Wednesday evening, July 7, 2021
Northern Utah
Three Creeks Brought To Light On West Side Of Salt Lake City
Three creeks that flow into the Jordan River have officially been unearthed in the Glendale neighborhood on Salt Lake City’s west side. The meeting point of the Red Butte, Emigration and Parley’s Creeks was previously buried and paved over. The new park stems from a project that university students pitched to the city in 2014. Brian Tonetti was one of those students and now heads up Seven Canyons Trust, a nonprofit working to restore buried streams. Tonetti said the new project uncovered 200 feet of streams, but there are still about 21 miles of buried creeks to bring into the light in Salt Lake City. Read the full story.— Emily Means
Goshen Receives Federal Grants To Improve Water Infrastructure
The small town of Goshen in Utah County will receive more than $4 million in federal financial aid. It will be used to improve its water infrastructure. The combination of a loan and a grant comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program. The USDA said there has been concern from residents about recent contamination in the spring it draws water from. The money will be used to upgrade Goshen’s water lines and to build a new 500,000 gallon water storage tank. The town will also use the funds to replace more than 21,000 feet of failing water lines. — Ross Terrell
State
Utah A National Hotspot For New COVID-19 Cases
Utah is currently experiencing one of the worst surges of new COVID-19 cases in the country. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, Utah ranks fourth in the nation for new cases per capita. State health officials say it’s partly because of the faster-spreading delta variant which now represents about 80% of new cases in the state. Hospital leaders in Utah are also renewing their pleas for people to get vaccinated. Cases are largely occurring in unvaccinated people, who are being infected and hospitalized at six times the rate of vaccinated people. Utah has averaged about 386 confirmed cases per day over the last week. That’s nearly double the case rate the state was experiencing at its lowest point in early June. — Associated Press
Southern Utah
Razorback Sucker No Longer Considered Endangered
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will propose moving the razorback sucker from endangered to threatened status. The fish is brown-ish green with a bony hump on its back and is only found in the Colorado River and its tributaries. In Utah, the state’s wildlife officials have been working to collect and protect populations of the fish near Moab. The proposed formal relisting would classify it as no longer on the brink of extinction, but it would require continued management. Public comment on the proposal is open until Sept. 6. — Associated Press
Region/Nation
Denver Zoo Receiving COVID-19 Vaccine For Its Animals
COVID-19 vaccines aren’t just for humans, and may soon be heading to a zoo near you. A company called Zoetis is donating 11,000 doses of its own COVID-19 vaccine to zoos around the U.S. They’re not the same as human vaccines, but they’re similar. The Denver Zoo is one of nearly 70 locations across the U.S. that are getting those donated doses. They say the first animals in line for the vaccine are mammals like great apes and large cats. — Madelyn Beck, Mountain West News Bureau