It's time to take a look at what's happening around Wyoming for Wednesday, March 18th. I'm Mac Watson.

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A flood of political endorsements for some Wyoming statewide candidates is surging after the end of the state's lawmaking session this month. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Megan Degenfelder and Chuck Gray appear to be the most active in pursuing endorsements.

"I asked a couple of long-time Wyoming politicos like, "How much does this matter?' And they've both cast it as a second-tier strategy. Tim Stubson said that it's name recognition, it's campaign spending that does the job. And Rob Wallace said it's the caliber of the candidate and the campaign and

the messaging."

U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Harriet Hageman landed endorsements earlier this year by both sitting U.S. Sen. John Barrasso and outgoing Sen. Cynthia Lummis for her bid to win the seat Lummis is leaving.

Read the full story HERE.

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Three men accused of roping, riding, and spurring a cow moose on an Evanston-area ranch in 2021 pleaded not guilty Tuesday to various cruelty charges. Cowboy State Daily's Dale Killingbeck reports that the men allegedly took video of themselves treating the moose "as if it's a horse being broken to ride."

"They told the judge that they understood the charges against them, and those charges include felony charges related to two of them for felony animal abuse, the other one for accessory to that abuse. They're facing the potential of two years in prison on the felony charges. So it's, it's a serious thing, and the judge scheduled a trial date for August 11th. And the attorneys that represent each of them, it sounded like they're not going to be cutting any deals. It sounds like this is going to go to a jury trial."

Charges stem from a Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigation that began with the seizure of Justin Martin's phone on a separate issue and finding video and screenshots of the alleged abuse .

Read the full story HERE.

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With out-of-control wildfires across his state, Nebraska's governor has declared a state of emergency. Cowboy State Daily's David Madison reports that Wyoming agencies are sending help, even as conditions at home are just as dry and windy.

"The size and scope and damage is unprecedented in some areas and conditions that led to those fires exist in Wyoming, that was the message we got from the state forestry office. Spoke to the fire manager there. He said, 'Yeah, it's looking pretty similar, but we have rushed to the aid of our neighbors.' We've sent gear and engines and people to more than one state. Conditions have been extremely dry, and then when you get 50 mile an hour winds on top of that, it really just sets you up for what happened. And some of the aerial photos at night were just apocalyptic."

Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day said the fires ravaging Nebraska were born from the same conditions that have gripped Wyoming all winter — but with one critical difference. Wyoming has gotten some moisture in recent weeks, while the fire zone in Nebraska has been almost completely shut out.

Read the full story HERE.

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Speaking of the Nebraska wildfires, Wyoming fire engines, firefighters, and communications personnel have rallied to help battle record-breaking wildfires that have consumed 750,000 acres. Cowboy State Daily's Kate Meadows reports that one Wyoming fire chief called the dry, windy conditions a "recipe for disaster."

"Dozens of Wyoming firefighters are in Nebraska fighting multiple wildfires right now, including what is the largest wildfire to be recorded in the state of Nebraska. Kristie Thompson is the Public Information Officer for the road 203, fire, but she also lives in Cody, and she spoke about the neighborliness that she's seeing between Wyoming and Nebraska, as all these individuals from Wyoming are so easily coming across the state to help their Nebraska neighbors. She said, 'We know Nebraska would do the same for us.'"

The Morrill Fire, one of four wildfires raging in the state, has scorched more than 572,000 acres, making it the largest wildfire in Nebraska history and among the 30 largest in United States history.

Read the full story HERE.

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I'll be back with more news from Cowboy State Daily right after this.

Cowboy State Daily news continues now…

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Lever-action rifles are getting tricked out with "tactical" accessories like red-dot sights, giving them new life with younger shooters. Cowboy State Daily's Mark Heinz reports that mounting accessory rails on lever-action rifles might have seemed absurd — until people started doing it.

"Apparently, it really appeals to the younger shooters. It comes like a steam punk thing. It's retrofitting an old technology with its grafting new technology on top of an old technology. And some people think it's really cool. I imagine there's purists out there that really hate it. and so it's kind of marrying the old with the new."

Lever-action rifles were among the first repeating long guns to be mass marketed in the United States, with many models introduced right after the Civil War.

Read the full story HERE.

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A Powell man facing 20 felony charges relating to the distribution and possession of child pornography faces up to 222 years in prison and $200,000 in fines if convicted. Cowboy State Daily's Greg Johnson reports that police say Christian David Petty admitted to having a yearslong addiction to porn.

"Apparently this was an investigation that went on for about 13 months, so went on more than a year, and it was conducted by the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigations, child Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. And basically what they did was they identified known files that are out there, out in the interwebs floating around that they know contain child pornography, and they, you know, they can see where they end up, who's sending them, who's receiving them, that type of thing. And some of those files got linked to a computer that came up in a Powell home."

If convicted and given concurrent sentences, Petty could face between 55 and 222 years in prison and up to $200,000 in fines.

Read the full story HERE.

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U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman announced a $100 million federal appropriation to rebuild a collapsed Goshen County irrigation tunnel that feeds Wyoming and Nebraska farmers. Cowboy State Daily's Clair McFarland reports that Hageman says securing the money "was a huge priority."

"Tuesday's big announcement was, yeah, 100 millions going into that Wyoming project that serves farmers there in the southeast corner of the state. So I heard from Hagaman in the morning Tuesday, and then I called Senator Sherry Steinmetz, for whom this has been a big deal, and she was just brimming. The irrigation district manager was thrilled. And then Governor Mark Gordon, who's also been working on this issue, he had a press conference today that was supposed to be a recap of the legislative session, and that was the first thing the irrigation rebuild was the first thing he came out with. He was so excited as well."

Out of an $889 million appropriation the U.S. Department of the Interior received via the Trump-backed one Big Beautiful Bill Act, $100 million is now officially earmarked for long-term repairs to the Fort Laramie Tunnels.

Read the full story HERE.

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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 Dot Com - and you can watch this newscast every day by clicking Subscribe on our YouTube channel, or listen to us on your favorite podcast app. Thanks for watching - I'm Mac Watson, for Cowboy State Daily.