Monday morning, January 6, 2020
Northern Utah
McAdams Opponents Line-up
The race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District kicked off in earnest this weekend. The swing district voted for Trump in 2016 and narrowly elected Utah’s lone Democrat in Congress Ben McAdams in 2018. Several candidates held kickoff events or started gathering signatures on Saturday. Read the full story — Sonja Hutson
Sundance Diversity
A Sundance Film Festival program designed to increase diversity among media members covering the annual event in Park City boomed in popularity in the initiative's second year. Fifty-one journalists were selected this year out of a pool of 319 applicants to receive travel stipends provided in the program. More than 80% identify as a member of a minority group, and most are women. About half are LGBTQ and a quarter are people with disabilities. Sundance officials created the Press Inclusion Program in 2018 after a study found two-thirds of movie critics were white men. The festival opens Jan. 23 and runs through Feb. 2. — Diane Maggipinto
State
Underreported Suicide Deaths
A new study says the number of suicides by drug overdose in Utah may have been underreported by more than a third. The study published in the journal Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior came to that conclusion after looking at 2,665 overdose deaths from 2012 to 2015 in Utah. One of the paper's authors, Paul Nestadt, said the nation's opioid epidemic has clouded suicide classification across the nation. Utah's suicide rate is above the national average at 22.7 per 100,000 people in 2019 compared to 14 per 100,000 nationally. According to the study, that rate could be significantly higher. — Diane Maggipinto
If you or someone you know needs help, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, the Utah Crisis Line at 801-587-3000 or the Crisis Text Line by texting 741741.
Region
Abortion Reversal
Idaho and Utah require physicians to tell women seeking an abortion that they could “reverse” the process if it’s medication-induced. The laws say women need to know that this reversal is possible if they only take one of two abortion-inducing pills and see a doctor for treatment. But some women in a new study started hemorrhaging dangerously after only taking the first pill. Read the full story — Madelyn Beck, Mountain West News Bureau
Navajo Nation Medical Investigators
The Navajo Nation said it is working with Congress to fund the tribe's proposed Department of Medical Examiners. Navajo Law and Order Committee Chairwoman Eugenia Charles-Newton said the panel is seeking full funding in an environment with overworked criminal investigators. They've been handling deaths on the sprawling reservation that spans three states, including Utah, devoting about 40% of their time to serve as coroners. — Associated Press