Utah News

Traditionally, the July 4th holiday is the deadliest on Utah roads. The weekend lived up to its billing this year, leaving at least eight people dead.

The night of July 4th, on Interstate 80, about 30 miles east of Wendover an alleged drunken driver steered his Dodge pickup eastbound in the westbound lanes of traffic and collided head on with a chevy suburban. This killed three members of a family, and seriously injured another.

Sunday afternoon, two vehicles collided on State Route 191 north of Monticello, killing five and putting two others in critical condition.

The ninth annual Wildflower Festival at Cedar Breaks National Monument will be in bloom this weekend through much of July.

From July 5-20, the sub-alpine meadows will be open to visitors, and wildflower walks showcasing the diverse flora will be offered daily.

Daphne Sewing representing the monument said the seeds of the festival were sewn as local botanists and city representatives wanted to share the beauty of the season with the public. She said the festival has grown over the years and added that the Fourth of July weekend will be especially busy.

Quagga mussels. They're calling them a skiff-transmitted disease. They start as a microscopic organism on boats, and then stage a hostile takeover of the environment.

Division of Wildlife Resources' Sarah Seegert says the invasive species is dangerous to waterways and society.

The Independence Day celebration in Logan will have music, fireworks and an unexpected national political speaker. The schedule for Freedom Fire has been altered to make room for a 10 minute speech by political pundit Glenn Beck. The often controversial speaker was a last minute addition.

Logan City’s Debbie Harvey says Beck was originally invited to speak at the show but declined due to health issues. However, he has since changed his answer and decided to speak at Freedom Fire.

“It will be nothing political, he is going to talk about honoring veterans. He is going to talk about patriotism and about what a great country we live in. There will be nothing political in his speech,” Harvey said.

The Arizona Department of Transportation will lift some of the traffic restrictions on Interstate 15 through the Virgin River Gorge prior to the Independence Day holiday weekend, but is advising motorists to expect heavy traffic through the weekend.

Considerable progress has been made to date on ADOT’s multiple bridge projects along Arizona’s I-15 corridor. The highway is currently narrowed to one lane in each direction through the gorge until the project is completed in 2016.

ADOT spokesman Dustin Krugal:

Utah Governor Gary Herbert was in Cache Valley this week to hand deliver a check to the owner of Logan’s Caffe Ibis Coffee Roasting Company. The money will partially cover the cost of a piece of equipment that reduces the roaster’s emissions by 95 percent. Despite a tragic setback, the company’s efforts to clean up the air are proceeding at full speed.

When we think of things that produce air pollution, we think of things like cars and oil refineries. We don’t necessarily think of the giant oven that bakes goldfish-shaped crackers or the small cabinet shop on the edge of town or the local organic coffee roaster. But anything that burns creates particulate pollution -- so any effort to reduce air pollution in a community has to address individual contributions from our homes and our vehicles and the contributions of factories big and small.

Nut lovers may have a hard time getting ahold of their favorite ice cream flavors at Aggie Ice Cream this summer. The Logan based creamery announced some flavors may be in limited supply due to the ongoing drought in California that has been hurting nut growers in parts of the state.

Utah wildlife officials have captured images of an animal thought nonexistent in the state, a wolverine.

The images come from trail cameras on the northern face of the Uinta Mountains, which the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources had set up to observe elusive animals in their natural habitat.

Though the bait in the area where the wolverine was sighted had already been devoured, the creature was drawn to the region by the scent.

Severe fire restrictions in southwest Utah have Independence Day celebrations on hold. Officials are banning certain areas from firework shows in hopes of reducing fires in the southwest.

Because of dry conditions and increased fire danger in southwest Utah, officials expanded fire restrictions yesterday and will continue to uphold them until further notice. These restraints prohibit the use of fireworks in several southern counties.

While the new precautions directly precede July Fourth celebrations, St. George Fire Chief Kevin Taylor says they are an attempt to help unnecessary fires from igniting.

The corporate owners of The Salt Lake Tribune and CEO of the Deseret News say in new court filings that changes to terms of a joint operating agreement aren't intended to put the Tribune out of business.

Digital First Media is a New York hedge fund that owns the Tribune. The CEO John Paton says there are no plans to stop publishing the Tribune and that the agreement is designed to save the paper. Deseret News CEO Clark Gilbert says the new terms preserve both papers.