Month: October 2025

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM and MEAD GRUVER

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday sentenced a man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid arrest on rape charges to anywhere from five years to life in prison.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr. is pushing his followers to sign up for signature gathering efforts for the Utah’s GOP’s dual-track effort to repeal Utah’s anti-gerrymandering process and the court-stipulated map that Utah lawmakers approved earlier this month.

“RINO judges & liberal groups are trying to STEAL two GOP house seats in Utah. You can stop it!” Trump Jr. posted on X with a link to sign up with Patriot Grassroots, an out-of-state firm helping the GOP meet it’s signatures thresholds.

That link goes to sign up sheet for Patriot Grassrooots that reads:

“We are leading a statewide initiative in Utah to stop the redistricting proposal that could cost Republicans up to two U.S. congressional. seats. The fight is about keeping representation in Utah reflective of its deep red roots.”

It goes to say that it is a paid effort and they are looking from both in state and “out of state patriots.”

The push comes after the Utah GOP filled paperwork to repeal Prop 4 via an indirect initiative, and overturn map C via referendum. The legislature voted on the redistricted map C after a Third District Judge ruled in August that they unconstitutionally overturned Prop 4, a citizen’s ballot initiative that passed in 2018.

Utah Republican party launches referendum on map C and initiative to ask legislature to repeal Prop 4

The Utah GOP has also set up a political issues committee to collect donations on their behalf. As of this publication there were no public contributions.

UTGOP needs over 200,000 signatures by mid Nov.

The indirect initiative will require 70,374 valid signatures, which equates to 4 percent of Utah’s active registered voters following the 2024 general election. That threshold must also be met in 26 of Utah’s 29 counties. If successful, it opens a bill file to strike the sections of code that Proposition 4 created. The legislature will then vote on the first day of the 2026 legislative session on whether to repeal it. The deadline for signatures is November 15.

The referendum effort will require 140,748 signatures which equates to 8% of active registered voters statewide and that threshold must be met 15 of 29 counties. If the threshold is met, the map gets halted and put on the ballot for a vote in 2026. That signature deadline is November 18.

If either of those two things happen, it’s unclear which map will be used in the 2026 midterms, however a court is still in the process of evaluating new claims against the legislature. The plaintiffs in Utah’s redistricting case argue that if map C is invalidated, the judge can pick a new one.

As of this publication, Utah’s Lt. Governor has yet to certify that the initative and referrendum can move forward.

The move is also facing a legal challenge. The claim filed by the plaintiffs claims that the indirect initiative is unconstitutional arguing that in this case, Utah’s Supreme Court upheld that the state’s founding document only provides one way to initiative a new law — via a majority vote of the people.

Their suit argues that the inidirect initative was created by statute and therefore is not protected the by the high court’s ruling in 2024 which upheld that Utahns have a right to alter and reform their government via initative and the Utah legislature can only change initatives if there’s a compelling government interest.

Utah’s Republican party defended the efforts to initiative a bill directly to the legislature instead putting the issue to a statewide vote in an interview with Inside Utah Politics with Lindsay Aerts that aired Sunday

“We are a constitutional republic, we’ve affirmed that as a country and as a state,” GOP Party Chair, Rob Axson said. “I don’t think we should ever shy away from leaning into where you have people to represent you… and so 100,000 signatures gathered to have 75,000 confirmed, that is representative.”

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

BYU fans rushing the field Saturday night after the Cougars’ 24-21 win over Utah was tons of fun — but expensive.

The Big 12 typically fines schools for their fans running onto the field to attempt to prevent such a scene from taking place, with concerns of safety, security and sportsmanship cited as reasons for such a punishment.

Despite this, BYU fans stormed the field anyway, with a sea of royal blue joyfully flooding the LaVell Edwards Stadium field to celebrate a third-straight victory over the Utes.

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“I don’t know that we were going to keep them off the field tonight,” BYU safety Tanner Wall said after the game. “We already got someone ready to pay the fine, so we’re good; don’t worry about that.”

That someone was Jason McGowan, co-founder and CEO of famed cookie company Crumbl.

In a video from BYU’s locker room posted to X by McGowan, Cougars head coach Kalani Sitake told his players McGowan would be covering the fine himself, which incited cheers from the team.

“Was happy to do it,” McGowan wrote in an X post. “Got to celebrate them wins. Go Cougs!”

The field rush was BYU’s first since defeating No. 9 Baylor in 2022. When the Cougars snapped a nine-game losing streak to Utah back in 2021, fans stormed the field in perhaps the most emotionally-charged fashion yet.

Because BYU was an independent program during its past field rush occurrences, there was no fine associated with fans on the field.

When Arizona State fans poured onto the field last year after beating BYU, the Big 12 fined the school $25,000.

Just a few weeks ago, the conference fined Colorado $50,000 for a field storm, only to rescind the fine after it became clear Colorado had “executed its field storm management procedures,” according to a statement from a school spokesperson.

As for BYU, the public address announcer did tell fans to stay off the Edwards Stadium field, but Cougar Nation prevailed in breaking through to create a memorable scene.

Even BYU President Shane Reese got into the fun, as students lifted him into the air to crowd surf — something Reese appeared to enjoy a great deal.

“During the BYU game, our CEO, Jason McGowan, was on the field watching the game and saw how excited the fans were. When he learned that no one would be allowed to go onto the field, he offered to personally pay the fine so everyone could celebrate together,” Crumbl said in a statement provided to KSL Sports. “Jason has built his career around creating meaningful moments and he didn’t want to miss the chance to help his fellow Cougar fans enjoy one.”

SALT LAKE CITY — SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Rhode Island man who appeared to fake his death and flee the United States to avoid rape charges is scheduled to be sentenced Monday on one of two rape convictions in Utah.

Nicholas Rossi, 38, faces between five years and life in prison when sentenced Monday by District Judge Barry Lawrence in Salt Lake City.

The sentence is the first of two scheduled for Rossi after he was convicted separately in August and September of raping two women in northern Utah in 2008. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 4 for the second conviction, also for five years to life in prison.

In August, jurors found Rossi guilty of rape after a three-day trial in which his accuser and her parents each took the stand. Rossi did not testify on his own behalf.

It took more than a decade from the time of the rapes to his convictions. Utah authorities began searching for Rossi, whose legal name is Nicholas Alahverdian, when he was identified in 2018 through a decade-old DNA rape kit tied to the other case. He was among thousands of rape suspects identified and later charged when Utah made a push to clear its rape kit backlog.

Months after he was charged in that case, an online obituary claimed Rossi died on Feb. 29, 2020, of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But police in his home state of Rhode Island, along with his former lawyer and a former foster family, cast doubt on whether he was dead.

He was arrested in Scotland the following year while receiving treatment for COVID-19. Hospital staff recognized his distinctive tattoos — including the crest of Brown University inked on his shoulder, although he never attended — from an Interpol notice.

He was extradited to Utah in January 2024 after a protracted court battle. At the time, Rossi insisted he was an Irish orphan named Arthur Knight who was being framed. Investigators say they identified at least a dozen aliases Rossi used over the years to evade capture.

In his first Utah trial, Rossi’s public defender denied the rape claim and urged jurors not to read too much into his move overseas.

The victim had been living with her parents and recovering from a traumatic brain injury in 2008 when she responded to a personal ad Rossi posted on Craigslist. They began dating and were engaged within a couple weeks.

She testified that Rossi asked her to pay for dates and car repairs, lend him $1,000 so he wouldn’t be evicted, and take on debt to buy their engagement rings. He grew hostile soon after their engagement and raped her in his bedroom one night after she drove him home, she said.

She went to police years later after hearing Rossi was accused of raping another woman in Utah around the same time.

The victim in that case went to police soon after Rossi attacked her at his apartment in Orem. The woman had gone there to collect money she said he stole from her to buy a computer.

Rossi grew up in foster homes in Rhode Island and returned there before he appeared to fake his death and flee the country. He was previously wanted in the state for failing to register as a sex offender. The FBI says he also faces fraud charges in Ohio, where he was convicted of sex-related charges in 2008.

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Gruver reported from Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Adoptees wrestle often with “what-ifs.” What if my birth mother had kept me? What if I had been raised in her family? What if she’s trying to find me?

As an adopted child, these questions ran constantly through my head, affecting my sense of worth and causing anxiety and suicidal ideations. Only after I met my birth mother as an adult and learned my origin story did this train of thought settle.

Now I’m pondering other what-ifs as details about Utah’s “adoption tourism” come to light and lawmakers consider curbing the practice of transporting out-of-state pregnant women into Utah to facilitate adoptions. These adoptions parallel my own — an unethical placement that should not have been allowed.

Like many hopeful parents traveling to Utah to adopt, my parents crossed state lines to adopt me, where access to adoptable infants was quicker and laws more advantageous. What if they had put more thought into the ethical lines being crossed?

Similar to many expectant moms lured to Utah, my birth mom encountered professionals who didn’t have her best interests at heart. Her obstetrician was known as “the go-to guy for unwed mothers” and a colleague of my adoptive uncle’s. Despite his duty to prioritize my mother as his patient, the doctor’s care was biased. What if state laws recognized that he was acting as a broker? What if my private adoption had been seen as a public child welfare issue?

Like many mothers who initially make an adoption plan, my mother decided to parent me after I was born. But like mothers isolated from their families and supports when brought to Utah, she was alone and defenseless when the obstetrician pressured her toward adoption. “I don’t care about you. We’re done taking care of you,” he said. “But that baby’s not going anywhere until you come to your senses.” What if the care extended to my birth mother wasn’t contingent upon her relinquishing her baby? What if she wasn’t treated as a disposable vessel?

I was brought to my adoptive parents in the middle of the night by a lawyer who represented my adoptive parents. What if my birth mother had her own attorney giving her the informed consent necessary to make a sound decision? Would her lawyer have raised concerns over her infant being seized in the night?

My adoptive parents’ travel from another state compressed the timeline of my adoption, as it does for those flying into Utah to adopt. Thus, my mother was pressured to sign papers almost immediately after giving birth — during a time that’s important for recovery, bonding with a newborn and regaining coherence. What if my birth mother had been legally protected from signing adoption consents during this crucial time? Would we have both benefitted from the bonding process?

During our first call, my birth mother expressed sorrow for not getting me back. She and my grandmother kept diapers in their purses for weeks after my placement, praying for miracles. What if my mother had been given a reasonable legal time period to revoke the adoption before it became final? What if someone helped her find resources so her desire to raise me could have been honored?

These questions reflect the strong emotional ramifications inherent in adoption. And they stem from straightforward legal processes and adoption policies that can and should be reformed.

In August, legislators convened for a hearing over bill language related to the Utah Adoption Act. While I may never get satisfying answers to my what-ifs, Utah Adoption Rights proposed recommendations for policy considerations in the bill file that would circumvent exploitative adoption practices. These include allowing the revocation of consent based on fraud and extending the consent waiting period to 36 hours post-birth. They also recommended strengthening laws that prohibit unlicensed intermediaries and requiring free, separate legal representation for all expectant mothers. These recommendations, among others, would dissuade predatory practices in Utah, the only state in the nation with adoption agencies bringing in out-of-state mothers en masse.

What if we work together to stop Utah from preying on mothers and being a national shopping ground for children? What if anyone considering adoption is safe, informed and empowered about her options, the adoption process and her rights?

What if the public called their legislators in support of these changes?