Law enforcement, advocates fight increase in sextortion cases affecting Wyoming youthThe Sheridan PressIn a year when 95% of teenagers have a smartphone and use the internet daily to communicate, online forms of sexual exploitation continue to spike. Sextortion is one of these rising concerns — an online crime where a perpetrator uses explicit images and videos to blackmail teenagers through messaging and social media. Mirroring national trends, Wyoming has seen an increase — not just in sextortion cases, but in all forms of sexual exploitation online. Wyoming’s task force, called Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children, received 1,714 tips in 2025 compared to just 121 tips a decade ago, The Sheridan Press reports. Read the full story. Fence initiative opens passage for migrating pronghornCody EnterpriseFrom their summer range at 10,000 feet, the Carter Mountain pronghorn undertake long migrations to their winter range in the Bighorn Basin. Their routes involve crossing under numerous fences and traversing two major highways. To facilitate their passage under those fences, the Absaroka Fence Initiative launched the Carter Mountain Project to remove or modify those obstacles so they’re wildlife-friendly. It’s sponsoring a volunteer project on the YU Bench. To reach the bench and other ranges farther east, the pronghorn migrate anywhere from 60 to 100 miles, the Cody Enterprise reports. Read the full story. Podcast details how wardens cracked Cody deer poaching casePowell TribuneAs dead deer kept turning up in Cody in mid-2024, game wardens decided to stake out the Park County Complex, where most of the carcasses were showing up. “Essentially, we just went out and we sat in an unmarked vehicle at a city park and we were there from dark until 3 a.m. some nights,” Game Warden Spencer Carstens recently recalled. The first few stakeouts proved fruitless. Then, Carstens and another warden heard the sound of a compound bow being fired, the Powell Tribune reports. Read the full story. Legislative session leaves Laramie County School District 1 in financial limboWyoming Tribune EagleOfficials told Laramie County School District 1 Trustees to prepare for serious adjustments following the legislative season, particularly regarding finances. The district is bracing for impacts to budgeting, staffing, cash flow and program planning. The new law places more restrictions on how money can be spent by shifting funds away from a more flexible block grant into what’s been dubbed an “instructional silo,” the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. The district’s finance director told the school board: “It’s like the school finance version of the Hotel California, right? You can step outside the silo, but the money can never leave.” Read the full story. Spring cleaning: Yellowstone scientists remove debris from hot springsBuckrailScientists in Yellowstone National Park would like to remind the public that hot springs are not fountains, and that visitors should not throw anything into the pools, even rocks and sticks. This week’s installment of Caldera Chronicles is written by Tara Cross and Jeff Cross, researchers with the Geyser Observation and Study Association, and Margery Price, a physical scientist with Yellowstone’s geology program. The column explains that throwing foreign objects into hot springs is illegal and can damage the vents. Park managers and staff work to repair damage and clean hot springs of foreign objects — everything from hats, gum wrappers, tissues, rocks and sticks, Buckrail reports. Read the full story. The post Local Lookout: Sextortion affects Wyoming youth | Volunteers aid pronghorn | How to catch a deer poacher appeared first on WyoFile . ...read more read less