This is your daily news rundown for Friday, Feb. 14. In this edition:
- The Salt Lake Temple will accept visitors for an open house in 2027
- Planned Parenthood would be banned from teaching health under a new bill
- Mass firings were announced in federal departments like the Bureau of Land Management
This bill would ban Planned Parenthood materials from health class
A bill that would ban elective abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from teaching health in schools has advanced in the Utah Legislature.
House Bill 233, sponsored by Representative Nicholeen Peck, a Republican from Tooele, would ban entities like Planned Parenthood from providing health-related instruction or materials in public schools.
That includes material created, funded, or donated by those entities, as well as employees or volunteers.
Peck acknowledged that few districts in the state currently utilize Planned Parenthood materials or volunteers in health education.
Supporters argued that abortion providers didn’t belong in the classroom and that most parents wouldn’t agree with their perspective.
Opponents, including Planned Parenthood, argued these providers follow all state standards and curriculum guidelines and that parents have to opt into health instruction anyway.
The bill passed through committee and now heads to the full Utah House.
Salt Lake LDS Temple to accept visitors in 2027
Renovations on the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints still have a while to go, but there’s now an end date in sight.
Church President Russell M. Nelson announced that the temple would welcome visitors in 2027 for a six-month public open house from April to October.
The temple has been out of commission since the renovation project started in 2019, which has involved adding structural reinforcements and upgrading facilities and systems.
Mass firings announced for Bureau of Land Management
Mass firings were announced by the Department of the Interior on Friday, including in the Bureau of Land Management, which manages nearly 23 million acres of public land in Utah.
The Department of the Interior manages natural and cultural resources in the U.S. through eleven bureaus like the National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management.
The department announced on Friday that more than 2,300 employees had been fired.
The Southern Utah Wildlife Alliance called the move a “significant blow” to public land and resource management in Utah.
