Utah News

The latest foreclosure numbers hitting Utah appear to be good news. The latest report by RealtyTrac shows the Beehive state dropped to 26th in the nation in filings, down 70 percent from one year ago. But as Jessica Gail reports, some experts worry the numbers may be short lived.

The impact of Sunday’s massacre at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin by a white supremacist hit especially hard for Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. Gill says as an American citizen and a member of the Sikh faith himself, he is both outraged and saddened by the events that occurred. He says hate crimes not only affect the immediate victims but also those who belong to community.

Today is the opening day of the 25th annual Utah Rural Summit, a 2-day seminar attended by leaders from Utah's non-Wasatch Front counties and cities. UPR's Chris Holmes sits down with Wes Curtis, Executive Director of Southern Utah University's Office of Regional Services, to talk about the summit his office is hosting and why Cedar City is a great place to hold this discussion.

For the first time, a Chinese-themed concert will be performed as part of this summer's Logan Tabernacle Concert Series. In anticipation of their performance, some of the participants spoke with UPR's Kerry Bringhurst.

Eric Watterson is the Global Marketing Director at Icon Health & Fitness as well as a musician and composer. Eric Chipman is with the University of Utah's Confucius Institute and is a traditional Chinese instrumentalist. Both of these gentlemen became familiar with Chinese music while on a religious mission to Taiwain.

Coupled with the early and punishing fire season, this year's drought conditions have been especially hard on ranchers. Arthur Douglas, state director for USDA Farm Services, explains to UPR's Brianna Bodily how this drought is affecting the future of Utah's agriculture industries.
 

When President Obama flew over Western Colorado yesterday on his way to Grand Junction in Air Force One, he was greeted by a giant message carved into a nearby field.

The message was designed by world-renowned crop artist Stan Herd and is a project of Protect the Flows, a coalition of more than 500 Western businesses that depend on the river. It occupies about one acre, each letter is 30 feet from top to bottom and the entire message is about 360 feet long, equal to the height of a 36 story building.

Funded by a coalition of Utah interest groups, a series of free workshops will soon be offered for undocumented immigrants who qualify for deferred action.

Chris Keen, the Utah chapter chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the coalition aims to give undocumented immigrants a fighting chance to remain in the U.S.
 

Organizers aim to use the workshops to answer all questions about the forms and work out any difficulties.

In Logan a group of kids have chosen to spend their summer days rehearsing Shakespeare.

"A lot of people think I'm kind of crazy to think that kids would want to spend their entire summer doing this. I had to say 'if you're going to do the show, you'll be in here from 9:00 - 2:00 or 9:00 - 4:00 every day all summer.' I thought 5 kids would show up."

Cheers and applause echoed through the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory last night after "Curiosity" had survived the harrowing plunge.

NASA's Mars rover landed safe and sound on the surface of Mars late Sunday night. The 1-ton, 6-wheeled laboratory nailed an intricate and risky touchdown much to the relief and joy of over 300 people who watched the historic event live at the University of Utah.