This is your daily news rundown for Tuesday, Sept. 29. In this edition:
- Rep. Trevor Lee was charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery on Monday
- Tooele County responders saved a dog that fell into a mine
- Price is getting a behavioral health unit as soon as next month
Rep. Trevor Lee resigns after being charged with fraud and forgery
Rep. Trevor Lee resigned from the Utah House of Representatives on Monday, hours after being charged with multiple counts of fraud and forgery.
The charges claim Lee tried to illegally obtain a loan by lying about his income and employment contracts. He also allegedly used fraudulent documents with forged signatures.
Scrutiny was first put on Lee’s finances in April, when a Utah CEO claimed Lee asked for a cash advance in return for help getting a government contract. That cash advance was allegedly used to show a higher income on Lee’s loan application.
After initially denying the accusations, Lee admitted to forging that CEO's signature in an interview with investigators.
Lee had already lost his re-election bid for northern Utah’s District 16 in this year’s June primaries. His resignation, announced Monday, is effective immediately.
The Davis County Republican Party will hold a special election to fill his seat for the last few months of the term.
Responders save a dog that fell into a Tooele County mine
Tooele County Search and Rescue saved a dog that fell into a mine this weekend.
The team was called to the mountains west of Grantsville Sunday evening, where a husky had fallen head first into the mine.
It was a challenging rescue, with a narrow opening and limited anchor points. Search and Rescue said that with a little creative rigging, they were able to get to the dog, create a makeshift harness, and lift them safely above ground.
The pet has been reunited with their owner with no reported injuries.
Rural Utah is getting a first-of-its-kind behavioral health unit
A behavioral health unit could be opening in Price as soon as next month — the first of its kind for rural Utah.
Castleview Hospital’s new unit features over a dozen private beds for patients, as well as psychiatric evaluation and treatment and inpatient stabilization services.
It will serve adults 18 and up in the area and is tentatively planning to begin operation in October.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, almost 200,000 Utah adults have a serious mental health condition. About 2.4 million live in a community without enough mental health professionals.
