Utah | featured news

There’s no denying the drama of the Thursday night vote — Friday morning, in D.C. — cast by Arizona Sen. John McCain that dashed the Obamacare repeal hopes of Republicans, at least for now.
The senator, undergoing treatment for brain cancer, returning to the Capitol and, after being relentlessly lobbied by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Vice President Mike Pence and seemingly every other member of the body, he still cast the “No” vote.

Federal prosecutors in Utah are filing more charges against people for unlawful possession of a firearm than they have in years past.
In the first six months of 2017, 96 cases were filed — a number that has more than doubled when compared to the same time period in 2014 and has increased by nearly 30 percent compared to last year. In 2016, prosecutors did not reach 96 filings until September, according to a news release from federal prosecutors in Utah.
Utah’s U.S. Attorney John Huber said the ...

Provo • Most Utahns know just a few things about the three candidates battling for the Republican nomination to fill the congressional seat of recently retired Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
John Curtis is the two-term mayor of Provo. Chris Herrod is a former state legislator. Tanner Ainge is a financial adviser and son of Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge.
Ainge has been endorsed by several legislators representing the Utah County area. Herrod has the stamp of approval from conservative Sens. Ted Cruz and Ra...

Salt Lake City mayor Jackie Biskupski declared a local emergency on Friday afternoon following intense flooding that damaged a high school and a library.
A storm dropped 2 1/2 inches of rain in less than an hour early Wednesday morning, flooding streets and basements in Salt Lake City.
“It was not a failure of infrastructure at all,” Biskupski said. “The system was truly overwhelmed within one hour of time. A storm like this hasn’t happened in probably 200 years. It’s really an unprecedented eve...

An Arkansas couple on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in Utah against a Hurricane ranch for troubled teens, alleging that a therapist sexually assaulted their then-16-year-old daughter last year.
A therapist employed by Diamond Ranch Academy touched the teenager inappropriately, asked her for details about her sexual interests and told her about his sex life in April and May of 2016, according to the lawsuit filed in 5th District Court. The teenager enrolled in the academy and lived on the campus from ...

Infected animals are the likely cause of an E. coli outbreak that killed two children and sickened 10 others recently in Hildale, Utah, and adjoining Colorado City, Ariz., a health department said Friday.
The news release from the Southwest Utah Public Health Department referred to the animals as “livestock,” but did not provide further description.
Gabriella Fullerton, 6, died June 30 after the bacteria caused kidney failure, according to her family. Her mother, Linda Fullerton, was among tho...

One person was dead Friday afternoon following a car crash at the intersection of 500 South and 1100 East in Salt Lake City.
The crash, which appeared to involve two SUVs, resulted in traffic being blocked between the University of Utah and 900 South, the Salt Lake City Fire Department tweeted.
Salt Lake City police tweeted a bus bridge was being used to take TRAX train passengers between 900 East and the Stadium stop. Officials urged people to avoid the area.
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All voices — black and white, religious and secular, gay and straight — belong in the public square in a pluralistic society, a Mormon apostle told a gathering of African-American church leaders this week.
“Our country has learned all too slowly, and forgets too easily, that we all do better when the voices of all minorities are given respect in our national dialogue,” Quentin L.

Gov. Gary Herbert is asking federal land managers to “re-evaluate” three parcels proposed for oil and gas leasing at the doorstep of Dinosaur National Monument, saying that drilling could degrade the site for visitors.
The parcels are among 79 managed by Bureau of Land Management’s Vernal and Price field offices and slated to be sold at an on-line auction in Dec. 11.

Utahns are evenly split over the state’s new toughest-in-the-nation drunken driving law.