Utah News

Utah has one of the lowest ratios of income inequality in the country, meaning the disparity between the rich and the poor is low.

A recent Sutherland Institute report is in hot water after critics claim that inaccurate data was used to inflate Utah’s state park visitor numbers.

Quick response by a good neighbor, and a near-by construction crew kept a brush fire away from homes on the south end of cedar City Wednesday.  It is yet another lesson in firework safety, that fortunately, did not prove too costly to a group of Cedar City teens.

When Brooke Lambert became the USU LGBT program coordinator four years ago, she said many people in Cache County didn’t know what LGBT meant.

After the recent attack at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, lighting designers began discussing online ideas on how lighting could save lives and possibly slow down shooters.

$47 million was invested in 76 projects from 11 states by U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Interior to conserve water in the West.

  The Utah Department of Transportation says Valley View Highway, which runs between Logan and Riverside, doesn’t meet current requirements for safety standards. As a result, the road has an above-average number of crashes.

My heart pounded and my legs shook as I stood watching the world's largest solid rocket booster fire at the Orbital ATK facility in Promontory, Utah on Tuesday. These motors will be used to launch the most powerful rocket in the world, SLS, NASA’s acronym for Space Launch System. 

Thumbtack, a professional project provider website, released a survey discussing small business friendliness. 

The state of Utah ranked second in the nation as a great place to start a business. The report considered how easy it is for owners to start a small business and follow business regulations.

A food truck, called Urban Greens Market, opened in Salt Lake City last week that provides fresh produce to residents who live in urban food deserts. Parts of Glendale and Poplar Grove in Salt Lake City are considered a food desert.

Vince Wickwar, Chair of the Cache County Democratic Party, began having questions after hearing that some voters had yet to receive ballots. Only a few days remained until the Democratic Senate primary election.

There’s going to be a lot of dirt kicked around at the Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Ivins, Utah Friday and Saturday, but it won’t be because of any dancing—just a lot of bull riding.

“So you get people right on the front row with dirt down their shirts," said Cyndi W. Gilbert, vice president of Diamond G Rodeos. "So you get all of these people who are used to seeing opera and all of these high-end plays and they end up with bull riding.”

Let’s travel back to a day that will always be part of our national memory - May 10, 1869. It was a dream come true: a railroad connecting the East and West coasts. The horns and bells of the Jupiter and No. 119 locomotives bellowed as they chugged along the rickety tracks and came face-to-face at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. The crowd waited in anticipation for the last spike to be driven into the railroad tie, symbolizing completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. Cheers filled the air as the maul hit the golden spike.

Several groups are calling on the federal government to investigate legal concerns surrounding SB 246, a Utah law that authorizes funding for a coal export terminal in Oakland, California. In a letter sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, environmental advocates claim that there are legal and ethical red-flags in the way the coal port was financed.

With little cloud cover, the afternoon heat warps the horizon at Willard Bay State Park. It’s 3 p.m. on a weekday, the south marina is busy with boaters.

Nearly 80 percent of Utah's counties are facing a medical-professional shortage, making the state the third worst in the country for the doctor-to-patient ratio. The state’s second medical school will open in August 2017 in Ivins, Utah, with the hope to address the statistic.

The Dalai Lama shared a message of peace and compassion at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday.

Two men, ages 18 and 19, ordered their large Pitbull dog to attack a police officer Monday afternoon. The dog bit the officer, whose identity has not yet been released, when he investigated the threat.

With one week left in the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, candidates Jonathan Johnson and incumbent Gov. Gary Herbert are once again both asking questions about the other’s fundraising strategies.

Polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs has fled home confinement in Salt Lake City after he was let out of jail pending trial on Charges in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.

With the Republican Party gubernatorial primary approaching on June 28, incumbent Gov. Gary Herbert and challenger Jonathan Johnson have taken aim at each other’s campaign donation sources.

Herbert has come under criticism after a leaked recording featured the incumbent making promises to lobbyists who gave to his campaign, calling himself ‘Available Jones.’ 

The number of visitors at Zion National Park has increased since 2012. The spike in visitors has led to overcrowding, said Alyssa Baltrus, Zion National Park chief of interpretation and visitor services.

Aerial firefighting operations were grounded for several hours on Sunday at three of Utah’s wildfire locations due to a drone sighting. Drones have become such a problem in Utah that the Utah Legislature has passed a bill prohibiting unmanned aerial vehicles in active wildfire areas.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be in Utah on Tuesday to speak at the University of Utah and to meet with local leaders. UPR’s Aimee Cobabe speaks with one of the Dalai Lama’s U.S. doctors and host of Public Radio International’s medical program “Zorba on your Health,” Dr. Zorba Paster, about his personal experiences serving with the spiritual leader.