Utah News

In the 1st Congressional District's Democratic primary on June 26, Utahns will decide between the candidates Ryan Combe and Donna McAleer. The winner will try to unseat the Republican incumbent Rob Bishop, who has represented the 1st Congressional District since 2003.

Both contenders said they will not be "career politicians" and are in favor of campaign reform.

In all, the White Rock Wildfire charred over 6,200 acres of both public and private land in steep rugged terrain along the Utah-Nevada Border and claimed the lives of two heavy air tanker pilots.

Incident commander John Kidd reported over the weekend that the fire had been 100% contained but clean up continues and the flight data recorder from the tanker that went down a week ago Sunday, killing both crew members, has been recovered.

The Utah Homeless Youth Drop-in Center in Downtown Salt Lake City continues to grow.

“Five years ago 25 youth a day on average is what we saw and now we see about 65 a day," says Zach Bale. He's the Vice President of External Relations with Volunteers of America in Utah and says many of the youth the center serves categorize themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender: “Our most recent survey we had about 42% identify as LGBTQ...When you look nationally it is about 1/3 across all homeless youth providers.”

On Monday Utah cyclists began riding from Beaver to St. George as part the Road Respect Tour that concludes in Logan on Saturday. Cycling with the group during the 518 mile tour is Evelyn Tuddenham with the Utah Department of Transportation. UPR's Kerry Bringhurst talked to Tuddenham at the start of her second-to-last day on the road.

This week, the Salt Lake City Council met to discuss changing some of the city’s zoning laws which could allow businesses that serve alcohol more opportunities. City officials say the changes are important for the vitality of Salt Lake City.

Two adult Utahns have died in the last month from Hantavirus infection, which leads to a deadly lung disease. That comes as a surprise to the Utah Department of Health.

Epidemiologist Jody Baker says Utah typically only sees about one Hantavirus case a year and the fatality rate is about 32%.

"To have 2 fatalities so early in the season is definitely unusual. That's why we wanted to get the message out to the public to be aware of what to look for when it comes to exposure, rodent droppings, how to clean appropriately, and what symptoms to look for."