On North Temple, near 15th West, I find a family who is choosing to camp in an empty parking lot under tarps rather than stay in a shelter. A woman and her two adult sons are taking extreme measures to survive in the frigid temperatures. They use candle wax as well as hand sanitizer to burn small fires under their tarps and blankets to stay warm. Why are they taking such … [Read more...]
The Californication of Utah
California has been known for decades as the leader of the Western United States both in terms of the booming tech economy and the widening class division between the rich and the poor. Tech companies have the rare distinction of being both an enormous benefit for producing high-paying jobs for engineers, programmers, and support staff–oftentimes minting thousands of … [Read more...]
The Facts About the Justice for Bernardo Case
As 2022’s political season begins to roll out, Tecuani McKee was recently sworn in as a new member of the Salt Lake City Council. McKee is a member of the group called Justice for Bernardo. Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, according to KUER’s reporting on McKee’s swearing-in, was essentially executed in cold blood by Salt Lake City police officers on May 23rd, 2020 in downtown Salt … [Read more...]
The Main Street Divide: Remembering Main Street Salt Lake City of Christmas Past
Downtown Salt Lake City’s Main Street has always had two very distinct halves: The North half is almost all LDS-Church-owned and now the billion-dollar City Creek Center has almost every fashionable Wall Street traded chain store one could hope for (Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, Coach). With over five million annual visitors to Salt Lake City’s Temple each year, now we can host … [Read more...]
Did These Utah Multi-Level Marketing Companies Really Need Giant PPP Loans?
Utah multi-level marketing companies thrived during the pandemic, so why did they need PPP loans? The following story was reported by The Utah Investigative Journalism Project in partnership with Utah Stories. While many U.S. industries have gone under or struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, many multilevel marketing businesses appear to be bounding through it without a … [Read more...]
Homeless Policies in Salt Lake City: Paying off? Or an Endless Money Pit?
The homeless in Salt Lake City has always been on the periphery, but today they are camping right on Main Street impacting local business operations and causing blight, especially the area formerly occupied by Sam Weller’s Zion Bookstore. Utah Stories wrote in a previous article about the hardship of business owner Omar Mullahkhel, who has operated the Market on Main … [Read more...]
How Main Street is Being Traded for Wall Street
Ask anybody how they define their community and they will inevitably mention the local businesses: the local grocery store; the shoe repair shop; the hardware store; the watch repair shop, and of course restaurants, bars, and the local farmers markets. It’s cliche, but it’s true: locally-owned businesses are the backbone of communities and Main Street. In the past two … [Read more...]
Honoring the 2,945 Fallen Utah Veterans with West Valley City Veterans Memorial
On November 11, 2021, Veterans Day, the city of West Valley unveiled something quite extraordinary. A brand-new tribute, a memorial to the 2,945 fallen Utah veterans. The Utah Veterans Memorial was the passion project of West Valley city mayor Ron Bigelow who has worked for many years to see this project come to life. Much time was donated by everyone involved, … [Read more...]
The Battle Over Utah’s Environment: Great Salt Lake Great No Longer?
Will the Great Salt Lake Become a Casualty of The Mega Drought? With impending population growth and the increasing scarcity of water, there is a battle brewing over Utah‘s environment and future. “The Mega Drought” is what some are calling this very dry 2021 water year in Utah and the entire Great Basin area. Lake Powell is at its lowest level since inception and the Great … [Read more...]
Parley’s Canyon Fire Initial Response And Rapid Growth — Photos and Video
Traveling east on I-18 to Park City, we personally witnessed the incredible speed and growth of the Parley's Canyon Fire on August 14th, at around 2:20 PM. The plume of smoke was easily 1,500 feet high, but the air was still clear and there was no smell. These hints told us this fire had just started. We learned that the fire started at around 1 PM, and it was caused by an … [Read more...]