Looking for balance in Utah’s redrock country: the motorized vehicle dilemma

Much of what makes Utah’s redrock country so special is at risk from a dramatic increase in off-road vehicles. There is work underway to strike a balance between ensuring access to trailheads, overlooks, and recreation opportunities, while protecting our wildest places. Learn more.

Utah Headlines

Political news

• 2 Utah school districts reviewed for alleged bathroom bill violations (ABC4)
• ‘Democrats are fearmongering’ with contraception bill, says letter signed by Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee (Deseret News)
• 4 ‘good faith’ alleged violations of Utah’s ‘bathroom bill’ could not be substantiated, auditor says (Deseret News)
• Editorial Board: The founders were right to warn about political parties (Deseret News)
• Most Latter-day Saints, like other religious Americans, view Trump’s actions as immoral (Salt Lake Tribune)

Election news

• John Dougall: It’s time for politicians who will get the job done (Deseret News)
• Republican candidates for Iron County Commission face off in debate (St. George News)
• On the Utah-Nevada border, a ‘swing city’ gears up for 2024 (Deseret News)
• Utah Republican primary election debate schedule for 2024 (KSL Newsradio)
• Hey Utah GOP voters, don’t forget about the auditor’s primary race (KUER)
• Brad Wilson hopes his Utah roots will help him win a seat in the US Senate (KSL)

Utah news

• Deseret News photographer wins photographer of the year award for coverage of Ukraine refugee crisis (Deseret News)
• Thousands of cars equipped with faulty airbags on Utah roads as automakers issues ‘Do Not Drive’ warnings (KSL TV)
• Jazz are ditching highlighter yellow as the rebrand evolves, leaning heavily into purple, mountains and the J Note (Deseret News)
• After losing it all, former BYU player Setema Gali now helping others find answers to life's challenges (KSL)
• Utah’s largest gas provider switches owners as $4.3B deal is finalized (KSL TV)
• Bride-to-be thrown from truck bed on day before wedding while lying down to secure mattress (ABC4)

Business/Tech

• Why Trader Joe’s customers are going crazy for these $3.99 insulated mini tote bags (Deseret News)
• Woman-owned climbing, canyoneering company redefines outdoor thrills in southern Utah (St. George News)
• Who really benefits from the great remote-work experiment? According to one study, women with more job experience suffer the most. (The Atlantic)
• Boeing Starliner finally launches, Utah 'primary site' for return landing (Deseret News)

Crime/Courts

• Woman charged with killing roommate at Sandy homeless shelter for medically vulnerable (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Chad Daybell files notice of appeal, asks Idaho Supreme Court to review verdict and sentence (KSL)

Culture

• Painting skateboards, tying blankets and other ways to turn a ‘sharable joy’ into a JustServe project (Deseret News)
• The bear stuck in a Salt Lake City tree is a sign for our hockey team (Deseret News)

Education

• How Dwight Eisenhower's adage about planning applies to the Class of 2024 (Deseret News)
• Why this Florida dad is talking to Utah’s state school board about school safety (Deseret News)
• Here’s how the Utah State Board of Ed is thinking about AI in schools (KUER)
• Utah schools to receive mandatory training to fight human trafficking in the state (KUTV)

Environment

• Great Salt Lake’s drying lakebed isn’t ‘toxic’ or the biggest source of dust, experts say (Standard-Examiner)
• Hildale prepares for potential water restrictions ahead of a long, hot summer (St. George News)
• Could spraying sea salt into the clouds cool the planet? (Washington Post)
• Utah seeks to 'maintain' Great Salt Lake levels after it peaks below some projections (KSL)
• Provo River running high and fast as hotter temperatures fuel spring runoff (KSL TV)

Family

• Roy teacher engages children, parents with community ‘dragon hunts’ (Standard-Examiner)
• Today’s young men are struggling with loneliness — here’s how to help your boys make more friends (Deseret News)

Health

• FDA advisors reject MDMA therapy for PTSD, amid concerns over research (NPR)
• New report underscores the seriousness of long Covid (New York Times)

Housing

• Surge in homes for sale: The South and West lead in housing growth (Deseret News)

National Headlines

General

• Boeing launches NASA astronauts for the first time after years of delays (AP)
• ‘Cooking someone to death’: Southern states resist calls to add air conditioning to prisons (Politico)

D-Day

• D-Day lessons for today (Deseret News)
• Utah pilot memorialized in France after he died fighting in the invasion of Normandy in WWII (KSL TV)
• A Black medic wounded on D-Day saved dozens of lives. He’s finally being posthumously honored (AP)
• Centenarian veterans are sharing their memories of D-Day, 80 years later (AP)
• Reflections on war past and present permeate D-Day's 80th anniversary (NPR)
• 80 years after D-Day, France examines the trauma of allied bombings (Wall Street Journal)
• With time short, veterans seize the chance to keep their D-Day memories alive for others (AP)
• D-Day anniversary 2024:  World leaders, veterans, commemorate Normandy landings (Reuters)
• As the world marks 80th anniversary of D-Day landings, renewed war in Europe is on minds of many (AP)

Political news

• GOP voters have flip-flopped fast on questions about Trump and crime (Washington Post)
• Senate Republicans block consideration of bill to create a ‘right to contraception’ (The Hill)
• Byron Donalds, a Trump V.P. contender, suggests the Jim Crow era had an upside for Black families (New York Times)
• Georgia appeals court pauses Trump election interference case (The Hill)

Election news

• New Mexico voters oust incumbents from Legislature with positive implications for paid family leave (AP)
• RFK Jr. swings edge to Biden in key battleground states: Poll (The Hill)

Ukraine 🇺🇦

• Displaced Ukrainians make remote-controlled stretchers in family workshop (Reuters)

Israel and Gaza

• Risk of war between Israel and Hezbollah builds as clashes escalate (Wall Street Journal)
• Israel says it has launched a new operation in central Gaza and health officials report dozens dead. (New York Times)
• Israel says it targeted militants hiding in a Gaza school. Most of those killed were women and children (AP)

World news

• Slovakia’s Fico says he was targeted for Ukraine views, in first speech since assassination attempt (AP)
• War in Sudan: How two rival generals wrecked their country (New York Times)

Number of the Day 

News Releases

Romney, colleagues criticize Democrats’ stunt contraception bill, attacks on religious freedoms

U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) joined Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) and 20 of their Republican colleagues in issuing a statement criticizing Senate Democrats for pushing stunt legislation, the Right to Contraception Act, which fearmongers and misleads the public on the accessibility of contraception and threatens the religious freedoms and parental rights of millions of Americans. (Read More)

Utah Republicans vote against right to contraception, betraying Utah families

Today, Republican Senator Mike Lee voted against codifying the right to contraception, while Senator Mitt Romney abstained. Senators Lee and Romney have shown that they would rather give in to pressure from far-right extremists than protect the basic rights that Utahns deserve. 

Contraception is at risk. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas stated that the court should “reconsider” the ruling that guaranteed the federal right to contraception. Republicans in Nevada, Arizona, and Virginia have either blocked efforts to protect contraception or tried to restrict it. (Read More)

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• June 6 — Bolder Way Forward 2nd Annual Summit, Zions Technology Campus, 9:00 am-2:00 pm, Register here
• June 18-19 — Interim Days
• June 25 — Primary Election Day
• August 14 â€” Hatch Foundation "Titan of Public Service" recognizing Sen. John Thune, Grand America
• August 20-21 — Interim Days
• September 17-18 — Interim Days
• October 15-16 — Interim Day
• November 19-20 — Interim Days

On This Day In History 

• 1683 - World’s first university museum opens in Oxford, England
• 1799 - Patrick Henry dies at 63
• 1816 - There are 10" of snow in New England, part of a "year without a summer" which followed the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia
• 1939 - Marian Wright Edelman is born. After earning a degree at Yale Law School, she became the first Black woman admitted to the Mississippi Bar. In 1973, she founded and became president of the Children’s Defense Fund.
• 1944 - D-Day
• 1968 - Senator Robert F. Kennedy dies from his wounds after he was shot the previous night
• 2013 - Edward Snowden discloses US government operations

Quote of the Day

“The story of the struggle for woman’s suffrage in Utah is the story of all efforts for the advancement and betterment of humanity.” 

—Dr. Martha Hughes Cannon

On the Punny Side

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