As Utah pushes to become a force in the artificial intelligence industry, its flagship university is quickly working on developing a supercomputing system researchers hope will accelerate cancer, …
As Utah pushes to become a force in the artificial intelligence industry, its flagship university is quickly working on developing a supercomputing system researchers hope will accelerate cancer, Alzheimer’s, mental health, and genetic and environmental discoveries.
The system being built at the University of Utah is slated to come online this summer, and it’s projected to increase the institution’s computing capacity 3.5-fold, according to the university.
Some officials and communications from the university describe the project as a “supercomputer,” but Manish Parashar, chief AI officer at the University of Utah, prefers another term — ecosystem.
“The physical computer is one part of it, but it is everything together that allows the innovation to happen,” Parashar said.
The ultimate goal for the system is to provide the computational power for researchers to run AI to crunch data and analyze models simultaneously.
That is expected to extend beyond health care research, with university leaders hoping to also make breakthroughs on “environmental modeling, clinical decision support, and large-scale analysis of historical and textual datasets in the humanities,” according to a release from the university.
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“In the past researchers at the U. have found genes related to breast cancer, to Alzheimer’s. You can also look at how you find drugs that might be responsive to different types of diseases, or using AI to help physicians better analyze imaging,” Parashar said. “We’ve had many examples of researchers doing things like that at the U. What this will do is to be able to provide them with additional capacity to amplify and accelerate their research.”
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In a brief presentation of the project to lawmakers in February, University of Utah President Taylor Randall said the system will be available to all educational institutions in the state to train students, as well as to startups.
“This is just a fundamental, I call it, shared service that we can share across industry and other institutions to make sure that we are at the forefront of artificial intelligence,” Randall said.
In total, the full project, including physical infrastructure, computing, storage and software systems and their operations are expected to cost $50 million, a tab that’s being divided between philanthropists and the public sector. During their legislative session that concluded last month, lawmakers approved a one-time $15 million allocation for the endeavor.
A memorandum of understanding the state and higher education institutions signed with chipmaker NVIDIA to advance AI research and workforce in Utah is also playing a role in this development, Parashar said, with the company providing chips and expertise on the hardware.
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The university also has an agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to assemble and operate the system, Parashar said.
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While state leaders, including Gov. Spencer Cox, have been keen to accommodate the AI industry in Utah, some have also spoken in support of regulating the technology and have argued that AI must be “human-enhancing.”
That’s something that the university’s Responsible AI Initiative, also led by Parashar, is taking into consideration while working on the supercomputer.
“We want to make sure that when we address and use AI as a solution, we not only consider the technical dimensions, but also consider the ethical and social technical dimensions,” he said. “What are the implications? And how do we bring that expertise, that training to our researchers, to our students?”
Utah State closes the season atop the ranking. The Aggies won the Mountain West regular season and tournament championships. They were the only team from the conference to reach the NCAA Tournament, …
“One Shining Moment” has played. The 2025-26 college basketball season has come to a close. With that, the final ranking of the Men’s Other Top 25 has been compiled.
Utah State closes the season atop the ranking. The Aggies won the Mountain West regular season and tournament championships. They were the only team from the conference to reach the NCAA Tournament, and they advanced to the second round with a win over Villanova. USU has gone dancing four straight years and in six of the last seven tourneys.
Saint Mary’s came in at No. 2. The Gaels extended their streak of consecutive trips to March Madness to five. Randy Bennett’s squad was a single-digit seed in each of these Dances as it finished 27-6 with a second straight seven-seed.
Saint Louis placed third in the poll. The Billikens returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. They won their first tourney game in a dozen years. Josh Schertz’s team saw a 10-win improvement from last year and finished 29-6, losing to eventual champ Michigan in the Round of 32.
Santa Clara followed in fourth. The Broncos made their first appearance in March Madness in 30 years. Herb Sendek guided them to 26 wins, the WCC finals, and the brink of the second round of the Big Dance in one of the best games of the tournament in a heartbreaking loss to Kentucky.
Miami (OH) rounded out the top five. The RedHawks had a storybook season, going 31-0 in the regular season, receiving an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and winning a game in the First Four in their home state.
VCU came in sixth in the final poll. The Rams won the Atlantic 10 tournament title and pulled off one of the biggest March Madness comebacks by overcoming a 19-point deficit against North Carolina in the first round.
South Florida followed after the program’s second berth in the NCAA Tournament in the last 34 years and first since 2012. USF went 25-9 this season.
New Mexico ran all the way to the NIT semifinals and placed eighth in the final poll. Conference mate San Diego State was one spot behind. Tulsa, who advanced to the NIT championship game, placed 10th. The Golden Hurricane stormed back from down 21 to lead Auburn by four in the final seconds of regulation before falling in overtime in the title game.
Four teams joined the ranking: Boise St., Wichita St., Stephen F. Austin and Cal Baptist.
Ranking
Team (First-Place Votes)
Last Week
1
Utah St.
1
2
Saint Mary’s
4
3
Saint Louis
T-2
4
Santa Clara
6
5
Miami OH
T-2
6
VCU
5
7
South Florida
T-7
8
New Mexico
15
9
San Diego St.
11
10
Tulsa
20
11
McNeese St.
T-12
12
Akron
T-7
13
High Point
10
14
Belmont
14
15
Northern Iowa
9
16
Yale
T-17
17
Dayton
T-12
18
Nevada
T-21
19
Boise St.
NR
20
Grand Canyon
25
21
Hofstra
16
22
Wichita St.
NR
23
Stephen F. Austin
NR
24
Utah Valley
T-17
25
Cal Baptist
NR
Dropped from ranking:
UC Irvine – T-17; Penn – T-21; Hawaii – 23; Bradley – 24
New forensic tech cracked a 50-year-old cold case, finally naming 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime as one of Bundy’s confirmed Utah victims.
More than 50 years after 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime disappeared in Utah, authorities say they have finally confirmed that notorious serial killer Ted Bundy was responsible for her death. Utah officials announced on Wednesday, April 1, that newly analyzed DNA evidence conclusively tied Bundy to Aime, closing a case that had remained unresolved since 1974.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Aime vanished on Halloween night after leaving a party in Lehi, Utah. Her body was discovered nearly a month later by hikers in American Fork Canyon. Investigators long believed Bundy was behind the killing because the circumstances closely matched his known pattern of targeting young women in Utah during the mid-1970s.
Bundy even referenced Aime when he confessed to multiple murders shortly before his execution in 1989, but there was never enough physical evidence to formally close the case.
That changed after the Utah Department of Public Safety used forensic technology acquired in 2023 that can separate mixed DNA samples. Investigators extracted a male DNA profile from evidence collected decades ago and entered it into a national database.
The sample produced a match to Bundy’s DNA profile in Florida, where he was executed in 1989. Sheriff Mike Smith said the evidence was so definitive that, if Bundy were alive today, prosecutors would seek both criminal charges and the death penalty.
Laura Ann Aime’s family said the confirmation brings a painful but meaningful sense of closure. Her younger sister, Michelle Impala, said the family had long suspected Bundy was responsible, but hearing it officially confirmed still mattered.
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She described Laura as an outdoors-loving teenager who loved horses, animals, and life on her family’s farm.
One detail that stayed with the family for decades: after Laura died, her horse reportedly stopped eating the red licorice treats she used to bring it.
Bundy moved to Salt Lake City in 1974 to attend law school at the University of Utah. During that time, investigators believe he killed at least five women in Utah and possibly more. Several victims, including 17-year-old Debra Kent, were never found.
Laura Ann Aime is now considered Bundy’s sixth confirmed victim in Utah. The recovery of Bundy’s full DNA profile may also help investigators revisit other cold cases connected to him across multiple states.
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On Saturday, at the end of the week, students gather and paint the ‘D’ on the hill with limestone. The ‘D’ represents Utah Tech’s former name of Dixie State University, which was deemed controversial …
ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — Utah Tech University students are celebrating the school’s annual ‘D’-week with a variety of celebrations.
This week, Utah Tech students are honoring the school’s history, growth, and community partnerships with their tradition week, called ‘D’-week. Utah Tech’s Student Body President, Shellsea Ramirez Fuentes, gave ABC4.com an insight into what the week means for her.
“It’s just such a vital part of our community, especially where it lies pretty much in the heart of the city, and it really just honors that partnership that we have between this community and the university,” said Shellsea Ramirez Fuentes.
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According to Ramirez Fuentes, the week kicks off with the Brooks’ City Tour, during which students visit local art installations and community businesses. They have several local events throughout the week.
“My favorite one is the great race,” Ramirez Fuentes said. “I just think it’s a wonderfully interactive way to kind of get the students around campus. The reason why the Great Race is one of my favorite ones. it’s because it’s one of those that I had participated in before even being involved with, you know, student government or anything else here on campus.”
On Saturday, at the end of the week, students gather and paint the ‘D’ on the hill with limestone. The ‘D’ represents Utah Tech’s former name of Dixie State University, which was deemed controversial due to its ties to the Confederacy during the Civil War, though some opposed the name change.
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Despite any previous controversy, Ramirez Fuentes uses this week to focus on her school and community and to build up her peers.
“I love anything that has to do with building a team and just feeling that energy to sizzle all throughout campus, and I believe it’s wonderful and that ends with the great carnival, which is amazing in here on campus,” she said, adding, “We have ribbons all over campus and just really having that pride of having Utah Tech University and also just the community that we are in.”
You can learn more about ‘D’-week celebrations here.
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Trump wants industrial-size immigration jails, and money is no obstacle.
The empty warehouse on the outskirts of Salt Lake City had a lot of potential but no buyers. Built in 2022, it was one of the largest warehouses in the area, with 833,000 square feet of space—14 football fields under one roof. The surrounding industrial zone had been promoted by the state as “Utah’s Inland Port,” a logistics hub smack-dab in the middle of a desert but only a few minutes to the freeway and the international airport.
Demand for big warehouses had softened, however, and the property remained vacant, a white elephant by the shores of the Great Salt Lake. Then, suddenly, on March 11, the Department of Homeland Security snapped it up for $145.4 million—paying nearly 50 percent more than the property’s 2025 assessed value to a private investment fund controlled by a subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Bank.
The deal went through six days after President Trump announced his decision to remove Kristi Noem as DHS secretary. Noem and her team had been racing to buy up industrial properties as part of a $38 billion overhaul of the ICE detention system in an effort to supercharge Trump’s mass-deportation campaign. DHS officials described the acquisitions as a crucial step to meeting the White House’s goal of 1 million deportations a year, after ICE carried out fewer than half that many during Trump’s first year back in office. The warehouses would be reconfigured and remodeled into megajails, with capacity for up to 10,000 detainees each.
Noem’s replacement, former Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, took control of the department on March 24 and ordered a pause on conversion plans for the warehouse in Salt Lake City as well as for 10 others scattered across the country, seeking to defuse backlash from local jurisdictions. Many local leaders say that they were blindsided by DHS’s acquisitions and don’t want giant immigration jails in their communities. Some have made clear that they are willing to fight the government’s plans. Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for DHS, characterized the pause as a logical part of Mullin’s transition process, which requires “reviewing agency policies and proposals” and making sure that the department works with community leaders. “We want to be good partners,” Bis told me.
There are also legal challenges. The administration is facing lawsuits across its new portfolio of industrial properties, including in Michigan and New Jersey. In Maryland, a federal judge halted renovation work at a warehouse that ICE purchased in January. In Social Circle, Georgia, where ICE bought a 1-million-square-foot building in a county that Trump won by more than 70 percent, angry local officials have refused to connect the site to water and sewer lines. ICE has already canceled plans for new detention centers in New Hampshire and Mississippi because of opposition from Republican leaders.
Officials at DHS and ICE told me that the administration has been taken aback by opposition from Republicans, whom they expected to be more supportive of the president’s deportation push. It didn’t help that the government conducted its warehouse-shopping spree around the same time that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were killed in Minneapolis—and right at the moment when Americans were seeing daily images of chaos and violent clashes between protesters and immigration agents. The warehouses triggered fears about how immigrants would be treated and possible impacts on nearby communities, along with broader worries that the warehouses could be used to hold U.S. citizens. As one ICE official told me, “People’s heads started going wild with this.”
The warehouse purchases in Utah and other states are now part of an internal investigation at DHS into acquisitions and contracts made by Noem and Corey Lewandowski, her top adviser and alleged lover in an extramarital affair that both have denied. Complaints about Lewandowski’s role in DHS contracts intensified last summer after he implemented a policy requiring Noem’s approval on any expenditure of more than $100,000. The measure, depicted as an extension of DOGE-style cost cutting, came as the administration got a virtual blank check from Congress—$170 billion for immigration enforcement in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
DHS officials and contractors told me that the $100,000 requirement created a bureaucratic bottleneck and fueled suspicions that Lewandowski was exploiting his position for personal profit. Lewandowski, who worked as an unpaid “special government employee,” denies those allegations and has claimed that Noem’s added scrutiny helped save billions for taxpayers.
But a bargain-hunting ethos was noticeably absent in DHS’s warehouse acquisitions. The department paid an average of 11 to 13 percent above market value for the first 10 properties it purchased for ICE, according to a report by the commercial-real-estate firm CoStar. The firm published its report prior to the $145 million deal for the Utah building, which tax assessors valued last year at $97 million. It was DHS’s costliest purchase yet, and none of the other DHS acquisitions reviewed by CoStar had a gap that wide between purchase price and comparable properties.
I called commercial-real-estate brokers and appraisers in Salt Lake City to ask whether the transaction seemed like an outlier. Sales of similar warehouse properties in the area suggested that it was: A building with about 1 million square feet built in the same area in 2022 had been acquired by Walmart last March for $112 million, CoStar records show, below its assessed value of $119 million. Another 1-million-square-foot property built in 2023 sold last year for $122 million, roughly the same as its assessed value, even though it sits on a 75-acre plot—larger than the parcel bought by DHS. That property, purchased by an investor, already had a tenant, which generally increases the sale price, according to two brokers and an appraiser I spoke with, who did not want to be quoted by name, because the DHS warehouse purchase is so contentious in Salt Lake City. They cautioned that many industrial properties sell for more than their assessed value, and that owner-occupants—which DHS will be—tend to be willing to pay more than investors. But the sale price, which works out to more than $174 a square foot, is far higher than the going market rate. “It’s just crazy,” one broker told me. Another quipped, “This is not something I would want to stand before a judge and have to defend.”
The DHS and ICE officials I asked about the purchase told me that they had little insight into the transaction, but they described the Utah site as a key addition to their broader makeover of the immigration detention system. The Utah warehouse would give the government a large detention facility in the Rocky Mountain region, which would allow ICE to send detainees there from Colorado, Idaho, and other western states, officials with knowledge of the plans told me. Most immigration detention sites are in the South—especially Texas and Louisiana—and the goal of the ICE overhaul is to have fewer locations but with a more even distribution across the country. ICE officials said last year that they want to build a “hub and spoke” system modeled after e-commerce retailers such as Amazon. The process has been guided more by logistical considerations than by worries about political backlash, according to officials familiar with the plans at DHS and ICE.
One person with knowledge of the Utah purchase told me that the warehouse had been appraised prior to the sale at roughly $130 million—more than 30 percent above its tax assessment. The seller had added office space and made about $10 million in improvements to the site, and the rest of the amount went to closing costs and fees, the person said. DHS was a motivated buyer and eager to close the deal quickly. DHS public-affairs officials did not respond to my questions about the appraisal and the company that conducted it.
Spenser Heaps
As a reliably red state in the American West, Utah may look like a perfect place for an ICE megajail. But the politics of immigration enforcement are fraught there too, local officials and real-estate brokers told me. The Church of Latter-Day Saints (which provided much of the original scrubland for the Inland Port) is welcoming of immigrants and has helped settle generations of refugees and international converts to the Mormon faith. Like other affluent cities in Rocky Mountain states, Salt Lake City is a blue island in a sparsely populated red sea.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall, a Democrat, has said that the city’s opposition is currently focused on ICE’s potential utility consumption and strain on local services. City officials said yesterday that the government hasn’t told them what it projects its needs will be but that a facility constructed to hold goods would need “significant” upgrades, including new sewage lines and pumping capacity, to hold large numbers of people. One city official I spoke with, who was not authorized to discuss preliminary negotiations with ICE, told me that a detention center for 7,500 to 10,000 people has a projected water use of 1 to 2 million gallons a day. The city’s entire daily consumption is about 40 million gallons, the official said, and the broader Salt Lake area is bracing for worsening drought after a winter of meager snowfall. The state of Utah opened a new prison with space for about 3,000 inmates not far from the ICE-warehouse site, the official said, and the facility consumes about 450,000 gallons daily.
Brigham Daniels, a land-use expert at the University of Utah, told me that local jurisdictions are not obligated to accommodate the federal government’s water-use plans if scarce resources are threatened. But, he said, the government could find alternative methods for supplying large volumes of water to the site by purchasing water rights from the state or from a different jurisdiction. The city would be on shakier legal ground if it refused to allow that water to reach the warehouse. “It’s one thing to say, We don’t have that water for you,” Daniels said. “It’s another thing to say, We won’t deliver it.”
The city has also raised concerns about the potential threat to the Great Salt Lake, which already competes for water against farms, lawns, and golf courses. The dry bed at the edges of the shrinking lake periodically swirls up into clouds of toxic dust laced with heavy metals. The Trump administration included $1 billion in the president’s budget request to Congress this week to improve management of the lake and route more water into the basin. “This is an Environmental hazard that must be worked on, IMMEDIATELY—It is of tremendous interest to me,” the president wrote on social media in February. Daniels said that the ICE warehouse would not necessarily be in a zero-sum competition with the lake, because most water that is used indoors can be treated and safely discharged.
The urgent need that drove Noem and Lewandowski to acquire the warehouses has faded somewhat lately. In the two months since the “border czar” Tom Homan announced a more “targeted” approach to ICE enforcement, with a clearer focus on criminals, the average daily number of detainees in ICE custody has declined from 70,000 to about 60,000, two ICE officials told me. Even so, expanding the detention system remains a priority for the department. Homan has repeatedly said that ICE needs capacity for at least 100,000 detainees if it’s going to achieve Trump’s 1-million-deportations goal.
During his confirmation hearing, Mullin was asked whether he would commit to making sure that ICE had local support before it opened a large detention center in a community. Mullin said that he wanted to “build relationships and work in that manner.” He has also said that he wants a quieter, less confrontational approach than the one Noem and Lewandowski promoted. But the money for mass deportation has already been appropriated by Congress. ICE is in the process of doubling the number of immigration officers on U.S. streets, and recent federal-court rulings have backed the administration’s push to hold far more immigrants in custody while they fight deportation. Trump’s removal campaign may be regrouping and seeking a lower profile to allow the ICE workforce to catch its breath. But the administration now owns more than 7.5 million square feet of new detention space, and it has all the money it needs to fill it.
Nick Miroff is a staff writer at The Atlantic who covers immigration, the Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S.-Mexico border. He can be reached on Signal at NickMiroff.78
A Utah judge is expected to hear arguments on a protective order sought by a former partner against Taylor Frankie Paul, star of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” …
A Utah judge is expected to hear arguments on a protective order sought by a former partner against Taylor Frankie Paul, star of Hulu’s “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.” …
The biggest portal entry out of Utah came with less than 24 hours until college basketball’s unrestricted free agency opened. According to On3, the team’s leadi …
The biggest portal entry out of Utah came with less than 24 hours until college basketball’s unrestricted free agency opened.
According to On3, the team’s leading scorer, Terrence Brown, plans to enter the transfer portal and will test the NBA draft process.
Brown, a 6-foot-3 junior from Minneapolis who transferred to Utah from Fairleigh Dickinson ahead of the 2025-26 season, was extremely productive in the five or so months he spent wearing the Runnin’ Utes threads. While leading the team in scoring, playmaking and steals, he became the first player in program history to record 600 points and 100 assists in a single season. When Brown achieved that feat in the March 7 regular season finale against Baylor, only seven other players at the power conference level were pacing their respective squads in assists while tallying 600 or more points on the season.
As such, the All-Big 12 honorable mention guard will likely garner interest from several high-major programs on the open market — that is, if he doesn’t pursue the pro route. Players who would otherwise be returning to school with eligibility have until late May (usually 10 days after the draft combine) to withdraw their name from draft consideration and return to college.
If Brown, whose name doesn’t appear in most 2026 mock drafts, decides to go down the latter path, it’s likely schools in the Big Ten and SEC would be at the front of the list of his pursuers. Given his scoring touch, athleticism and quick hands, it’d be unlikely that he’d wind up at a mid-major school.
As for Utah, Jensen and his staff shouldn’t be all that surprised by Brown’s impending departure. Though he had the ball in his hands a lot, Brown was part of a 10-22 squad that didn’t have the depth or pieces to seriously compete for a conference title. And based on his productivity level with the Utes, he has every right to seek a major payday at another school.
Brown became the sixth Utah player to reveal their intentions of entering the portal ahead of the 15-day window in which players can change locations, which is set to start April 7 following the national championship game. He joined Keanu Dawes, Josh Hayes, Alvin Jackson III, Elijah “Choppa” Moore and Jahki Howard.
Brown, who played two seasons at Fairleigh Dickinson prior to his arrival in Salt Lake City, put up 19.9 points, 3.8 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game while shooting 45.3% from the field, 32.7% from 3 and 77.5% from the free-throw line with the Utes.
Utah’s leading scorer from Alex Jensen’s first season, Terrence Brown, is reportedly entering the transfer portal. On3’s Joe Tipton reported Monday morning that Brown, who came to Utah last season …
Utah’s leading scorer from Alex Jensen’s first season, Terrence Brown, is entering the transfer portal.
Brown, who came to Utah last season after two years at Fairleigh Dickinson, plans to enter the transfer portal while also exploring the NBA draft process, he announced Monday via social media.
The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 19.9 points per game and earned All-Big 12 honorable mention honors during his junior season in Salt Lake City.
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Brown shot 45.3% from the field during the 2025-26 season, as well as 32.7% from 3-point range and 77.5% from the free-throw line.
There are six reported Utah players who will enter the transfer portal, including another starter, Kenau Dawes, as well as Josh Hayes, Alvin Jackson III, Jahki Howard and Elijah “Choppa” Moore.
The Division I men’s basketball transfer portal officially opens Tuesday and will close through April 21.
New legislation comes amid push from big oil, as critics warn polluters’ profits prioritized over Americans’ health …
Utah has made it nearly impossible for residents to hold fossil fuel companies legally accountable for climate damages in a move one advocacy group described as putting “profits for the biggest polluters over communities”, with other states expected to follow suit.
The new state legislation comes as part of a push from big oil and its political allies – including groups tied to rightwing impresario Leonard Leo – for legal immunity in red statehouses and Congress, with a goal of winning state and federal legal immunity similar to the liability waiver granted to the firearms industry in 2005.
Such policies would shield major fossil fuel companies from a wave of litigation they are facing from states, subnational governments, and individuals who claim the firms knew their products would cause climate damages, but sold them to the public anyway. Four other red states are considering laws similar to Utah’s – with two close to passage – and federal legislation is seemingly in the works.
Signed into law by the state’s Republican governor Spencer Cox late last month, Utah’s new legislation shields any person or entity from civil or criminal liabilities related to planet-warming emissions, unless a court finds that the defendant violated the specific “enforceable limitation” on a greenhouse gas or the “express terms of a valid permit”.
Challengers would also have to provide “clear and convincing evidence that unavoidable and identifiable damage or injury has resulted or will result as a direct cause of the” violation. The language will make it virtually impossible to successfully sue polluters for climate damages, critics say.
“This is a surrender to wealthy special interests and an affront to the public good,” said Delta Merner, lead scientist at the science hub for climate litigation at the science advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists. “Utah’s new law prioritizes profits for the biggest polluters over communities already suffering from climate impacts and constituents should be outraged.”
Set to be enacted next month, Utah’s HB 222 was sponsored by Republican representative Carl Albrecht, who has receivedsome funding from oil and gas interests. He was also formerly the CEO of a rural electric cooperative.
“That cooperative is substantially powered by fossil fuels,” said Democratic Utah state senator Nate Blouin, who opposed the bill, which he said passed quickly and without much discussion. “He’s got a history in the industry, and continues to draw from that experience to push bills like this forward.”
Albrecht did not respond to a request for comment, but told Bloomberg Law that the policy aims to halt “frivolous” legal challenges from environmental groups and to protect the state’s coal-fired power plants. He also said industry trade groups gave him the idea for the proposal.
“To understand this bill you need to follow the coordination,” said Merner, noting that the Utah legislation closely mirrors a model policy called the Energy Freedom Act, circulated by conservative group Consumers Defense.
Asked about Leo’s involvement in the model legislation, Will Hild, president of Consumers Defense, said it is not attributable to “any individual figure”.
“The Energy Freedom Act is intended to clarify that carbon emissions should not automatically carry legal damages and to push back on efforts … to shape national climate policy through litigation rather than through elected lawmakers,” he said. “This ensures decisions remain with accountable representatives, prevents a small number of states from imposing their policies nationwide through judicial fiat, and protects consumers from economically disruptive policies.”
Leo’s group CRC Advisors did not respond to a request for comment.
Lawmakers in Louisiana and Oklahoma are considering similar legislation, and the state legislatures of Iowa and Tennessee have voted to pass climate liability-limiting legislation, though neither has yet been signed into law.
“In Tennessee they literally called the bill the Tennessee Energy Freedom Act,” said Iyla Shornstein, political director at the Center for Climate Integrity, which tracks and supports climate accountability litigation. “It’s a direct borrowing from the Consumers Defense language.”
A national push for immunity
The Utah bill’s passage comes as climate lawsuits against big oil companies inch closer to trial, and as states adopt climate accountability legislation.
In recent years, 70 cities, states, and individuals have sued energy majors for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis. New York and Vermont have also passed climate “superfund” laws requiring major polluters to pay for damages caused by their past planet-heating pollution, with other states considering similar policies.
“The oil companies clearly see these as an existential threat to their business model,” said Shornstein. “Their lobbying makes that clear.”
Earlier this year, the top US oil lobby group the American Petroleum Institute (API) said one of its top priorities for 2026 will be blocking “abusive” climate lawsuits targeting big oil. Months earlier, 16 Republican state attorneys general also called on the justice department to provide a “liability shield” for oil companies.
Lawmakers have also pursued narrower efforts, including a failed attempt to block Washington DC from the deployment of some legal theories against oil companies, and a 2025 Maryland bill that would have barred state and local climate lawsuits but never reached a vote. And last year, both API and energy giant ConocoPhillips also pressed Congress on draft legislation to limit climate liability.
Such a federal policy appears to be in the works: during a House committee hearing last month, Wyoming representative Harriet Hageman, a Republican, said “Congress has a role to play” in defeating climate accountability lawsuits.
“To that end, I’m working with my colleagues in both the House and Senate to craft legislation tackling both these state laws and the lawsuits that could destroy energy affordability for consumers,” she said.
Hageman did not provide specific details about the legislation. She did not respond to a request for comment.
The API declined to comment on the state of a federal liability waiver proposal.
Other industries have lobbied for liability waivers before. Since the firearms sector successfully pushed for the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act in 2005, “not a single negligence case against a gun manufacturer has gone to trial”, noted Merner.
The pesticide sector is also currently pursuing state-level immunity bills, while its allies have unsuccessfully pursued a federal waiver. And the tobacco industry, facing widespread litigation, also pushed for such immunity in the 1990s but failed, ending up paying $260bn in settlements.
“It seems that the fossil fuel industry has learned from these precedents. If they can secure blanket immunity now, they can avoid the fate of tobacco, but if they fail, they face tobacco-level accountability,” said Merner.
Lawmakers, advocates, and journalists have amassed mountains of evidence in recent years that oil companies intentionally covered up the climate harms of their products. Climate science, meanwhile, continues to warn that fossil fuels are the primary cause of dangerous global warming.
“I don’t see why industry would be pushing for immunity if they thought they could win on the merits of their case,” said Merner. “The evidence shows they knew about climate risks for decades and lied about it, so they’re trying to change the rules of the game entirely.”
Hilary Reiter Azzaretti had never done Botox or gotten regular facials before moving to Utah. Once she saw the people in Park City, she started both.
Hilary Reiter Azzaretti started investing more in beauty when she moved to Park City from NYC.
She spends over $5,000 annually on wardrobe updates to maintain her appearance.
She also gets Botox every three months as well as regular manicures, pedicures, and facials.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Hilary Reiter Azzaretti, a 50-year-old PR agency owner in Utah. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
When I was 16, I landed my first internship at a music PR agency in New York City. I continued doing PR at major record labels during college and after I graduated.
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My life and career took a twist in 2002, when I had the opportunity to do PR for the Sundance Film Festival. I was planning to move back to NYC after the three-month stint in Park City, but I found tourism PR roles and decided to move permanently.
I didn’t know much about Utah before that first visit, but I fell in love with the mountain lifestyle, sense of community, and outdoor activities.
In 2010, I launched my own PR and marketing agency. Having worked and lived in Utah for nearly 25 years now, I do my best to keep up with the beauty standards.
Here’s why I feel that pressure and how much I spend a month.
There are a lot of differences between working and living in NYC and Utah
Utah has a slower pace, less diversity, and a more conservative culture, but one of the biggest challenges is the pressure to maintain a youthful, fresh appearance. Even though NYC is very focused on appearance, it’s not as bad as Utah.
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Here, people tend to be far more superficial and conscious of their appearance. Utah immediately gave me the impression that it was very beauty-centric and that a lot of people here cared about longevity, wellness, and appearance.
Many people in Utah have hair and eyelash extensions, Botox, plastic surgery, laser treatments, and a long list of other things to enhance their appearance.
I had never done Botox or regular facials before living here. I wore makeup and got manicures, but not as often. Within the first few years, I found myself investing more in how I looked from head to toe.
The PR industry already has high appearance standards
In public relations, there’s an unspoken emphasis on youthfulness and appearance. When I started my agency at 34, I was in front of more people than ever. I’m the face of the brand I created. It started to weigh on me even more.
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Half the pressure is self-induced. Outsiders might perceive younger PR people as more on top of trends, especially with social media. That’s not always true, since PR is a relationship-driven business, but because it feels that way, trying to hide your age soothes your ego.
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The other half comes from what you see on the job. There are a lot of influencers in Utah, so I’m inundated with images of beautiful people every day. It feels inevitable that you’ll place greater emphasis on your appearance based on what you’re seeing.
I’ve become acutely aware that many of my clients are younger than I am. I’ve heard some say, ‘I can’t believe you’re 50!’
I update my wardrobe on a quarterly basis and spend over $5,000 a year on clothing
I work with people across a range of industries, and I’m compelled to dress the part so that they respect me and consider me a peer.
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I wear the latest trendy brands and shop at places like Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s, and more niche but popular brands, like Krimson Klover, where a base layer top can cost a few hundred dollars.
Because I’m public-facing and create a lot of content, I don’t want to be seen wearing the same outfit twice, so variety’s important to me.
I get Botox every three months and spend close to $2,000 a year on it
I resisted getting Botox for years because I have a medical phobia, but when I was 40, I noticed forehead lines that horrified me. I figured I’d try it once, knowing how many friends were doing it, and see the outcome.
After the first time, it became part of my beauty routine because I liked the results, and the injections weren’t as painful as I anticipated.
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I typically do it every three months to keep up and avoid any new wrinkles. I got Botox in Thailand once because it was a quarter of the price. Every time I travel to a new country, I hunt for Botox deals.
I spend over $1,500 a year on manicures and pedicures
Getting bi-monthly manicures and pedicures is a must for me. People are constantly seeing my nails at in-person events, in meetings, and on social media.
I get dip powder on my nails because it lasts about three weeks, and I pick a color or pattern that’s on trend but not too wild.
I do antiaging treatments a few times a year
The air is very dry here in Utah, and it can wreak havoc on your skin, accentuating fine lines, while the high-altitude sun can cause further damage, like skin cancer. I get antiaging treatments like hydrofacials and eye treatments four times a year.
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These treatments are expensive and can cost a couple of hundred dollars each, but it’s important to me that my skin stays in good shape to maintain a healthy glow and a youthful, refreshed appearance.
I also visit the dermatologist every year to treat any pre-cancerous areas.
I think I’d care less about my appearance and aging if I still lived in NYC
I’m not sure if I’d be doing all these beauty treatments if I still lived in NYC. There’s less of a focus there on obsessing about keeping such a youthful appearance, and the more humid climate is gentle on the skin.
A big factor for me is that I don’t feel my age, so I don’t want to look my age. I don’t even think I behave my age because I can relate really well to people in their 20s, just as I can to people in their 60s.
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I’m always researching and exploring new beauty treatments. Next on my list is red light therapy because of the restorative benefits for your recovery after working out and antiaging benefits for your skin.
While I haven’t had plastic surgery yet, at times it’s tempting. I just don’t think I could do it, but never say never, especially if I live in Utah forever.
