Category Archives: Utah

Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California

Posted on by

Look-back window results in nearly 100 allegations against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church.

A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders.

Continue reading...

Firing squad could become Idaho’s main execution method if governor signs bill

Posted on by

State senate passes bill as its sponsor suggests shooting someone is more effective and humane than other methods

Firing squads could become Idaho’s primary execution method under a bill headed to the governor’s desk this week.

The Idaho senate passed the bill on Wednesday, and if signed by governor Brad Little, it will take effect next year.

Continue reading...

Storm-fueled mud submerges roads in California town hit by LA wildfires

Posted on by

Residents in Sierra Madre begin cleanup effort after strongest storm of year sweeps through southern California

Residents of a southern California mountain community near the Eaton fire burn scar dug out of roads submerged in sludge on Friday after the strongest storm of the year swept through the area, unleashing debris flows and muddy messes in several neighborhoods recently torched by wildfires.

Water, debris and boulders rushed down the mountain in the city of Sierra Madre on Thursday night, trapping at least one car in the mud and damaging several home garages with mud and debris. Bulldozers on Friday were cleaning up the mud-covered streets in the city of 10,000 people.

Continue reading...

Utah woman raised $1.2m for her kids before her death from cancer

Posted on by

Donations poured in for Erika Diarte-Carr, a single mother, after a post announcing her death went viral

A single mother from Utah, who was confronted with a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2022, managed to raise more than $1m in donations meant to help secure her children’s future before she died over the weekend, according to her family.

The story of Erika Diarte-Carr, 30, broke hearts across the US’s digital landscape particularly after relatives announced her death Saturday in a social media post that went viral.

Continue reading...

Families of Americans ensnared in DRC coup plot assert their innocence

Posted on by

Young Americans face death penalty for ‘amateurish’ assault in Congo that was led by one of their fathers

The family of a Utah student sentenced to death in the Democratic Republic of Congo for his alleged role in a failed coup d’etat in which his father was killed fears he and two other Americans could be executed within days without US government intervention.

Marcel Malanga, 22, was one of dozens convicted and sentenced at a military tribunal in Kinshasa last week, after the attempted overthrow of the Congolese government in May. The “amateurish” assault, which left six dead, was led by his father, Christian Malanga, a former DRC opposition leader, army captain and self-styled warlord.

Continue reading...

Utah’s famed ‘Double Arch’ geographical feature collapses

Posted on by

Park rangers suspect changing water levels and erosion to blame for the collapse of the popular tourist attraction

A large geological feature in southern Utah known as the “Double Arch”, the “Hole in the Roof” and sometimes the “Toilet Bowl” has collapsed, National Park Service officials said on Friday. No injuries were reported.

The popular arch in the Glen Canyon national recreation area fell on Thursday, and park rangers suspect changing water levels and erosion from waves in Lake Powell contributed to its demise.

Continue reading...

Advocates react to Utah ban of 13 books in schools and libraries: ‘It’s a tragedy’

Posted on by

Utah is first in the US to outlaw titles statewide they deem ‘indecent’ as free speech advocates worry about impact

Library associations, free speech groups and advocates are expressing outrage and concern after the state of Utah ordered 13 books to be removed from public school classrooms and libraries in accordance with a new state law that passed earlier this year.

“It’s a tragedy,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Continue reading...

Utah outlaws books by Judy Blume and Sarah J Maas in first statewide ban

Posted on by

State has ordered books by 13 authors, 12 of them women, to be removed from every public school, classroom and library

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries.

This marks the first time a state has outlawed a list of books statewide, according to PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, who oversees the organisation’s free expression programs.

Continue reading...

Salt Lake City must lobby for end to FBI doping investigation in return for 2034 Winter Olympics

Posted on by
  • FBI is looking into allegations of Chinese doping
  • French Alps given 2030 Winter Olympics

What was expected to be a simple coronation of Salt Lake City as the 2034 Winter Olympic host turned into complicated Olympic politics on Wednesday, as the IOC pushed Utah officials to end an FBI investigation into a suspected doping coverup.

In a separate decision earlier in Paris, the 2030 Winter Games were awarded – with conditions – to France for a regional project split between ski resorts in the Alps and Nice. That project needs official signoff from the national government which is still being formed after elections in France earlier this month.

Continue reading...

Utah firefighters battle to contain wildfire in hills above state capitol

Posted on by

Utah brush fire started Saturday and quickly grew to 200 acres, while in southern California fires forced evacuations

A wildfire in Salt Lake City forced people living uphill from Utah’s state capitol to evacuate, and it remained uncontained on Sunday as more than 100 firefighters worked to protect nearby homes.

Meanwhile in southern California, flames descended on the residential neighborhood of Riverside, forcing evacuations. Fires were also burning in Colusa and Lake counties in the north of the state. And in Oregon and Washington state, more than 500,000 people were under red flag warnings over the weekend.

Continue reading...

Utah to use pentobarbital to execute man instead of three-drug combination

Posted on by

Defense attorneys said the use of ketamine, fentanyl and potassium chloride could cause ‘excruciating suffering’

Utah officials said on Saturday that they are scrapping plans to use an untested lethal drug combination in next month’s planned execution of a man in a 1998 murder case. They will instead seek out a drug that’s been used previously in executions in numerous states.

Defense attorneys for Taberon Dave Honie, 49, had sued in state court to stop the use of the drug combination, saying it could cause the defendant “excruciating suffering”.

Continue reading...

Lightning strike in Utah sends seven members of youth group to hospital

Posted on by

About 50 members of the group felt the lightning strike as they were hiking, but none sustained life-threatening injuries

Seven members of a youth group hiking in Utah were transported to hospitals on Thursday after lightning struck the ground near them.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints youth group from Salina, Utah, were in the eastern part of Sevier county at about 1.45pm when a light rain began and the lightning hit, the Sevier county sheriff, Nathan Curtis, said in a statement.

Continue reading...

Judge partially lifts Trump gag order in hush-money case – as it happened

Posted on by

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on Trump’s trial, read our full coverage here.

While his primary contest may be too close to call, the vote count thus far shows Republican congressman Bob Good trailing his challenger John McGuire by a small amount.

Good is now casting aspersions on the fairness of the election, NBC News reports:

Good claimed during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast Monday that Lynchburg “did not secure their drop boxes.”

“There’s no accountability for when those boxes were opened,” Good said. “They were apparently left to be stuffed for two or three days after the election.”

Continue reading...

Anti-DEI law forces closure of University of Utah LGBT center

Posted on by

News comes amid anti-diversity legislation that has gutted inclusionary programs at several public universities

After 21 years of service, the University of Utah’s LGBT Resource Center will close on Friday, as the second-largest public university in the state comes into compliance with HB 261, Utah’s version of the anti-DEI legislation that has swept the country and gutted inclusionary programs at several public universities.

“As we’ve evaluated how best to comply with the legislation, I want to be clear that we’ve faced very difficult decisions,” the vice-president for student affairs, Lori McDonald, said in a statement. “The law and subsequent guidance require a foundational change in how we approach student support, and we will follow the law. This isn’t about changing the words we use; we’re changing how we approach the work.”

Continue reading...

Hearing delayed for US woman accused of killing husband before writing book on grief

Posted on by

Kouri Richins, 33, charged in Utah with murder over death of Eric Richins, who prosecutors say was fatally poisoned with fentanyl

A Utah judge on Wednesday postponed a hearing to determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed to trial in the case of a woman charged with fatally poisoning her husband before she published a children’s book about coping with grief.

Judge Richard Mrazik delayed the hearing until 18-20 June after prosecutors said they would need three days to present their evidence against Kouri Richins, whose lawyer says she is innocent.

Continue reading...

Super Tuesday 2024 live: millions of voters head to polls in the US as Haley suggests she could stay in the race

Posted on by

Donald Trump looks all but certain of Republican presidential nomination as Nikki Haley rejects suggestions of third-party bid and says she may keep fighting

Over at CNN, Ronald Brownstein has an analysis piece which looks a little at the potential weakness of Donald Trump support away from his core base. Brownstein writes:

[Trump’s] performance so far reflects his success at transforming the Republican Party in his image. He’s reshaped the Republicans into a more blue-collar, populist and pugnacious party, focused more on his volatile blend of resentments against elites and cultural and racial change than the Ronald Reagan-era priorities of smaller government and active global leadership that former South Carolina Gov Nikki Haley has stressed.

But while the primaries have underscored Trump’s grip on the GOP, they have also demonstrated continued vulnerability for him in the areas where he has labored since he first announced his candidacy in 2015 – particularly among the white-collar suburban voters who mostly leaned toward the GOP before his emergence. The early 2024 nominating contests have shown that a substantial minority of Republican-leaning voters remain resistant to Trump’s vision.

Continue reading...

Man found dead inside airplane engine at Salt Lake City international airport

Posted on by

Utah police found the 30-year-old unconscious inside an engine of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers

A man was found dead inside an airplane engine on Monday night at Salt Lake City international airport after police say he breached an emergency exit door, walked onto the tarmac and climbed inside the jet’s engine.

Officers found 30-year-old Kyler Efinger, a Park City resident, unconscious inside an engine mounted to the wing of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers, the Salt Lake City police department (SLCPD) announced on Tuesday. The plane had been sitting on a de-icing pad, the engine was rotating at the time, but the cause of Efinger’s death remains unclear.

Continue reading...

Chinese teenager found alive in Utah woods after ‘cyber-kidnapping scam’

Posted on by

Exchange student Kai Zhuang, 17, discovered in tent by police days after being reported missing

A Chinese exchange student who fell victim to a “cyber-kidnapping” scam, in which his parents were extorted for $80,000, was found alive but “cold and scared” in a tent in the Utah wilderness, police said.

Kai Zhuang, 17, was reported missing on Thursday after his parents in China told officials at his host high school in Riverdale, Utah, that he appeared to have been kidnapped and a ransom had been demanded.

Continue reading...

‘Extremely rare’ Jurassic-era fossils discovered in Lake Powell

Posted on by

Tritylodonts, mid-sized mammal-related herbivores, roamed the area’s deserts 200m years ago

Scientists have discovered an “extremely rare” set of fossils at Lake Powell that the National Park Service (NPS) is calling one of the most important vertebrate discoveries in the US this year.

The findings, revealed this week, include skulls and teeth from dozens of mid-sized, mammal-related herbivores called tritylodonts that once roamed the region’s vast desert. The bones lay hidden in the sandstone walls of the reservoir for roughly 180m years before a lucky discovery in March.

Continue reading...