Utah News

The new mayor of a mostly polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border is finishing an overhaul of municipal staff and boards following mass resignations when she took office in January and became the first woman and first non-member of the polygamous sect to hold the seat.

Six of seven municipal workers for the town of Hildale, Utah, quit after Mayor Donia Jessop was elected and took charge of the local government run by the sect for more than a century.

TV stations would only be able to use noncompete contracts for staff members who earn more than $47,500 a year under a proposal passed by lawmakers — and now awaiting the governor's signature.

The state House on Monday approved the Senate's changes to the bill, sending it to Gov. Gary Herbert for consideration.

Utah lawmakers are including $1.65 million in the state budget to sue California over rules that make coal-fired power more expensive.

The Legislature's main budget committee signed off on the expense Wednesday evening as part of a package of projects and programs they plan to fund before adjourning Thursday night.

Police in southern Utah confirm additional charges are pending against a teenage student accused of bringing a homemade bomb to his high school in St. George.

The unidentified teen was arrested Monday night on weapons-related charges after the discovery of the explosive device sending smoke from a backpack forced an evacuation of Pine View High School.

A Utah girl whose mother was running the Boston Marathon when it was bombed in 2013 is among those arranging walkouts to protest gun violence in schools.

Kaylee Anderson and other Utah County students will be participating on March 14 in the walkouts that have been scheduled nationwide.

Utah Democrats are pushing back on a proposal to rename a scenic highway after President Donald Trump, with one saying he'd suggest naming a frontage road after porn star Stormy Daniels.

Republicans want to name the southern Utah road that connects several well-known national parks after Trump to recognize his move to shrink two national monuments fiercely opposed by state leaders.

A Utah lawmaker says an app that allows anonymous reporting of school threats has been downloaded thousands of times in the wake of a school shooting in Florida that killed 17 people.

Republican Rep. Steve Eliason of Sandy says the Safe UT app has been downloaded more than 12,0000 times in the past week.

Authorities say a threat of violence was made at a Utah high school for the second time in a week.

Heber City Police Sgt. Brandon Shopay says a Wasatch High School student was arrested Wednesday after someone alerted police of a social media threat.

A jury trial has been set for a Utah man accused of running an international drug ring.

The trial for Aaron Michael Shamo of Cottonwood Heights is set for a four-week period beginning Aug. 20.

A former Utah Attorney General who was acquitted of corruption charges last year is suing the state to reimburse him for his legal fees.

John Swallow filed a lawsuit Tuesday, seeking about $1.6 million in reimbursement from the state to pay for his defense.

Law enforcement authorities in southern Utah are accusing a Las Vegas man of forcing a woman into prostitution.

24-year-old Jerome Devon McFadden was arrested Friday in St. George on charges of exploiting prostitution, human trafficking and interfering with an arrest.

Developers behind a landfill under construction near the shore of the Great Salt Lake have withdrawn an application for a permit that would have allowed the company to bring in out-of-state industrial waste.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports officials with Promontory Point Resources LLC delivered a letter Friday to the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, requesting it to halt the permit review process.

Two teens in Utah are facing criminal charges in separate cases after police said they made social media threats alluding to school shootings. Authorities concluded neither threat was serious.

A 17-year-old boy was arrested Thursday in Springville after he posted an online photo of himself or someone else holding an assault rifle. The caption read "Burrr it's cold."

A veteran federal judge from New York will preside over the retrial of a Utah real estate mogul accused of heading a $100 million Ponzi scheme.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the June 4 trial of Rick Koerber has been assigned to Frederic Block, a senior judge from the U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.

Zion National Park in Utah is closing access to 13 popular rock-climbing cliffs as part of an annual effort to protect sensitive nesting sites for peregrine falcons.

The National Park Service officials announced this week that climbing routes will close March 1 while wildlife biologists to monitor nesting activity of the formerly endangered raptors.

The Utah House has voted to repeal the statewide sales tax on food and raise the rate slightly on other purchases.

The Deseret News reports lawmakers sent the measure to the Senate Tuesday on a vote of 42-27.

The West Valley City Council has ratified the appointment of the only current female police chief in the state.

Colleen Jacobs' hiring comes after a three-month nationwide recruiting process that included 10 candidates.

The owner of a Utah gun store says he has taken down a sign with an advertisement for an assault rifle after a number of complaints from what he calls "anti-gun people."

Darin Kendall, operations manager for Impact Guns in Ogden, says the ad for the "Radical AR-15" was posted before 17 people were killed in a mass school shooting in south Florida on Valentine's Day.