Author: Jesse

Prosecutors in Utah have declined to file charges in connection with allegations of domestic violence against “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul.

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The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said it has declined to charge Paul because of lack of evidence. She was under investigation over claims of domestic violence against ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortensen, police have said.

In a statement, the DA’s office said some of the “misdemeanor offenses” happened more than two years ago and were barred by the statute of limitations.

More recent incidents not barred by the statute of limitations did not rise to the level of being considered crimes, and others lacked evidence, it said.

“The remaining incidents lack sufficient evidence to support filing criminal charges where the state must be able to prove such allegations beyond a reasonable date,” the office said. “Such incidents lack specificity as to when and what actually occurred or corroboration.”

Paul has made similar domestic violence allegations against Mortensen, and both have been the subjects of at least two domestic violence investigations in Utah, authorities have said.

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The story behind the NBC News story on Taylor Frankie Paul

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A spokesperson for the Draper Police Department confirmed last month that there was an open domestic violence investigation into a 2024 incident involving the two, with allegations on both sides.

Representatives for Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Mortensen did not immediately respond to a request for comment left on his voicemail.

Mortensen and Paul have filed temporary protective orders against each other, as well, according to court records. Paul has three children, one of whom she shares with Mortensen.

“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” premiered in 2024 and has depicted the pair’s on-again, off-again relationship.

According to court records, Paul pleaded guilty in abeyance to one charge of aggravated assault related to her 2023 arrest, while four other charges were dismissed. Body camera video of the arrest was shown on the first episode of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

Mortensen has also made allegations of domestic violence against Paul related to incidents in 2024 and May 2025, police have said. In February of this year, both called police and lodged further allegations of domestic violence against each other.

The pair’s contentious relationship has affected the show and its filming, which was paused last month amid new domestic violence probes of Paul. Cast members told ABC executives at a meeting in March that they had concerns about continuing the show if Paul remained involved.

She was scheduled to appear in a new season of “The Bachelorette,” but executives canceled the season after leaked video of a 2023 incident went viral. Mortensen will be edited out of the upcoming season of “Vanderpump Villa,” a source familiar with the show told NBC News.

April 14, 2026, 5:31 a.m. ET

Utah Valley University (UVU) is facing backlash over its choice of commencement speaker as critics object to her past comments about Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk following his assassination on the same campus.

The university chose author and educator Sharon McMahon to address the graduating class. Days after Kirk was killed, McMahon wrote on X, “Millions of people feel they were harmed, and the murder that was horrific and should never have happened does not magically erase what was said or done.”

“To many Americans, especially if you are Black, LGBTQ or Muslim, Charlie Kirk was not a person who simply engaged in good-faith debates on college campuses.“

Turning Point USA chapter president at Utah Valley University Caleb Chilcutt called the selection of McMahon a “slap to the face” Monday on “Fox & Friends.”

“They could have brought any other speaker. If they liked Charlie, didn’t like Charlie — I honestly don’t really care. But the fact they brought someone who was so critical, literally days after the assassination on my campus, is just shameful for me,” he said.

Chilcutt said attitudes were divided on campus, with conservative students generally upset while some liberal students chose to “celebrate.”

Former Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz also joined the program and labeled McMahon a “horrific choice” of speaker just months after Kirk’s death, calling her a “liberal hack.”

He said Utah’s largest university should know better, but that there is still time to change course.

“Look, there’s still time to correct this. This hasn’t happened. And if the university is gonna step up and do the right thing, they’re gonna cancel her and put in somebody like an astronaut or an athlete or somebody, anybody, But this person, this partisan hack, she should not be addressing the students, not at the commencement.”

Lani White became the latest Utah women’s basketball player taken in the WNBA draft Monday night.

She had to wait until the end, as the shooting guard was taken with the 45th overall — and final — selection of the draft by the Minnesota Lynx.

It’s the second time in three years that a former Ute was selected. In 2024, former Utah power forward Alissa Pili was the No. 8 overall selection by the Lynx.

White played three of her four seasons for the Utes, with her junior year at Virginia Tech before returning to the Utes as a senior.

The 6-foot California native earned All-Big 12 second-team honors during the 2025-26 season, as she averaged a career-best 15.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

White spent her first two seasons at Utah, largely as a role player. She starred at Virginia Tech before returning to Utah, and she shot 46.2% from the field and 40.4% from 3 during her senior season.

That included 10 games of 20-plus points this past season.

In assessing White being taken by Minnesota, ESPN’s Charlie Creme wrote, “With Napheesa Collier sidelined for the start of the season, the Lynx need some offense. White can score and do it in multiple ways, and her 40.4% 3-point percentage is a good starting point.

“She is also a capable finisher at the rim. She might have a chance to serve behind Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams if some of Minnesota’s foreign players elect to stay away for another season.”

Former Ute Gianna Kneepkens a late first-round selection

White wasn’t the only former Ute taken during the draft.

Gianna Kneepkens, who played four years (including a medical redshirt season) at Utah before transferring to UCLA this past offseason, was taken No. 15 overall by the Connecticut Sun with the final pick of the first round.

The sharpshooting Kneepkens won a national title in her only season with the Bruins.

She averaged 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game for UCLA and was the fifth Bruin taken in the first round of the WNBA draft, setting a record for number of first-round picks by one school in a single draft.

Kneepkens was one of Utah’s all-time greats, as she averaged 15.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game over her four seasons as a Ute.

She was a career 49.5% shooter in college and 43.1% from 3-point range.

“A consistent shooter throughout her career, Kneepkens will get playing time in Connecticut because of her ability to knock down open jump shots. She never shot below 38.4% from 3-point range in any season during her college career,” Creme wrote of Kneepkens’ selection.

“With the Sun, Kneepkens will have time to develop the rest of her well-rounded game. She will always be known for her shooting, but she did more rebounding and facilitating during her time at Utah.”

Greg Jones moved to Utah in 1995, just in time to witness the Utah Grizzlies’ first season in their new home. They won the Turner Cup that season, and it’s still the only championship Jones has been able to witness.

Three decades later, he and thousands of others with similar stories bid the Grizzlies farewell.

The team played its final game on Sunday, losing 5-4 in overtime to the Rapid City Rush after completing a three-goal comeback with 1:21 left in the third period.

They’ll suit up next season in Trenton, New Jersey as the Trenton Ironhawks.

While the easy assumption is that the NHL ran the ECHL out of town, it’s not true. Selling the team became necessary after the passing of both owner David Elmore and CEO Kevin Bruder.

Besides, ECHL games are meant for a separate demographic than NHL games.

Jones, for example, is now in a position where he can afford Utah Mammoth season tickets, but he thinks back to a time when he was putting two kids through travel hockey.

Cheap Grizzlies tickets would have been the only option, even if an NHL team had been in Utah back then.

Grizzlies head coach John Becanic noted the same thing.

“There’s not a lot of corporate people (at Grizzlies games),” he said. “These are people that sometimes spend their last dime of their paycheck to come to a Grizzlies game.

“That’s tough for those people because it was an affordable, entertaining brand of hockey, and that’s leaving the Salt Lake City area, and that I feel bad for.”

For now, fans can take advantage of the limited-view tickets at the Delta Center for Mammoth games, many of which are sold for $15 through the Smith’s grocery store ticket program.

But once the renovations are completed, those will be gone, too. That’s where other levels of hockey will be able to step up.

The NCDC, a Tier II junior team, has the Utah Outliers and the Ogden Mustangs; A number of colleges in the state have ACHA hockey programs; The USPHL Premier division has the Vernal Oilers and the GMHL has the St. George Ravens.

Becanic’s previous coaching job was with the NCDC’s Idaho Falls Spud Kings, where the local community has latched onto the team and made it one of the best places to catch a hockey game outside the NHL.

It’s not classified as professional hockey, but the fans don’t care — they make it great anyway.

Nothing will remove the sting of losing a team that spent 30 years in the area or the traditions and memories that come with it, but if you’re looking to get your hockey fix without breaking the bank, consider hitching your wagon to one of these other hockey programs and creating those traditions and memories all over again.

The fans are what make the games special.

Sometimes teams win so many games they never have to worry about their playoff positioning. Other times, they lose just enough to stay humble.

Both teams are capable of winning.

This year’s Colorado Avalanche are a good example of the former. They officially clinched the Presidents’ Trophy with four games remaining in the season, but they were so dominant throughout the entire season that it was never really a question.

For the best example of the latter, we look back at the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.

Solid play in January and February secured the Habs a playoff spot, but with just one regulation win in their final 11 games, they were bleeding by the time the playoffs arrived.

But that bit of losing humbled them. It forced them to play the right way — and that’s especially important in the playoffs, where opponents will take advantage of every mistake.

The Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup that year.

With consecutive 4-1 losses after clinching a playoff berth last Thursday night — first to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday and most recently to the Calgary Flames on Sunday — frustration is beginning to show through for Utah Mammoth.

They know they have the talent to win, but things just didn’t click this weekend. If the Mammoth take these games as lessons rather than failures, they could end up better off for it — just like the Habs in 1993.

“We had to be ready to grind, to get inside and to work extremely hard for every inch, and I didn’t like our approach,” said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny after the loss in Calgary. “I thought we were perimeter in east-west play.

“At this time of the year, it’s a good opportunity for us to learn that that doesn’t work against a team who’s committed.”

Veteran defenseman MacKenzie Weegar added his thoughts.

“It’s about being together and coming together as a group here and enjoying the grind,” he said. “I don’t think, tonight, we wanted to enjoy that grind. These next two games, it’s playoff hockey, and it’s the most important two games all season.

“We’ve got to be willing to grind it out, because in playoffs, playing (poorly is) not going to work.”

One way or another, the Mammoth will compete in the postseason this year, but they’re still fighting to keep the top wild card spot in the NHL’s Western Conference, which would allow them to go through the “pillow fight” Pacific Division rather than the gauntlet Central Division.

The Mammoth currently have a three-point lead over the Los Angeles Kings for that top wild card spot, but the Kings have a game in hand and their three remaining games are against bottom-feeder teams.

The Mammoth have the advantage of the tiebreaker, though.

In order for the Mammoth to clinch the first wild card spot, they need three points out of their final two regular season games — at least a win and an overtime loss, in other words.

Of course, that would change if the Kings were to lose points in any of their games this week.

MacKenzie Weegar’s return to Calgary

Everything moves so quickly when you get traded midseason. That’s what the Weegar learned at this year’s trade deadline when the Mammoth acquired him from the Flames.

Per the Mammoth broadcast Sunday, Weegar brought an empty suitcase on the plane with him for this trip so he could go back to his house in Calgary and pack some essentials.

But the emotional toll a sudden trade takes can be even greater than the logistical inconveniences, and during Weegar’s tribute video Sunday, it was obvious how much he meant to the city of Calgary.

“I got some goosebumps over there. It was a great cheer,” he said afterward. “The fans, my appreciation for them and their appreciation for me never goes unnoticed, so it was a special moment.”

Olli Määttä went the other way in the trade, and it has been exactly what he needed.

The veteran defenseman helped Utah a ton last season when it suffered injury after injury on the blue line, but a surplus this year had him in the press box more often than not.

Since the trade, Määttä has averaged 22:25 of playing time a night and has contributed two goals and 14 points — including an assist against the Mammoth on Sunday — in 19 games.

That’s a major step up from his singular assist in 22 games with Utah this season.