Category Archives: Utah

FBI agents shoot and kill Utah man accused of making threats against Biden

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Agents were trying to serve warrant on Craig Deleeuw Robertson’s home hours before president was expected to land in state

A Utah man accused of making threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state on Wednesday, authorities said.

Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6.15am, the FBI said in a statement.

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Texas hiker found dead in Utah planned to scatter father’s ashes on mountain

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Body of Jimmy Hendricks, 66, from Austin, was found after he announced on Facebook plan to hike in Arches national park

A Texas man found dead while hiking in Utah was on the way to scatter his late father’s ashes, according to family members.

Jimmy Hendricks, 66, left his Austin home in mid-July for Nevada, where he planned to scatter the ashes on a mountain. Along the way, he made stops at Guadalupe Peak in Texas and the Grand Canyon.

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Utah school district that banned Bible considers removing Book of Mormon

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Davis school district says it will assess text after complaint for ‘pornographic or indecent materials’ under law passed last year

A school district in Utah that last week banned the Bible from school libraries is now being asked to consider a further title for removal: the Book of Mormon.

The Davis school district, which serves Davis county, north of Salt Lake City, said it was considering a new complaint demanding the removal of the foundational text of the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Utah toddler struck in head by stray bullet at day care while playing outside

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Police say a hunter might have fired the shot in Spanish Fork, 50 miles from Salt Lake City

Utah police were investigating after a two-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stray bullet as he played outside at his day care. Authorities now suspect the wayward round came from a bird hunter’s gun.

Two adult caretakers found the toddler injured on Monday.

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Historic Colorado River deal not enough to stave off long-term crisis, experts say

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Agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada will cut water consumption by 13% but experts warn river is still in serious peril

A hard-fought agreement between California, Arizona and Nevada to slash the states’ use of the shrinking Colorado River is only a temporary salve to a long-term water crisis that continues to threaten the foundations of life in the American west, experts have warned.

The deal, announced on Monday, between the three states that make up the lower portion of the sprawling Colorado basin will pare back 13% of water consumption from the beleaguered river over the next three years if adopted, averting the prospect of more stringent cuts imposed by the federal government. Backed by $1.2bn in federal funds, the bulk of the reductions are structured to encourage voluntary cuts taken by rights holders, in exchange for grant money.

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Sound artist eavesdrops on what is thought to be world’s heaviest organism

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Artist records underground sounds generated by Pando, a huge group of aspens in Utah considered to be a single organism

When it comes to the world’s heaviest living organism, it is a “forest of one tree” that is thought to take the crown. Now a sound expert is listening into the quiet grove in an attempt to hear its secrets.

Known as Pando – Latin for “I spread” – the 47,000 genetically identical quivering aspens in south-central Utah are considered to be a single organism, with the “trees” actually branches thought to be connected by a shared root system.

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Suing Gwyneth Paltrow ‘absolutely not’ worth it, says Utah man

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Retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, 76, faces seven-figure legal bill after unsuccessful lawsuit over ski slope collision

The retired optometrist who unsuccessfully sued Gwyneth Paltrow over a 2016 ski crash says taking the Oscar-winning actor to court had “absolutely not” been worth it so far, but he also had not ruled out pursuing an appeal.

Terry Sanderson, 76, made the remarks after civil court jurors in Park City, Utah, on Thursday found him at fault in his collision with Paltrow at the Deer Valley ski resort.

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Gwyneth Paltrow found not at fault in Utah ski crash trial

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Hollywood actor and lifestyle guru found not liable for collision with optometrist Terry Sanderson in Park City in 2016

Gwyneth Paltrow, the Hollywood star and lifestyle guru, has prevailed in the dramatic court tussle over dueling ski-crash claims with the retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, who had sued the actor for liability in a collision on a Utah mountain in 2016.

The verdict in the much-watched case, which to many seemed to pit one affluent lifestyle against another, came after a two-week trial that heard from dozens of witnesses attempting to assert truth to an incident that only one witness claimed to see.

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Gwyneth Paltrow trial: plaintiff’s loss of joy claim at odds with his travel pictures

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Sanderson shown photos of himself on vacation after ski collision, and doctor suggested any concussion suffered was ‘very mild’

Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys called ski crash accuser Terry Sanderson back to the stand late on Wednesday in a final effort to eviscerate claims that he suffered an extensive brain injury that led to loss of joie de vivre and brain function as a result of the actress allegedly skiing into him on a Utah mountain slope.

Under an intense grilling, Sanderson was shown photographs, culled from Facebook, showing the retired eye doctor taking frequent holiday trips around the world after the ski collision, including floating down the Amazon, visiting the Netherlands three times, Morocco twice, Thailand and other destinations.

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Gwyneth Paltrow’s experts to testify in Utah ski crash trial

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Excerpts from depositions of actor’s children also to be read in court during trial over 2016 collision

Gwyneth Paltrow’s attorneys are expected to call a series of experts and read depositions from her two teenage children in the first full day of the actor’s trial that they have to call witnesses to make their case.

Owing to the eight-day limit the judge imposed on the trial, Paltrow’s defence team is expected to face difficult time-management decisions, much like Terry Sanderson’s experienced last week as they attempted to juggle family members, ski instructors and experts in skiing and brain science.

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Man suing Gwyneth Paltrow over ski crash to testify in Utah trial

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Terry Sanderson, 76, suing actor for more than $300,000 over 2016 collision, claiming she skied recklessly into him from behind

The man suing Gwyneth Paltrow over a 2016 collision at one of the most upscale ski resorts in North America is expected to take the stand on Monday as the closely watched trial goes into its second week in Utah.

Attorneys said on Friday that retired optometrist Terry Sanderson, 76, would likely testify first on Monday, before his attorneys rest and hand the courtroom over to Paltrow’s defense team, who are countersuing, to make their case.

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Man was ‘fun-loving’ before Gwyneth Paltrow ski collision, daughter testifies

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Polly Sanderson-Grasham said seeing her father’s state after the incident was like ‘a slap in the face’

The daughter of the man who collided with Gwyneth Paltrow on a ski slope, has said seeing her father’s state after the incident was like “a slap in the face”.

Polly Sanderson-Grasham said that following the crash in 2016, her father was unable to “see the forest for the trees” and got “lost in the minutiae” of things.

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Gwyneth Paltrow trial over ski collision enters second day in Utah

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Retired optometrist Terry Sanderson is suing actor for incident on slopes he claims caused lasting injuries and brain damage

More witnesses were expected to testify on Wednesday in a trial about a 2016 ski crash between Gwyneth Paltrow and the retired Utah man who sued her, claiming her recklessness left him with lasting injuries and brain damage.

On the opening day of the trial, Paltrow and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson appeared across the courtroom from each other, looking nonplussed to hear arguments that have become familiar over the past seven years of legal proceedings.

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Death of Utah skier who collided with tree highlights rising fatalities

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Devon O’Connell was found dead Tuesday morning at one of Solitude Mountain Resort’s ski trails

A storm cycle dropped over a foot of snow along Utah’s Wasatch Front earlier this week, which came as a welcome site to the region’s large population of dedicated skiers and snowboarders. Devon O’Connell was one of them.

O’Connell was an experienced skier who had gone to Solitude Mountain Resort to enjoy a powder day Monday morning. The married father was scheduled to be home by 2pm on Monday. O’Connell’s wife called the resort after he failed to return home by 6.30pm. Authorities said O’Connell’s ski pass was last scanned at a lift shortly after noon.

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US National Weather Services warns of ‘widespread’ winter storm hazards

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More than 15 million people under winter advisory while several areas in midwest and Great Plains face intense snowstorms

More than 15 million people are under a winter advisory as of Tuesday, as several areas in the midwest and Great Plains face intense snowstorms, Axios reported.

Storm warnings are in effect across a dozen states, including parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana and South Dakota.

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‘You have to run’: Romney urged Biden to take down Trump, book says

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Gabriel Debenedetti, author of book on Biden’s relationship with Obama, reports call on night of 2018 midterms

On the night of the 2018 midterm elections, as a wave of anti-Trump sentiment swept Democrats to take control of the House, top Republican Mitt Romney urged Joe Biden to run for president.

“You have to run,” said Romney, the Republican presidential nominee Biden and Barack Obama defeated in 2012, speaking to the former vice-president by phone.

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Temperatures smash records in US west as brutal heatwave continues

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Records broken in Sacramento and Reno, while California close to ordering rolling blackouts to ease strain on power grid

A brutal heatwave enveloping the US west smashed records on Tuesday, as high temperatures and historic energy use strained California’s grid to the brink of its capacity and spurred fire behavior across the state.

Western states are struggling through one of the hottest and longest September heatwaves on record.

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Utah school secretly investigated if winning female student athlete is transgender

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An athletics association scrutinized the winner’s records after parents of two girls who lost the competition complained

A Utah high school athletics association secretly investigated a female athlete – without telling her or her parents – after receiving complaints from the parents of two girls she had defeated in competition questioning whether the girl was transgender.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the Utah high school activities association and the girl’s high school determined she indeed was born female after poring through school records dating back to kindergarten.

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Man trying to burn spider with lighter sparked Utah wildfire, police say

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Cory Martin, 26, arrested on suspicion of reckless burn and drug possession after telling police he tried to set fire to spider

A Utah man has been arrested on suspicion of starting a wildfire while trying to burn a spider with his lighter.

Cory Martin, 26, told police that he spotted the spider on Monday while he was in a hiking area in the foothills south of Salt Lake City near the city of Springville. He acknowledged starting the fire, but did not explain why he was trying to burn the spider.

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Abortion banned in multiple US states just hours after Roe v Wade overturned

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Utah among first states to outlaw almost all abortions, while mayor of Washington DC declares it ‘pro-choice city’

Abortion was already illegal in multiple US states on Saturday, with bans introduced within hours of Roe v Wade being overturned, as cities erupted in protest at the landmark ruling.

It came after the US supreme court on Friday abolished the constitutional right to abortion, more than 50 years after it was established, leaving individual states to decide. It is ultimately expected to lead to abortion bans in about half of the states.

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