This is your daily rundown for Thursday, April 17. In this edition:
- USU is launching a program to close the gap in legal services for debt collection cases
- Part of I-15 near Farmington is closing nightly over the next week for construction
- As a deadline for REAL IDs approaches, Utah is already 95% compliant
USU launches program to close gap in legal services for debt collection cases
Utah State University’s Transforming Communities Institute is launching a program to train social workers to provide some legal services to people in debt collection cases.
The Community Justice Advocate Program is a free, non-credit certificate program through USU that includes 10 weeks of intensive online training and 10 weeks of supervised provisional service with a licensed attorney.
It aims to address the gap in legal presentation for debt collection cases — in 2019, less than 4% of defendants in district court debt claims had some form of attorney representation, according to a report by the Utah Bar Foundation.
The program is open to those with at least a bachelor’s degree in social work or a related area and who work in an agency where they provide individual-level services.
After receiving formal authorization from the Utah Supreme Court earlier this year, the initiative is now taking applications for its first cohort, which begins training next month.
The program has an initial goal of certifying 25 social workers this year and 50 to 75 annually.
Part of I-15 near Farmington will close nightly for construction
Part of I-15 near Farmington will be closed at night on Friday and most of next week.
The freeway will be closed both ways from 200 North to Park Lane on the following dates:
- Friday, April 18 from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. the next morning
- Monday, April 21 through Thursday, April 24 from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. the next morning
- Friday, April 25 from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. the next morning
During the closure, crews will be working on a new interchange at Shepard Lane, with all traffic detoured to Highway 89 and Main Street in Kaysville.
The Utah Department of Transportation warned that drivers should plan for heavy travel delays in the area during closures.
As the REAL ID deadline approaches, Utah is 95% compliant
A deadline for REAL IDs is fast approaching for U.S. residents, with the vast majority of Utahns already compliant.
Starting May 7, a REAL ID-compliant form of identification will be needed to board domestic flights or enter federal facilities.
For Utahns, that means having a gold star in the top right corner of their driver’s license or ID card.
The beehives state began implementing REAL ID compliance back in 2018 and now over 95% of residents are already compliant, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Those who still need to obtain a REAL ID can visit the Utah Department of Public Safety website to learn about required documentation.
