Utah news

• Police: Springville student arrested after making violent threat on Snapchat

  22-02-2018 23:47
  
  A Springville High School student has been arrested on suspicion of making a terroristic threat after police say he sent a social media post that suggested a threat of violence at the school.
  
  Read more

• Trucking company donates $400K to SLCC diesel tech program

  22-02-2018 23:42
  WEST VALLEY CITY — A local trucking firm "put its money where its mouth is" after making a major contribution to a statewide education program aimed at developing talent for the state's growing transportation industry.Kenworth Sales Thursday announced a $400,000 donation to the Diesel Tech Pathways program at Salt Lake Community College's new Westpointe Center. The funding will be used for scholarships, equipment and facility upgrades for the diesel technology program, Salt Lake Community
  
  Read more

• Utah Legislature urges full compensation on rural $ for federal lands

  22-02-2018 23:40
  SALT LAKE CITY — Utah may have received $38.4 million in the last year from the federal government to make up for lands inside its borders that don't generate property tax revenue, but lawmakers overwhelmingly believe it's chump change compared with what they deserve.To that end, both the House and Senate in the Utah Legislature on Thursday unanimously signed off on a resolution and a subsequent bill that directs a more thorough accounting of the lost dollars.The program is Payment in Lieu
  
  Read more

• Idaho man charged in boating deaths of 2 Utahns

  22-02-2018 22:53
  IDAHO FALLS, Idaho — Prosecutors have charged an eastern Idaho man with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the wake of a boating accident last year that left two Utah residents dead.The Post Register newspaper reports 63 -year-old Michael Kingston of Idaho Falls is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on March 7. Prosecutors say he negligently operated a boat on Ririe Reservoir on Aug. 21, 2017. An attorney for Kingston could not be immediately reached.According to court records, Bon
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Bill banning ticket quotas passes; public breastfeeding bill advances

  22-02-2018 22:32
  
  The Utah Senate passed a bill banning law enforcement ticket quotas, a bill that will allow mothers to breastfeed in public advanced and lawmakers have an additional $581 million in revenue
  
  Read more

• Walmart donates more than $280K to Utah nonprofits

  22-02-2018 22:24
  SALT LAKE CITY — In 2017, nearly 400 lives were saved in the U.S. thanks to the presence of smoke alarms, according to Rich Woodruff.The communications and marketing director for the Utah and Nevada regions of the American Red Cross said last year, his organization installed more than 6,000 smoke alarms in Utah."It's the generosity of donors like the Walmart Foundation that helps make this lifesaving work possible," Woodruff said as the corporation presented the American Red Cross and six
  
  Read more

• Utah lawmakers now have $581M in additional revenues

  22-02-2018 22:12
  
  Lawmakers now have a total of $581 million in additional revenues to spend this session — and that's not counting the $80 million windfall expected as a result of federal tax changes.
  
  Read more

• Utah senator day drinks before presenting bill to delay state's new .05 percent DUI law

  22-02-2018 22:10
  
  Sen. Jim Dabakis had two mimosas after breakfast and tested his blood alcohol content Thursday before presenting a bill at the Capitol proposing to delay Utah's .05 percent DUI law.
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Police unable to identify 'date' who showed up at Utah senator's hotel room

  22-02-2018 22:08
  SALT LAKE CITY — An investigation into a woman who turned up at a senator's hotel room door and claimed to be his date has ended, with the Utah Highway Patrol saying it was unable to identify the woman.Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, said UHP concluded its investigation Wednesday into the Feb. 8 incident at the Little America Hotel involving Sen. Evan Vickers, R-Cedar City.Even so, Niederhauser said, "it's a good reminder to us as legislators that we need to be cautious, that
  
  Read more

• Survivors speak out: Two decades of school shooting survivors speak out about solutions

  22-02-2018 22:02
  Hollan Holm's daughter Sylvia, 5, came home from kindergarten recently and described a school activity sandwiched between play time, coloring and learning letters and shapes: The teacher turned off the lights in the classroom and locked the doors. She told the kids to huddle and be really really quiet so the "bad person" couldn't hear them.Holm, 35, an attorney in Louisville, Kentucky, said it broke his heart to hear his daughter's innocent description of what he recognized as an active-shooter
  
  Read more

• Bill allowing mothers to breastfeed in public passes in Utah House

  22-02-2018 21:59
  
  Nursing mothers would be free to breastfeed their babies in public places under a bill the Utah House passed Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Navajos settle Utah voting rights case over mail-in ballots

  22-02-2018 21:58
  SALT LAKE CITY — Navajos who once worried they'd have to drive hours to cast their ballots in Utah say a new settlement is a step forward as tribes challenge what they call discriminatory voting practices around the United States.The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said Thursday the settlement that requires tribal-accessible polling places and Navajo-language help is a victory for voting rights after a switch to mail-in voting left behind native voters.San Juan County officials say
  
  Read more

• Bill would require Utah truckers to be trained to identify victims of human trafficking

  22-02-2018 21:31
  SALT LAKE CITY — A Davis County lawmaker is sponsoring a bill that would require truck drivers in Utah to be trained to spot victims of human trafficking before they can renew their commercial driver's license.SB213 authorizes and instructs commercial drivers to take a course on human trafficking and obtain a certificate to renew a CDL license.Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, said the connection between truck drivers and human trafficking is that truckers are "often in the same environment
  
  Read more

• 2nd defendant in Santa Clara murder case takes plea deal

  22-02-2018 21:12
  
  Another plea deal has apparently been reached in the case involving the kidnapping and killing of a Santa Clara faher in 2016.
  
  Read more

• Utah Senate panel gives OK to inmate addiction study bill

  22-02-2018 21:07
  SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah Senate committee unanimously supported a bill that would require correctional facilities to report to the state on in-custody inmate deaths, treatment services for inmates with an opiate addiction, and prescriptions withheld from inmates during incarceration.The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, told the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee that SB205 comes in response to a rise of inmate suicides related to opioid add
  
  Read more

• Second defendant in Santa Clara murder case takes plea deal

  22-02-2018 21:02
  SALT LAKE CITY — Another plea deal has apparently been reached in the case involving the kidnapping and killing of a Santa Clara father in 2016.A jury trial for Tammy Renee Freeman, 54, that was scheduled to start Wednesday was cancelled. Freeman is charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated burglary, both first-degree felonies; and theft, a second-degree felony.Gary Pendleton, Freeman's attorney, told the court that an agreement had been reached and that the state would be filing a
  
  Read more

• 7 men charged in undercover underage sex sting

  22-02-2018 20:59
  
  Numerous charges ranging from solicitation to commit child rape, to solicitation to commit child kidnapping were filed Thursday against a group of men arrested last week during an undercover sting.
  
  Read more

• Utah lawmakers debate, fail to act on family leave bill

  22-02-2018 20:50
  SALT LAKE CITY — State lawmakers declined to vote on a bill that would have provided six weeks of paid parental leave to state employees when they have or adopt a baby.After lengthy testimony and numerous questions, and with just minutes left in the hearing, the House Business and Labor Standing Committee voted Thursday morning to move on to the next agenda item rather than vote on the bill."I have some unanswered questions," said Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Dunnigan, R-Taylorsville. "I wa
  
  Read more

• Campus civil liberties resolution headed to final passage

  22-02-2018 20:48
  SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah House on Thursday gave its final approval to a resolution that affirms the civil liberties of students at Utah's public colleges and universities.The House voted 55-14 to approve SCR3, sponsored by seemingly unlikely political allies Sen. Jim Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, and Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan.In House debate, Coleman said the nonbinding resolution was the product of the Legislature's Administrative Rules Committee, which spent "80 percent" of its time
  
  Read more

• Bill to remove mentally unfit elected officials passes Utah House

  22-02-2018 20:45
  SALT LAKE CITY — The bill inspired by the controversy that swirled around former Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott cleared a big hurdle Thursday.SB38, which would allow the removal of mentally incapacitated elected officials in a handful of counties, cleared the House on a 44-24 to vote.It previously passed the Senate with only one dissenting vote, but it will return to the Senate floor because of an amendment made in the House to clarify language. If senators stick to their previous vote
  
  Read more

• Registration is now open for 16 community education classes at SUU

  22-02-2018 20:21
  CEDAR CITY — Southern Utah University is bringing back community education classes for area residents starting in March.Registration is now open for 16 classes on such topics as branding, self-defense, geology and hiking, creative writing, photography, social dancing and financial management.According to Melynda Thorpe, executive director of SUU's Community & Academic Enrichment, the classes are designed for those who love to learn something new, to create social engagement in the comm
  
  Read more

• Charges: Man accused of killing U. student stabbed inmate

  22-02-2018 20:19
  
  A man accused of shooting and killing a University of Utah student in a carjacking attempt near Red Butte Garden was charged Thursday in a new attack.
  
  Read more

• Scouting for Food set for March 17

  22-02-2018 20:17
  SALT LAKE CITY — Boy Scouts across the state will be collecting canned goods for the Utah Food Bank during the annual Scouting for Food drive on Saturday, March 17.Utah residents are asked to fill a bag with nonperishable food donations and leave it on their porch by 9 a.m. for collection.Looking to go green, the donors are urged to use any bag or box on hand.Most needed items include soup, chili, canned meats (tuna or chicken), peanut butter and boxed meals. Please no glass items.If the l
  
  Read more

• Washington County detectives seek public’s help in possible homicide investigation

  22-02-2018 19:55
  
  Washington County Sheriff’s detectives investigating the death of a female found Aug. 25 near the Virgin River and later identified as an Oklahoma woman are seeking the public’s help.
  
  Read more

• Utah Senator day drinks before presenting bill to delay state's new .05 DUI law

  22-02-2018 19:54
  SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Jim Dabakis had two mimosas after breakfast and tested his blood alcohol content Thursday before presenting a bill at the Capitol proposing to delay Utah's .05 percent DUI law."So my entire presentation has been at .05," he told the Senate Transportation, Public Utilities, Energy and Technology Standing Committee. "I'm at .05, and I feel perfectly fine."Dabakis, D-Salt Lake City, said after the meeting that he didn't drink and drive but had an intern drive him to the
  
  Read more

• No consolidation: All 5 of Utah’s wildfire dispatch centers to remain open

  22-02-2018 19:38
  
  After debating for more than a year on whether or not to consolidate three of Utah’s five interagency wildfire dispatch centers, officials have decided to keep all five open.
  
  Read more

• Survivors speak out: Two decades of school shooting survivors offer solutions after Parkland shooting

  22-02-2018 19:19
  Hollan Holm's daughter Sylvia, 5, came home from kindergarten recently and described a school activity sandwiched between play time, coloring and learning letters and shapes: The teacher turned off the lights in the classroom and locked the doors. She told the kids to huddle and be really really quiet so the "bad person" couldn't hear them.Holm, 35, an attorney in Louisville, Kentucky, said it broke his heart to hear his daughter's innocent description of what he recognized as an active-shooter
  
  Read more

• Utah lawmakers now have $581 million in additional revenues

  22-02-2018 18:56
  SALT LAKE CITY — Lawmakers now have a total of $581 million in additional revenues to spend this session — and that's not counting the $80 million windfall expected as a result of federal tax changes.The final estimates add $126 million in anticipated revenue growth and $83 million to the budget surplus to the $327 million in revenue growth or ongoing money, and $45 million in surplus or one-time funds already expected."Now the real work begins," Senate Budget Chairman Jerry Stevenso
  
  Read more

• Catholic community marks 25th year in renewed Cathedral of the Madeleine

  22-02-2018 18:23
  
  As the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese marked the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral of the Madeleine's rededication Wednesday, Monsignor M. Francis Mannion remembered the effort it took to restore the cathedral as well as the people who helped.
  
  Read more

• 29 percent tax increase on vaping products moves forward at Utah Legislature

  22-02-2018 18:22
  SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker's bid to slap an 86.5 percent tax increase on vaping products was muted Wednesday by a House committee, which recommended a 29 percent tax hike instead."We have an epidemic among our youth, and its called electronic cigarettes," said the sponsor of HB88, Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, making his case for an 86.5 percent tax on vaping products.Vaporizers and e-liquids do not currently have the kind of tax on them that conventional cigarettes do, Ray said. He a
  
  Read more

• Two cannabis bills advance; resolution on gang violence OKed

  22-02-2018 18:04
  
  A pair of bills promoting the growth of marijuana in Utah and terminally ill patients' right to try medicinal cannabis products both advanced, as did a resolution urging a comprehensive approach to reducing gang violence.
  
  Read more

• Parties would nominate candidates to fill future congressional vacancies under bill

  22-02-2018 17:36
  
  A bill establishing how future congressional vacancies would be filled passed the House Government Operations Committee with little debate Wednesday.
  
  Read more

• Mortar discovered at WJ waste management facility results in police response

  22-02-2018 16:58
  
  The discovery of what appeared to be a mortar at a garbage handling and recycling facility in West Jordan Wednesday led to a response by police, fire and a bomb tech.
  
  Read more

• New research finds the real 'middle of nowhere.' It's less than 700 miles from Utah

  22-02-2018 16:15
  The middle of nowhere isn't too far away from Utah.New research from an Oxford University team recently unveiled new tools that can help identify how far any place in the country is from a city or another place.Using the research, The Washington Post found that Glasgow, Montana, is the so-called "middle of nowhere."Researchers working on the Malaria Atlas Project, which included 22 authors from Oxford's Big Data Institute, spent more than two decades building a map that identifies "just how long
  
  Read more

• Panel gives nod to bill that waives fees for IDs for homeless

  22-02-2018 15:39
  
  A committee OK'd a bill to waive the fees for government IDs like birth certificates for homeless people.
  
  Read more

• BYU turns to social media to help combat sexual abuse

  22-02-2018 15:03
  
  Brigham Young University is using Instagram to let students know help is available after sexual abuse.
  
  Read more

• Wasatch High student flags gun threat online; classmate in custody

  22-02-2018 07:35
  HEBER CITY — A Wasatch High School student alerted authorities that a classmate threatened gun violence on social media Wednesday evening, and police took the teen into custody without incident.Officers "believe there is no remaining threat to student safety," Heber City police wrote in a Facebook post late Wednesday.The police agency praised the quick action of the student who spotted the post that threatened some kind of violence involving a gun on Thursday.Heber City police did not iden
  
  Read more

• Work to widen Pony Express Parkway could start as early as Feb. 28

  22-02-2018 06:00
  EAGLE MOUNTAIN — City officials have announced work on widening the Pony Express Parkway from two lanes to five between Porter's Crossing and Redwood Road could begin as early as Wednesday, Feb. 28.Construction will be done in two phases.During the first phase, crews will extend two culverts where the Welby-Jacobs Canal and the Utah Lake Distributing Canals cross under the roadway. Several irrigation pipe crossings between Thunder Boulevard (200 West in Saratoga Springs) and Redwood Road w
  
  Read more

• Utah Senate committee endorses grant program for after-school programs

  22-02-2018 05:44
  SALT LAKE CITY — The Senate Education Committee endorsed a bill Wednesday that creates a state competitive grant program for high-quality after-school programs.Such programs have primarily relied on federal or private funds, said Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake, sponsor of SB202.Escamilla said the grants would be administered by the Utah State Board of Education and the Department of Workforce Services and require matching funds. The bill seeks $250,000 to be appropriated equally to the tw
  
  Read more

• Senate panel backs reports on law enforcement actions regarding students

  22-02-2018 05:38
  SALT LAKE CITY —The Utah State Board of Education would be required to produce an annual report of law enforcement actions related to student discipline under a bill that received unanimous support from the Senate Education Committee Wednesday.Sen. Jake Anderegg, R-Lehi, sponsor of SB198, said policymakers need data to determine whether the sweeping juvenile justice reforms passed by lawmakers in 2017 are working as intended or if "tweaks are needed."HB132, passed last year, clarified that
  
  Read more

• Charges: Man duped friends, others to invest in fake companies

  22-02-2018 05:37
  SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors say a Stansbury Park man hornswoggled neighbors, relatives and fellow churchgoers into investing thousands of dollars in his fake companies from 2013 to 2017.Ronald Wayne Leavitt, 61, was charged in federal court in Salt Lake City Wednesday with felonies wire fraud and money laundering.He persuaded people close to him to pour money into ventures that included a California real-estate project, a high-end development in Moab called "Hidden Mesa" and a sug
  
  Read more

• SLC’s Pago named Utah’s best restaurant by Salt Lake Magazine readers

  22-02-2018 05:20
  
  The best restaurant in Utah for 2018 is Salt Lake City’s Pago, according to Salt Lake Magazine readers.
  
  Read more

• Democrat Jenny Wilson takes aim at Republican Mitt Romney's response on gun violence

  22-02-2018 04:45
  SALT LAKE CITY — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Jenny Wilson took aim Wednesday at Republican Mitt Romney's "tepid" response on gun violence in the wake of the Florida school shooting.Wilson, a Salt Lake County Council member, made it clear that she supports the Second Amendment but favors an assault weapon ban as well as an overhaul of background checks, including for expanding checks for gun shows and the online market.Student survivors at the Parkland, Florida, high school have called
  
  Read more

• Resolution to rally cities against gangs gets nod from Senate committee

  22-02-2018 04:26
  SALT LAKE CITY — Senate Minority Whip Karen Mayne's resolution SCR12, which encourages local governments and community groups to work together to reduce gang violence, received a favorable nod from the Senate Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee Wednesday.The resolution calls for a comprehensive approach including, "research-based interventions" to counteract increasing gang activity and recruitment in Utah."This is a real problem," Mayne, D-West Valley City, said, observi
  
  Read more

• Pleasant Grove firefighters use spare time to restore 1933 engine 'Old Joe'

  22-02-2018 03:32
  
  Pleasant Grove firefighters are using their spare time in between calls to restore an old 1933 fire engine.
  
  Read more

• Parties would nominate candidates to fill future congressional vacancies under Utah bill

  22-02-2018 03:26
  SALT LAKE CITY — A bill establishing how future congressional vacancies would be filled passed the House Government Operations Committee with little debate Wednesday.Members of the committee voted 6-1 to advance HB344, sponsored by Rep. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, to the full House. Only Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, voted against the bill.Arent questioned why the bill would eliminate the option of allowing candidates to gather voter signatures for a spot on a primary election ballot and ins
  
  Read more

• Utah House shoots down bill to create legislative oversight committee

  22-02-2018 03:08
  SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah House on Tuesday shot down a bill that would have created a new legislative entity to oversee state and local governments, despite being supported by GOP heavyweights.HB175 failed on the House floor with a 20-54 vote.It's not the first time the bill has been shot down. Sponsored by Rep. Keven Stratton, R-Orem, HB175 faltered in a House committee earlier this month before some Republican lawmakers on the committee changed their votes to give it a chance on the Hous
  
  Read more

• Bills directing cannabis growing in Utah, giving access to dying patients, to go before full Senate

  22-02-2018 03:05
  SALT LAKE CITY — The Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday approved a pair of bills promoting the growth of full-strength marijuana in the state and terminally ill patients' right to try medicinal cannabis products.HB197, a bill instructing the Department of Agriculture to grow cannabis in the state that passed the House earlier this month with the fewest allowable votes, and HB195, which allows patients defined as terminally ill to use cannabis products if recommended by
  
  Read more

• Late Utah Olympic bobsledder’s family at Games to help raise money for son's foundation

  22-02-2018 03:00
  
  A foundation in late U.S. bobsledder Steven Holcomb’s name seeks to help raise money for others who need vision operation.
  
  Read more

• Utah Catholic community marks 25th year in renewed Cathedral of the Madeleine

  22-02-2018 02:59
  SALT LAKE CITY — As the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese marked the 25th anniversary of the Cathedral of the Madeleine's rededication Wednesday, Monsignor M. Francis Mannion remembered the effort it took to restore the cathedral as well as the people who helped."During Mass, I was very much aware of their presence in spirit," Monsignor Mannion said.The event was "bittersweet," he said: Sweet because of the success of the project 25 years ago, and bitter or "sad" because of the passing of many wh
  
  Read more

Follow @NewslockerUtah on Twitter!