Tag Archives: Utah

The Associated Press reports: Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said that he plans to veto legislation passed Friday that would ban transgender student-athletes from competing in girls sports. Without his support, Utah is unlikely to join the 11 states, all Republican-led, that have recently enacted bans on transgender girls wanting to compete in school sports leagues. In vowing to veto the …

CNN reports: A 4-year-old child in Utah fired a weapon from the back seat of a car toward a police officer, after allegedly being instructed to do so by his father, authorities said. Police were initially called to a McDonald’s in Midvale on Monday when restaurant workers reported a man “brandished” a gun at drive-thru employees after receiving the wrong …

Salt Lake City’s NBC News affiliate reports: Six months before stabbing a man to death in Liberty Park in a dispute over money, it appears that a Salt Lake man may have traveled to Washington and participated in the U.S. Capitol riot while armed with a gun. But despite published photos that appear to show him at the Capitol that …

Law & Crime reports: A Utah cop who was once named Salt Lake City’s “Officer of the Year” has pleaded guilty to storming the Capitol on Jan. 6. Michael Lee Hardin joined the hundreds of Donald Trump supporters who overran police and breached the Capitol building in an attempt to stop the certification of Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: After testing positive for COVID-19 last week, Senate President Stuart Adams opened the 2022 session unmasked, conducting business as normal and trying to reassure senators and the public he was fully recovered. In his opening comments to Tuesday, Adams initially said he’d tested positive twice for COVID-19 since yesterday but backtracked seconds later. “I tested …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Entrata founder Dave Bateman stepped down as chairman of the software company on Tuesday after sending an antisemitic email to many Utah political leaders calling the COVID-19 vaccine a plot to “euthanize the American people,” blaming the effort on “the Jews.” Bateman’s email, sent early Monday from his entrata.com account, cited an unhinged conspiracy theory …

The Associated Press reports: An advertising-technology billionaire has formally resigned his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith over social issues and LGBTQ rights in an unusual public move. Jeff T. Green has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5 billion fortune, starting with a $600,000 donation to the LGBTQ-rights group Equality …

The Atlantic reports: For many Utahns, the Trump rally was the breaking point. A few days before the 2020 election, Senator Mike Lee paced across a red, white, and blue stage in Goodyear, Arizona, microphone in hand, rhapsodizing about the president’s many virtues while he looked on. Lee’s talking points were mostly familiar. But then he arrived at a novel …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: The incoming Salt Lake City Council is historic — in multiple ways. For the first time, most of the members — four of the seven — are racial and ethnic minorities. And for the first time, a majority — again four — are openly LGBTQ. “It is different to have a government that makes decisions …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Surprising perhaps no one, Salt Lake County residents born under the exuberant, high-achieving, let-no-opportunity-pass sign of Leo have been vaccinated for the coronavirus at higher rates than those of any other zodiac sign. That’s according to an analysis of immunization and population data released this week by the Salt Lake County Health Department. The department …

Politico reports: Evan McMullin, the former undercover CIA officer best known for his 2016 presidential bid as an independent, announced Tuesday he is running for Senate in Utah to replace Republican Mike Lee in next year’s midterm elections. In a roughly three-minute campaign launch video, McMullin, who has long been an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, argued Tuesday …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Evan McMullin, who won more than 21% of the Utahns’ votes for president in 2016, will challenge Sen. Mike Lee as an independent candidate for Utah’s Senate seat next year. An announcement of his candidacy is likely to come soon — perhaps very soon — a source in the McMullin camp told me over the …

Salt Lake City’s NBC News affiliate reports: A Utah County woman was convinced her faith-based decision to keep her family-of-six unvaccinated was right, but that feeling didn’t last long after her husband contracted a severe case of COVID-19. Now, he’s fighting for his life in the hospital. Months ago, Mindy Greene’s husband, Russell, told her to decide what the family …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: Jacob Kyle Wiedrich was arrested Thursday in Salt Lake City, under a warrant issued by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The warrant accuses Wiedrich of four counts involving the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6. Janet West Buhler was arrested Friday in Salt Lake City under another warrant issued …

Fox News (really) reports: Amid the West’s historic and climate-driven mega-drought, Utah’s Great Salt Lake has dipped to what some are calling a “historic” low. While the shallow body of water previously covered an area roughly the size of Delaware, the state’s Utah Rivers Council reported at the end of June that United States Geological Survey data showed the Great …

The Deseret News reports: Gov. Spencer Cox is counting on stories from Utahns who skipped the COVID-19 shots and then became gravely ill after catching the virus to encourage more vaccinations in the state, warning that opposition to the vaccines is “literally killing” people. “I promise you the disease is worse than the vaccine. I can’t make it more clear …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: A Utah pharmacist has admitted he gave COVID-19 vaccination cards to half a dozen people without giving them a shot of the vaccine. According to a stipulation order, the pharmacist surrendered his license and agreed to pay a $2,000 fine. He admitted that on or about June 30, he saw a “reluctant patient” whose employer …

The Deseret News reports: Family nurse practitioner Aaron Hartle wasn’t in any hurry to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even though he treated patients in his Springville clinic who were hospitalized by the deadly virus. It even killed one of his patients. But too much was still unknown about the vaccines, he believed, and besides, he was too healthy to have …

Washington DC’s NBC News affiliate reports: A U.S. Capitol insurrection defendant who is charged with assaulting police on the frontlines said he has no regrets for his actions, has questions about the 2020 election and acknowledges he was seeking to confront lawmakers while in the crowd on Jan. 6. Landon Copeland, an Iraq War veteran from Utah, spoke about his …

Salt Lake City’s NBC News affiliate reports: With hot, dry weather in the immediate and long-term forecasts, Gov. Spencer Cox on Thursday called on Utahns to pray for rain this weekend as Utah’s drought conditions continue to worsen. In a pre-recorded video, the governor called on Utahns of all faiths to join him in a “weekend of humble prayer” from …