Salt Lake County | featured news

For some city officials and Utah residents, the ashes from Tuesday night’s Fourth of July firework blazes mark more than just destruction — they also provide a wake-up call on the need for tighter restrictions.
Fire department dispatchers reported nearly 70 fireworks-related calls Tuesday night through Wednesday morning in Salt Lake County.

The woman suspected to have been the driver in a fatal Salt Lake City hit-and-run Tuesday has been arrested, authorities said.
Utah Department of Corrections officials found Shutney Kyzer, 37, on Wednesday, Salt Lake City police officials said. She was booked into jail on an unrelated parole violation, and charges for the hit-and-run will be evaluated when the investigation is finished, the department tweeted.
On Tuesday evening, Kyzer allegedly drove a car into onto the sidewalk at about 465 We...

When Rev. Scott Dalgarno looks out at members of his Wasatch Presbyterian Church congregation on Sundays, his mind goes to what will happen to them if the Senate Republican health care bill passes.
Some are insured through the Affordable Care Act. Others are on Medicaid. Losing access to those services would wreak havoc on their lives.
These people “are worried about bankruptcy,” the Salt Lake City faith leader said Wednesday as he joined a group of about 30 Utahns who met with Sen. Mike Lee’s s...

Snowbird • George Jedenoff asked his new co-workers for recommendations on a hobby to take up when he relocated to Utah in 1960.
There was bowling, they said, and bridge. But what captured his attention and became his passion for 57 years — and counting — was skiing.
After learning the sport at age 43, Jedenoff has carved Utah’s powder nearly every season since. And for his 100th birthday Wednesday — he celebrated with a pair of ski runs at Snowbird Ski Resort.

After police shot and killed a West Bountiful man on Tuesday, friends and family members remembered him in social media posts as a kind man who had struggled with drug use.
They expressed love, support and shock at the death of 32-year-old Cody McCray on his Facebook page.
McCray was “fighting hard” to stay free from drugs, wrote his step-grandmother, Afton Harris, and was active in the lives of his family members — especially his children.
Last month, McCray was “so proud” to buy flowers to gi...

A 19-year-old Midvale man has been charged with murder and child abuse in the death last year of his infant son.
Zachary Joe Sandoval made an initial appearance on Monday in 3rd District Court, where he is charged with first-degree felony murder and three counts of second-degree felony child abuse in connection with the 3 1/2 month old baby boy.
The baby, identified in court documents at T.S., was pronounced dead on Nov.

As residents celebrated Independence Day on Tuesday, state air-quality monitors reported spikes in particulate pollution at several Wasatch Front locales.
Weber County was the hardest hit, with particulate matter soaring to 790 micrograms per cubic meter, nearly 20 times more than acceptable standards.

Robert Kirby is still recuperating from a star-spangled Fourth. And, no, he didn’t spark any fires. This is reprint of a previous column.

At a glance, it seemed like a great time. The sun was bright, the water blue, and nobody got hurt who didn’t have it coming. We spent a week soaking up rays and eating ourselves into stupors.
My wife pronounced the vacation a 2 on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 1 being the best). I reminded her that the wind sucked our $150 awning out into the lake.

A Cache County woman whose 2-year-old son was found dead in their River Heights home in 2013 admitted this week that she caused the boy’s death.
Heidi Marie Rutchey, 46, pleaded guilty but mentally ill Monday to second-degree felony child abuse homicide in the August 2014 death of her son, Eli.
She faces a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison for the crime when she is sentenced on Aug.

Several thousand people turned out Tuesday for a more subdued annual July Fourth celebration in a southern Utah ski resort town days after a nearly two-week evacuation from a wildfire was lifted.
“Everybody’s happy to be back,” said Bret Howser, Brian Head town manager.