Utah News

With the world’s population now exceeding 7 billion people, undeveloped land is quickly diminishing. This week, hundreds of people from across the country are in Salt Lake City hoping to reverse that trend by taking part in the Land Trust Alliance Rally at the Salt Palace. 

The Multicultural Center of Cache Valley has a permanent resident: a one-eyed gerbil. Center director Ernesto Lopez, who installs an immediately appreciated wheel into the gerbil’s habitat, explains that the black fur-ball is a remnant from a short-lived bilingual preschool program.

"It was costing the center more money than could be afforded. Due to that reason, the program had to end, and we inherited the mascot—the pet to that program, which was a gerbil."

It's not everyday an ordinary high school coach receives a police escort through town, complete with signs, banners, and a waiting crowd of students remixing a cheer in your honor. But then again it's not every day that same coach wins a world championship.