Utah Stories

The Voice of Local Utah

Cash or Crops?

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The foothills in Perry, Utah, are flourishing with fully loaded green peach and apricot orchards. Looking west are lake views of Willard Bay, the Great Salt Lake and a few large homes. To the east are small canyons and a gravel pit. Thayne Tagge is taking me on a tour in his nearly bumperless Toyota Prius on a narrow dirt road,.“This is way cool. You have got to see this,” … [Read more...]

History of Electric Cars in Utah

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The Pony Express once manned over 20 waystations across Utah to recharge horses for riders as they galloped westward. Tesla Motors has five supercharging stations in Southern Utah for a similar intent. Currently there are 86 supercharging stations throughout North America, reaching 80 percent of the U.S. population. The stations allow drivers to charge half their car battery in … [Read more...]

Deseret News Conspires to Expedite Demise of Salt Lake Tribune

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Every day, newspapers run the obituaries of people who have died in the community. But will The Salt Lake Tribune soon be running an obituary about itself? That’s the fear many people have since the newspaper entered into a troubling and, until recently, secret agreement with its competitor, the Deseret News, which is owned by the LDS Church. The agreement slashes the … [Read more...]

Abbey’s Road: Southern Utah Environmentalism

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The Star Theater in Moab, Utah—Every seat is taken by grey-bearded men with sun-baked skin, dreadlocked hippies in sandals and mountaineers dressed in the latest outdoor wear. It’s a lively crowd. The theater is sold out for the screening of ML Lincoln’s Wrenched, a film about the life of Edward Abbey and the real-life characters who inspired Abbey’s cult classic book The … [Read more...]

What’s in a Name? Why it’s called Sugar House

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When Margaret Smoot suggested a name for the new southeast LDS ecclesiastical ward in 1854, everyone thought the title was great. It honored the new mill where workers planned to refine sugar from beets grown on Brigham Young’s Forest Farm. But there was plenty of disagreement about how to spell the name – Sugarhouse or Sugar House. 160 years later, the dispute … [Read more...]

Holladay: No Holiday for Small Business Owners

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Holladay business owners have had a rough ride. They lost their commercial core with the demolition of the Cottonwood Mall.  Then they lost another retail center when the former Video Vern’s and Pardner’s Restaurant buildings were also razed. Interestingly, it was the government that facilitated the destruction of these buildings, not the business owners. With a lack of income … [Read more...]

Moab, Utah on the Rise

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Two Local Businessmen Discuss the Growth of Utah's Popular Small Town Should Moab grow or should it remain a quaint small town? Many people believe that this is truly an either/or question. The editor of Moab’s Zephyr newspaper decided to leave Moab for Montecello because he determined the city had already been overdeveloped and overpopulated. There are hundreds of Utah towns … [Read more...]

Generation Y Me?

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The “Greatest Generation” is now in its late 80s. Their kids, the Baby Boomers, are slowly retiring. If our current trajectory of spending and debt continues, according to economists and congressional members such as Paul Ryan and Rand Paul, by the time the Boomers pass the baton of retirement to the Millennials, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid will be bankrupt. The … [Read more...]