Good morning Wyoming!

Today's Wyoming sunrise was captured by Kristen Rahn. Kristen writes, Visitors on our morning walk taken in by backyard in Evansville, WY."

To submit your Wyoming sunrise, email us at: News@CowboyStateDaily.com

NOTE: Please send us the highest-quality version of your photo. The larger the file, the better....

Two Dead After Semi Explodes On Impact With Another Semi Parked Along I-80

Two people are dead after their semitrailer exploded when it hit another semi parked illegally on the side of Interstate 80 near Green River on Sunday.

The crash scene “was a pretty bad one,” said Green River Fire Department Assistant Chief Larry Erdmann. “It was almost like a movie scene.”

Usually with a highway crash involving fire, there’s debris scattered about, “Then if the vehicle catches fire, it’s down the road a little,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Monday morning.

“On this one, the explosion seems to have happened on impact,” he added.

That corresponds with the initial information reported by the Wyoming Highway Patrol, said agency spokesman Aaron Brown.

Man Spends 30 Years Photographing Wyoming’s Disappearing Ranches

The Sweeney family of the Quaking Aspen Mountain District in southwest Wyoming had suffered through typhoid fever, tragedies from tick bites and the ups and downs of Cowboy State ranching. As the children left home one by one, a bachelor son remained on the family ranch until he, too, was gone. *

A new family now owns the ranch, and the Sweeney family would have been lost to history except for a veterinarian and his camera.

“I was practicing veterinary medicine for 30 years in Wyoming,” Larry Friedman said. “I got very interested in photography as I was about ready to quit practice and relax a little bit because the pressures of medicine can get to people.”

He had discovered a passion for photography beginning in 1977, and he became a common sight around Sweetwater County at the ranches and homesteads he visited. 

'Exploding Tree' Warning From Subzero Cold Snap Reaches Into Wyoming

A subzero snap of winter temperatures is expected to hammer the Midwest and reach into northeast Wyoming starting Friday. That’s led to a surge of warnings for people to watch out for “exploding trees.”

That’s not something someone just made up, even if it’s a bit of an exaggeration. Extreme cold can cause trees to explode, and it’s likely to take many people by surprise when it happens.

“It can make you jump if you’re not expecting it,” said Shane Smith, former director of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. “It's pretty rare, but it does happen and could happen across a lot of the country as this Arctic front moves in.”

‘Exploding' Trees

The concept of an exploding tree conjures images of a tall tree spontaneously bursting with a massive cloud of wood chips and debris.  The real phenomenon, called “frost cracking,” isn’t that dramatic, but has impressive results.

Wyoming Lawmaker Unveils Bill To Make Ivermectin Over-The-Counter

A Wyoming House Representative from Cheyenne wants to make it legal in the state to sell the controversial drug ivermectin over-the-counter.

Rep. Gary Brown, R-Cheyenne, this month unveiled House Bill 13, which would allow people in Wyoming to buy ivermectin without a prescription.

Used in some cases as a horse dewormer, ivermectin garnered controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic when President Joe Biden’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discouraged its use with slogans like, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y’all. Stop it.”

A group of doctors sued federal agencies in 2022, saying they waged a pressure campaign against them to block them from prescribing the drug.

The FDA settled that lawsuit in 2024.  

If it becomes law, Brown’s bill would also specify that the state doesn’t classify the drug as a dangerous substance.

Brown told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that after watching other states pass this change in recent years, “I became really interested in it.”

Senator From Wyoming Not Seeking Reelection

Jacob Burg, 12/22/25

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) announced on Dec. 19 that she will not seek reelection next year after serving in the Senate for a single term, citing exhaustion from long weeks working on Capitol Hill.

“It’s an incredible honor to represent Wyoming in the U.S. Senate, and throughout my time here, Wyoming has been my one-and-only priority,” she wrote in a statement posted to social media.

Lummis said it was a blessing to work with Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and then-Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), while she was still in the House, and with Barrasso and Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) while junior senator of Wyoming since 2021.

Tattoo Regret: Wyoming Residents Pay Big Money For Tattoo Removal

Think before you ink.  

That’s the advice of cosmetic laser technicians across Wyoming who erase bad memories of customers who impulsively got tattoos and later regretted them.

“A lot of people will come in and say they are embarrassed by their tattoo,” said Rachel Watson, a technician at Sterling Skin Care Casper. “I tell them don’t be embarrassed, because they were young and dumb, but now have grown up and are trying to get a job and can’t have tattoos.”

Watson treats as many as 25 clients a week. Some of them have been unlucky in love and want tattoos bearing the name of a former spouse or partner eliminated. Others are just dissatisfied with how the tattoo looks.

In the case of face and neck tattoos, some say those hold them back from getting jobs or socializing. Many are also impulsive.