This is your daily news rundown for Wednesday, August 14. In this edition:
- Two challenges to Utah GOP primary results were rejected by the Utah Supreme Court
- The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is asking anglers to harvest specific fish in four water bodies
- A $152 million road upgrade project began in San Juan County
Two challenges to Utah GOP primary rejected in court
2:50 p.m.
The Utah Supreme Court has rejected two separate challenges to Utah Republican primary election results.
Colby Jenkins, a 2nd Congressional District candidate who narrowly lost to incumbent Celeste Maloy in the primary, petitioned the court to count late-postmarked ballots because they had been postmarked out of state.
The court ruled that the state’s postmark laws were constitutional and Jenkins failed to prove otherwise.
Utah Rep. Phil Lyman also petitioned the Utah Supreme Court, questioning the validity of the signatures that Gov. Spencer Cox’s campaign gathered to get on the primary ballot after Lyman won the Republican convention nomination.
Lyman petitioned the court to annul the Republican primary results and remove both Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson from office. The court denied this, saying he had “no viable factual or legal basis” for the request to remove them.
He also wanted the court to order Henderson’s office to release the campaign signatures, which the court denied on the grounds that Lyman hadn’t exhausted other remedies and could still pursue the matter in a lower court.
The decisions mean Maloy and Cox will remain on the ballot this November for 2nd Congressional District and Utah governor respectively.
Utah DWR asks anglers to catch specific fish in four water bodies
2:50 p.m.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is asking anglers to catch specific fish out of four water bodies throughout the state that they say are negatively impacting fisheries.
Anglers are encouraged to catch and harvest bluegill in Pelican Lake, brown trout in Blacksmith Fork River, small lake trout in Flaming Gorge Reservoir, and walleye in Starvation Reservoir.
The division said there are too many of those fish in their respective water bodies, which reduces the overall food supply for all the fish, causing them to be smaller and grow slower. The number of anglers who catch and release rather than harvesting fish also affects the balance.
For those going after lake trout, officials ask anglers to only catch fish under 25 inches, as fish larger than that are needed to predate on kokanee salmon and rainbow trout. There’s also a limit on harvesting lake trout from Flaming Gorge Reservoir.
There is a four-fish bonus limit for harvesting brown trout from Blacksmith Fork River, however.
For more information and tips on fishing in these areas, visit the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources website.
Utah, Navajo Nation representatives break ground on San Juan road project
2:50 p.m.
Navajo Nation and Utah representatives broke ground Tuesday on a $152 million road upgrade project in San Juan County.
The project will upgrade 54 miles of parts of State Route 162 and State Route 262, with a portion of the improved road crossing Navajo Nation land.
Plans include improving the roadway surface, building a roundabout in Montezuma at the intersection of the two state routes, and widening some shoulders and lanes.
The project hopes to make travel safer, smoother, and more convenient for residents, visitors traveling to monuments in the area, and petroleum extraction industry workers in the region.
