This is your daily news rundown for Tuesday, Feb. 17. In this edition:
- Utahns could be waiting months to know whether Proposition 4 will be on November's ballot
- Fees at 18 Utah state parks are going up this year
- A Stephen King novel is now one of 23 banned from public schools statewide
When will Utahns know if Prop 4 is going back on the ballot?
The signature-gathering deadline has now passed for the organizers behind an effort to repeal Utah’s citizen-led anti-gerrymandering law Proposition 4 — but Utahns might not know for sure whether they got enough signatures for another two months.
To get the repeal on November’s ballot, the group Utahns for Representative Government needs signatures from about 140,000 active voters, with minimum thresholds in at least 26 of the state’s 29 Senate districts.
On Sunday, the final day to gather signatures, Utah’s Republican Party Chair Robert Axson said they had turned in well over the number of required signatures.
However, as of Friday, the lieutenant governor’s office had verified well under that, about 90,000, with only four districts hitting the threshold so far.
County clerks now have three weeks to verify last-minute signatures, and voters can rescind their support for 45 days after their signature has been put up — something thousands have already requested.
That means the final decision on whether Proposition 4 is going back on the ballot may not be known until mid to late April.
The list of current verified signatures is available online.
Fees at 18 Utah state parks are going up this year
Visiting or staying at state parks like Bear Lake, Antelope Island, and Quail Creek will be more expensive this year.
A dozen state parks are increasing camping fees, while six others are charging more for cars or pedestrians to visit for the day. Most increases are in the $5 to $10 range.
A spokesperson with the Utah Division of State Parks said that’s because most of state parks’ budgets come from fees, including repairs, rising costs, or added amenities.
Fee increases can’t be limitless, though. State parks are limited by state law on how much they can charge — $25 entrance fees and $60 per night camping fees for residents. Many parks also remain under those maximum fees.
Some fee changes for this year have already been implemented, while others will start later on in the year.
A full list of the fee changes and start dates is available online. General info on individual parks can be found on Utah’s state parks website.
This Stephen King book is now one of 23 banned statewide
Stephen King is now one of over a dozen authors who’ve had a book banned from Utah schools.
Under a 2024 law, any book banned in at least three Utah school districtsfor being “objective sensitive material” must then be removed from all public schools in the state.
On Friday, Feb. 13, King’s 1998 horror novel “Bag of Bones” became the 23rd book to be banned in this way.
It’s far from the first time a King novel has been banned in U.S. schools — in fact, he was the most-banned author in the 2024-2025 school year, according to a report by PEN America — but it’s his first statewide ban in Utah.
The same day that “Bag of Bones” was officially banned, hundreds of Utahns protested the state’s banned books law at the state capitol.
The new ban also comes a month after a group of bestselling authors sued Utah over the law, arguing that it’s unconstitutional.
