Wyoming
Cowboy State Daily Video News: Wednesday, June… | Cowboy State Daily
It’s time to take a look at what’s happening around Wyoming, for Wednesday, June 19th. I’m Wendy Corr, bringing you headlines from the Cowboy State Daily newsroom – Presented by Cheyenne Frontier Days – starting July 19th, from sun-up to sun-down – there’s something for everyone! Check it out at C-F-D RODEO DOT COM!
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An end may be in sight for Jackson workers who live in Idaho and have had to add hours of extra travel a day to get around a “catastrophic” failure of Highway 22 that has kept Teton Pass closed for a week and a half.
Bob Hammond with the Wyoming Department of Transportation told Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson that officials hope to have a temporary rerouting of the road paved by the middle of next week and the road opened to traffic soon after.
“The road is expected to be paved, possibly as early as this weekend and then by the middle of next week people could be traveling on that road. They’re creating a kind of a detour on the road. It’s not going to be the permanent fix. But it is a temporary fix… Hammond told me they’ve been literally working to 12 hour shifts every day. So literally 24 hours a day through the clock to get this work done.”
Since the road collapse on June 8, people have had to detour through Swan Valley to Alpine and then up the Snake River Canyon, a distance of 85 total miles, to cover the 24 miles between Jackson and Victor, Idaho, over the pass.
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Yellowstone National Park’s next major road project will include blasting nearly 100,000 tons of rock that remains from a prehistoric volcanic explosion, and the feds are giving the park $22 million to do it.
Cowboy State Daily’s Andrew Rossi reports that starting in fall 2025, the Federal Highways Administration money will be used to significantly transform Golden Gate Canyon in northwest Yellowstone to make the corridor to Mammoth Hot Springs more scenic, safe and accessible.
“Yellowstone superintendent Cam Sholly said that it’s a lot of money for a short stretch of road, but these improvements are overdue… they’re going to remove rock from the Three Noses as they call them… these three outcrops of rock that stretch out over the highway. So it’s not going to remove the character of the canyon, but it is going to make it safer and mitigate rock falls. There’s also going to be two new parking areas, a new pit toilet and a pedestrian pathway to provide a better view of Rustic Falls.”
Golden Gate improvements are part of nine projects totaling more than $370 million in Infrastructure Act money to replace bridges and roads in Yellowstone, including the ongoing replacement of the Yellowstone Bridge, expected to be completed in 2026.
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It was 2019 when the Gittleson family members saw the first wolf on the ranch property they lease in northern Colorado, roughly 12 miles from the Wyoming state line. While at first, it seemed like no big deal, since then the ranch has lost 11 cattle to wolves.
Cowboy State Daily’s Mark Heinz reports that the Gittleson place seems to be right in the middle of where wolves are traversing back and forth from both Colorado and Wyoming.
“I spoke with the ranchers directly and they said it wasn’t really a big deal when the adult wolves showed up. They pretty much kept to themselves – but then they had a litter of pups, and they had to teach them how to hunt, and of course, what’s available and easy to hunt right there? Well, cattle, so they started losing cattle to those wolves.”
Kim Gittleson said her family has dealt with other predators, such as bears and mountain lions, for decades. But wolves are turning out to be something different. And so far, non-lethal deterrents have produced mixed results.
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U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who is trooping throughout the coal-rich Powder River Basin this week visiting mining operations, said she plans to invite former President Donald Trump to the Cowboy State.
Hageman told Cowboy State Daily’s Pat Maio on Tuesday that the 45th president recognizes the importance of Wyoming’s energy industry.
“She feels that he’s the only one that kind of gets what’s going on in the energy world, and that our current president, Joe Biden, is kind of failing that – because, you know, he’s proposed to basically kill off the coal industry by 2041 on public lands here in the Powder River Basin. So yeah, that’s a concern.”
Hageman said that while he was in office, the former commander in chief helped America achieve energy independence for the first time in more than 60 years.
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And accused of damaging a building and burning a camper while talking to demons, an Upton man could face up to 10 years in prison.
The case against 30-year-old Jeremy Lee Hammelman-Hames began at 3 in the morning on May 30th, when a Weston County Deputy was sent to investigate a reported vehicle crash involving a shirtless male walking eastbound along the railroad tracks in Upton. Crime and Courts reporter Clair McFarland has the story.
“The deputy wrote in the affidavit on that case, that Hammelman-Hames was captured on surveillance, allegedly destroying the building, and then there’s a fire kind of going up in the background when he’s not in the frame. The deputy somewhat randomly puts in there, ‘you know, I can see him walking around talking to the demons.’ And at this point, he you know, he’s got his shirt unbuttoned. He’s talking to either the demons or himself.”
The felony property destruction case against Hammelman-Hames rose to the felony-level Weston County District Court earlier this month. He was arraigned on Tuesday.
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A Cody man who’s a suspect in his girlfriend’s unsolved disappearance has reached a plea agreement on a separate federal gun violation that could keep him in jail.
27-year-old Adam Aviles Jr. isn’t charged with homicide in the October disappearance of his on-and-off girlfriend Katie Ferguson. But Cowboy State Daily’s Clair McFarland reports that Aviles was indicted May 14 with one count of possessing ammunition as a felon and another of possessing a Glock .45-caliber handgun.
“He was scheduled to go to trial the coming week for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, the two charges together carry a potential penalty of 30 years in prison. The plea agreement might stipulate less, it might not. We don’t know, because the US Attorney’s Office has chosen not to file it publicly.”
Aviles has been a homicide suspect in the case of his missing girlfriend for months. When he was arrested in November on suspicion of being a felon in possession of ammunition, investigators reportedly had found blood and a bullet hole in Aviles’ Dodge Durango.
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More public light is about to be shone on some of Wyoming’s oldest and coldest unsolved mysteries when a new statewide database comes online.
During a Joint Judiciary Committee meeting Tuesday, Ryan Cox, commander of the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation, said the database is already created and being tested internally before it’s released to the public, which Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports, should happen in a few months.
“What this will do is allow the public to see every active cold case in Wyoming currently, which is about 150, and be able to see at least some details about every one of these cases, and just kind of have a better grasp of kind of what’s what’s all out there.”
Cox said the system is already being used in beta testing with DCI internally and will be shared with Wyoming’s other law enforcement agencies in the coming weeks.
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A chain of events set off by a pickup getting stuck in a remote part of Carbon County led to a Rawlins man getting nailed for poaching an elk and losing his hunting and fishing privileges.
Outdoors reporter Mark Heinz says on October 31st, Carbon County Search and Rescue was called out l after some hunters reported their friend missing south of Rawlins.
“They had shot a bull elk in an area that they did not have a proper tag for which is basically poaching and they were on their way out and the truck got stuck. And then subsequently, one of the people in the hunting party decided they were going to try to walk back to Rawlins and got lost, so they had to call search and rescue… according to Game and Fish, the guy actually posted photos of him with the elk on social media.”
Corey Cruz pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally taking an antlered elk without a proper license.
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Wyoming is stepping up its ties with a major submarine power plant maker to evaluate the viability of building tiny nuclear reactors to augment a power-starved electrical grid.
The Wyoming Energy Authority on Monday announced a multimillion-dollar award for Virginia-based BWX Technologies Inc. to begin the next phase of a year-old contract to further its emerging tiny reactor design. That’s according to energy reporter Pat Maio.
“Wyoming is the only state in the country that has gotten anything similar to this, this possible work of building these miniaturized nuclear power plants. So that’s a big deal. And that’ll be work that kind of carries on for another year.”
The mini reactors could meet the specific needs of potential Wyoming end users, like southwestern Wyoming’s trona mining operations.
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And as the world debates whether it’s ready for an artificial intelligence politician, there’s growing pressure to shut down Wyoming’s first AI candidate.
VIC, a customized ChatGPT bot with a full name of Virtual Integrated Citizen, is running for mayor of Cheyenne. Cowboy State Daily’s Leo Wolfson reports.
That last week, OpenAI, the company that runs ChatGPT, announced that the company will not tolerate VIC’s campaign and threatened to possibly pull the plug on the bot.
“Open AI said the bot infringes on the company’s policies against political campaigning. They also have policies against election misrepresentations, interference, deep fakes, although VIC does not appear to infringe on any of those things.”
Secretary of State Chuck Gray has also attempted to shut down VIC’s campaign, arguing that the bot is ineligible to run in Wyoming elections because he is neither a registered voter or an eligible elector.
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And that’s today’s news. Get your free digital subscription to Wyoming’s only statewide newspaper by hitting the Daily Newsletter button on Cowboy State Daily dotcom – and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel. I’m Wendy Corr, for Cowboy State Daily.
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Radio Stations
The following radio stations are airing Cowboy State Daily Radio on weekday mornings, afternoons and evenings. More radio stations will be added soon.
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
KBDY 102.1 FM — Saratoga
KTGA 99.3 FM — Saratoga
KJAX 93.5 FM — Jackson
KZWY 106.3 FM — Sheridan
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
KGOS 1490 AM — Goshen County
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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