54 convicted and fugitive immigrants in Utah have been arrested following a nationwide operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Steven Branch, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations, says the six-day procedure brought in more than 3,100 violators nationwide.
Misdemeanor charges have been filed against Genwal Resources, operator of the Crandall Canyon mine that collapsed in 2007, killing nine people. U.S. Attorney for Utah David Barlow says after a lengthy investigation, Genwal has been charged for failing to timely report to the Mining Safety and Health Administration a coal outburst that occurred months before the mine collapsed, and violating health and safety standards by mining in an area that MSHA prohibited.
With the end of the legislative session just hours away, the question over funding for Juvenile Justice Centers still remains. Lawmakers say they are millions of dollars short of funding several centers for troubled youth, which means layoffs and closed centers across the state. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on what lawmakers are saying about the situation.
The Utah Senate approved a bill this morning to keep online gambling illegal in the state as the federal government moves to allow it.
House Bill 108 would opt Utah out of U.S. House Resolution 1174, which is currently under review by Congress. Republican Senator John Valentine co-sponsored the bill. He says it preserves Utah’s tradition of being a state that doesn’t allow gambling.
State lawmakers voted this morning to shelve a bill aimed at stopping bullying in the workplace. Several members of the public supported it, saying HB 196 could prevent future employees from going through the pain and shame they have experienced. But as KCPW’s Whittney Evans reports, committee members feared it could lead to costly lawsuits against the state.
A strong advocate for downtown businesses in Salt Lake City was struck and killed by a Utah Transit Authority bus this morning. Police Sergeant Shawn Josephson says 82-year-old Richard Wirick, longtime owner of the Oxford Shop, was crossing 400 South at 200 East this morning at about 7:30 a.m. when the light changed as he was in the middle of the street.
Big changes could be on the way for the polygamist community of Hildale. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tells KCPW behavior in the small town has grown increasingly erratic since the arrest of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, and now the state is looking to step in and clean up the local police force.
Is it a violating a constitutional right or maintaining safety to allow jailers to force feed an inmate? That was the debate at Utah’s Capitol Friday as Representative Derek Brown proposed legislation that would establish a process for jails and prisons to follow when an inmate refuses to eat. KCPW’s Jessica Gail reports on why he claims it gives prisoners more freedoms than before.
DUI checkpoints could become a thing of the past in Utah. HB 140, sponsored by Republican Representative David Butterfield, repeals authorization for law enforcement to do police checkpoints for anything other than Amber Alerts, looking for fugitives and wildlife invasive species. Butterfield says officers should instead put their time and resources into saturation patrols, which he says are more effective at removing drunk drivers from highways. He adds that checkpoints subject citizens to suspicion-less searches.
More than two years after the disappearance of West Valley City resident Susan Cox Powell, her husband and the only person of interest ever named in the case killed himself and their two boys yesterday. Police in Washington say Josh Powell used accelerants to set his home on fire when his children were brought there for a supervised visit.
