Utah Headlines

Utah legislature

• Utah Legislature has elected new leadership teams, here are their 2025 priorities (KSL Newsradio)
• Higher ed, taxes, energy: House Speaker Mike Schultz's legislative priorities (Fox13)
• Will Utahns stop changing their clocks twice a year? Legislature may explore the idea this session (St. George News)

Other political news

• Derek Brown outlines his priorities as Utah’s new attorney general (Deseret News)
• A newly inaugurated Gov. Cox lays out his policy vision for the next four years (Daily Herald)
• Gov. Cox signs first executive order of 2nd term to fast-track large infrastructure projects (Deseret News)
• Why Salt Lake City is changing its garbage day schedule for first time since the ’80s (KSL)
• Newly elected Black and Latino officials take office in Utah, representing historic firsts (KSL)
• Residents speak out against proposed land use rules in San Juan County (KSL TV)

Utah

• Should NYC’s congestion tolls come to Utah? (Deseret News)
• Why leaders of France’s next Olympics are in Utah (Deseret News)
• Some Utah neighborhoods considered high risk for wildfires (KSL TV)
• Utah outdoor enthusiast reaches 2024 goal of climbing one million vertical feet (KUTV)
• Southern Utah power company to hike rates for energy-hungry businesses (Fox13)
• Sorry, Utah, Great Salt Lake license plates are still months away. Here’s why (KUER)

Biz/Tech

• Report: Defense industry a economic heavyweight in Utah (Deseret News)
• Suazo Business Center gets new board members to help in its efforts to aid Latino entrepreneurs (KSL)
• Teen hackers: How AI is changing the nature of hacking and other fraudulent activities (KSL TV)

Crime/Courts

• 60 pounds of meth seized in Utah County traffic stop (KSL)
• Utah property manager accused of pocketing hundreds of thousands in rent money (KSL)
• Ex-wife of Bluffdale murder suspect said judges denied protective order requests (KSL TV)
• Illinois man files class action lawsuit over experience during Park City Mountain strike (KSL)

Education

• Timberline Middle School named Special Olympics National Unified Champion (KSL TV)
• Student who brandished, threatened with firearm taken into custody at Springville High School (Fox13)

Environment

• President Biden just designated two new national monuments in the West. Where are they? (Deseret News)
• Steve Handy: More state involvement in power grid upgrades will help keep the lights on and support job growth (Deseret News)
• From blue powder to empty cigarette packs, vandalism is ‘nonstop’ at this Utah state park, workers say (Salt Lake Tribune)
• US will keep protecting more than 2,000 Rocky Mountain grizzly bears (AP)

Health

• How to reset your mental health with nature in 2025 (Deseret News)
• New documentary shines light on health implications Utahns face due to nuclear tests (Fox13)

Housing

• Utahns concerned as insurance companies drop fire coverage for some customers (KUTV) 

National news

General

• Photo gallery: Daylight unveils utter destruction in California fires (Deseret News)
• 'The worst I've seen:' Reuters visuals journalists on the LA wildfires (Reuters)
• 10 people have died in the wildfires spreading across Southern California (NPR)
• Los Angeles firefighters in ‘race against time’ as death toll rises; 360,000 people evacuated (Wall Street Journal)
• Why fire hydrants ran dry as wildfires tore through Los Angeles (Washington Post)
• ‘Pizzagate’ gunman killed by police in North Carolina after traffic stop, authorities say (AP)
• Some notable quotes from Jimmy Carter’s funeral (AP)
• Biden eulogizes Carter with an emphasis on character (Washington Post)

Politics

• How Canadians are reacting to Trump’s ‘51st state’ posts (Deseret News)
• Mexican president jokes that part of the U.S., including Utah, should be renamed ‘América Mexicana’ (Deseret News)
• Free speech, national security and the future of TikTok. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the TikTok ban Friday morning (Deseret News)
• Judge strikes Biden’s expanded Title IX protections for LGBTQ+ students (AP)
• US court declines to block release of special counsel report on Trump (Reuters)

Ukraine/Russia 

• Russia says it welcomes Trump's readiness to solve problems through dialogue (Reuters)
• A Russian missile attack in southern Ukraine has killed at least 13 civilians, officials say (AP)
• How these suburban moms in Ukraine manage grief by training to down Russian drones (NPR)

Israel/Gaza

• Body recovered in Gaza confirmed to be 23-year-old hostage Hamzah AlZayadni (AP)

World news

• Nicolás Maduro is set to be Venezuela’s president until 2031 (AP)

Number of the Day 

News Releases

Gov. Cox takes oath for second term, says ‘now is the time to build’

Wednesday, in a public inauguration ceremony at Eccles Theater, Gov. Spencer J. Cox was sworn in for his second term as Utah’s 18th governor and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson as the ninth Lt. Governor of Utah. Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant of the Utah Supreme Court administered the Oath of Office to Gov. Cox, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, Utah Attorney General Derek Brown, Utah State Auditor Tina Cannon and Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks. (Read More)

Gov. Cox signs executive order to streamline permitting and empower Utahns to build a future of abundance

As part of his inauguration this week, Gov. Cox signed an executive order aimed at streamlining permitting processes, reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens and empowering Utahns to build the critical infrastructure that will shape the state’s future. This order underscores the governor’s commitment to ensuring Utah remains a leader in quality of life, economic strength and innovation. (Read More)

President Biden signs Lee and Maloy bill to return parcels of federal land to local control

Recently, President Joe Biden signed the Utah State Parks Adjustment Act into law. The bill, introduced by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congresswoman Celeste Maloy (UT-02), would return the titles for several parcels of federally owned land in and around three Utah State Parks to the State of Utah, consolidating ownership and improving land management. (Read More)

Utah delegation issues statement on Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Record of Decision

This week, the Biden Administration announced its approval of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Resource Management Plan and issued a final Record of Decision. U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT) and John Curtis (R-UT) and Representatives Blake Moore (UT-01), Burgess Owens (UT-04), Celeste Maloy (UT-02) and Mike Kennedy (UT-03) released the following joint statement:

“In its midnight hours, the Biden administration has finalized a decision that mandates how the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument will be managed on its 1.87 million acres of land. The BLM’s plan ignores Utah voices, limits access to grazing and recreation and disregards the economic impacts that this decision will have on local communities. The administration has also failed to provide a complete inventory of the objects it wishes to protect, a requirement of the Antiquities Act. When the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was created in 1996, it was promised to be friendly to local use and management. We will continue to fight to return our land to local control and against future federal overreach.”

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Jan. 10 — Utah Economic Outlook & Public Policy Summit with the SL Chamber & Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, 7:30 am - 12:00 pm, Grand America Hotel, Register here 
• Jan. 10 — Rural Utah Data Symposium. St. George. Register here
• Jan. 11— Special election for HD4, 2 pm
• Jan 13 — The Unspoken Truths for Women's Career Success with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Jan 14 — Utah Taxpayers Association Legislative Outlook Conference, 9 am - 12:00 pm, Little America Hotel, Register here
• Jan 15 — The Impact of Sexism on Women's Careers with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Jan. 21 — Utah legislative session begins
• Jan 21 — Prioritizing Life to Achieve Success at Work with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Jan 23 - Designing Corporate Women’s Networks, Initiatives, and Leadership Programs with UWLP, 12:00-3:00 pm,Register here
• Jan 27 — The Impact of Women’s Health on Work and Life with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Jan 29 — A Conversation with Pat Jones on Women's Leadership with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Feb 3 — Building Bridges: Leading as Women in Local Government with the Utah Women and Leadership Project, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Feb 5 — Women and Policy, Strategy, Politics, and Change with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Feb 10 — Gail Miller: Making a Difference with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Feb 12 — Crossing the Divide: Making an Impact in Career and Community with UWLP, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Register here
• Mar. 7 — Utah legislative session ends

On This Day In History

• 1870 - Labor union activist Maud Younger is born. She was instrumental in the passage of the 19th Amendment.
• 1898 - Katharine Blodgett is born. A physicist and inventor, she was the first woman research scientist for General Electric’s Schenectady, NY laboratory (1920), first woman awarded a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cambridge (1926) and received eight U.S. patents, most famously for inventing low-reflectance “invisible” glass
• 1901 - A drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill in Texas hits an enormous gusher of crude oil and signals the start of the U.S. oil industry.
• 1917 - Suffragettes, the "Silent Sentinels," first protest outside The White House, in Washington led by Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party
• 1920 - The League of Nations is instituted. It was officially dissolved in 1946 with the establishment of the United Nations.
• 1923 - President Harding pulls troops home from Germany, 4 years after the end of WWI.
• 1941 - FDR introduces the lend-lease program
• 1946 - The United Nations holds its first General Assembly. 
• 1962 - An avalanche on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Peru buries 9 towns and 7 villages, killing more than 4000.
• 2000 - AOL-Time Warner formed
• 2016 - David Bowie dies of liver cancer, 2 days after his 69th birthday and the release of his final album, Blackstar.

Quote of the Day

"As you get older, the questions come down to about two or three. How long? And what do I do with the time I've got left?"
—David Bowie

On the Punny Side

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