This is your daily news rundown for Tuesday, Feb. 25. In this edition:
- Salt Lake City International is one of the nation's most expensive major airports
- Utah Lake is sending 23 billion gallons of water to Great Salt Lake
- AI use in police reports could become regulated under a new bill
SLC is one of the nation’s most expensive major airports
Salt Lake City International is one of the nation’s most expensive major airports to fly out of domestically.
According to the latest Bureau of Transportation data, the average domestic airfare out of Salt Lake City was $411, compared to a national average of $366.
That puts Salt Lake City as the fourth priciest major airport in the nation, behind Washington, D.C., Santa Ana, California, and San Francisco. It’s ranked in the top 10 for annual average ticket prices since 2019.
Factors affecting average fares include whether an airport gets more work travelers buying business or first-class tickets, if there’s competition among airlines, or how many budget airlines are at that airport.
Utah Lake is sending 23 billion gallons of water to Great Salt Lake
Utah Lake is opening its gates to send nearly 23 billion gallons of water to Great Salt Lake.
The Central Utah Water Conservancy District is collaborating with the Utah Lake Water Users Association and the state engineer to release 500 million gallons per day through the Jordan River — the equivalent of about 750 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
This is the third year in the last decade that Utah Lake has released water into the Jordan River.
District officials said releasing the water early in the season helps stabilize water before snow melts, preventing flooding from happening at Utah Lake or along the Jordan River.
Utah bill hopes to regulate AI use in police reports
A new Utah bill hopes to regulate the use of generative AI in police reports.
Sen. Stephanie Pitcher, a Democrat from Salt Lake City, proposed Senate Bill 180 as a way to set rules on how police can use AI and how transparent they need to be.
Pitcher said she’s aware of three law enforcement agencies using AI technology already.
Under the bill, law enforcement agencies must have a policy about their use of generative AI and give a disclaimer if a report or record was created using AI. Those documents would also have to be read and reviewed for accuracy.
The bill passed favorably out of the Senate last week and the House committee yesterday. It now heads to the full House.
