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A proposal to overhaul the federal process for permits to construct energy projects passed a procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Monday, though several Democratic supporters said the legislation needed more work. The Senate voted, 73-25, to advance what’s known as the permitting reform bill, despite opposition…
Nearly a week after Utah Senate Democrats called on Sen. Kathleen Riebe to resign, she’s making a case that a discrimination inquiry against her was based more on politics than proof and “rests on a distorted record.” Riebe’s attorney alleged in a Monday email to Utah News Dispatch and other news outlets that the…
A couple of the closest Utah House races have flipped again as more votes are counted, with Democrats leading in what are currently Republican-held seats. If results stand, House Republicans’ supermajority is still set to break, with the GOP losing 16 seats. As of Monday, Republicans had 45 seats, Democrats had 28…
Federal officials on Monday announced $10 billion in awards across all 50 states in the second year of the Rural Health Transformation Fund, grants created by Congress to bolster rural health in response to concerns about Medicaid cuts. Texas received the largest grant for the 2027 fiscal year — almost $282 million —…
The energy at the Capitol was electric. Standing shoulder to shoulder last month with others who recognize how data centers tie into the fight for climate justice is energizing. Across the country, this movement is gaining momentum, and Utah is no exception. In our state, a woman was thrown to the ground Oct. 21 by
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday his mass deportation campaign, which helped propel his return to the Oval Office, had gone too far and potentially led to Republicans losing the U.S. House and Senate in the midterm elections. “I think it might be too tough, yeah,” Trump said…
After polls closed on election night, Ofa Matagi wasn’t able to join her fellow candidates at Utah Democrats’ watch party. Instead, she was at home with family under strict doctor’s orders to rest. She was caring for a days-old, newborn baby boy, whose birth she was still recovering from. He had been born just the
This story was originally published by Capital & Main. In January, park rangers removed 34 interpretive panels from a slavery exhibit at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The signs, which described the lives of the nine people George Washington enslaved at the presidential residence there, were…
A new federal report released the week before Tuesday’s midterm elections found that Americans experienced declines in several categories of violent and property crime victimization in 2025, including aggravated assaults, burglaries and motor vehicle thefts. The preliminary survey findings from the U.S. Bureau of…
Microplastics are everywhere — including in Nevada’s snowpack. After years of skiing on freshly fallen snow in remote locations across the Sierra Nevada, Aleksandra Karapetrova — an environmental toxicologist at the University of California, Riverside — wondered how pristine the snow really was. Over six months…
Sen. Evan Vickers, a longtime senator from southern Utah, will take outgoing Senate President Stuart Adams’ place as the Utah Senate’s top Republican. That’s what the Senate GOP caucus decided in a closed-door leadership election late Friday at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City. As for the House — where Republicans…
The Utah Senate released a discrimination inquiry that colleagues are pointing to as they urge Sen. Kathleen Riebe, a Democrat, to resign.
Native American communities experience some of the highest disparities in healthcare in the country. Tribal chairs are hoping to work with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who visited North Dakota Thursday, to remedy that. A major theme of the tribal chairs’ comments Thursday was the…
The expected composition of Utah’s congressional delegation is now confirmed as The Associated Press called victory for Republican incumbent Reps. Blake Moore and Mike Kennedy late this week. Moore is expected to return to Congress to represent the state’s new 2nd District after securing 50.26% of votes, about 8…
WASHINGTON — Voters may have given Democrats control of Congress in the midterm elections, but Republicans will remain in charge of both chambers during the lame-duck session that spans November and December. The relatively brief five-week schedule, which begins Monday, gives GOP leaders a chance to wrap up unfinished…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday he will elevate Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff, the first shake-up of his administration officials since Democrats trounced Republicans in the midterms. Former Chief of Staff Susie Wiles will move to the “Trump Political Operation,” the president…
The failure of Idaho’s proposed abortion rights initiative Proposition 1 in Tuesday’s general election was met with celebration and concern as the state’s abortion ban remains fully in place. Idaho voters rejected the ballot measure with 55.94% of the vote, according to the unofficial statewide results. Election…
West of the Great Salt Lake and the Bonneville Salt Flats, in Wendover, a small city at Utah’s border with Nevada, high schoolers spent their morning packing and giving away food boxes to people facing food insecurity. It was the first event of a new “community-based food security network” launched on Thursday by…
Data centers require enormous investments: land, buildings, computer equipment and power infrastructure. Yet, once they’re up and running, they tend to employ no more than a few dozen people in occupations such as IT technicians, engineers and security guards. With billions of dollars flowing into new data centers…
As more votes are tallied in Utah’s legislative races, two House races have flipped, putting a few Republican candidates ahead of Democrats that were in the lead on election night. In the race for Summit and Wasatch counties’ House District 59, Republican Luke Searle is now leading Democrat Celeste Johnson for the…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday to establish the Oval Office and White House Cabinet Room as a national monument in order to prevent any major renovations to those spaces that are not approved by Congress. Trump, who tore down the East Wing of the White House to build a ballroom,
The age of the typical first-time homebuyer last year remained stuck at a historic high of 40 years old as younger people continue to get the worst of brutally high prices and interest rates in much of the country. That’s according to new data from the National Association of Realtors, and it’s the second year
WASHINGTON — As the monumental midterm victories set in, Democrats began to talk strategy Wednesday on how to deliver what voters want: lower prices, attainable health care and an end to a stagnant and expensive conflict in the Middle East. Starting in January, the party will control both chambers of Congress, giving…
By the time Utah’s election night results were posted at 9 p.m. Tuesday, it was already clear that Democrats were sweeping the nation in a scathing rebuke to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Though margins indicated Democrats here were performing far better than they usually do, Utah’s congressional…
Voters in San Juan County were dealing with the aftermath of devastating flooding as they made plans to cast their ballots on Election Day. But, with expanded options made available through an emergency declaration to allow electronic voting, a couple of hundred voters received accommodations to vote. Utah Election…
Sen. Kathleen Riebe is resisting Senate Democrats' calls for her to resign based on findings of a review that have not been made public.
OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma City resident has been arrested following accusations that he sent more than 700 threatening letters to officials around the country. Robin Patrick Martin, 67, is charged in the U.S. Western District of Oklahoma with mailing threatening communications and with conveying false or misleading…
The fingerpointing is coming from inside the house. Vice President JD Vance said in a lengthy social media post Wednesday that Republicans’ shellacking in the midterm elections the night before was mainly due to the administration’s war in Iran. Though Vance sought to soften the blow to President Donald Trump by…
Idaho voters rejected Proposition 1, the ballot initiative that sought to legalize abortion in the state up to fetal viability or in emergencies, and would have enumerated rights to other types of reproductive healthcare. The Associated Press called the race at 12:35 a.m. Wednesday. The voter-led ballot initiative…
WASHINGTON — Voting ended Tuesday in this year’s midterm elections, leaving officials and volunteers counting tens of millions of ballots to determine which U.S. House and Senate candidates will take the oath of office in January. The post-election process includes numerous steps and varying deadlines for when ballots…
With a blue wave sweeping the nation, preliminary election night results in Utah show at least 15 Republican state lawmakers could be on track to lose reelection to Democrats and one unaffiliated candidate. If the results hold — election results aren’t final until canvassing is completed in two weeks — it’s possible…
Republican incumbents running to represent Utah’s three right-leaning congressional districts took the lead Tuesday just after the polls closed, according to initial results.
Preliminary election night results show Utah Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Jill Pohlman got about 78% of the vote, putting her on track to keep her seat on the state’s highest court. Of the 51 judges up for retention this year, nearly all were on track to keep their jobs in the courts — but
Preliminary election night results show Utahns rejecting the Utah Legislature’s proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it harder for ballot initiatives that come with tax increases to pass into law. Amendment B — which would require certain citizen-proposed laws to be approved by at least 60% of voters…
Utah christened its blue 1st Congressional District as former U.S. House Rep. Ben McAdams won with 72% of votes, according to preliminary results Tuesday night. Republican Riley Owen had 25% of votes. Libertarian Jesse West got 2% of votes, unaffiliated candidate Elias Henry Montgomery had 1%, and nonpartisan Babak…
Utah Senate Democrats issued a news release Tuesday evening — less than an hour before polls closed on Election Day — announcing they voted to remove Sen. Kathleen Riebe from their caucus, and calling for her resignation. Riebe’s expulsion comes after “the findings from a formal, independent investigation were…
WASHINGTON — In a stunning upset, Democrats ousted Republicans and flipped control of the U.S. Senate Tuesday night, effectively establishing a barricade for President Donald Trump’s agenda for the last two years of his term. Democrats will now have the power to block many of Trump’s nominees, both executive and…
WASHINGTON — Democrats will regain control of the U.S. House early next year, after voters throughout the country rejected the policies that Republicans and President Donald Trump implemented during the last two years. The Associated Press, which States Newsroom looks to for the projected winner of congressional…
Election officials say they’re not worried, but advocates see cause for concern.
Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has issued an emergency declaration to accommodate San Juan County voters after severe flooding events over the past several days overwhelmed the rural area in which distances are long and travel has become hazardous. Henderson, Utah’s chief election officer, signed the emergency declaration…
WASHINGTON — One day before his party is forecast to lose control of the U.S. House, and possibly the Senate, President Donald Trump gathered guests and press at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to tout the “magnificent” renovation of the monument — a monthslong project plagued by algae, reclosure and false…
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, mere hours before Election Day in the midterms that will determine control of Congress, denied the Trump administration’s final attempt to force California to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people it suspects are noncitizens. The decision marked a significant blow to President Donald…
American democracy faces one of its biggest stress tests of the modern era, as President Donald Trump’s sprawling campaign for power over elections encounters a firewall of judges, state election workers and voting rights leaders heading into Election Day. A cascade of courtroom losses over the weekend dealt a major…
Utahns want more water in the Great Salt Lake, and they want a plan that lasts. They’re worried about dust, development and decision-making by Utah’s government. That’s what 509 Utahns said about the Great Salt Lake in a short answer, open response survey by the Great Salt Lake Collaborative. As Gov. Spencer Cox…
Utah is still one of the youngest states and has some of the highest fertility rates in the country. But that trend is going in the opposite direction with demographers projecting smaller household sizes and an older median age. Congress is also projecting more deaths than births come 2030. That “demographic…
Costs are soaring for people who care for their older parents and other family members, according to a new study. Out-of-pocket expenses are nearly 60% higher than they were just five years ago for family caregivers, who now spend an average of $11,508 a year on caregiving, according to a report released this week by
The Trump administration cut naturalization sharply over the past year, leading to accusations it’s holding back hundreds of thousands of people who might have voted in the midterms. It’s hard to say how those people might have voted had they become U.S. citizens. Naturalized citizens voted Democratic for president by…
This article was originally published by Healthbeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering public health published by Civic News Company and KFF Health News. Consider this year’s measles outbreaks in Pennsylvania and South Carolina — some of the largest in the U.S. in decades. South Carolina’s outbreak ended with 997…
As concerns rise about the potential for federal influence over the results of next week’s midterm elections, many voting experts and advocates remain confident that the nation’s highly localized systems of administering and counting votes will persevere. Facing sinking approval ratings over high prices, the White…
The rulings marked the third and fourth courtroom losses in less than a week for President Donald Trump’s administration in its 11th-hour legal campaign to assert authority over elections, which under the U.S. Constitution are administered by states.
During her funeral, Pamela Atkinson was honored as a pillar in Utah's homelessness and humanitarian community. Known as ‘Utah’s Mother Teresa’ — a title she hated — Pamela Atkinson came from poverty, advised 4 governors and left a lasting mark on the state.
As the Trump administration waged a public legal fight with California over the ballots of suspected noncitizen voters in mid-October, behind the scenes a federal grand jury in Santa Ana issued a series of subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County at federal prosecutors’ urging. The subpoenas demanded a…
Children are breathing in unhealthy air for longer periods of time as wildfires worsen across the country, according to a new study by researchers at Oregon State University’s College of Health. The study, published earlier this month in Environmental Research, found that over a 17-year span, the average number of…
It was another financial institution’s commercial that motivated me to create something different. Two busy white, apparently nondisabled, suburban parents were standing on their carefully manicured lawn talking about how they needed to go to the bank to plan for the future of their adult son with Down syndrome. They…
As of early Friday, more than 46 Americans had cast ballots ahead of Election Day, eclipsing the early voting turnout of the 2022 midterms, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
It took two years for Chrissy Teigen to realize she’d had an abortion and not a miscarriage, longer to understand what went wrong in her pregnancy, and not until this week to realize she hadn’t fully grappled with it emotionally. Teigen, a former model and business owner, came to Idaho on Wednesday to make a
Despite efforts to save about 125 jobs, most of which were held by people experiencing homelessness and other challenges, the longtime Utah social enterprise nonprofit Advantage Services is shutting down amid financial struggles. “With heavy hearts, we announce that Advantage Services will be closing its doors and…
Medicaid recipients who are disabled or have a chronic illness will not have to prove they are unable to work to be exempted from new work requirements that take effect next year, a federal judge ruled Thursday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston grants a partial victory to the 25…
Utah received a big donation as it seeks to remove an invasive plant species affecting the Great Salt Lake. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has agreed to donate $3 million toward the state’s efforts to remove phragmites that surround the struggling lake. The donation will help improve habitat…
MERIDIAN, Idaho — It didn’t take long for doctors to see that something was amiss with Rebecca Crozier’s pregnancy. At her eight-week ultrasound in 2025, they mentioned a possible neural tube defect, she said, but after some research, she thought it was something that could be managed or treated. “If it was a fixable…
Most of the nation returns to standard time Sunday morning, and Congress could decide as early as next month whether it will be the last time people have to change their clocks. President Donald Trump wants year-round daylight saving time. The U.S. House voted overwhelmingly in July for the change. Lots of Democrats…
New felony charges against Kalshi and a new federal lawsuit against Utah joined the litigation maze between the prediction market platform and the state this week. Kalshi and its co-founders, Tarek Mansour and Luana Lopes Lara, are now facing 12 online gambling promotion felony charges, one count of pattern of…
A federal judge on Wednesday denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days. In a scathing…
Former Utah Supreme Court Justice Diana Hagen is speaking out on social media ahead of next week’s election, urging Utah voters to retain judges in order to preserve an “independent, non-political judiciary.” “Do you believe in the Utah Constitution’s promise of a fair, independent and non-political judiciary?” Hagen…
Idaho health officials on Tuesday reported the state’s second flu death in the 2026-27 influenza season. The death was of a resident of Elmore County, a rural area outside Boise, who was in their 80s, the regional health agency, Central District Health, announced. The first death, reported last week, was of an Owyhee…
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is unlawfully scrutinizing naturalized U.S. citizens and placing them at risk of disenfranchisement, civil rights groups alleged in a lawsuit Wednesday, less than a week before Election Day. The lawsuit, filed in California, came as Homeland Security asked for an emergency…
Former Utah Rep. Trevor Lee appeared in court to answer charges of forgery and fraud for the first time since prosecutors filed the case.
The U.S. Department of Justice plans to send election monitors to every state ahead of Election Day, expanding a long-standing practice that’s spurred concern this year among Democrats and voting rights advocates because of President Donald Trump’s push to influence elections. The Justice Department for decades has…
The U.S. Department of Justice in a federal court hearing Tuesday warned California election officials could be prosecuted if they count ballots cast by noncitizen voters, in a case brought by the Trump administration demanding that the state set aside the ballots of 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters. The remark by a…
The Justice Department has struck out again after U.S. District Court Judge David Barlow dismissed a lawsuit against Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson. While Judge Barlow correctly interpreted federal law, it is important for Americans to know that the ruling helps ensure our elections remain fair and secure. The Trump…
This story was 0riginally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on Oct. 21, 2026. The next time you come across an op-ed by an Idaho politician, think twice about the source. It may not be human. Op-eds and other online posts from some of Idaho’s most powerful elected officials contain heavy doses of artificial intelligence…
WASHINGTON — Tens of millions of Americans have already made their way to the ballot box as early voting is underway in a midterm election that will determine control of the House and the Senate, possibly flipping one or both from Republicans to Democrats. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 34 million people have…
Prosecutors say the sentence will deter others from interfering with immigration arrests as the Trump administration aims to deport 1 million people this year.
An embattled data center campus project in Utah could emit “dangerous quantities” of air pollution linked to premature deaths, illness like asthma and heart attacks, and health-related economic damage, a new report from the firm EmPower Analytics Group says. The vision for the Stratos Project, a massive data center…
Editor’s note: This story is part of We Vote Utah, a partnership between KUER, PBS Utah and Utah News Dispatch to cover Utah’s 2026 elections. Representing Utahns in the state’s most sprawling new congressional district is a job that’s hard to imagine even for veteran political scientists — and not just because of all…
Utah Valley University is tapping a former state official to fill a new safety post in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination on campus.
NAYTAHWAUSH — Peggy Flanagan took the microphone and began, as she always does, in Ojibwe. “Boozhoo,” she said, giving her name, her tribe and her clan before switching to English. “Thank you for welcoming me home.” Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, had traveled hours…
Salt Lake County Clerk Lannie Chapman has announced that her office will offer early in-person voting for the first time on a Saturday, Halloween day. “We’re excited to offer early voting on a Saturday for the first time,” said Chapman said in a news release announcing the new early voting option. “We hope this makes
This story was originally published by ProPublica. The strain of bird flu that’s ripped through American barns for the last four years has killed two people who caught it from sick animals. But as far as anyone can tell, humans can’t spread it. The virus has remained a true “bird” flu, tailored to attach to
As the Utah Transit Authority proposes a 20% fare increase, a low-income advocacy group is asking the agency to take a step back and consider putting more resources toward increasing enrollment of available discount passes before hiking fares. The Crossroads Urban Center sent a letter to UTA last week as part of the…
Earlier this month, a 50-year-old man riding his personal electric scooter in Washington, D.C., was killed when he collided with a woman on a rideshare scooter. In June, a 12-year-old Massachusetts girl died after her electric scooter slammed into a school bus in a suburb of Boston. And in April, an Atlanta woman…
State and local government employees report high levels of job satisfaction across the country, but face significant rates of burnout and on-the-job harassment. That’s according to a new national survey of nearly 5,000 public servants across all 50 states released today by The People Lab at Harvard University’s…
A record number of women are running for state legislative seats this November, more than two-thirds of whom are Democrats. Across the 46 states with legislative seats on the ballot, a total of 3,824 women are running — up from 2022’s previous record of 3,621 women candidates, according to the Center for American…
This year’s statewide ballot measures are written, on average, at a graduate-school reading level, according to a new report. The readability of 2026’s ballot questions — which ask voters to weigh in on issues as varied as abortion, property taxes, voter ID and firearms — varies by state, political data tracking…
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against Utah’s top election official, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, that sought Utah voters’ sensitive private information. Henderson announced the ruling on social media, writing “0-27” with a heart emoji, referring to the number of times the U.S…
The young women allege school officials did little beyond telling the boys to delete their social media accounts
The U.S. Department of Justice is stepping up its legal campaign over the midterm elections, suing Alaska over its U.S. Senate election and appealing a lawsuit against suspected noncitizen voters in California. Election law experts have cast doubt on the strength of the cases, criticizing them as performative. The…
Utah officials are urging drivers to keep their eyes peeled and use high beams as the nights grow longer and deer cover more ground in search of food and mates.
WASHINGTON — Fewer than 5% of U.S. House races are seen by a top political analysis as truly competitive heading into November’s midterm elections, giving relatively few voters the ability to determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years. The other 414 of 435 House districts are viewed by the…
A longtime Utah social enterprise nonprofit that employs more than 100 people experiencing homelessness and other challenges has furloughed almost all of its staff — and it’s days away from shutting down completely if it doesn’t get an infusion of cash by the end of the month. “We’re going to drown unless somebody…
WASHINGTON — The price health insurance companies charge for employer-sponsored plans increased again this year, as did the deductible many people must pay before those plans begin covering most healthcare costs, according to a survey released Thursday by the nonpartisan health organization KFF. The cost of individual…
The current Trump administration claims its mass deportation efforts have expelled nearly a million people through July of this year, but those include both voluntary returns and people turned around at the border, according to a new analysis by the former chief statistician for the Department of Homeland Security…
The U.S. Department of Justice is sending election monitors to Utah polls to oversee the Nov. 3 elections, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson learned on Wednesday. The move comes amid pressure from the agency as Henderson, Utah’s chief election officer, refuses to release private voter data to the federal government. The…
When Patrice Jetter and Garry Wickham became engaged, the first decisions were of small, giddy consequence: where to hold the ceremony, whom to invite, what to wear. But soon enough, a far weightier question eclipsed them all: whether they could afford to marry at all. They learned that, as people with disabilities…
Utah lawmakers may soon evaluate how public universities hold tenured professors accountable after a legislative audit found the institutions struggle to correct instances in which faculty members are “persistently poor teachers.” Auditors analyzed 666 performance reviews conducted in 2024 and 2025, which are required…
Utah, you have done this three times since 1977. Gary Gilmore. John Albert Taylor. Ronnie Lee Gardner. Five rifles. A chair. A hood. A white target pinned over the heart. Sandbags stacked behind the chair so the bullets would not ricochet off the cinderblock. For 48 years, every firing squad execution in America was…
Embattled Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby sent a letter to County Council members Tuesday night offering to go on paid administrative leave until his term ends at the end of the year. The letter, obtained by Utah News Dispatch, came ahead of the Wasatch County Council’s 4 p.m. meeting Wednesday, when council…
A progressive advocacy group is calling on a Utah Supreme Court justice to recuse himself from the state’s ongoing anti-gerrymandering court battle after reports that he signed a petition to repeal Utah’s 2018 voter-approved independent redistricting law before he was appointed to the bench. Alliance for a Better Utah…
Utah’s largest electricity provider has “mature” cybersecurity tools, but the Utah Legislature may consider additional oversight for it and municipal utilities after legislative auditors determined that direct federal and state supervision on the protocols is limited. The only state agency that oversees cybersecurity…
Single-family home completions remain stuck at early pandemic levels as of September as costs, labor supply shortages and high interest take a toll on home builders, especially in the Northeast and South. Apartment building was a more mixed picture, down nationally but up sharply in the Midwest (53%) and West (18%)…