Utah News

It’s a hot summer day in Salt Lake City and Amanda Baldwin is looking for some shade. The 21 year old and dozens of others have endured the noon day sun to walk around the track at Valley View State Park. They’re all participants in the Williams Syndrome Walk, an event designed to raise money for the Williams Syndrome Association, but most importantly it gives people like Amanda and their families a chance to connect.

Amanda's friend explains, "I think Amanda is the best, and kids with Williams syndrome are always generous and loving. Yeah, Williams syndrome is pretty tight."

Groups working to stop SkiLink, a proposed gondola from Canyons Resort in Park City to Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon are hoping to educate the public on what it could mean for Utah’s backcountry. Saturday, opponents invited the public on a hike to the site of the controversial project.

At 9:30 on Saturday morning a group of hikers is meeting at a trailhead just below the Solitude parking lot.

All but a handful of the nation's Fortune 500 companies now voluntarily include protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. That makes most major companies more inclusive than Utah. Here in the Beehive State a person can still lose his/her job for being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

Does where you live impact your health? A new report by the Utah Department of Health shows asthma rates in Utah vary by county.

An average of 20 Utahns are hospitalized because of asthma attacks each week.  Still, Kellie Baxter, spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Health’s asthma program, says the state is doing well compared to the rest of the country.

“Our adult asthma prevalence is similar to the U.S. asthma prevalence and our child is significantly lower.”

Utah fire officials say there is still plenty of time left this fire season for major wildfires. Jason Curry, spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry Fire and State Lands, says just this month, crews have been fighting fires started by lightning on a daily basis.

“We still have a few weeks here where conditions are still ripe. We have dry grasses and potential for dry lightning still exists and once you get dry lightning igniting a fire and then winds combined with that we have potential for some large fires.”

In mid August, Jessica Richards of Sandy made Utah History, at least in the world of pageantry. She represented Utah in Orlando at the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Pageant, the little sister program to the Miss America Pageant.

"I felt so comfortable. It wasn't really a competition, it was just friendship."

Richards came home with $3,500 in scholarship money after winning the Talent and Evening Gown Preliminary Awards, and the Glenn S. Harmon Instrumentalist award.