Tag Archives: Utah

Salt Lake City’s ABC affiliate reports: A Sandy man faces 10 felonies for possessing child porn, some of it allegedly LDS themed. Roland E. Westrup, 23, was charged in the 3rd District Court with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a 2nd-degree felony. He could be put away for up to 15 years for each charge, if that …

ABC News reports: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox has signed a bill into law banning abortion clinics in the state, making it the latest to restrict the procedure since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Cox, a Republican, signed H.B. 467 after it passed the state Senate on March 2 and state House on March 3, both along party lines. …

Vice News reports: A 25-year-old man who espoused beliefs that aligned with the so-called “sovereign citizen” movement was shot dead by police officers in Utah after being pulled over for driving without a proper license plate. On March 1, Chase Allan, 25, was pulled over by police in the small Utah town of Farmington after cops noticed he was driving …

The Associated Press reports: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Friday that he plans to sign a measure that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state, meaning hospitals will soon be the only places where they can be provided in the state. After passing through the state Senate on Thursday with minor amendments, it returned to the Utah …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The bill to change Utah’s state flag squeaked by on the House floor Thursday morning on a razor-thin 40-35 vote, thus ending debate on the surprising controversy that engulfed the Legislature since the start of the 2023 session. The process of redesigning the state flag began in 2019. The new design emerged from more than …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: A former church bishop and mayor of West Bountiful was sentenced to prison Thursday on child sex abuse charges following incidents that dated back to the 80s. Carl Johnson was given a sentence of 9 years to life for one felony, and another sentence of 1-to-15 years for a second. The sentences handed down …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: A Utah lawmaker is running a bill that would prohibit any discussion of sexuality, sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade classrooms — legislation that directly copies language from a Florida law that was widely panned and referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” measure by opponents. LGBTQ groups in Utah have …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Ensign Peak Advisors Inc., which oversees a $32 billion equities portfolio for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will pay $4 million to settle regulatory claims that the money manager obscured the church’s investment holdings. The church will also pay a $1 million fine, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday. The money …

Salt Lake City’s NBC affiliate reports: A former youth leader from Springville has admitted to sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy after police say he paid the boy thousands of dollars not to tell anyone. Kevin Sykes, 55, pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child and aggravated sex abuse of a child, first-degree felonies, plus three …

The Christian Post reports: A Utah-based Christian K-12 academy fired four top administrators for their alleged involvement in what is potentially a multi-million dollar embezzlement scheme involving tuition funds. The Layton Christian Academy has filed a lawsuit in an effort to recoup some of the losses and prevent the accused individuals from accessing the financial records. On Tuesday, the academy …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Gov. Spencer Cox signed two hotly debated bills Saturday: one that will create the largest school voucher program in state history, and another that will ban most gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. The controversial measures, which have drawn protest and debate since they were introduced, are the first two bills Cox has signed this …

ABC News reports: A Utah plastic surgeon issued COVID-19 vaccination cards to large numbers of patients who never received their shots, dumping the vaccines down the drain while telling the CDC the recipients had been properly inoculated, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday. Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, who operates the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, is charged along …

Politico reports: There’s no more prominent GOP Trump foil these days than Romney. And with the former president weakened, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, no fan of Trump himself, is among the top Republicans exhorting Romney to seek another six-year term in 2024. He’s considering it. Whether he could win is “frankly, not a question in my mind,” Romney said …

Salt Lake City’s Fox affiliate reports: Sen. Mike Lee will remain in office for another six years after defeating challenger Evan McMullin Tuesday night. The Associated Press had not yet called the race as of 11 p.m. However, Lee declared victory in a speech, followed by McMullin conceding in a speech of his own. Evan McMullin ran as an independent …

Roll Call reports: Retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois came to Utah to make the case for electing the independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin over incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee. “People sometimes come up to me and say, like, ‘Adam, you’re courageous in what you’re doing,’ and I appreciate people saying that. It’s not true, though,” Kinzinger said at an …

“You said the president should listen to legal quack Sydney Powell, ‘Please make time for her, let her in,’ you told the White House chief of staff. “You told the president that you were working overtime – 14 hours a day, I think you said – to unravel this for him, to keep a president who had been voted out …

The Deseret News reports: Utahns like Evan McMullin a little more than Sen. Mike Lee, but the independent challenger has a lot of voters who don’t seem to know him and he still slightly trails the Republican incumbent in the heated U.S. Senate race. A new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 41% of Utahns would vote for Lee …

The Deseret News reports: As the Senate considers legislation to protect same-sex marriage, a new poll shows nearly three-fourths of Utahns support legal same-sex marriage. The new Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey found 72% of residents agree that marriages between same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages. The poll …

The Deseret News reports: Engaged in a fierce battle in the U.S. Senate race in Utah, a new poll shows Republican Sen. Mike Lee and independent challenger Evan McMullin neck and neck with a little over six weeks to Election Day. The latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics survey found 36% of Utahns would vote for Lee and 34% for …

The Associated Press reports: A former Utah city mayor and bishop with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused at least three children decades ago. Carl Matthew Johnson, 77, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Davis County jail in northern Utah on suspicion of seven counts of sex abuse of …