This is your daily news rundown for Monday, Feb. 9. In this edition:
- The Loveland Living Planet Aquarium is getting a major expansion
- A Utah-trained athlete won Team USA' first gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics
- Utah County is asking the state for $2 million for costs related to Tyler Robinson's case
A new Asian species habitat is coming to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium
A major expansion is coming to the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium in Draper this month.
The new Sam and Aline Skaggs Learning Center is scheduled to open on Feb. 20.
It will house an all-new Asian species habitat, with creatures like a Komodo dragon and two Asian small-clawed otters, with an interactive play zone for kids to climb and get even closer to tree-dwelling animals.
There will also be an event center and an education hub with fourteen new classrooms.
This Utah-trained athlete brought home Team USA’s first 2026 gold medal
A Utah ski academy alum has brought home Team USA’s first gold medal of the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Breezy Johnson, originally from Wyoming, trained at the Rowmark Ski Academy in Salt Lake City in 2009.
Johnson was forced to miss the 2022 Winter Games due to a knee injury, but on Sunday, she took home the gold in the women’s Olympic downhill race — the first Olympic gold of her career and for Team USA this year.
Utah County wants the state to pay $2 million for Tyler Robinson’s case
Utah County leaders are asking lawmakers for two million dollars to help pay for costs associated with the case against Tyler Robinson, who is accused of shooting and killing conservative influencer Charlie Kirk last year.
Some counties pay into a special fund to handle capital punishment cases, but Utah County isn’t one of them, which means extra costs fall on county taxpayers.
Those extra costs include things like extra security and multiple defense attorneys with specialties in death penalty cases, according to Rep. David Shallenberger, a Republican from Orem who made the request.
The state’s appropriations committee expressed support for the funding on Monday.
