David Fuchs
Reporter/Producer, Sent AwayDavid Fuchs (pronounced “Fox”) is a reporter and producer working on Sent Away, an investigative podcast series and reporting partnership from KUER, The Salt Lake Tribune and APM Reports focused on Utah’s “troubled-teen” industry. He first joined KUER from St. George in June 2019 as the station’s first Southwest Bureau reporter. His work there earned national and regional awards. Before coming to Utah, David worked with CBS News, WNYC’s Radiolab, NPR’s Morning Edition and The Kitchen Sisters. Tips? Reach out directly by email at dfuchs@kuer.org or by text, call, or Signal at 435-243-5725.
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The assassination of John F. Kennedy is said to have started the downfall of Southern Utah’s “turkey empire.”
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Utah Agriculture Department Pledges To Improve Integrity And Transparency After Critical State AuditTop leadership at the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food failed to report conflicts of interest, used government resources for personal trips and possibly gave preferential treatment when awarding the state’s first cannabis-growing licenses, according to a scathing report the Utah Office of the State Auditor released Wednesday. The department’s new leadership says they take the concerns seriously and will be implementing changes to improve transparency and control.
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Danish authorities recently walked back a plan to cull the country’s 17 million farmed mink after finding that a mutated form of COVID-19 had spread from the animals to humans. The concern that the animals could become vectors of the virus has particular resonance in Utah. The state is the second-largest producer of mink fur in the country and has seen COVID-19 spread among its farmed mink population since August.
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Joe Biden has secured enough electoral votes to become the next president of the United States, according to the Associated Press. Across the country, people took to the streets to protest or celebrate, including here in Utah.
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Business owners in Utah and across the country boarded up their windows Tuesday night in anticipation of election night unrest. Despite the precautionary measures, no major issues were reported along the Wasatch Front. Law enforcement agencies in Salt Lake and Utah Counties have said their intelligence does not show signs of future unrest later this week.
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Roughly a dozen people, toting American flags and maskless faces, gathered on the sidewalk across the street from the home of state epidemiologist Angela Dunn on Thursday morning. Their protest comes in the midst of the deadliest days Utah has seen since the onset of the pandemic, with 10 people dying of the virus on both Wednesday and Thursday.
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As of Sep. 1, more than 1,500 Utahns have joined a new anti-government organization launched by activist Ammon Bundy earlier this year, according to a report released by two human rights organizations in mid-October. Known as “People’s Rights,” the organization has gained more than 20,000 members since March. And the study’s authors warn it poses a threat to democratic institutions and civil society.
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Political yard signs have been going missing. It’s a problem that’s been reported as far south as St. George and as far north as Logan during the run-up to the 2020 election. The issue has prompted responses from politicians across the state, with some calling for action and others advocating a subtler response.
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More than 11,000 voters in Sanpete County received ballots last week that were missing crucial voter affidavits and signature lines. The county clerk’s office says it will contact any voter who sends in a ballot without extra verification to request additional information. But the Rural Utah Project, a non-profit focused on civic engagement and voter registration, says more is needed to make sure every vote counts.
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More than a hundred protesters had a clear message at a rally in Provo against the “troubled teen” industry on Friday: the abuse they suffered in teen treatment programs must come to an end. Though the gathering was focused on nearby Provo Canyon School, a youth residential treatment center that opened in 1971, attendees flocked from all over the country.
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Utah’s “Troubled Teen Industry” will soon see more scrutiny. The Disability Law Center announced last week that it has launched an investigation into Utah’s wide array of private programs providing behavioral treatment to minors.
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Provo Canyon School must shut down. That’s the consensus of more than 45,000 people who, as of Thursday afternoon, have signed an online petition calling for closure of the Utah County-based youth residential treatment center. The petition was launched early this week by Paris Hilton, who says she suffered mental and physical abuse as a patient at the facility as a teenager in the 1990s.