Month: July 2025

Utah’s plan to build a 1,200-bed homeless shelter is stuck in the mud.

Last fall, the state’s homelessness board directed officials to debut a new homeless campus by this October. Now, the opening for the facility — which would be four times the size of the largest shelter currently in operation — has been pushed back with no new target date in sight.

“The original timeline has been delayed, primarily due to challenges in identifying a suitable property,” state homeless services spokesperson Sarah Nielson said in an email. “The Office of Homeless Services is still actively working through the site selection process.”

The delay comes as homelessness continues to rise in the Beehive State. Utah homelessness coordinator Wayne Niederhauser has said that Salt Lake County alone lacks 800 to 1,200 shelter beds.

No land, funding gaps

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, meanwhile, is rolling out a public safety plan under pressure from state lawmakers that calls for opening more shelter space to keep those struggling with homelessness off the city’s streets.

Earlier this month during a briefing about the plan’s rollout, Mendenhall told reporters that “progress has now stalled” on building the new facility. She called on state lawmakers and officials to “fully fund the development and ongoing operations” of the homeless campus.

Last year, members of the Utah Homeless Services Board charged staff with finding a 30-acre site somewhere along the Wasatch Front to accommodate a campus.

Officials considered building it on the site of Salt Lake County’s Oxbow Jail along the Jordan River but eventually backed off. In April, state staffers hosted a meeting about a potential shelter site with the Northpoint neighborhood on the west side of Utah’s capital.

Without a final location, Nielson said the state can neither do neighborhood engagement nor hammer out operational details with service providers.

Utah lawmakers have already set aside $25 million to buy land for the project, but have yet to earmark funds for the shelter’s operation. Nielson added that private money could also help bankroll the campus’ work.

SLC says it’s doing its part

Salt Lake City’s homelessness director, Andrew Johnston, said the city has done all it can to support the campus project.

“We’ve offered city-owned land, provided key information including fair market value as required for the eminent domain process and granted [the state] access to the site for due diligence and preliminary research,” he said in a statement. “From day one, we’ve worked in good faith to help move this campus forward because we believe every person deserves access to shelter and housing — and we remain committed to that goal.”

For her part, Nielson called City Hall “an active partner” in the project’s planning process.

The city, through Mendenhall’s public safety plan, offered to host a temporary shelter on property it owns while the new facility was being built. Since then, however, the state has considered building the permanent campus on that site, Johnston said, complicating plans for a temporary option.

Without a new shelter up and running by this fall, Salt Lake City and other municipalities are planning for winter emergency beds to help those struggling with homelessness on frigid nights. The multi-city task force will pitch its plan to the state’s homeless services board next month.

Utah’s plan to build a 1,200-bed homeless shelter is stuck in the mud.

Last fall, the state’s homelessness board directed officials to debut a new homeless campus by this October. Now, the opening for the facility — which would be four times the size of the largest shelter currently in operation — has been pushed back with no new target date in sight.

“The original timeline has been delayed, primarily due to challenges in identifying a suitable property,” state homeless services spokesperson Sarah Nielson said in an email. “The Office of Homeless Services is still actively working through the site selection process.”

The delay comes as homelessness continues to rise in the Beehive State. Utah homelessness coordinator Wayne Niederhauser has said that Salt Lake County alone lacks 800 to 1,200 shelter beds.

No land, funding gaps

Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, meanwhile, is rolling out a public safety plan under pressure from state lawmakers that calls for opening more shelter space to keep those struggling with homelessness off the city’s streets.

Earlier this month during a briefing about the plan’s rollout, Mendenhall told reporters that “progress has now stalled” on building the new facility. She called on state lawmakers and officials to “fully fund the development and ongoing operations” of the homeless campus.

Last year, members of the Utah Homeless Services Board charged staff with finding a 30-acre site somewhere along the Wasatch Front to accommodate a campus.

Officials considered building it on the site of Salt Lake County’s Oxbow Jail along the Jordan River but eventually backed off. In April, state staffers hosted a meeting about a potential shelter site with the Northpoint neighborhood on the west side of Utah’s capital.

Without a final location, Nielson said the state can neither do neighborhood engagement nor hammer out operational details with service providers.

Utah lawmakers have already set aside $25 million to buy land for the project, but have yet to earmark funds for the shelter’s operation. Nielson added that private money could also help bankroll the campus’ work.

SLC says it’s doing its part

Salt Lake City’s homelessness director, Andrew Johnston, said the city has done all it can to support the campus project.

“We’ve offered city-owned land, provided key information including fair market value as required for the eminent domain process and granted [the state] access to the site for due diligence and preliminary research,” he said in a statement. “From day one, we’ve worked in good faith to help move this campus forward because we believe every person deserves access to shelter and housing — and we remain committed to that goal.”

For her part, Nielson called City Hall “an active partner” in the project’s planning process.

The city, through Mendenhall’s public safety plan, offered to host a temporary shelter on property it owns while the new facility was being built. Since then, however, the state has considered building the permanent campus on that site, Johnston said, complicating plans for a temporary option.

Without a new shelter up and running by this fall, Salt Lake City and other municipalities are planning for winter emergency beds to help those struggling with homelessness on frigid nights. The multi-city task force will pitch its plan to the state’s homeless services board next month.

With Jake Retzlaff’s withdrawal from BYU, the Cougars and the Utah Utes are on different trajectories heading into the 2025 college football season, according to the pundits.

The Cougars are now expected to finish more toward the middle of the Big 12 pack as they try to sort through their now-open quarterback competition where there’s little Division I experience among the contenders.

This comes one year after BYU, with Retzlaff leading the offense and Jay Hill’s defense often shutting down the opposition at critical moments, finished the 2024 campaign with an 11-2 record, including a 7-2 mark in Big 12 play, and ended the year with a dominant victory over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl.

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For the Utes, meanwhile, oddsmakers are increasingly becoming more favorable towards their chances at a conference title in their second year in the Big 12.

That comes after they went 5-7 last season, struggled to a 2-7 record in league play and missed a bowl for the first time in over a decade.

A good portion of that optimism comes from an incoming transfer class headlined by quarterback Devon Dampier, a transfer from New Mexico who followed his offensive coordinator, Jason Beck, to Salt Lake City.

Dampier expected to be one of the more dynamic playmakers in the Big 12, and the Utes also bring back a lot of talent on an always tough defense while also returning all five starters on their offensive line, including two — Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu — who are projected as potential first-round picks next year.

It’s unsurprising, then, that when Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt discussed five teams to “buy” on and five others to “sell” on in taking stock of the 2025 season, both BYU and Utah were mentioned — on opposite sides of the debate.

Why does Joel Klatt say to ‘buy’ on Utah football in 2025?

Along with Utah, Klatt identified Clemson, Michigan, Washington and North Carolina as teams to “buy” in on for the upcoming season during a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast.

Klatt noted the Utes’ injury troubles that severely hampered the team last season.

“This is a team that I think is primed for a bounce back — ‘buy’ list, here we go, stock up — Year 21 from my man, Kyle Whittingham, at Utah,” Klatt said during the podcast.

“Rare losing season. You know they’re going to bounce back. The season got absolutely wrecked by injuries last year. It might be Kyle’s last, so you’re going to have the sentimental aspect of that with all of his players.”

Klatt discussed what having Dampier join the Utes could mean to the program, if Dampier increases his efficiency and matches it with his well-known commodity of being a dangerous runner.

“They’ve got a new coordinator on offense, Jason Beck. He brought in his quarterback with him, Devon Dampier, and from all the reports I’ve been hearing, Dampier is big. He’s physical. He can run. He ran for over 1,100 yards last year in New Mexico, first-team All-Mountain West. He does need to improve his ability to throw the football. He was under 60% completion percentage,” Klatt said.

“… If he brings them any amount of stability at that position — in particular, not turning the football over — they should be fine. Why? Because the defense is always fine. Morgan Scalley is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country. They were a top 25 defense a year ago, and with a running quarterback, what should you be able to do? Run the football.”

Klatt is a believer that Utah can turn around its fortunes in close games as well — last year, the Utes were 1-5 in one-score games — and finish the regular season with anywhere from 8-10 wins.

“If you tell me that they’re not going to turn the football over, they’re going to get back to running the football with that experienced offensive line, lean on their defense, rush the quarterback, the 1-5 in one-score games will turn into 5-1,” Klatt said, “and now all of a sudden, what are you? You’re 10-2, and you’re probably playing for the Big 12 title.”

What does Joel Klatt say to ‘sell’ on BYU football in 2025?

Multiple times during the podcast, Klatt emphasized that this stock watch was merely for the 2025 season and not an opinion on the overall health of the programs he mentioned.

BYU’s uncertainty at quarterback heading into the season served as the primary reason behind why the Cougars were alongside programs like Tennessee, Wisconsin, Syracuse and California in landing on Klatt’s list of teams to “sell” on.

“This is an easy sell. Unfortunate for this program, but this is just what happens right now. This sell is BYU,” Klatt said. “With everything that’s gone on this summer, you look back and it’s like they start 9-0 last year, they’ve got CFP in their sights.

“They lose two of their last three in the regular season, they beat Colorado in the bowl game. A lot of people are high on them in the offseason, but part of that was the fact that they felt like with Jake Retzlaff back on offense, they could handle some of the losses on the defensive side.

“I love Kalani Sitake. Again, this is not indicative of an overall program decline, it’s just an indicative of terrible timing at the most important position on the field.”

Retzlaff is transferring to Tulane after facing a seven-game suspension for violating the BYU honor code. Last year was Retzlaff’s first as the Cougars’ full-time starter, and while he faded near the end of the season statistically, he also proved clutch several times in critical moments during an 11-win season.

“This is a guy that on the field was steady. He was a good leader for them from last year, they believed in him and now all of a sudden, you lose your quarterback, and the three-man battle has had no time to develop,” Klatt said.

Now, BYU is looking at having to start a quarterback who wasn’t the expected starter at the end of spring ball — with McCae Hillstead, Treyson Bourget and Bear Bachmeier in the mix.

“They have 12 total quarterback starts at the college level, zero at the Power Four level. That’s tough. It’s really tough to overcome that,” Klatt said. “They’re replacing eight starters on defense. That was a defense that was excellent last year.

“The schedule isn’t bad, but it’s, again, just like all the other Big 12 schedules, you’re facing a bunch of teams with similar talent. You’re probably going to be in a one-score game with a quarterback that has no experience.”

A state judge has dismissed an environmental group’s lawsuit to prevent Utah lawmakers from again suing the federal government over whether or not it has a right to hold onto its public lands in perpetuity.

The fact that there is no longer any pending litigation was the reason the 3rd District Judge Thaddeus J. May decided that the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s arguments were “moot.”

“Because the Supreme Court denied defendants’ motion for leave to file a bill of complaint, there is no longer a concrete act plaintiff seeks to stop,” wrote May in the order. “But the court finds defendants’ statements about any future action to be too vague to be redressable.”

Utah Attorney General Derek Brown said the state is pleased with the ruling. “Our office will continue to vigorously defend Utah and protect Utah’s public lands,” he said in a statement.

SUWA’s complaint was in reference to the highly publicized Utah v. the United States of America case filed last year in which the state argued that as many as 18.5 million acres of federally-owned land aren’t being used validly and should be turned over to the state to manage. While it was being considered, the state ran a marketing campaign called “Stand for Our Land,” spending millions of taxpayer dollars to promote its arguments locally and nationally.

That case had a narrow focus defined on the “Stand for our Land” website, which was to ask the constitutionality of “whether the federal government can simply hold unappropriated lands within a state indefinitely.”

Nearly 70% of Utah is owned by the federal government, and other states were able to “dispose” of — sell, lease, develop, etc. — the vast majority of the territory within their borders. That ability for each state to dispose of land was part of the haggle to define statehood as far back as the Continental Congress. Utah leaders maintain that it’s only fair for the state to be treated the same.

But the Property Clause of the U.S. Constitution, found in Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, gives Congress the sole power to dispose of, make rules or regulations about the land under its ownership.

Utah’s case was filed directly with the U.S. Supreme Court, which denied hearing it in January. No similar lawsuits have yet been filed in any lower courts, which is an action that Gov. Spencer Cox and Brown have both said repeatedly that they’re considering.

“While we were hopeful that our request would expedite the process, we are disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision not to take up this case. The court’s order does not say anything about the merits of Utah’s important constitutional arguments or prevent Utah from filing its suit in federal district court,” Cox and Brown said in a statement released in January. “We will continue to fight to keep public lands in public hands because it is our stewardship, heritage and home.”

Constitutional conflict?

SUWA first filed its lawsuit last December while Utah’s case was being considered by the Supreme Court. That initial action sought to prevent the litigation from moving forward, arguing the state’s claim was in direct opposition to the Utah Constitution, which reads:

“The people inhabiting this state do affirm and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries hereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes, and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States, and said Indian lands shall remain under the absolute jurisdiction and control of the Congress of the United States.”

That language is found nearly verbatim in the Enabling Act of 1894, which led to Utah statehood in 1896.

Once the case was denied by the Supreme Court, SUWA amended its complaint to seek “relief, not from this now lifeless petition, but from the specter of any similar future litigation by defendants,” the judge wrote in dismissing the complaint.

“The law deals with substance not shadows,” he wrote. “A party cannot gain jurisdiction through prayers for relief seeking shelter from an unknown future storm.”

During arguments, however, SUWA said it believes the state laid bare its intentions regarding what it would do with federal public lands should ownership be transferred to the state.

“We’re disappointed with today’s decision but grateful that the true intent of the state’s lawsuit has been made clear: to force the sale of millions of acres of public lands to the highest bidder and not to acquire these lands for the state, as its deliberately misleading media campaign suggests,” Steven Bloch, SUWA’s legal director, said in a statement.

Bloch said SUWA will review the decision and consider potential next steps, including refiling the case if the state brings a lawsuit in federal court.

What exactly did the state’s attorney say?

In oral arguments on July 14th, ABC4 Utah reported that SUWA’s lawyers pressed that the state’s constitution precludes Utah from ever taking over ownership of the federal lands within its borders, and that it’s bound by its statehood agreement to give up claims to them.

Utah assistant attorney general Lance Sorenson responded by clarifying that the state was not necessarily attempting to take ownership of the land with the lawsuit.

“It’s all that’s speculative, and in the future,” he said. “But the claim in the federal lawsuit was not to transfer title to the state of Utah.”

“We don’t know how the land would get disposed of. Maybe they would sell it to SUWA, right?” Sorenson said.

Bloch said that he understands that as a clear indication that the state never intended to manage the land it attempted to acquire through legal action, which was what the Stand for Our Land campaign reiterated.

Rather, Bloch and SUWA believe that the state intends to dispose of — in this case, meaning to sell — public lands.

It was Sorenson’s comments, Bloch said, where “the things that are said quietly were said out loud.”

Brown, however, responded to the Deseret News’ questions about Sorenson’s comments and SUWA’s interpretation by focusing on what the original lawsuit was about.

“Utah is actively exploring every available avenue, including refiling our lawsuit, to challenge the assumption that the federal government can indefinitely hold onto public lands without designating them for a purpose,” he said.

Bloch said he believes the state made a “very candid acknowledgement” of its intention to sell off public land if it is ever able to win the long-standing legal battle over ownership.

At the very least, it highlights a “deliberately misleading media campaign” on the part of the state, he said.

Because “that’s not what people hear out loud” when the state discusses this issue of federal land ownership, Bloch said. “They hear the media campaign, they hear ‘stand for our land,’ ‘let Utah manage Utah land,’ ‘Utah can do it better.’ Which is now very clearly not what they’re seeking to accomplish in court.”

The Utah Jazz waived former Celtics guard Jaden Springer on Thursday in what appears to be a financially related move. Springer was set to have a guarantee of $400,000 next season kick in on his $2.3 million contract if he remained on the roster through Friday. With Utah already having 15 players on the roster in addition to Springer, the team opted to cut ties with the defensive-minded guard instead of taking the cap hit on a player who may not make the team.

Utah signed Springer back in March following the Celtics dealing him away at the trade deadline in a salary dump to the Houston Rockets. Houston immediately waived Springer after thar deal, leading him to sign a 10-day contract with the Jazz and eventually a three-year contract which was largely non-guaranteed.

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Springer saw more opportunity on a rebuilding Utah team than he did in Boston, averaging 3.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 13.2 minutes per game. However, the 6-foot-4 guard did not show enough on the offensive end to keep his spot. He played Summer League with the Jazz this summer but a roster logjam has him looking for a new landing spot.

The 22-year-old was originally drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers during the 2021 NBA Draft at No. 28 overall. He spent two and a half years with the Sixers before the Celtics gave up a 2024 second-round pick to land him at the 2024 trade deadline. Springer went on to win a title with the 2024 Celtics but only appeared in 43 games with the team over two seasons, posting 1.9 points and 1.0 rebounds per game before being dealt away in February.

Springer is no longer eligible for a two-way contract, so he will likely be in the market for a camp invite from an NBA team or certainly would have plenty of interest overseas if he opts to go that route.

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It’s been nearly three months since Utah’s NHL team changed its name to the Mammoth. Now that everyone has had time to digest the new branding, what’s the consensus?

A few Utah Mammoth players have spoken publicly about the new name and logos. Here’s what they’ve said.

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Sean Durzi and Alexander Kerfoot

Immediately after the announcement was made, Mammoth defenseman Sean Durzi and forward Alexander Kerfoot flew to New York City to help the league produce content. In an interview during that trip, both players raved about the new branding as well as the state of Utah.

“When we first saw the video and they first unveiled it to us, I thought it was awesome,” Kerfoot said. “Honestly, it exceeded my expectations. I didn’t really know how it was going to turn out on a jersey, but I think it looks great. The color scheme’s awesome.”

Durzi pointed out all the Easter eggs on the home logo as highlights.

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“It kind of puts together a picture of Utah as a whole,” he said. “I think having our home jersey look like that, and then us on the road, keeping this original ‘Utah’ (logo) and showing that we’re together as a state, we’re doing this as a family, it’s pretty cool.”

Caleb Desnoyers

Roughly half an hour after hearing his name called at the 2025 NHL draft, Caleb Desnoyers met with the local media over a video call, where he gave an excited opinion on the jerseys.

“Oh, I love it,” he said. “My opinion, and not biased, I think it’s the best-looking jersey in the league. It’s incredible.”

Desnoyers was the first player to ever don that jersey on the draft stage, and if all goes according to plan, that will be one of many fond memories for him in those colors.

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Cole Beaudoin

It’s not likely that Cole Beaudoin saw Desnoyers’ interview, which happened two days before he addressed the media himself, but he started his answer the exact same way.

“Oh, I love it,” he said. “I love the logo, I love the colors. I’m really happy with it, so I’m excited to put the jersey on.”

Michael Carcone

After re-signing with Utah in mid-July, Michael Carcone gave his thoughts on the new branding in a press conference.

“It’s great,” he said. “It’s good to see it, finally, on the equipment and on all the apparel and all that stuff.”

He said even before he’d signed — and at that point, he didn’t think he’d be coming back — that he’d always given positive reviews of the new uniforms whenever anyone would ask. And living in Ontario during the offseason, you know people are going to ask about that frequently.

A Utah lawmaker known for courting controversy has made it his latest push to reignite the debate over Utah Tech University’s name change — suggesting the St. George school should restore its previous “Dixie” title.

In a social media post late Monday night, Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, pointed to the Utah university in response to a national effort from President Donald Trump to force two professional sports teams to revert back to old names that refer to Native Americans.

Trump specifically threatened to block a stadium deal for the Washington Commanders if the NFL team doesn’t return to its old name, the “Redskins,” which many Indigenous groups view as racist. The president also later mentioned Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians, which dropped its “Indians” moniker in 2021.

Lee quoted a post on X about Trump’s efforts and argued that Utah should follow suit. He asked: “What are Utahns thoughts on changing @utahtechu back to Dixie?”

The name of the university, he added, “should have never been changed in the first place.”

By Wednesday afternoon, more than 180 people had commented on his post, many in support of his position.

“I hated when they bowed to the mob and changed the name. It will always be Dixie to me,” one person said.

Another wrote: “100% they hurt the community by changing it. Dixie State Rebels Forever!”

The Salt Lake Tribune reached out Wednesday to Lee for further comment. Lee responded in an email, “The Legislature doesn’t comment to activist organizations like The Salt Lake Tribune.”

Utah Tech University changed its named from Dixie State University in 2022. The old name had ties to slavery and the Confederacy of the Civil War South.

A look through the school’s old yearbooks shows athletes wearing the Confederate flag on their uniforms, students holding mock slave auctions and many pictures of people in blackface. The school’s old “Rebel” mascot, dropped in 2007, was a direct reference to a Confederate soldier.

The university’s board voted to change the school name after conducting a study that found 64% of respondents outside of Utah related the term “Dixie” to racism. The school also said students had reported that the name was hurting their chances in job interviews and graduate school applications. And students of color have said that the name made them uncomfortable.

The school said it wanted a new name to reflect its updated mission.

The proposed change ignited fierce debate, though, among residents who stood by the “Dixie” name — led by a group called Defending Southwestern Utah Heritage Coalition — and some GOP lawmakers who suggested abandoning that history amounted to “being oversensitive.”

Many said “Dixie” was not tied to slavery or racism, but rather the pioneering spirit of the southern Utah region. However, some 19th-century pioneers there were growing cotton, and a few of the area’s early settlers had slaves.

After protests and delays, the Utah Legislature gave final approval to the name change, and Gov. Spencer Cox signed it into law.

In response to Lee’s post, Utah Tech University said in a statement that in the three years since changing its name, “we have been on an upward trajectory — demonstrated by our largest-ever student enrollment last fall, significant growth in philanthropic support and our transition to the Big Sky Conference in 2026.”

The boom is real. Utah Tech’s fall enrollment was 13,167 for fall 2024 — 600 more students than the previous year. And the trend is expected to continue this fall, though it likely won’t hit the 16,000 projection school officials had hoped for.

The school also reported in fall 2022 that donations were up 33% from 2021 under the old name, from $2.7 million to $3.6 million.

“We are proud of the student accomplishments and institutional successes that have taken place under our new institutional name and are excited to continue offering premier active learning experiences that prepare our students to graduate ready to fulfill workforce needs,” Utah Tech wrote in its statement.

The university also reiterated in its statement that it hasn’t purged the “Dixie” name from campus.

“We have placed a renewed emphasis on honoring Utah’s Dixie, building community support and developing our identity as an open, comprehensive polytechnic university.”

A compromise was reached to name the university’s main St. George campus “the Dixie campus.” The school has also created a heritage committee to preserve the name’s legacy. And it continues in other places around the community, including at Dixie Technical College, which partners with Utah Tech University.

Several commenters on Lee’s post defended the name change. Michael Mower, a senior advisor to Gov. Cox, said he liked the new Utah Tech name.

Lee responded to him with an image that said, “Boo this man! Boo!”

Another person wrote: “I always thought Dixie was a weird name because I don’t associate that area with Dixie. If the area was well known as Dixie, I would be in favor of changing it back. But it’s not, so I prefer Utah Tech.”

Several others, though, mentioned not only stopping at returning Utah Tech University back to its previous title. A handful of people also said Bountiful High School, in Davis County, should revert back to its “Braves” mascot and Cedar High School, in Iron County, should bring back its “Redmen” mascot.

The Utah Tech debate also isn’t the first time Lee has followed in Trump’s footsteps in recommending a name change. Last month, the Utah lawmaker — who pushed the bill this legislative session that banned pride flags at government buildings and in schools — suggested erasing the name of LGBTQ activist Harvey Milk from the boulevard named after him in Salt Lake City.