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Happy New Year! Here are today’s temperatures:

⛅ 12 – 30° Logan | ⛅ 22 – 37° Salt Lake

⛅ 15 – 42° Manti | ⛅ 22 – 45° Moab

🌤️ 16 – 41° Cedar City | 🌤️ 30 – 52° St. George

What will you remember the most from 2024?

It was an eventful year in Utah, the nation and across the globe, and the Deseret News covered it all. Among the impressive collection of articles we published in 2024 are hundreds of stories that offered in-depth coverage and perspective to our audience.

From dogs that work to find missing people to a rural community’s solutions to loneliness, the Deseret News shared 20 of our favorite stories that address politics, personalities and important issues.

Read more about the stories of 2024 you don’t want to have missed.

Also on our minds:

Saying goodbye to some of Utah’s political figures we lost in 2024
How BYU football made history at the Alamo Bowl
What we learned about Alzheimer’s disease in 2024

The magic of New Year’s Day

The Deseret News Editorial Board writes:

People love to find magic in the Christmas holiday, whether it’s the light in a child’s eyes as they reflect the bright colors shining on trees or on wrappings and bows, or the sacred feelings that are shared when listening to scriptural accounts of the birth of Christ.

New Year’s Day, in comparison, tends to get short shrift.

For many, it is the end of the holiday season and the beginning of resolutions that equate to greater self-discipline and self-denial.

But New Year’s Day has a magic of its own, and that is found in its irrepressible optimism. No matter how eager some people are to discard the old year at midnight on New Year’s Eve, they generally tend to look forward with hope.

Read more about predictions from the past and how to appreciate the magic of New Year’s Day.

A major plane crash this week put bird strikes in the spotlight. Here’s how the Salt Lake airport tries to prevent them

An airplane crashed in South Korea on Sunday morning, killing 179 passengers. Although the cause of the crash is unconfirmed, the pilot reported a bird strike minutes before the attempted landing.

Bird strikes — collisions between airborne animals and moving vehicles — are fairly common in aviation, including here in Utah. Although bird strikes rarely cause damage of any kind, let alone a crash, officials at the Salt Lake City International Airport have been working to monitor and prevent bird strikes in the area.

The airport sits in the middle of a migratory bird route and is situated just south of the Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve, an important nesting ground for hundreds of species of birds. To monitor those birds, the airport’s Air Ops wildlife department runs a 24/7 surveillance operation across a 5-mile radius surrounding the airport.

Read more about the Salt Lake airport’s mission to mitigate bird strikes.

More in Utah

Why The New York Times says Utah still could lose the 2034 Winter Games (Deseret News)
‘A dream come true’: First of its kind homeless village opens in Utah — with more units to come (KSL)
Man driving car — not a plane — arrested after being clocked at 142 mph (KSL)
Body of missing Millcreek Canyon hiker found, believed to be buried by avalanche (KUTV)

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Inside you'll find never-before-read stories from the players on the '84 team, sports writers who covered each play and the insights from the family of LaVell Edwards. This is a limited edition magazine, perfect for every Cougar fan who bleeds blue. Order now!

Politics

Utah politicos we lost in 2024 (Deseret News)
Unfinished business: The Cox administration reflects on triumphs and trials from the first four years (Deseret News)
Renae Cowley & Frank Pignanelli: Politicians’ wishes for 2025! (Deseret News)

The West

‘People helping people’: How Navajo Nation families get connected to the grid (KUER)
Colorado ranchers' wolf kill claims balloon after state’s first release in December 2023 (Coloradoan)

The U.S. & World

US Central Command Forces strike multiple Houthi targets in Yemen (Deseret News)
Puerto Rico may enter new year in darkness after sudden blackout (BBC)
9/11 plea deals can proceed after defense secretary moved to rescind them, military appeals court rules (NBC)
US imposes sanctions on entities in Iran, Russia over election interference (Reuters)

Sports

Champions’ wisdom: 12 quotes from athletes to inspire you as you plan for 2025 (Deseret News)
On heels of football success, BYU hopes to ‘carry torch,’ keep momentum rolling into Big 12 play (Deseret News)
It’s official: BYU and Colorado made history at the Alamo Bowl (Deseret News)
10 moments that defined Utah’s 2024 season (Deseret News)
Lauri Markkanen’s feet might be the key to his shooting success (Deseret News)

Faith

Abortion lawsuits, Ten Commandments displays and other key religious freedom developments in 2024 (Deseret News)
What it’s like to be a Latter-day Saint in the NHL (Deseret News)

Health

Debates over red dye safety are coming to a head (Deseret News)
What we learned about Alzheimer’s disease in 2024 (Deseret News)

🗓️ Events Calendar

We are putting together a calendar list of events and activities going on around the state of Utah the next month. Let us know what we should include!

Check your inbox tomorrow morning for more news from the Beehive State and beyond!

And reply to this email or email newsletters@deseretnews.com to tell us what you think of Utah Today.

Thanks for reading!

— Ariel