Author: Jesse

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox speaks at the launch of the Nucleus Institute on Aug. 27, 2025 (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)

State officials and higher education leaders have launched the Nucleus Institute, an organization they hope to see become a crucial tool for Utah innovators to compete at a global level, finding solutions for emerging energy needs and developing technologies like artificial intelligence.

The organization stems from a law passed in the 2025 legislative session that restructured the Utah Innovation Lab and created the institute as “an independent, nonprofit, quasi-public corporation.” The goal is to connect higher education, industry and government to make ideas become reality. 

With the institute, researchers and entrepreneurs can search for solutions to early-stage funding challenges, moving forward from concept to market, or finding spaces to collaborate.

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Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said during the launch on Wednesday the institute will help make Utahns’ lives easier by finding solutions to keep energy prices low, decarbonizing the atmosphere and other challenges the country faces.

“We are never going to regulate our way out of the most difficult problems that we’re facing as a country,” Cox said. “We can only innovate, and the state does play a role in that, and so does higher ed, but especially the private sector.”

The institute is expected to collaborate with different innovation campuses across the state, including those in authorities like the Point of the Mountain and the Inland Port, but also other innovation labs in public universities.

And with the help of those partnerships, Cox said, this and future generations of Utahns will be able to build their innovation skills in a thriving environment.

“It is all about passing that knowledge of innovation, those skills that are so necessary to compete on a global scale, and passing them on to the next generation,” Cox said. “It’s about investing in companies that are going to solve those wicked problems that we’re facing right now as a country. We know that the solutions are out there. We just need to discover them.” 

In a way, the new organization is a response to the unprecedented speed of change in different technologies, said Jefferson Moss, director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, and now, also leader of the Nucleus Institute.

“We led the nation on AI. We led the nation on data privacy. We’re leading the nation on energy. We can do that because we have people in the government that actually get along and want to get stuff done,” Moss said. “And then you take that and combine it with both the great things we’re doing in education.”

President of the University of Utah, Taylor Randall said he was excited to be part of the initiative since the state’s flagship university dedicates almost $800 million a year in research, including important medical advancements like the first artificial heart implant for a human. 

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“But that research is no good if it stays in the lab,” Randall said. Nucleus, he added, is a way to step on the gas to incorporate those types of discoveries into people’s lives.

The Legislature allocated $555,400 from the Income Tax Fund for compensation and benefits for the institute board’s executive director, for the compensation of the chair of the innovation fund, and an annual contracted audit during years 2026 and 2027, according to the bill’s fiscal note. 

Senate Majority Leader, Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy, who sponsored the legislation in the Senate, said that while the institute is expected to collaborate with for-profit industries, it’s still a nonprofit structure.

“The goal is to boost the economy in Utah, to boost the workforce in Utah, to boost innovation and commercialization of that innovation here,” Cullimore said. “So it’s not really a business idea, and it’s government-esque, but playing in that more innovation and entrepreneurial space to kind of help facilitate all these things.”

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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is being thrust into a national battle over redistricting because of a court order to redraw its congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, while President Donald Trump is pushing other Republican-led states to add winnable U.S. House seats for the GOP.

The new district boundaries could make one of Utah’s four congressional seats competitive for Democrats as the party fights to topple the GOP’s slim majority in the House. Nationally, Democrats need to net three seats next year to take control of the chamber.

The current map divides heavily populated Salt Lake County — an island of Democratic support in an otherwise red state — among all four congressional districts. Before the map was adopted in 2021, one district had traded hands between Democrats and Republicans. All have since elected Republicans by wide margins.

Here’s what to know about Utah’s place in the redistricting fight.

A judge on Monday ordered Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature to toss its congressional map and quickly adopt a new one. District Court Judge Dianna Gibson declared the map unlawful because the Legislature had circumvented an independent redistricting commission established by voters to ensure districts don’t deliberately favor a party, a practice known as gerrymandering.

Voters in 2018 narrowly approved a ballot initiative that created the commission to draw boundaries for Utah’s legislative and congressional districts, which the Legislature was required to consider. Lawmakers repealed the initiative in 2020 and replaced it with a law that transformed the commission into an advisory board that they could choose to ignore. The following year, lawmakers disregarded a congressional map proposal from the commission and drew one of their own.

The Utah Supreme Court said the Legislature is extremely limited in changing laws passed by voters and sent the case back to Gibson to decide the map’s fate.

“How district lines are drawn can either safeguard representation and ensure accountability by elected representatives or erode public trust, silence voices and weaken the rule of law,” she wrote in the ruling.

Gibson has given lawmakers until Sept. 24 to adopt a map that complies with voter-approved standards. Voting rights advocates who were involved in the legal challenge can submit alternate proposals. But Republican officials could use appeals to try to run out the clock before a candidate filing deadline in early January to possibly delay adopting new maps until 2028.

The U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to intervene, and the state Supreme Court may be hesitant to entertain an appeal after it already asked Gibson to decide.

Utah’s four congressional districts currently converge within a couple blocks in the Salt Lake City suburb of Millcreek. A voter could grab a milkshake at the beloved Iceberg Drive Inn and cross into all four districts before it melts.

Lawmakers presented the map as a way for each representative to serve both urban and rural areas. One district spans the entire eastern border of the state and groups vastly different communities, from the winter resort town of Park City, to the urban center of Provo, down to the red rock recreation hub of Moab. Voting rights groups who challenged the map argued it intentionally dilutes the Democratic vote and produces congresspeople who aren’t suited to represent all of their constituents.

The tight deadline for lawmakers to draw new maps could push them to reconsider proposals from the independent redistricting commission that they had ignored after the 2020 census. Those plans create a compact district combining the Democrat-heavy cities of Salt Lake City and Park City, while grouping other cities geographically.

GOP leaders could cut their losses by creating a single left-leaning block, or gamble on creating competitive districts that Republicans will fight to keep.

Registered Republicans overwhelmingly outnumber registered Democrats in the state. But voter registration data doesn’t paint the full picture.

Only about 12.3% of Utah voters are registered Democrats, but more than triple that amount voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. About 29% are unaffiliated, and many voters in the state who hold liberal beliefs choose to register as Republicans to vote in the primaries and have a say in intraparty matters.

That uncertainty may create complications for Republicans as they navigate rapidly redrawing boundaries that shield their seats while complying with stricter standards.

The ruling throws Republicans a curveball in a state where they expected a clean sweep while they’re working to add winnable seats elsewhere. Trump has urged governors to take up mid-decade redistricting ahead of the midterms, when the sitting president’s party tends to lose seats.

In Texas, a plan awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval includes five new districts that would favor Republicans. Ohio Republicans already were scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan, and Indiana, Florida and Missouri may choose to make changes. Some Democrat-led states say they may enter the redistricting arms race, but so far only California has taken action to offset GOP gains in Texas.

The Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that claims of partisan gerrymandering for congressional and legislative districts are outside the purview of federal courts and should be decided by states.

Redistricting typically occurs once a decade after a census. There are no federal restrictions to redrawing districts mid-decade, but some states — more led by Democrats than Republicans — set their own limitations. The Utah redraw may benefit Democrats who have fewer opportunities to gain seats through redistricting.

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The countdown to kickoff continues — we’re just four days away from UTEP opening its 2025 season.

The Miners are packing their bags and heading to Logan, Utah, to take on the Utah State Aggies.

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On Tuesday, UTEP held its first weekly press conference of the season — giving us a game-week update on how the Miners are preparing for their opener.

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah is being thrust into a national battle over redistricting because of a court order to redraw its congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, while President Donald Trump is pushing other Republican-led states to add winnable U.S. House seats for the GOP.

WWE and UFC will return to Utah with three upcoming events.

On Tuesday, Smith Entertainment Group and TKO Group Holdings announced the three events, which will be held at the Delta Center.

“We are thrilled that live WWE entertainment and UFC action will return to Utah,” said Chris Barney, president of revenue and commercial strategy at Smith Entertainment Group.

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WWE will be the first to return, with Friday Night SmackDown on Friday, Oct. 31 and Saturday Night’s Main Event on Saturday, Nov. 1.

UFC will head to Utah and the Delta Center in 2026.

“Our expanded partnership with TKO and Smith Entertainment Group offers yet another opportunity to position Utah as a premier destination for key global sports and entertainment events,” said Jeff Robbins, president and CEO of the Utah Sports Commission.

Hosting both “a major WWE event in 2025 and the UFC again in 2026 is a tribute to our growing sports and entertainment ecosystem in Utah, the State of Sport,” Robbins said.

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UFC in Utah

Three sold-out UFC events have been held at the Delta Center over the last three years: 2022’s UFC 278: Usman vs. Edwards 2; 2023’s UFC 291: Poirier vs. Gaethje 2; and 2024’s UFC 307: Pereira vs. Rountree Jr.

“In recent years, Salt Lake City and Delta Center have become a top destination to bring exciting, action-packed UFC and WWE events to our fans in Utah, and we’re thrilled to continue that relationship into 2026,” said Peter Dropick, executive vice president of event development and operations for TKO.

Those three events generated a combined $74.1 million in economic impact for the Salt Lake City region, per the press release. They’re the three highest-grossing Delta Center events, according to SEG.

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“Every TKO event Delta Center has hosted has captivated fans and brought people from across the country into Salt Lake City, creating opportunities to showcase Utah’s world class sports and entertainment landscape,” Barney said.

He said that SEG looks “forward to setting new records together when these incredible experiences take over Delta Center.”

Ticket info for WWE and UFC events at Delta Center

More details on ticket sale dates for both the WWE and UFC events, the fight cards, and participating WWE Superstars will be released at a later date.

Registration for the WWE ticket presale is available online now.

VIP experiences for the events will be available through On Location, with more information to come.

Salt Lake City — The Utah Legislature will need to rapidly redraw the state’s congressional boundaries after a judge ruled Monday that the Republican-controlled body circumvented safeguards put in place by voters to ensure districts aren’t drawn to favor any party.

The current map, adopted in 2021, divides Salt Lake County — Utah’s population center and a Democratic stronghold — among the state’s four congressional districts, all of which have since elected Republicans by wide margins.

District Court Judge Dianna Gibson made few judgments on the content of the map but declared it unlawful because lawmakers had weakened and ignored an independent commission established by voters to prevent partisan gerrymandering.