Salt Lake County | featured news

As work continues to eliminate Utah’s backlog of untested sexual assault kits, state officials announced Wednesday a new hot line and support for victims seeking updates about their cases.
Victims who have undergone a sexual assault kit examination have the right to be informed about their cases, victim advocate Lauren De Vries said Wednesday. That includes knowing the status of their rape kit in the testing process, and knowing whether a suspect DNA profile has been obtained.
Salt Lake County a...

If government invests more to promote bicycling and walking, it would help both Utah’s economy and the health of residents, according to a study conducted by the Utah Transit Authority in collaboration with 11 other transportation and health agencies.
The review sought to put a dollar value on the benefits of such things as bicycle and walking trails, bike tourism and cost savings from improving health through “active transportation.” Among the findings:
• Direct sales in cycling-related busine...

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West Wendover is officially ready for a medical marijuana dispensary – now all the city has to do is wait for interested businesses to apply.
The City Council voted 4-to-1 on Tuesday in favor of an ordinance allowing a marijuana dispensary to open within its borders, the city’s clerk confirmed.

The Cache County Attorney’s Office on Wednesday charged officer Jason Whittier for the death of his patrol dog.
Endy died of heat exhaustion after being left in an unattended patrol truck on July 3.
Whittier, Endy’s handler, has been charged in First District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class B misdemeanor, according to a news release from the Cache County Attorney’s Office.

A man charged with murdering two teenagers last year during a dispute over a T-shirt has pleaded guilty.
Mario Cervantes-Angel, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of first-degree felony aggravated murder for the July 6, 2016 shooting deaths of 15-year-old Abril Izazaga and her brother, 16-year-old Jose Izazaga, outside of a Salt Lake County apartment complex.
The charges carried the potential for the death penalty.

Salt Lake City police are investigating whether two robberies and a shooting that occurred within little more than an hour early Wednesday morning are connected.
SLCPD Detective Robert Ungricht said the use of a shotgun in all three incidents has investigators suspecting there may be a link.
“Our detectives will definitely be looking to see if there is a correlation. There is a similar M.O.

It’s been seven years since South Jordan City explored a plan to create its own bus line. But mayoral candidate Rich Cunningham says the Utah Transit Authority has done little to address the city’s transportation needs since 2010, so he’s bringing the proposal back to the table.

The Onaqui Mountain Complex Fire, a collection of several lightning-sparked blazes, had consumed nearly 32,500 acres of remote, sparsely populated desert and range lands in Utah’s West Desert as of Wednesday.
However, its days are numbered, literally, according to Fire Information Officer Shayne Ward.
“Actually, it’s looking really good out there,” he said. “They’re saying 100 percent containment by [Saturday]. It only has a couple days of life left in it; that’s pretty typical for desert fires ...

The Old Man was rushed to the hospital last week. A raging infection in his foot had compromised his physical and mental condition.
I showed up after the South Jordan ambulance people had already arrived. They were busy trying to assess what was wrong with him. I tried to help out.
Them • “Does your chest hurt, Mr.

Deanna Nielsen drove into a parking lot Tuesday afternoon to a massive pile of bricks as workers continued to demolish Granite High School
The Sandy woman joined a stream of visitors looking to take home a piece from the historic school, which has sat vacant for almost a decade.
Nielsen took a brick for her mother, Ruth Lehman Johnson, who graduated from the school in 1935 and is now 100 years old.