Month: November 2025

A Utah judge late Monday night rejected new congressional district lines drawn by Republican state lawmakers, instead approving a map with a solidly Democratic seat ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

The ruling is a major blow for Republicans, who had designed a map to protect the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation. And it gives Democrats a boost as they attempt to respond to Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting efforts around the country and win control of the House in 2026.

The court-ordered map drawn by Republican state lawmakers would have resulted in four districts that were solidly or leaning Republican, though two would have been more competitive than the current iteration.

But Utah District Court Judge Dianna Gibson tossed that map in favor of one suggested by the plaintiffs in the case. She concluded that Republicans had impermissibly considered political data and gerrymandered in favor of their own party.

In its place, she chose a congressional map that includes a Democratic-leaning district anchored in northern Salt Lake County. According to court filings, it is approximately 43% Republican. Utah’s current map splits the populous Salt Lake County into four districts.

The ruling is the latest in a yearslong legal battle over Utah’s anti-gerrymandering rules, which started long before the national redistricting arms race that has played out this year.

Utah voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative in 2018 that created an independent redistricting commission that recommends congressional maps and wrote anti-gerrymandering rules into law. The GOP-controlled Legislature has worked to circumvent the changes by weakening the commission and ignoring its proposed map after the 2020 census.

Advocates including the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government filed a lawsuit arguing that Republican lawmakers were gerrymandering in violation of the law. A district court agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered the Legislature to draw a new map.

Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson slammed Gibson’s ruling, saying it showed the 2018 ballot measure, known as “Prop 4,” needs to be repealed.

“Prop 4 empowered unelected activists to overrule Utah voters and their elected representatives,” Axson said in a statement. “This is bigger than than maps — it is a direct threat to our constitutional order. Prop 4 created this confusion; this ruling escalates it into a constitutional crisis.”

Meanwhile, Democrats around the country celebrated the ruling.

“An enlightened Utah judge made clear last night that the people of Utah — not MAGA politicians — should decide who represents them in Congress,” House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The court correctly enacted a fair map that reflects the geographical composition of Salt Lake County, instead of the current map that deliberately cracks communities of interest to artificially hand Republicans complete control of the congressional delegation.”

The court’s overnight ruling came just before the state’s election officials need to start preparing for next year’s primary elections Tuesday morning.

Utah and Ohio are the only two states that are required to redraw their maps this year. But they’ve had plenty of company, with Texas, Missouri and North Carolina enacting new maps to shore up the GOP’s narrow U.S. House majority at President Donald Trump’s urging.

In response, voters in California last week approved a new map designed to net Democrats up to five House seats. And Virginia Democrats last month took the first step toward a mid-decade redistricting effort.

Several Republican- and Democratic-led states are also considering redrawing their maps.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A study named Utah the second-most charitable state in the U.S., based on factors like volunteering, service, and charitable giving.

According to a recent study from WalletHub, Utah is the second-most charitable state in the country. The study compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 “key indicators of charitable behavior.” Below are the five most charitable states.

Giving Season: Volunteer and service ideas for the holiday season

The 17 indicators were organized into two categories: charitable giving and volunteering/service.

WalletHub says that the Beehive State ranked number one for volunteering and service, which was based on metrics like volunteer rate, share of population collecting/distributing clothes and food, and volunteer hours per capita.

According to the study, Utah has the highest volunteer rate in the entire U.S. at roughly 47%, and the highest percentage of the population that donates their time. Additionally, 68% of Utahns reported that they helped neighbors with tasks like house sitting, watching children, or lending items in the past year.

The Beehive State ranked a little lower when it came to charitable giving, landing the 19th spot on the list. This is likely because, according to WalletHub, Utah has the fewest charities per capita out of all the states.

Despite this bringing the overall score down, people in the Beehive State donate the second-most in the country out of their personal income — roughly 3.5% of their adjusted gross income on average. Utah also has the third-highest percentage of the population that donates money.

To learn more about the methodology of this study and see how other states ranked, visit WalletHub’s website.

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

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Two contestants from Utah competed on “Squid Game: The Challenge” this season, participating in a series of high-stakes games in pursuit of a cash prize worth nearly $5 million.

Contestants Britt Christensen and Lizzie McGee described their experience on the show.

“My favorite game was the six-legged pentathlon,” Christensen said. “I thought, well, that might be dangerous, you know, handcuffing six people together by their ankles, and I just, it wasn’t even on my radar. And the team building that we got to hear about and see from all the other players, I mean, I really almost sent my team home with my Gonggi game.”

Christensen added that their team still made it, despite her lacking performance. She said her team members were very supportive, giving her the courage to keep going.

“That was a really fun team bonding moment for sure,” Christensen said.

McGee added that she soaked in the whole experience.

“When I went into the show, I was really, really nervous for ‘Red Light, Green Light,’” McGee said. “I thought that out of all the games, when I watched the series, I thought Red Light, Green Light is gonna be my demise. I don’t even know if I would be able to have the stamina or figure it out.”

McGee said she had heard that Red Light, Green Light was difficult, with eight hours of filming. She said season one contestants claimed they just stood still for 45 minutes at a time.

“As a theater nerd, I loved Mingle,” McGee said.

The game requires players to form groups of a specific number, called out by a machine, and enter a room within 30 seconds to avoid elimination.

McGee added that the fun part of the whole experience was how difficult it was, and how much being there felt like being inside the show.

“I walk in and the set was exactly like the show,” she said. “I felt like I was inside my TV, experiencing this experience, and I couldn’t stop geeking out. And I was really lucky. My team really stuck together and knew the numbers and could figure it out.”

McGee said while the whole experience was indeed stressful and a bit crazy, she had a lot of fun.

You can watch the full interview with Christensen and McGee on News4Utah+ here.

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Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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

Utah’s housing market has been one of the country’s fastest-growing—but also one of the hardest-hit by rising costs.

The Realtor.com® State-by-State Housing Report Card gave the Beehive State a C, reflecting a steep drop in affordability and lagging new construction relative to demand. The report—part of the Let America Build campaign—grades states on how well they manage the balance between home prices and new housing supply.

President Donald Trump recently put pressure on homebuilders to increase construction nationwide, given the issues with construction in the country. In a post on his Truth Social platform in early October, he accused major builders of hoarding lots to prop up prices—likening them to OPEC, which restricts oil output to maintain high prices.

“They’re my friends … but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes. They’re sitting on 2 Million empty lots, A RECORD,” Trump wrote. He urged Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to intervene and “get Big Homebuilders going” to “restore the American Dream.”

Utah’s grade shows that while the state continues to attract new residents and businesses, its housing pipeline hasn’t kept pace.

Utah’s “C” grade explained

Realtor.com’s analysis gave Utah a total score of 51, placing it squarely in the middle of affordability nationwide. The state’s median listing price climbed to $602.230 in 2024, while the median household income reached $88,438—strong earnings but not enough to offset high home prices.

Utah accounted for just 1.6% of national housing permits in 2024, despite holding 1.0% of the U.S. population. That results in a permit-to-population ratio of 1.0, a moderate figure that looks solid on paper but falls short in meeting the needs of one of the nation’s fastest-growing populations. The new construction premium—the price difference between new and existing homes—was 9.3%, reflecting high material and land costs that have pushed new builds out of reach for many families.

Realtor.com economists note that Utah’s housing challenges stem from a perfect storm of strong demand, limited land availability, and rising construction costs. Even with steady permitting, supply can’t keep up with population growth—particularly along the state’s Wasatch Front corridor.

The West’s affordability crisis

Nationally, new construction is helping narrow the affordability gap, but the West continues to lag behind other regions. The Realtor.com New Construction Insights report found that the median new-home price held steady at $450,797, while resale prices climbed 2.4%. That brought the national new construction premium to just 7.8%, the lowest in recorded history.

But the West saw a different trend. Realtor.com data show that while the total number of homes under construction has risen, the share of new-construction listings has dropped—the result of higher costs, restrictive zoning, and limited buildable land.

But again, the pinch is being felt all over.

“America is short more than 4.7 million homes, and every new home built helps close that gap while fueling local economies,” says Shannon McGahn, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer at the National Association of Realtors®.

“NAR research shows that the U.S. has faced a persistent housing shortage for more than a decade, driving up prices and limiting options for buyers. Expanding housing supply creates jobs, supports small businesses, and affords families the opportunity to build generational wealth.”

Governor Cox’s housing reforms take shape

During his 2024 State of the State address, Governor Spencer Cox announced a goal to build 35,000 starter homes in Utah over the next four years.

Since then, he’s made strides to increase construction, but is looking to do more by changing the laws around zoning and permits.

On October 30, 2025, Cox served as the keynote speaker at the Ivory Prize Summit, held at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. The event brought together more than 100 housing experts from across the country to discuss solutions to the nation’s housing affordability challenges.

One of the central theme of the summit was Utah’s ongoing debate over how much authority the state should exert in addressing the housing crisis—whether local governments need more state support and autonomy, or whether the state should intervene directly to meet housing goals.

During a discussion at the event, Cox said he believes that, without government regulations, housing shortages would be less severe, citing Texas as an example of a state that has reduced restrictions to allow more flexible development.

The governor also previewed what he described as a “more aggressive” strategy to increase housing supply, which could include statewide zoning preemption measures allowing for smaller and less expensive housing units, regardless of local ordinances.

Utah has recently enacted several housing-related policies aimed at accelerating development, including limited preemptions requiring local governments to approve housing near public transit and to expedite permitting.

This article was produced with editorial input from Dina Sartore-Bodo and Gabriella Iannetta.