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ABC4 Utah •

Utah Democratic Party elects new leadership, Brian King

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Delegates gathered at the Utah Democratic Convention in Ogden on Saturday, May 31– and with all eyes on the race for the new chair of the party, the results are in, with Brian King winning with 52% of the vote.


As the newly elected party leader, King is a seasoned politician with 16 years of experience as a state legislator. He is the former House Minority Leader and ran for governor last year.


“This is a new era and this is our moment. As Chair, I’m ready to lead t...
ABC4 Utah •

12-year-old programming prodigy creates new family-friendly social media platform

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — At just 12 years old, Nephi Balinski is already doing what many adults only dream of: building a new social media platform to make a difference – and it’s all through the power of programming.


“I started learning coding when I was like about seven or eight,” Nephi said.

He said he stumbled across programming while browsing through the internet. He started to teach programming himself through online classes offered at Khan Academy, an online educational resource. Fro...
ABC4 Utah •

‘Blessed and grateful’: Teen survivor of West Valley murder-suicide graduates high school

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC4) — “It’s been wonderful.”


That’s how Sha Reh said he will remember his experience when he looks back at his high school years, which are filled with memories of friends and family that, he admits, make him a bit emotional at times.


On Wednesday, May 28, Reh will walk across the stage and officially graduate from Granger High School with a 3.9 GPA. For many in the community, Reh has become an inspiration, as just a few months earlier, he was found alive in the g...
ABC4 Utah •

Summit County pulls funding as Sundance prepares for its last hurrah in Utah

SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — As Sundance Film Festival prepares to bid adieu to Park City, its home for over 40 years, county leaders are pulling back funding allocated to promote the festival.


During a Summit County council meeting on Wednesday, county leaders came to the decision that none of the $4.37 million from restaurant sales tax is going to be granted to the festival’s advertising costs.


Summit County has been a staunch supporter of Sundance in past years. Records show that in t...
ABC4 Utah •

Two Utah parents turn their love for their child into a mission of accessibility

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — For two Utah parents, what started out as an act of love for their blind daughter became a full-fledged mission to make games more accessible for an entire community.


Maeve, who is 10 years old, has been blind since birth. According to her parents, she was born with a condition called optic nerve hypoplasia.


“You feel devastated when you find out your kid has a disability and you’re scared of the dynamic of it,” Steven Erb, Maeve’s father, said.
They didn’t want Ma...
ABC4 Utah •

Utah labor leaders in final push to repeal controversial collective bargaining ban

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Labor leaders are racing against the clock as they now have less than a week to get enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot to overturn one of this year’s most controversial bills – H.B. 267.


This bill bans government workers, such as teachers and firefighters, from collective bargaining, which would allow unions to negotiate pay, benefits, and work conditions.


“I’m feeling very optimistic,” Brad Asay, president of American Federation-Teachers of Utah...
ABC4 Utah •

New Intermountain Health study, device may prevent opioid deaths after surgery

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Opioids are a common medication used to alleviate pain after surgery, but the risk is palpable. Even when taken as prescribed, opioids can suppress someone’s drive to breathe and lead to fatal consequences.


“My son passed away after just a routine tonsillectomy,” said Yvonne Gardener as she talked about the 21-year-old son she lost nearly 10 years ago. What she thought would be a simple surgery for her son had become a devastating loss to the family. The silent killer...
ABC4 Utah •

Utah woman receives 100 cancer treatments, living far beyond doctors' expectations

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — When she first got her cancer diagnosis years ago, 84-year-old Dukhi Hong couldn’t have imagined coming this far.


“It feels like a dream,” Dukhi said in Korean, while reminiscing about the past six years she’s spent coming to the cancer center.


The doctor said that with her diagnosis, patients have six to nine months left to live. However, on Friday, Dukhi exceeded all expectations: She came to Utah Cancer Specialists to receive her 100th dose of immunotherapy.
Al...
ABC4 Utah •

100+ children in Utah at risk to face immigration court alone due to federal cuts

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — For years, Catholic Community Services of Utah (CCS) has been providing legal support for hundreds of unaccompanied minor children. These children had escaped dangerous situations in their home country, including abuse or trafficking.


CCS’s Refugee services guided these children through the muck and mire of immigration court so that the children could stay in the country. However, with the Trump administration’s recent announcement to slash funding for the legal repre...
ABC4 Utah •

Utah’s time change bill hits roadblock on Senate Committee

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A Utah bill that would stop Beehive State clocks from springing forward or falling back has come to a grinding halt on Wednesday.


H.B. 120 – otherwise known as “Time Change Amendments” – was brought before the Senate Business and Labor Committee, which voted 7-1 to table the bill indefinitely. This means, for the time being, Utahns can still expect to adjust their clocks forward and back an hour twice a year.

The bill was originally introduced by Rep. Joseph Elison...
ABC4 Utah •

LDS Church seeks to dismiss tithing suit in federal court

NOTE: A lawsuit represents only one side of a story.


SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — On Friday, Jan. 17, attorneys for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were in federal court seeking to strike a lawsuit challenging the organization’s use of tithing donations. The final verdict is pending.


In this suit, the plaintiffs — a group of current or former members of the church — are challenging how church leaders have used tithing and other donations. In the Latter-day Saint faith, many memb...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

This drug overtook meth for overdose deaths in Utah for the first time last year

Editor’s note • This story discusses opioid misuse and substance use disorder. If you or someone you know is at risk of an opioid overdose, visit UtahNaloxone.org or your local public library to obtain free naloxone. If you or someone you know needs medical services, visit the Utah Naloxone Wellness Center, aka Andy’s.Finding fentanyl, Mysti Lopez remembers, was as easy as heading to the Jordan River Trail, a popular spot for deals. Police announced seizures of hundreds of fentanyl pills there t...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Utah has different breast cancer screening options than other states. Here’s a breakdown of your options.

Editor’s note • The Salt Lake Tribune is now making this access to this story free in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. If you would like to support our work, please visit our donations page.Three years ago, Alisha Gorder was diagnosed with Stage 0 breast cancer in Connecticut. Doctors were able to detect it early, thanks to diligent breast cancer screenings that the 51-year-old receives annually.“When I was 40, I went in, I got my mammogram, and my doctor said ‘Oh, you have dense br...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Boulter Fire near Juab and Tooele county lines prompts evacuations

A wildfire on the Juab and Tooele county lines was at approximately 2300 acres as of Sunday afternoon.The Boulter Fire started Saturday afternoon, along Utah State Route 36, which was closed in both directions through Sunday morning. Evacuations were issued between Vernon and Eureka on Saturday afternoon, but they were lifted as of 1 p.m. on Sunday.First responders battled erratic winds when the fire first started, with gusts up to 60 mph in the area, per Hayden Mayhan, meteorologist at National...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Moab’s third flood event of 2024 was a doozy

A series of thunderstorms rolled through Grand County Friday night, bringing Moab its third flood event of the summer.The bridge on 300 South near the dog park sustained heavy damage. Moab City Councilor Luke Wojciechowski was helping with cleanup at the bridge Saturday morning and he indicated the city might put the long-problematic bridge at the top of its list of infrastructure projects.Wojciechowski said it’s time to ask the state to help Moab address its flooding issues, which occur with in...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

These Utah intersections could get safer with the help of laser technology, which can analyze crashes, crosswalks and more

There’s a new watchdog carefully monitoring major Salt Lake Valley intersections.It’s called lidar, which stands for light detection and ranging. The technology uses eye-safe laser beams to measure the distance and movement of cars, pedestrians and cyclists alike in order to understand how to make intersections safer and more efficient for all.Right now, lidar is only fully operational at two local intersections: 5900 South and State Street in Murray; and 2100 South and Redwood Road in Salt Lake...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Utah Arts Festival in jeopardy after suffering major financial loss this summer

The long-standing Utah Arts Festival is in jeopardy after suffering a major financial loss this year, drawing in about 14,000 fewer patrons than organizers had hoped for and sitting about $200,000 short of its $2 million budget.Organizers are now looking to potentially change the event’s dates and location in the future, according to a notice the festival’s board and staff sent to supporters and media on Friday.“I can’t commit 100% to 2025,” Executive Director Aimee Dunsmore said in response to...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Utah wildfire resource guide: How to plan and protect your home before a wildfire

Editor’s note • The Salt Lake Tribune is providing free access to this vital story about wildfire preparation. Sign up for our Top Stories newsletter, sent to your inbox every morning. To support journalism like this, please donate or become a subscriber.On the hills north of the Capitol, a July wildfire forced the evacuation of about 40 homes as flames quickly spread within a half-mile of a Salt Lake City neighborhood.Evacuation orders were later lifted as firefighters began to contain the blaz...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

‘It was our priority’: SLCPD clears massive criminal record expungement backlog that piled up under ‘Clean Slate Law’

Salt Lake City police on Friday announced that they have expunged more than 74,000 criminal records, clearing a massive backlog that had built up over the past two years.That backlog ballooned after Utah lawmakers in 2019 passed the “Clean Slate Law,” requiring officials to automatically expunge certain misdemeanor criminal records after five to seven years, as long as the defendant had not been convicted of other crimes.The law was supposed to go into effect in May 2020 but was delayed because...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

With 2 Utah endangered condors killed, investigators seek help from the public

Utah investigators are seeking those responsible for the recent killings of two endangered California condors.The two condors were found shot, one in 2022 and another last month, with both discovered in the same area southeast of Cedar City and north of Zion National Park. This brings down the population of these critically endangered species 85 remaining in the wild in northern Arizona and southern Utah as of June 2024. There are currently no leads on the perpetrators.The Utah Division of Wildl...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Ensign Peak fire evacuation order is lifted, with blaze 10% contained

The blaze that started Saturday on Ensign Peak was 10% contained Sunday evening, officials said, and Salt Lake City police later announced that an evacuation order in place for more than a day was lifted.“Today we had really good success on the fire” after getting an early start, said Ryan LaFontaine, an operations trainee with the Northern Utah Type 3 Incident Management Team.“If conditions on the fire stay the way they are and we don’t have any more flareups,” he said around 8 p.m., “we’ll be...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Utah says it will get proven lethal injection drug 3 days before Taberon Honie execution

Utah officials said Saturday that they have secured access to a proven lethal injection drug — pentobarbital — which they expect to arrive at least three days before the scheduled Aug. 8 execution of death row inmate Taberon Honie.Since they are scrapping an earlier plan to use an untested three-drug cocktail of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride, they have now asked a judge to dismiss Honie’s lawsuit attacking their execution method.“As long as UDC can procure pentobarbital,” Brian Redd,...
The Salt Lake Tribune •

Sweltering heat to linger in Salt Lake City through weekend

The summer heat is expected to simmer down slightly this weekend after highs lingered in the grueling triple-digits last week. But it’ll still be warm.The high on Friday is currently forecast at 98 degrees, followed by 100 degrees on Saturday and 99 degrees on Sunday.Those temperatures are typical for mid-July in Salt Lake City, according to the National Weather Service. Still, heat is dangerous — and deadly.Officials advise people to drink lots of water; avoid strenuous outdoor exercise midday;...
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