You Still Here

[{"type":"text","text":"Bartender vs lawyer....."}]

Careers 2 20 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>🚧 Today In Careers: Friday, February 20, 2026 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Bartender vs lawyer.....

Today In Careers: Friday, February 20, 2026

One More For The Road

[{"type":"text","text":"$200 worth of lottery tickets please….."}]

One more for 12 13 25

<title>🚧 One More For The Road: Saturday, December 13, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

$200 worth of lottery tickets please…..

One More For The Road: Saturday, December 13, 2025

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

When law enforcement investigators followed allegations that a former Jackson Hole fire chief was viewing child pornography, they learned that he also had a sexual relationship with a judge in his new home of Utah, court documents allege.

The Utah Attorney General’s Office charged Ned Brady Hansen, 54, last week with eight counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor.

Hansen was the Jackson Hole Fire Department chief from about 2017-2022 and had more recently been the Tremonton, Utah, Fire Chief.

Also charged last week was Judge Kevin Robert Christensen, 64, who served prior in Box Elder County, Utah. He faces two charges of enticing a minor to sexual activity, two of dealing in materials harmful to minors, three of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and one of obstruction of justice.

Law enforcement personnel started investigating Hansen on Nov. 21, 2024, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children raised a child-pornography alert that police believe led back to Hansen, says an evidentiary affidavit by FBI Agent Jason Merrill.

Investigators served a warrant on Hansen’s home and seized his electronic devices Jan. 27. They told him his Miranda rights and he agreed to speak with law enforcement, says the affidavit.

Hansen confessed he had a “pornography addiction” and had developed tastes for “younger” females, says the document.

He discussed downloading child pornography, and investigators found a “large amount” of it on his phone, wrote Merrill.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The Chats"}]

As investigators inspected the devices further, Merrill wrote, they found Hansen discussing wanting to molest babies, and telling another person how “hot” it would be to molest a toddler-aged girl together, and to “hold her down and take turns.”

Hansen discussed wanting to kidnap a homeless girl or rape a drunk girl, the affidavit alleges.

Agents found child pornography videos and photographs in the phone, the document adds.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The Arrest"}]

Law enforcement personnel first arrested Hansen Jan. 27.

At that time they didn’t know that Hansen had “engaged in other chats with a certain other internet user,” wrote Merrill. These extensive chats showed the two men had met “in real life to engage in sexual acts” the agent added.

Merrill wrote that the men discussed being “turned on” and wanting to share children they knew.

“Law enforcement investigated the identity of this other party and discovered that this person was Kevin Robert Christensen, a justice court judge in Box Elder County, Utah,” Merrill wrote.

Police at Hansen’s January arrest asked Christensen, the case judge, to hold the man without bail. But the judge released Hansen, without disclosing “he had engaged in sexually charged chats regarding children with … Hansen,” the affidavit says.

Investigators have found more chats since then, reportedly. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Leaving Jackson"}]

Hansen is originally from Alta, Wyoming, and had served as Jackson Hole Fire Chief for five years ending in 2022, according to 

He’d already spent 30 years in fire service, the story says. 

Hansen told the outlet that he wanted to move to Utah with his wife.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Judge’s Case"}]

Christensen’s case affidavit describes him trying to groom and share sexual material with a 13-year-old girl.

The document says he pleaded for pictures or videos from a 16-year-old girl online as well.

Christensen asked someone for pornography depicting girls from 0-15 years old, the affidavit alleges.

Both men’s felony-level cases are ongoing.

Utah judge and fire chief 3 18 25

<title>🚧 Former Jackson Hole Fire Chief Accused Of Sex Acts With Judge, Having Child Porn | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Former Jackson Hole Fire Chief Ned Brady Hansen has been charged with aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor in Utah. Authorities there say he trafficked in child pornography and had a sexual encounter with the same judge who declined to keep him in jail.
 

Former Jackson Hole Fire Chief Accused Of Sex Acts With Judge, Having Child Porn

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business & Tourism

Business

Last year, the famous Mayor of Flavortown Guy Fieri went on an epic summer road trip, and part of that trip went right through Wyoming.

Now, finally, the Wyoming segments of “Guy’s All-American Road Trip” are airing.

The first, “Camp Cook-Offs and Chuckwagons,” was this past Friday, June 21, but if you missed that, not to worry. It’s airing again at 11 a.m. Friday on the Food Network.

In the midst of this Wyoming segment, Fieri discovered a food revolution, the epicenter of which has been quietly taking place at EternaFresh in the basement of the Bomber Mountain Civic Center in Buffalo. 

EternaFresh is a freeze-dried foods factory that Beau Fowler started a couple of years ago. He became interested in freeze-dried food technology because he’s a gardener and is obsessed with food preservation.

“Their whole thing was that they wanted to see if they could make a quality meal out of it, and whether they could tell the difference that freeze-dried ingredients were used,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And we’ve been saying a lot that it’s kind of a food revolution. There’s a lot of folks who just don’t know anything about it.”

[{"type":"text","text":"That turned out to include Fieri himself."}]

“That was a really cool experience, being able to teach Guy something new about food,” Fowler said. “Because he’s seen a lot, he’s done a lot of stuff, and he’s a well-seasoned chef.”

[{"type":"text","text":"25-Year Shelf Life"}]

But even the Mayor of Flavortown hasn’t done much yet with freeze-dried foods. One of the first things he learned about EternaFresh’s freeze-dried foods is the incredible shelf-life.

“The product that we manufacture out here in Buffalo has a shelf life of 25 years,” Fowler told Cowboy State Daily. “So, the products we’re cranking out right now are good until 2046 or 2047.”

The other cool thing about the freeze-dried foods that impressed Fieri is the complete lack of preservatives, Fowler said. Those are commonly added to extend the shelf-life of foods. But they can add lots of calories to a product, as well as chemicals that people may not want to consume on a regular basis.

“Using this technology, we can eliminate all of the need for preservatives,” Fowler said. “So pretty much all of our products are just that component. Our broccoli is just broccoli. Our bananas are just bananas. There are no additional additives, dyes, colors or preservatives added to any of our products. Except, like, our cotton candy and kettle corn, we do put a little sugar in that.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Contrary to first impressions, freeze-dried foods do not lack flavor."}]

“The process really amplifies the taste,” Fowler said. “You almost get a better taste of whatever ingredient that’s been freeze dried.”

Reconstituting an item is just a matter of adding water, or perhaps wine, broth, or brine to add a new, complimentary flavor to the ingredient.

Fieri’s favorite freeze-dried item, though, was probably the homemade chocolate ice cream, which typically wouldn’t be reconstituted. It would just be eaten as is.

“That’s just a really fun item,” Fowler said. “We go back to an old-fashioned ice cream that has just four simple ingredients for the base. We don’t have to have any gums or pasteurized eggs, because we can preserve it in that original ingredient state. It’s kind of reinventing the old-fashioned ice cream as well.”

The freeze-dried ice cream can also be reconstituted into a milk shake by blending with some ice.

The best way to learn what can be done with freeze-dried foods, though, is just to play around with them and prepare a meal. So, Fieri had the guys square off against the girls for a little contest.

The competition is part of the episode that’s airing Friday on the Food Network. 

Featuring freeze-dried foods on one of Fieri’s programs might not be what most people would expect. 

After all, Fieri frequently touts the freshness of ingredients for foods he is presenting on his shows, which include “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” “Ultimate Recipe Showdown,” “Guy Off the Hook” and many others. 

“They grabbed a pile of products and made up two dishes,” Fowler said. “And it was wonderful. Really beautiful dishes. And what better way to educate not just local folks, but the entire country on what freeze drying can do and how you can retrofit it into your everyday meals.”

As a result of the Fieri episode, Fowler has seen a 10-fold increase in orders from his factory in Buffalo. Those requests are coming from all over the United States.

“We’ve got grocery stores from all over the country calling, wanting our product,” Fowler said. “And we’re figuring out ways to get this to folks all over the country.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Fowler has been preparing for the onslaught for a year now."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"The Cody Cattle Company"}]

 while in Wyoming last summer, several of which Cowboy State Daily has already covered.

But there was also a stop at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, where Fieri and his crew of 60 were treated to an authentic chuck wagon dinner, and to The Cody Cattle Company, where they took in a high-energy Western show and an all-you-can-eat buffet that features brisket, pulled pork and chicken strips.

“It was chaos, but it was fun,” Greg Pendley, co-owner of The Cody Cattle Company, told Cowboy State Daily. “All the people you see on the show he brought to our show, so there were the film crew and audio people.”

Fieri interviewed both Pendley and his wife Ann, and he even got up on stage to play the tambourine at one point.

“That didn’t make the show, but it was fun,” Pendley said. “And then after the show, he came back to the Green Room and met the band and shared a bottle of his Santo tequila with us and signed it.”

That tequila was delicious, Pendley added. The signed bottle is now empty of all tequila, but it’s sitting in a shadow box along with a picture of Fieri and the Pendleys, and other folks who were there.

The Cody Cattle Company now carries Santo tequila so other people can try it if they’re interested.

[{"type":"text","text":"Please Pass The Huckleberry Dressing"}]

At the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Fieri showed up with between 60 to 65 people, and it was an impressive  sight, the museum’s Ken Straniere told Cowboy State Daily. 

“We did about an hour and a half exclusive tour with Guy, his family and the crew,” Straniere said. “And he just sort of wandered all over the place wherever he wanted to go. He absolutely loved the Cody Firearms Museum, and we got him hands-on with some of the items that we have in our values.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Fieri also seemed impressed by the history of Buffalo Bill Cody."}]

“I don’t think he realized how famous Buffalo Bill was until (museum staff) were explaining that he was the most famous person on the planet (at the time),” Straniere said. “And so, he was really curious about some of the items we have upstairs in the Buffalo Bill Museum.”

The most popular part of the tour, though, was probably the chuck wagon dinner provided by 2 Mules Chuckwagon.

“He talked to our executive chef upstairs for a while, and I know she got a kick out of that,” Straniere said. “She didn’t make it on the episode, but our chef Romi St. John-Pollack prepared a huckleberry salad dressing especially for that day, and that dressing made it onto the show because they loved it so much.”

The huckleberry dressing is likely to begin appearing on a regular basis as part of Buffalo Bill Center of the West’s catering options and its cafe, Straniere added. That way more people can try it.

“In just the whole spirit of community. As the old saying goes, a rising tide lifts all ships, and I know that will be the case now that this season has started for this program,” Straniere said. “And I hope it does have a carryover effect into next year’s tourism season and beyond for the Center of the West and all the local businesses that participated in Cody and Wyoming-wide.”

Other stops Guy made in Wyoming last year, some of which are part of the Road Trip series and some of which were part of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” include the Legerski Sausage Company in Sheridan, the Pig and The Hog mobile food truck, and Big Horn Equestrian Center and Polo Club between Buffalo and Sheridan.

Guy Fieri road trip IMG 0835 6 24 24

<title>🚧 Finally, The Wyoming Segments Of Guy Fieri's "All-American Road Trip” Are Airing | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Guy Fieri dropped in on several spots in Cody and Buffalo as part of his "All-American Road Trip" last summer, including a "chaotic" stop at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West -- complete with lots of tequila. Those episodes have begun airing.

Finally, The Wyoming Segments Of Guy Fieri's "All-American Road Trip” Are Airing

Law Enforcement

Still adjusting to widowhood about a year after her husband’s loss, a petite, brown-eyed Casper woman settled in at home one October evening to eat leftover ham and beans and watch “Dancing With the Stars.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"Then she vanished.  "}]

Kris Richardson’s husband of 42 years died in 2013. The pair ran a trucking company together, and Richardson went to work faithfully every morning at 7:30, Richardson’s daughter Amber Fazio told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.  

When the morning of Oct. 7, 2014, came and Richardson didn’t go to work, Fazio and her husband Pete, who lived one corner away, went to look for Richardson at her home.   

Both of Richardson’s vehicles were parked at the house. Every door was locked except the internal door leading from garage to house, which was always unlocked. The front door was even dead-bolted, Fazio recalled.  

Richardson’s cellphone, purse, cash and identification were right there in her home. Fazio said there was no sign she’d been packing; no sign of a struggle; no sign of forced entry. 

[{"type":"text","text":"The ham-and-bean pot sat in the sink, soaking in dishwater.  "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Fazio called the police. "}]

As she grew more frantic, she called public transportation services to see if her mother had hopped a ride.  

Fazio’s brother drove up from his home in Laramie. The family and other friends gathered and brainstormed.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Richardson was nowhere.  "}]

“I feel like I was in a fog most of the day once we realized she was gone,” Fazio recalled.  

[{"type":"text","text":"A Sign In The Desert "}]

Nine years later, Richardson’s location remains a mystery, and no one has been charged with a crime in connection with her disappearance.  

When Cowboy State Daily published a story about a hunter 

 in Wyoming’s Red Desert in the state’s southwestern corner Nov. 11, the Fazios dared to hope.  

“Whenever you hear that either a body or any remains have been found, I guess more for closure purposes, you hope this is the one,” she said. “I want to know she’s at peace and that our family can have some type of closure.”  

[{"type":"text","text":"She and her husband scour the headlines and social media for clues.  "}]

Fazio doesn’t have some innate feeling that her mother has died. She only hopes that Richardson hasn’t been held somewhere as a prize or a target for torture all these years. 

She hasn’t gained any new information about her mother’s vanishing since it happened and doesn’t have any hard evidence to link the event to the skull found in the Red Desert, near private oil wells and the faint crisscrossing roads leading to them.  

Except, one of Richardson’s employees had worked in the oil and gas industry, Fazio said.  

“(He) had some infatuation with her,” Fazio said, theorizing the oil wells could have given that employee a “reason to be outside of Casper.”  

Sweetwater County Coroner Dale Majhanovich didn’t have much news on the skull Wednesday. A state anthropologist has it and is in the process of determining its age. If the skull isn’t ancient, authorities will examine its dental formation. They may extract DNA if possible, he said.  

The anthropologist told Majhanovich it’s possible the skull belonged to a male, but that’s not definite, the coroner related from that conversation.  

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Somebody Knows Something’ "}]

Fazio does not believe her mother staged her own disappearance. Richardson was new at being a widow, but was close with her grandchildren and her family, and was devoted to her work. She was an avid Wyoming Cowboys fan and would have the occasional dinner with one of her few close friends.  

[{"type":"text","text":"Richardson was not dating at the time of her disappearance, said Fazio.  "}]

“Someone else – no matter how you look at the situation – (even) if she chose to leave on her own, someone helped her,” she said. “Somebody knows something.”  

With help from other family and friends, the Fazio family is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to the discovery of Richardson’s location and the conviction of a suspect in the case.  

Fazio still struggles to get her head around the absence of clues in her mother’s case.  

“It’s seriously the most perfect scene you ever would have imagined,” she said. “We walked in and it was just like everything she told me the night before.” 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘There’s No Way’"}]

The evening of Oct. 6, 2014, Amber Fazio had invited her mother to go to a football game with the family, where Fazio’s son was playing. That was when Richardson said she was going to cozy down at home instead, eat her leftovers and watch “Dancing With The Stars.”  

Though distraught after her husband’s death, Richardson didn’t seem suicidal, Fazio said.  

“The thought wouldn’t cross my mind,” said Fazio. “But to orchestrate a disappearance, there’s no way.”  

Richardson was then 61. She would be 70 today. She stood 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 90 pounds, according to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation’s missing person database.  

The database says Richardson is believed to have disappeared between 7:30 and 11:30 the evening of Oct. 6, 2014. If someone kidnapped her, that person wasn’t after money: the database said Richardson left “a large amount of cash” behind at home.  

The DCI page instructs anyone with information about Richardson’s case to call 307-777-7181.  

“I never thought we’d be nine years in and still not know anything,” said Fazio.  

Today In Careers: Friday, February 20, 2026

More in You Still Here

You Still Here? Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Steve Inman: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Bonus Video 1: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Bonus Video 2: Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Most read