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The Utah man who is already spending the rest of his life in prison for his role in killing a Utah Transit Authority worker is expected to plead guilty to more charges Thursday in federal court.
In early June, a federal jury indicted Dereck James “DJ” Harrison in U.S. District Court on two charges in connection to kidnapping 63-year-old Kay Porter Ricks and stealing his work-issued truck. Harrison has already pleaded guilty in a Wyoming state court to murdering and kidnapping Ricks. He is servin...

A 37-year-old ex-con was back at Utah State Prison Thursday, where she awaited charges for allegedly plowing into a group of transients, killing one of them, outside a downtown Salt Lake City homeless shelter.
Utah Department of Corrections spokeswoman Maria Peterson confirmed that Shutney Lee Kyzer officially was returned to the prison’s Timpanogos Women’s Facility on a parole violation shortly after her arrest by SLCPD officers Wednesday night.
Witnesses identified Kyzer as the driver of a car...

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Provo • Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, said Thursday that progress has been made protecting religious freedom, but that the issue remains at the forefront of national debate.
Speaking at Brigham Young University, Flake said he was encouraged by the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, while also expressing concern about President Donald Trump’s travel bans on citizens of majority-Muslim countries.
“This process will take time and the courts will remain a gamble,” Flake said at a confer...

Health officials are confirming that mosquitoes carrying West Nile virus have been detected in the Draper area and in Uintah County near Naples.
Although the insects carrying the virus have not been found elsewhere in Salt Lake County, officials say they are likely to spread.
“It won’t be long before we see more positive [mosquito] pools and it becomes a countywide concern,” said Nicholas Rupp, spokesman for Salt Lake County Department of Health.
The department alerted Draper city officials of...

A 3rd District Court judge ruled that the family of Salt Lake County Recorder Gary Ott will be his legal guardian, at least temporarily, as the embattled elected official endures an ongoing public struggle with mental illness, according to a recent police report from Weber County.
Ott’s sister called Harrisville Police on June 28 to report that a judge granted her guardianship over the 66-year-old man, who was found sitting in a Ford F-350 at a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Ott was in the truck awaiting...

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When America’s Freedom Festival booted an LGBT resource center from its July Fourth parade in Provo, officials said the rules prevent them from including advocacy groups.
As a 501(c)(3), the expelled organization, Encircle, cannot advocate, said its executive director, Stephenie Larsen.
No matter.

The American Red Cross says its blood supply is facing a serious shortage after receiving fewer donations than expected in recent months.
The Red Cross says it’s facing a nationwide shortage and its region covering 120 hospitals in Utah, Nevada, Montana and Idaho received 2,200 donations fewer than needed in the past two months.
The organization says fewer people donate around summer holidays because they’re on vacation and places like offices and churches tend to hold fewer blood drives during ...

Parker Douglas, the chief federal deputy and general counsel for the Utah Attorney General’s Office, has been selected as a 2017-2018 fellow by the Supreme Court Fellows Program.
During his year-long appointment, Douglas will work in the U.S. Supreme Court’s Office of the Counselor to the Chief Justice.
The Supreme Court Fellows Program offers mid-career professionals, recent law school graduates and doctoral degree holders from the law and political science fields an opportunity to broaden thei...

Utahns unsure whether to add their signature to — and potentially vote for — a $700 million tax hike to fund education will have a chance to ask questions and submit comments at a series of public meetings next week.
Our Schools Now, which is prepping a 2018 ballot initiative that would raise Utah’s sales and income taxes by one-half of 1 percent, announced Wednesday a list of regional meetings scheduled for July 11, ahead of a signature drive in August.
The Tuesday meetings will be held simulta...

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The Salt Lake County Health Department on Thursday cleans up trash left by homeless campers on 500 West in the Rio Grande area during their weekly clean up.