy state director, he wrote.
Peech sent the three USDA letters to Blare and gave her “all of Hamilton’s names and aliases,” he added.
The lieutenant wrote that Blare later told him the USDA investigated the letters and determined no evidence existed to show the USDA had issued them.
No records existed either, of Hamilton “using all her alias permutations” or her husband within either the USDA loan program or grant program, wrote Peech.
The USDA didn’t have an office at the address listed in two of the letters. The address pertains, rather, to a dirt lot. The USDA Rural Development office didn’t have a program titled “Rural Communities Home Buyer Program” as listed on two of the letters.
On Nov. 6, 2025, the date of the first letter purporting Hamilton had been approved for the grant program, all U.S. government offices including USDA were on furlough, noted Peech from his discussion with Blare.
A person named Susan Allman didn’t appear in USDA’s employee records, Blare reportedly added.
The Phone Call
Peech called the cellphone number one of the letters listed for Allman, “and this was disconnected,” he wrote.
The number Hamilton’s real estate agent had given was a voice over internet protocol number that Bandwidth LLC operates but is assigned to Google, added Peech.
Meanwhile, Converse County Investigator Amber Peterson spoke with the construction and roofing companies listed in the documents.
Chad Derenzo of Pete’s Roofing confirmed the logo and name listed on the documents were his company’s own — but said his company hadn’t issued the bid listed in those documents, according to the affidavit.
“Their company had never contracted to do work for Hamilton or at the… JJ Road address,” the document says.
The invoice also bore an address in Torrington, Wyoming, and his company doesn’t have a Torrington office, said Derenzo, reportedly.
Jessica Loge of Cowgirl Demolition and Excavation gave similar statements, saying the documents bore her logo, but her company hadn’t issued the bid or contracted with Hamilton.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
Wyoming
Wyoming State Parks announces pause on potential visitor center project at Sinks Canyon State Park
Wyoming
Coyote Flats Fire near containment as critical fire danger hits Black Hills, Wyoming counties
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – The grass is starting to return in the Black Hills, but the damage left behind by last week’s wildfire is still visible beneath the surface. The Coyote Flats Fire is now almost completely contained, but fire officials say the work for crews who battled the flames is far from finished.
“It’s been a long week,” said Gail Schmidt, fire chief for the Rockerville Volunteer Fire Department. Schmidt said firefighters worked the Coyote Flats Fire for multiple days as the blaze forced hundreds of people to leave their homes.
Schmidt also warned the timing is concerning.
“It’s early,” she said. “It’s early — and that’s the more concerning part. We haven’t even hit summer yet.”
Some of the same crews, Schmidt said, have moved from the Black Hills to a second wildfire — the Qury (pronounced “Koo-RAY”) Fire. That fire has burned nearly 9,200 acres and was holding at 70% containment as of Monday.
Between multiple wildfires and routine emergency calls, Schmidt said the pace doesn’t slow down.
“The world does not stop just because there was a fire,” she said. “Life continues. We still have our day jobs that we need to go take care of.”
Another challenge arrives Wednesday, with critical fire danger forecast across the Black Hills and into parts of Wyoming, including Sheridan, Campbell, Crook and Weston counties. Forecast conditions include wind gusts up to 40 mph and humidity as low as 12%.
Schmidt said she believes fire lines are in good shape, but she’s watching the weather closely after recent high-wind events.
“Saturday night, 50 mile an hour winds — that was multiple days ago, and there’s been a lot of work done since,” she said. “I personally am pretty confident that we’re going to be able to hold this fire through today.”
While spring is typically the region’s wetter season — which can help reduce fire behavior — Schmidt urged residents not to become complacent as wildfire season ramps up.
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