Utah News

A new report says the high school graduation rate in Utah this year has increased for the seventh consecutive year. The state Board of Education has released data Monday stating that 43,500 students graduated from district and charter high schools representing about 90% who entered as freshmen four years earlier. Board officials say the overall graduation rate increased since last year and is up by more than 3% in the past five years. Officials say the lowest graduation rates were among students who are economically disadvantaged, English learners and students with disabilities.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is defending how it uses and invests member donations after a former church employee alleged in a complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the faith had improperly built a $100 billion investment portfolio using member donations that are supposed to be used for charitable causes. Church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a statement Tuesday that most of the money goes to fund church operations while another portion is “methodically safeguarded through wise financial management."  The confidential IRS complaint provided to the Washington Post

Inmates in Utah are learning to tell their stories through a speech club that builds communication skills to help navigate life after release and teach others to avoid their mistakes. The Salt Lake Tribune reports about 50 men are part of the New Visions Speech club, which serves a facility where inmates have demonstrated good behavior and want counseling and therapy. Ex-club president Ben Barnett says it helped him explain his criminal past and get a marketing job after his release last month.

The first class of Chinese dual immersion students in the Alpine School District are entering high school and fresh off a recent trip to China where they were able to try out the language skills. The Daily Herald in Provo reports that the students learned Chinese after years of hard work that some remember that learning sent them to tears as young elementary school students.

Utah homeless advocates say they have had difficulty filling beds at Salt Lake County’s homeless resource centers. The Deseret News reported some people in the homeless population have not yet made the transition to sleeping at the centers. Officials say that following the closure of the Road Home’s downtown shelter, the centers have been left with empty beds each night. Data collected between Nov. 22 and Dec. 5 indicate three centers with a combined 700 beds averaged 649 people, which is 93% of capacity.

A new University of Utah report says the state experienced a significant increase in its population over the past decade. The university's Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute released analysis that found the growth was especially strong in Utah County. The institute found Utah County’s population increase led the state at 26.1% with the addition of 134,845 people since 2010. That brought the county's  population to more than 651,000. Salt Lake County had a 12% increase of 123,305 people over the decade. Davis, Washington and Weber counties had the next highest growth rates.

A legislative task force in Utah has voted to recommend a tax reform plan to the Legislature that would reduce state taxes by $160 million. That's double the amount in a previous proposal. The Tax Restructuring and Equalization Task Force met Monday ahead of a possible special session this week where lawmakers are expected to address a sweeping change to the state tax code. Task force members say the proposal would lower income taxes while increasing sales and other taxes.

Utah is set to become the latest state to allow immigrant ‘Dreamers’ to practice law in the state under a new proposed rule issued by the state Supreme Court. The rule unveiled Monday comes after a request made last year by two women who earned law degrees from Utah universities but couldn't practice law because they aren't legal residents of the United States. They are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, an initiative implemented during former President Barack Obama's administration that allows young people brought to the U.S.

​​​​Leaders of the Silicon Slopes community have partnered with the Community Foundation of Utah to launch a Field of Interest Fund dedicated to advancing K-12 computer science education in Utah.