Monday, Mar. 21, 2022
Northern Utah
Summit County sues Park City School District
Summit County filed a lawsuit Monday against the Park City School District that alleges it failed to report child abuse. The district faces three misdemeanor charges of failure to report. The suit claims a child told his parent he was touched on his genitals in 2019, but that incident wasn’t reported to law enforcement until 2021 by a medical professional. It is also alleged a different student said she was raped in December 2021 but police were not made aware of it until March 2022 during a separate investigation. A spokesperson for Park City schools said they are still reviewing the charges. The county attorney said if you made allegations of child abuse to the district, they may not have been properly investigated. You can call the state’s child protective services hotline or the Summit County Dispatch to make a report. — Ross Terrell
Southern Utah
Documentary on Mojave Desert tortoise premiers in Washington County
A new documentary tells the story of the Mojave Desert tortoise as Washington County officials plan to put a road through protected habitat. It premiered last week in St. George. “The Good The Bad & The Slow” is by Washington County filmmaker Hans Glasmann. It’s about tortoises living in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, which is north of St. George. Glasmann said he hopes people who view the film leave wanting to learn more about their own backyard and maybe be inspired to protect it. Local conservationists are currently suing federal agencies to stop the Northern Corridor highway from intersecting tortoise habitat. Read the full story. — Lexi Peery, St. George
Lake Powell’s storage capacity takes another hit
Lake Powell has lost 4% of its storage capacity since 1986. A report released Monday by federal agencies said it’s from sediment coming from the Colorado and San Juan rivers. This is the third time the lake’s capacity has been measured. Since it was first surveyed in 1963, the total storage has dropped almost 7%. The last time Lake Powell reached full capacity was in 1999. Water levels currently sit at about 24% full. Federal officials said surveys like this are helpful in understanding water availability in the reservoir as they plan for the future. — Lexi Peery, St. George
State
Utah’s DMV warns of text fraud
Utah’s Division of Motor Vehicles is warning of a surge of fraudulent text messages. It said the message appears to be sent from the DMV and tells people their “Utah Motor Vehicle” portal profile is incomplete. The text has a link asking people for a picture of their driver’s license, social security number and other personal information. State officials said do not fall for it. The DMV does not use text messages to request personal or financial information, but it does send texts reminding people of scheduled appointments. — Ross Terrell
Utah’s COVID transmission rates remain low
Low rates of COVID-19 are holding steady in Utah. State health officials reported 343 new cases over the weekend. The seven-day average is 134 cases and test positivity is below 3%. All of Utah is now the green or low level of COVID transmission and sewage monitoring of virus levels show similarly low infection rates. Twelve more Utahns have died from the virus –– eight women and four men. One woman was between 25 and 44 years old. — Caroline Ballard