Investigation
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An “Avoidable Murder”: What Happened at Salt Lake City’s Phillips Plaza
Hofmann was brutally murdered by blunt-force trauma and asphyxiation in his own apartment at Phillips Plaza by Bentley Estelvin Scow. He admitted to the murder shortly after he was detained…
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What Was Happening Inside Phillips Plaza Before the Murder in Salt Lake?
Three days before Ralph Hoffman was killed, Utah Stories interviewed Phillips Plaza residents who described security concerns, unauthorized visitors, and questions about how vulnerable tenants were being supervised. After the…
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The Utah Bombings That Exposed One of America’s Greatest Forgers
On an ordinary October morning in 1985, downtown Salt Lake City was shattered by a blast that killed businessman and document collector Steve Christensen. Hours later, a second bomb tore…
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The $7 Million Recruit: How NIL Changed College Athletics Forever
In 2012, Jabari Parker, a top high school prospect and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was facing his biggest decision to that point in his…
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Utah Official’s $36K Travel Reimbursements Raise Questions About Use of Taxpayer Funds
The trek into the office is a necessary evil for many employees; unpaid time that could be spent elsewhere. But some state employees are able to cash in on their…
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Cottonwood Heights Corruption Allegations: A Case That Never Reached a Courtroom
A year ago, we here at Utah Stories recorded a podcast episode that we never published. We were revisiting corruption allegations from ten years ago. We decided not to publish…
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Salt Lake County Approves 14% Property Tax Increase, Shifting the Burden to Taxpayers
After hours of public testimony, Salt Lake County approved a 14% property tax increase, despite mounting concerns over spending growth, compensation, and the impact on seniors and fixed-income residents. This…
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Sugar House Struggles with Rising Crime and Homelessness
Once one of Salt Lake City’s most walkable and charming neighborhoods, Sugar House is now at the center of rising crime, encampments, and community unrest.
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Salt Lake’s Haunted Old Mill Faces Possible Demolition
Once a pioneer-era paper mill and later a Halloween haunt, the crumbling Old Mill in Cottonwood Heights may soon disappear as developers weigh demolition over preservation.
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The Broken Non-Profit System Behind Utah’s Homelessness Crisis
Can Utah’s proposed 30-acre homeless campus truly solve the state’s homelessness crisis, or is it another costly experiment doomed to fail? At a recent town hall, experts debated innovative solutions,…
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St. George vs. Las Vegas: Water Conservation Lessons for Southern Utah’s Future
As water shortages strain both St. George and Las Vegas, their vastly different approaches reveal key lessons in conservation. With the Virgin River nearly tapped out, can Southern Utah adapt…
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Overcrowded Classrooms, Burned-Out Teachers, and Homeschooling: A Deep Dive into Utah’s Education Crisis
Utah’s education system is on the verge of a breaking point. With classrooms bursting at the seams and teachers leaving in droves, a growing number of parents are pulling their…
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Utah Taxing Entities Not Following the Law? Homeowners Fight Back Against Rising Property Taxes
When Utah homeowners opened their tax notices to find shocking increases, they uncovered a deeper issue: a property tax system they say is rigged. Now, they’re fighting back in court,…
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“We’re Criminalizing Homelessness”: Utah’s Growing Crisis and the Need for Collaboration
In the heart of Salt Lake City, where the LDS Church sends aid to every corner of the globe, a growing humanitarian disaster is unfolding just blocks away. Homeless encampments…
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Utah’s Water Crisis: The Plot to Drain and the Fight to Save the Great Salt Lake
As crazy as it sounds, there may be collusion among some Utah legislators and others to allow an already diminished Great Salt Lake to dry up completely.
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How Fentanyl Conquered Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake has made the transition from heroin to fentanyl. In fact, it is almost impossible to find heroin in the valley anymore. We used to have a heroin epidemic,…