Wildlife Crossings Save Money—and Lives

Utah sees around 7,000 deer-vehicle collisions annually, costing taxpayers nearly $138 million in vehicle damage and injury each year. Luckily, research shows that overpasses and underpasses with associated fencing can reduce those collisions by up to 90%. But first, they have to be funded. While wildlife crossings are sometimes included in larger road projects, Utah needs dedicated funding—funding that would accelerate the construction of projects when and where they are needed. Learn More.

Utah Headlines

Political news

• Utahns concerned SAVE Act will make it harder for some to vote (KSL)
• New law will provide free school lunch for 40K students in Utah (KSL)
• Gov. Cox declares ‘Declutter Day in Utah,’ aimed at identity theft, fraud prevention (KSL TV)
• As Trump refuses to comply with Supreme Court’s order, Utah’s federal delegation won’t comment (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Gov. Cox instructs Utah agencies to make plans for a possible recession (Salt Lake Tribune)
• Utah elections have robust cybersecurity but workers stored passwords out in the open, legislative audit finds (ABC4)
• Lawmakers fear AI data centers will drive up residents’ power bills (Daily Herald)
• Are Utah’s student academic databases — meant to help kids research — the next censorship target for GOP lawmakers? (Salt Lake Tribune)

Municipal news

• Granite community of about one thousand people in S.L. County wants to become a city. Why? (Deseret News)
• Massive overhaul of Salt Lake City road set to begin this week, with larger impacts on the horizon (KSL)

Utah

• How you can influence 'internationally recognized' artist's planned Salt Lake City piece (KSL)
• These Utah Hockey Club parents drove 14 hours to see their son play: ‘They wouldn’t miss this one’ (Salt Lake Tribune)

Crime/Courts

• Gunman in 1991 Kennecott security guard killing admits guilt, seeks parole (KSL)

Culture/Community

• Archeological insights and modern witnesses of Easter (Deseret News)
• ‘You’re just overjoyed’: How different Christian faiths celebrate Easter (Deseret News)

Education - Higher

• Utah Valley University shuttering its Center for Intercultural Engagement, cutting jobs (Deseret News)
• Reinvestment plan: Utah State University to consolidate several colleges (Deseret News)
• Columbia and Harvard respond to Trump funding cuts (Deseret News)
• Visa cancellations sow panic for international students, with hundreds fearing deportation (AP)
• After Harvard rejects US demands, Trump adds new threat (Reuters)
• Scientists, including some from USU, celebrate 100 years of research on a small Panama island (UPR)
• Utah Tech University holds early graduation ceremony for international students (ABC4)

Family

• Every family has a mystery (Deseret News)
• Utah Rep. Blake Moore leads efforts to remove income barriers for adoption (Deseret News)
• Nonprofit reminds parents, caregivers to stay calm, don’t shake babies (KSL TV)

Health

• Target stores recalling baby food over too much lead (Deseret News)
• Silver linings: Is there modern relevance to old wives’ tales? (Deseret News)
• Can shingles vaccine lower risk of developing dementia? (Deseret News)
• C. diff, common hospital infection, spreads more quickly than previously thought (KSL TV)
• Autism rate continues to rise among children, C.D.C. reports (New York Times)

National Headlines

General

• Wink Martindale, the genial game-show host and an early TV interviewer of Elvis Presley, dies at 91 (AP)
• Richard L. Armitage, 79, dies; State Department official in a turbulent era (New York Times)

Political news

• US judge presses Trump administration on its refusal to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia (AP)
• Trump wants to export America’s criminals. The courts say he’s already gone too far (Deseret News)
• Following marathon speech, Sen. Cory Booker moves up in presidential primary poll (Deseret News)
• Trump to skip out on annual dinner honoring journalists amid ongoing battle with press (Deseret News)
• The latest on ICE raids in churches (Deseret News)
• Judge drops case against man Bondi called MS-13 leader, allows time to challenge deportation (Reuters)
• Trump plans order to cut funding for NPR and PBS (NPR)
• States push Medicaid work rules, but few programs help enrollees find jobs (NPR)
• Entire Pentagon defense tech unit to leave by May (The Hill)
• Congress opens investigation into 23andMe after bankruptcy raises data privacy concerns (Deseret News)

Tariffs

• Exclusive: US tariffs may cost chip equipment makers more than $1 billion, industry estimates (Reuters)
• Trump orders tariff probe on all US critical mineral imports (Reuters)

DOGE/Musk

• DOGE trumpets unemployment fraud that the government already found years ago (AP)
• DOGE cut a CDC team as it was about to start a project to help N.C. flood victims (NPR)
• The tactics Elon Musk uses to manage his ‘legion’ of babies—and their mothers (Wall Street Journal)

Ukraine/Russia

• Trump blames Zelensky for starting war after massive Russian attack (BBC)

Israel, Gaza, Syria

• New Israeli ceasefire offer demands Hamas discuss disarming, but group rejects it (NPR)
• Autopsies of Gaza medics killed by Israeli troops show some were shot in the head (New York Times)

World news

• Xi makes a case for free trade, presenting China as a source of ‘stability and certainty’ (AP)

Number of the Day 

News Releases

Tweet of the Day

Upcoming

• Apr 24 — Giant in Our City with the Salt Lake Chamber, 6:00-9:00 pm, Register here
• Apr 26 — Utah Forward Party/United Utah Party Organizing Convention, 9:00 am –2:30 pm, Salt Lake Community College, Taylorsville Campus Thayne Center
• May 1 — Utah Foundation's annual luncheon and 80th birthday celebration, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm, Grand America Hotel, Register Here
• May 1 — High school writing contest deadline with The Rostra: Applying the wisdom of the past to the problems of today. More info here
• May 6 — "State AG Offices and the New Administration" webinar hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, 10:00 am MDT, Register here
• May 12 — Utah Taxes Now Conference with the Utah Taxpayers Association, Grand America Hotel, 9:00 am - 1:00 pm, Register here
• May 17 — Utah GOP Organizing Convention, at UVU’s UCCU Center.
• May 31 — Utah Democratic Party Organizing Convention, Ogden High School
• Aug 7 —  Titan of Public Service gala with Sen. Tom Cotton hosted by the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at the Grand America Hotel. More Information Here

On This Day In History

• 1908 - Natural Bridges National Monument established
• 1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes the first woman to fly an airplane across the English Channel.
• 1921 - Marie Maynard Daly is born. She became a biochemist and the first Black women in the US to earn a PhD in chemistry. 
• 1958 - Rosalind Franklin, English chemist and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, dies of ovarian cancer at 37.
• 1963 - Martin Luther King, Jr. writes “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” 
• 1971 - Selena Quintanilla Perez is born. Selena popularized the Tejano sound of Mexico in the 1990s. She was killed by the president of her fan club in 1995.
• 1973 - Lelia Smith Foley becomes the first Black woman to be elected mayor of a US city when she became the mayor of Taft, Oklahoma. 
• 2007 - Virginia Tech shooting leaves 32 dead.

Quote of the Day

"For years now I have heard the word 'Wait!'..This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never.' We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that 'justice too long delayed is justice denied.'"

—Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” 

On the Punny Side

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