Wyoming
Much Of Wyoming May Be Safe If US Is Nuked, But Cheyenne Likely To Be Vaporized
The dynamics of nuclear tensions have changed since the Cold War, and Wyoming might not take a direct hit if the bombs fly. But it’s still best to keep putting the fear of God into the world’s despots, a retired top-tier military official said.
A FEMA map showing the places in the United States that would supposedly be the safest during a nuclear war leaves Wyoming pretty clear, but doesn’t tell the full story about how safe the Cowboy State would be in a nuclear war.
And while most of Wyoming is seemingly marked safe from being vaporized by hellfire, Cheyenne and the surrounding areas are pegged to be hammered into oblivion by multiple strikes.
Stay Strong
That might have been true decades ago, but things might go differently today. Wyoming might not get nuked at all, retired Air Force Col. Tucker Fagan told Cowboy State Daily.
That doesn’t mean it would be easy here in the aftermath of nuclear war, he said. It’s likely much of the country’s vital infrastructure and supply chains would be destroyed.
So, just as during the Cold War with the now-defunct Soviet Union, it’s best to keep letting the world’s despots know that they’d have nothing to gain and everything to lose by going nuclear, Fagan said.
“As long as we are strong and we can deter, and Russians and Chinese and North Koreans are afraid to die, that’s the essence of deterrence,” he said.
Fagan is the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Nuclear Section under President Ronald Reagan and the former Commander of F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.
When it comes to the scenarios of nuclear war, Fagan is an expert. Along with his top-level military experience, he created the “nuclear football” for President Ronald Reagan.
Putin Would Probably Go After People, Not Silos
Fagan said he’s seen the map that supposedly shows the safest places in case of nuclear war, and others like it.
The problem is, they rely on the Old Cold War philosophy. Arms stockpiles peaked in the 1970s and ’80s, when each of the sides had more than enough weapons, more than 10,000 each, to lay waste to each other many times over.
Had a nuclear war erupted in those days, missile silos would have been a prime target. And Cheyenne, along with much of southeastern Wyoming has plenty of those.
Treaties have since cut the nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia, down to about 1,500 warheads each, Fagan said.
But as Russian President Vladimir Putin has demonstrated in his country’s war against Ukraine,Fagan said, the primary target would probably be America’s people.
“What’s the Russian objective, what are they doing in Ukraine? Killing people,” he said. “They’re after the people, because they know the people will not be subjugated.”
Americans would similarly refuse to be subjugated, so Putin would try to kill as many as possible, Fagan said.
And to do that, he might not want to waste warheads on a sparsely populated places like Wyoming, he said.
Scare The Dictators Themselves
Despots like Putin don’t care about the lives of ordinary citizens, even those in their own countries, Fagan said.
That’s why it’s important for the U.S. to make sure the dictators themselves know they wouldn’t survive going nuclear.
“You need to let them know you have the ability to kill even them. They don’t want to die. Do you think those autocrats care about their people?” he said. “I’m talking about Putin, Xi Jinping (China) and Kim Jong Un (North Korea), they don’t want to die.”
If any of the despots launched, and Wyoming didn’t get hit directly, it would still be miserable here, Fagan added.
“We would still lose electricity, and supply chains would disappear,” he said.
States Would Have To Band Together
There is a glimmer of hope in the case of major national disaster, nuclear war or otherwise, Wyoming All Hazards Association President LaRae Dobbs told Cowboy State Daily.
Each Wyoming county has an emergency plan, which dovetails in with state and regional plans, she said.
And those plans include what to do in case of a huge breakdown at the national level.
“It’s more focused on what are the cascading events that are being caused, rather than what was the event that caused it,” she said.
The first order of business would be making sure supplies of food, water and medicine kept flowing, as much as possible, she said.
Toward that end, Wyoming and surrounding states have strategic stockpiles, of such things, she said.
“We would immediately rely on the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security to coordinate with other surrounding states,” Dobbs said. “We have mutual aid agreements with the other states.”
Emergency coordinators at the county level are the key to making it all work, she added.
“We know each other by name and by sight, but the majority of our communities don’t even know we exist,” Dobbs said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
CASPER, Wyo. — High school athletics in Wyoming could see some drastic changes in the coming years following legislative changes to the state’s education budget, the Wyoming High School Activities Association recently announced in a statement.
According to the WHSAA, Wyoming school districts are facing a projected $3.9 million shortfall in activities funding, forcing officials to consider significant cuts to high school sports and extracurricular programs.
The WHSAA shared details regarding a new “silo” funding model implemented by the Legislature, stating that the recalibrated block grant model reduced funding for student activities and extra-duty responsibilities from $46.3 million to $42.4 million, an approximately 8.4% decrease statewide.
WHSAA Commissioner Trevor Wilson said the restructuring also restricts district access to an additional $76.2 million in previously flexible funding.
“A significant portion of the [April 28 WHSAA Board of Directors] meeting was dedicated to discussing the projected funding shortfall,” Wilson wrote.
The WHSAA is weighing several strategies to address rising costs with fewer resources. Proposed changes include eliminating regional tournaments and reducing the number of teams qualifying for state events from eight to four; limiting wrestling to two classes and restricting track and field state participants to the top 16 marks; making cuts to soccer, indoor track and field, Nordic and Alpine skiing, swimming and diving, spring golf and tennis; and reducing in-person speech and debate events by half and centrally locating All-State Music events to minimize travel. The board also recommended increasing gate admission or implementing student participation fees to offset costs.
While the WHSAA release states that no plans have been finalized and the various changes are currently just possibilities, Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees member Mary Schmidt criticized the WHSAA’s handling of the news at Monday’s board meeting.
“I take some issues with this, [including] the sheer fact that we as Board of Trustees members have not talked about that at all,” Schmidt said. “It is not our intent and it has not been brought to us to cut our athletics or activities budget for the upcoming school year. … I take issue with them picking sports and getting the community upset and ginning them up to be upset that this is all going to be cut when that hasn’t been discussed.”
Later in the meeting, Superintendent Angela Hensley clarified that Natrona County School District 1’s athletics and activities budget saw a reduction of roughly $550,000 in the coming year’s budget, but said the local school district does not plan to cut any sports.
“Thank you, Trustee Schmidt, for saying this, because I think people are wondering — we are not planning to cut athletics and activities for next year,” Hensley said. “We do have to take a look at our entire budget as we have talked about, as we learn more about these new rules that come in.”
Related
Republished with permission from Wyoming News Now, a TV news outlet covering the Cheyenne and Casper areas.
Cheyenne City Council has introduced a temporary moratorium, or pause, on new data center construction.
“The end goal is to actually have regulations in place, to have really heavy public involvement with this with data centers,” said Councilman Mark Moody.
The proposed ordinance is not a permanent ban on data centers and would not affect data centers currently under construction.
Councilman Moody says this is a bipartisan issue.
“I just want to make this clear, I’m not against data centers. We do need them from a national security perspective,” he said.
He said there needs to be more public input and regulations regarding data centers in Cheyenne.
The ordinance would require city staff to study data center impacts such as electricity usage, electricity tariffs, closed-loop cooling systems, groundwater impacts, agricultural impacts, and land value.
Cheyenne LEADS, the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County, reported in November 2025 that there are 12 operational data centers in Wyoming, five under construction and plans for 43 data centers announced across the state.
“There needs to be more public input with this, and also to see how many we can sustain here in this community, cause there are talks of 43, and then another day 70. How many can we sustain here?” said Councilman Moody.
The proposed moratorium will now go to the Public Services Committee on Monday, May 18 at noon in the Municipal Building.
Sheridan will play in the North Regional Tournament at Gillette, while the South Regional Tournament will be played at Rock Springs.
North Regional Tournament at Gillette:
Checking record vs. highest team in the quadrant not involved in the tie, Thunder Basin gets the #1 Northeast seed over Campbell County, because the Lady Bolts went 3-1 vs. Sheridan, whereas the Lady Camels went 2-2.
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 NE) Thunder Basin vs. (#4 NW) Jackson – 11am
(#2 NW) Natrona County vs. (#3 NE) Sheridan – 11am
(#2 NE) Campbell County vs. (#3 NW) Kelly Walsh – 1pm
(#1 NW) Cody vs. (#4 NE) Worland – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Thunder Basin/Jackson winner vs. Natrona County/Sheridan winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh winner vs. Cody/Worland winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Thunder Basin/Jackson loser vs. Natrona County/Sheridan loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Campbell County/Kelly Walsh loser vs. Cody/Worland loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
South Regional Tournament at Rock Springs:
Friday, May 15th:
(#1 SW) Laramie vs. (#4 SE) Torrington – 11am
(#2 SE) Cheyenne East vs. (#3 SW) Green River – 11am
(#2 SW) Rock Springs vs. (#3 SE) Wheatland – 1pm
(#1 SE) Cheyenne Central vs. (#4 SW) Cheyenne South – 1pm
Semi-Finals:
Laramie/Torrington winner vs. Cheyenne East/Green River winner – 3pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Rock Springs/Wheatland winner vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South winner – 5pm Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
Consolation Round:
Laramie/Torrington loser vs. Cheyenne East/Green River loser – 3pm LOSER OUT!
Rock Springs/Wheatland loser vs. Cheyenne Central/Cheyenne South loser – 5pm LOSER OUT!
Saturday, May 16th:
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
TBA vs. TBA – 10am LOSER OUT! Winner qualifies for the state tournament.
2 10am winners vs. each other – 1pm 3rd Place
TBA vs. TBA – 1pm 1st Place
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