Utah News

As a proclaimed member of the same religion practiced by the Republican candidate for president, Mitt Romney, Utah Governor Gary Herbert has had ample opportunity to answer questions about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints during this week's National GOP Convention.

Herbert was a councilman in Salt Lake City when Romney was there for the Olympics, and during his time in Tampa, the Governor has worked to persuade delegates to focus on Romney's ability to manage -- a message he says is more important than Romney's ability to socialize.

A group representing Utah bar owners has agreed to have its lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on “happy hour” dismissed. Ken Wynn, a board member for the Utah Hospitality Association, says it was no longer needed because the attorney general’s office clarified that liquor licensees can still change their drink prices every day.

“And with that acknowledgement, they stipulated to it, we said fine, we’ll withdraw the lawsuit. That’s what the basis of the whole lawsuit was about in the first place.”

With the November election 10 weeks away, the criticism going back and forth between six-term Congressman Jim Matheson and Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love is heating up.  On Tuesday, Utah’s only Democrat in Congress held a press conference to address what he says is a key difference in between the two: access to financial aid for college students.

“College costs have grown at a very fast rate and quite frankly the student aide hasn’t kept up. This is not the time to make it even harder for kids to go to college.”

Residents living near Lundstrom Park in Logan concerned with a proposed plan to pipe a nearby canal will meet with members of the Logan City and Cache County Councils. About a dozen citizens and members from both councils requested the meeting with engineers to discuss the canal rebuild design. They say the original piping plans included the use of a concrete box culvert to move water through the canal. Now, engineers say they will request a permit from the Logan Planning Commission for a plan that calls for the water to flow through an underground pipe.

Tonight at the Republican National Convention, it will be Utah’s turn in the sun, even if there’s not much sun to be had in Tampa, Florida, with a storm making its way through the region. And it’s an especially meaningful year for the Utah GOP, as Mitt Romney, a longtime popular figure in the Beehive State and representative of the state’s dominant religion, will accept the party’s nomination for president. Jeff Robinson spoke with Utah Republican Party Chairman Thomas Wright, who joined him from the convention.