East-bench neighborhood worries state and developer will bypass city zoning with liquor store development. The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. The East Bench Community Council’s November 2020 Zoom meeting was so packed that residents were doubling up on computers to allow others in. In the hot … [Read more...]
Ticket to Ride: “Political Pressure” Comes to Bear on Little Cottonwood Canyon Transportation Plans
By Eric S. Peterson and Jennifer Greenlee In December 2020, Central Wasatch Commission executive director, and former Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker, was fixated on one of several transportation alternatives that were discussed regarding how to get skiers, hikers and bikers up Little Cottonwood Canyon while keeping cars out. “With a train, it’s possible we could … [Read more...]
Utahns Love Their Essential Oils, but Can the Science Back Any of Their Claims?
The following story was written and researched by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. Utah-based Young Living Essential Oils has boasted of having over 3,000 global employees, more than six million members, and of being the “world leader in essential oil research and development.” But in 2020 when the company was asked by … [Read more...]
Will Utah Have Enough Water to Sustain Its Booming Population?
If 2020 hadn’t been apocalyptic enough, Utahns looking forward to a snowy new year got drought in January — raking leaves instead of shoveling walks, skiing on artificial powder and wondering when things might resemble normal again. For Todd Adams, Director of The Utah Division of Water Resources, the dry climate is all the more reason water managers need to carefully … [Read more...]
You can create glass beauty at Red Flower Studios!
Tucked away in Park City, and guarded by two friendly golden retrievers, is a unique and off-the-beaten-path resort destination — Red Flower Studios. Here, owners Daniel Bell and Micah Goddard teach the ancient art of glass blowing. Customers melt color into glass before a 2000 degree oven, blow air into the molten globules to give them shape, and then put finishing touches on … [Read more...]
Creative Destruction – Smash Your Troubles Away in Rage Rooms
A person can marvel at the wonders of the world when they’re watching a sunset, but what does it take to find the same awe in a piece of Deseret Industries tchotchke like a ceramic clown or that big screen TV that hasn’t worked since the Clinton administration? That’s easy. The awe comes from smashing the hell out of these things. Of returning creation back into nothingness, or … [Read more...]
The Essential Facts: An expert reveals the slippery science behind essential oils
An expert in essential oils and public health, Dr. Jessie Hawkins, unpacks the slippery science on the popularly multi-level marketed products The following was written and reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. A recent Utah Stories article quoted from a public health expert with both expertise in essential oils and … [Read more...]
Slippery Sales: Utah’s MLM companies push high volumes of “immunity boosting” essential oils during pandemic scare despite lack of scientific support
The following story was written and reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. “Hi! I just need some advice please!,” read a panicky post made to the Facebook page of “DT Essential Oils – Best Recipes & Remedies” on March 24. The woman wrote that her husband was traveling for work to Washington and she wanted to know … [Read more...]
Your Summer Vacation on Ice in Escalante and Boulder Utah
Utah has so much natural splendor, it’s a shame we feel so strongly that it can only be enjoyed in the spring and summer, the same time the rest of the state—and the rest of the world, for that matter—also decides to enjoy the canyon country. Consequently, those wide-open spaces can sometimes feel a little cramped when you’re elbowing way your past German tourists in … [Read more...]
Cash Canyon: Former Lawmaker’s Bill to Allow Canyon Tolling Benefit His Development Project
The following story was written and reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. In the 2018 Legislature, then-Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, one of the most powerful legislators on the hill, presented a bill in a committee to pave the way for toll roads to be established in the state. The soft-spoken Sandy Republican … [Read more...]