This is your daily news rundown for Thursday, Feb. 20. In this edition:
- Little Cottonwood Canyon was temporarily closed for avalanche mitigation operations
- Child marriages will become more restricted under a new bill
- A semi-truck crash near Arches National Park spilled shredded cheese across the highway
Crews intentionally trigger avalanches in Little Cottonwood Canyon for safety
With a storm moving through the state Wednesday night into Thursday, officials temporarily closed Little Cottonwood Canyon for avalanche mitigation operations.
The Utah Department of Transportation announced the closure at 12:30 p.m., with uphill traffic stopped at the mouth of the canyon and downhill traffic closed at Snowbird’s Entry 1.
Crews used explosives and artillery in the canyon to trigger avalanches that would threaten public roads.
The area reopened to traffic at about 3 p.m.
Child marriages to become stricter under new bill
Child marriages in Utah are likely to become more restricted with the passage of a new bill.
Currently, law prohibits 16 or 17 year olds from marrying anyone where there’s an age gap of more than seven years. A legal guardian and the juvenile court must both also sign off on the marriage.
Senate Bill 76, sponsored by Sen. Jen Plumb, a Democrat from Salt Lake City, would shorten that maximum age gap to four years. It would also require a 72-hour waiting period before the juvenile court can authorize a minor to marry.
Both the Utah House and Senate passed the bill, which now awaits Governor Spencer Cox’s signature to become law.
Semi-truck crash near Arches spills shredded cheese across the highway
Snow littered northern Utah’s roads overnight, but the entrance to Arches National Park faced a different issue Thursday morning — shredded cheese.
According to the Utah Highway Patrol, a semi-truck was headed southbound on US-191 when it went off the road for unknown reasons and hit two light poles.
The truck’s trailer tore open, spilling its haul of shredded cheese across the highway and embankment. The driver reportedly suffered only minor injuries.
Crews closed the southbound lanes near the Arches entrance while they removed the semi and cleared the scene, with lane restrictions expected for a few more hours as repairs were made to the damaged light posts.
