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Good morning! Here are today’s temperatures:

🌤️ 59 – 98° in Logan | 💧 10%

🌤️ 74 – 100° in Salt Lake | 💧 10%

⛅ 80 – 107° in St. George | 💧 30%

At a time when our communication is often truncated to texts and emails and loneliness has risen to a public health crisis, one app offers an antithesis to the doom-scrolling and unsatisfying dopamine drip of social media.

Marco Polo, a video messaging app that allows users to leave video messages for individuals or a small group and to respond and listen to them asynchronously, has been around since 2014, but its use soared during the pandemic. One in five Utahns uses the app, its founder told the Deseret News.

Read more about how Marco Polo is redefining modern friendship.

Also on our minds:

How to celebrate Pioneer Day in Utah
What happens if Joe Biden drops out of the presidential race
How a Microsoft outage is affecting people around the world

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox endorses Donald Trump

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, one of the few Republican governors who had not yet endorsed former President Donald Trump, announced Friday he will both endorse and vote for Trump in November’s presidential election.

During his monthly press conference on Friday morning, Cox said he will “do everything I can to help” Trump win the election and unify the country.

“My commitment to him was that I would help him try to lower the temperature in this country, and I sincerely hope — from what I’ve heard from people around him — that he’s committed to that,” Cox said.

Hours before the news conference, the Deseret News first reported Cox’s intentions to endorse Trump. According to a letter obtained by the Deseret News, written by Cox on his official Utah letterhead and dated July 14, Cox informed Trump earlier this week of his intent to support the Republican nominee. Cox said Trump’s “life was spared” during Saturday’s attempted assassination and pledged his support to Trump being a unifying candidate in the aftermath.

Read more about Cox’s letter and message to Trump and the country.

Scenic Utah’s vision: Fewer billboards, more landscape

The nonprofit Scenic Utah, led by former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, has sent a letter to the Federal Highway Administration and the Utah Department of Transportation listing 29 billboards across the state that it finds to be “illegal” or “nonconforming.”

The group alleges Utah billboard companies are not complying with the Utah federal agreement on outdoor advertising and are using the Utah Advertising Act to contradict federal law and create an “unfair advantage” for their industry.

“We think that our research has shown that the statutes that are governing outdoor advertising in Utah are some of the most billboard-friendly in the country,” Scenic Utah Co-Director Kate Kopischke told the Deseret News. “We’re not anti-advertising, but the billboard situation in Utah is completely out of control.”

Read more about the nonprofit’s mission and how it plans to stop billboards from blocking Utah’s picturesque views.

More in Utah

Gov. Cox addresses closure of cultural centers at universities after start of DEI ban (Deseret News)
The best ways to celebrate Pioneer Day in Utah (Deseret News)
Federal judge denies Colby Jenkins lawsuit to halt 2nd District election certification (Deseret News)
‘We could host the Olympics in 6 months,’ Utah governor says ahead of 2034 Winter Games decision (Deseret News)
Officials seek help in condor killings near Cedar City, Utah (Deseret News)

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Politics

If Biden drops out, then what happens? (Deseret News)
Court blocks Biden administration student loan plan (Deseret News)

The U.S.

Is heat wave fanning the largest U.S. outbreak of human bird flu? (Deseret News)
The credit card debt dilemma: Trends, causes and solutions (Deseret News)

The World

A major tech outage is affecting people around the world. Here’s what we know (Deseret News)
Soaring heat in Greece is keeping people indoors (Deseret News)
Wall Street Journal reporter receives 16-year sentence in Russia (Deseret News)

Sports

Clayton Young’s long and winding road to Paris (Deseret News)
Two disastrous holes caused Tony Finau to miss the cut at the 152nd Open Championship (Deseret News)
This new assistant shares how BYU landed prized recruits (hint: it wasn't all about the money) (Deseret News)
What Blake Anderson contends about his firing by Utah State (Deseret News)

Faith

Video: Post Malone gets Book of Mormon from Latter-day Saint missionary (Deseret News)
Meagan Kohler: The case for low-production church (Deseret News)

Entertainment

‘Be more engaging than the algorithm’ — Why the mom behind the ‘Opt-Out Family’ movement is causing a stir (Deseret News)
‘There is an emotional cost’: Real-life storm chasers reveal the side of storm chasing that ‘Twisters’ doesn’t show (Deseret News)

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

Scenic Utah’s vision: Fewer billboards, more landscape

More in Utah

Gov. Cox addresses closure of cultural centers at universities after start of DEI ban (Deseret News)

Sports

Clayton Young’s long and winding road to Paris (Deseret News)

Faith