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As snow fell during the University of Utah’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new on-campus ballpark, it wasn’t exactly picture-perfect baseball weather.

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That didn’t diminish the excitement from university leaders and Utah baseball players as they marked the official opening of Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark — the culmination of a dream years in the making.

For more than 25 years, Utah’s baseball program has played its games at Smith’s Ballpark, the former home of the Salt Lake Bees, while evaluating its options for an eventual on-campus ballpark of their own over the course of a decade. When the Bees announced their move to a new stadium in Daybreak in January 2023, it heightened the need for Utah to have its own facility even more.

In April 2023, the school announced plans for a new ballpark on Guardsman Way, and less than three years later, that vision has become a reality.

Utah’s new $39 million state-of-the-art stadium will provide the baseball team with a much-needed on-campus home. The majority of the stadium cost was privately funded with major donations from Colorado Rockies owner Charlie Monfort, a Utah alum, and America First Credit Union.

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Over the past couple of decades, the baseball team has been essentially split between three areas: an on-campus practice field, Smith’s Ballpark and various on-campus athletic areas like weight rooms and dining halls.

The move to Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark brings everything in-house.

The field was among the first aspects of the new stadium to be finished, and the team has been practicing on it since August. That’s given them plenty of time to adjust to the differences between the new stadium and Smith’s Ballpark.

The playing surface is turf, not grass and dirt like at Smith’s Ballpark, and the dimensions are different. The wall in left and right field is 340 feet, with the center-field fence at 400 feet, compared to a 345-foot left field, 420-foot center field and 315-foot right field at Smith’s Ballpark.

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The early results from practices? The ball is traveling pretty well.

“Pitching coaches, beware,” said Utah coach Gary Henderson.

The team will officially move into the new stadium this week, starting a new era of Utah baseball as the Utes get ready for their third season in the Big 12 Conference.

“I think the first thing it does is it gives our kids a home, a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose. It’s a tremendous facility to prepare, to get prepared, obviously going to help very much in the recruiting process,” Henderson said.

The new ballpark provides all of the amenities needed for the program under one roof, including a state-of-the-art locker room, a film room, a strength and conditioning room and a recovery room with hot and cold tubs. An indoor training area with pitching and batting areas provides the team a place to train in the winter months.

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In addition to the aspects of the stadium that are used for performance, the new ballpark also gives the team a place to hang out while they’re not practicing or going to class. The lounge area will be a huge hit with the players.

“Having something like this to call home is great, and it also makes it that much better when you get to show up to a place where 34 of your best friends are and you get to work together towards the same goal together every day,” said redshirt junior infielder Cameron Gurney.

The stadium has a capacity of 3,000 — 1,200 chairback seats and 1,800 capacity on the berm in the outfield — which will provide a much more intimate experience than Smith’s Ballpark, which was cavernous in comparison with a capacity of 14,511. There is truly no bad seat in the house, as every chairback seat is within a few rows of the field, providing fans with an up-close view of the game

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Based on last season’s attendance at Smith’s Ballpark, Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said that the Utes would have sold out nine games at the new ballpark.

Season tickets range from $75 to $125 for the 24-game home schedule.

“I imagine, particularly on good weather weekend-type games, this place is going to be packed, but season tickets are going really well,” Harlan said.

Aside from hosting Utah baseball games and practices, Harlan envisions the new stadium as a community space for baseball in the state.

“I want some high school games here, I want some state championship games here. We’re already working to get some regular-season games here, especially from high schools that are close by, and then further, get some Little League games here. I want to get some travel games here,” Harlan said.

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“I mean, we’ve got turf. We can use it, and so I think that’s going to be really, really important for us. This is a community asset, and it’s located right by great communities.”

With the official opening of Charlie Monfort Field at America First Ballpark, Utah baseball now has a true home — something that will pay dividends for the program long into the future.

“It’s been a long time coming … I think what folks will start seeing when they visit this facility is how fun it is,” Harlan said. “It’s perfect for our program. I think it’s going to really lift us to places that we want to be. And frankly, it’s kind of a big missing piece that we’ve solved. They have a home here now, and we couldn’t be more excited.”

Now that the ballpark is officially open and the baseball team is moving in, the countdown is on for the facility’s first game: Utah vs. Grand Canyon on March 7.

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“It shows the statement that baseball is important to the athletic department, the tremendous visual that you have when you look out to center field,” Henderson said.

“It’s just a really nice statement that the athletic department has made that baseball is important at the University of Utah.”

In case you missed it

Kyle Whittingham’s move created shock waves that are still being felt at every program in the Beehive State, including BYU and Utah State. Inside the week that shook the landscape of college football throughout Utah.

From the archives

Extra points

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Stephen Curry scored 27 points, Moses Moody had 26 and the Golden State Warriors beat the Utah Jazz 140-124 on Wednesday night.

Gui Santos had 16 points off the bench for the Warriors. Golden State made 23 3-pointers and never trailed over the final three quarters. Moody led the way with five 3s.

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Brice Sensabaugh scored 22 points off the bench for Utah. Keyonte George had 19 points and seven assists. Ace Bailey also scored 19 points for the Jazz and Lauri Markkanen had 18.

Utah trimmed a 22-point deficit to single digits entering the fourth quarter. The Jazz drew to 108-100 on a pair of free throws from Isaiah Collier with 9:52 left. Curry made back-to-back baskets to restore a double-digit lead.

Golden State used a 20-2 run to go up 136-109 with 3:29 left.

Golden State made it rain from the perimeter early, going 15 of 31 from long distance before halftime. Eight different players made an outside basket for the Warriors in the first half. Buddy Hield and Moody accounted for three apiece before halftime.

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Hield buried back-to-back 3s a minute into the second quarter to cap a 19-8 run that gave Golden State a 40-24 lead. The Warriors built a 16-point lead three other times in the second quarter — the final time when Quinten Post made a 3-pointer to make it 64-48.

Golden State expanded its lead to 22 points in the third quarter, going up 91-69 on a pair of free throws from Curry.

Up Next

Warriors: Host Detroit on Saturday night.

Jazz: Host Brooklyn on Saturday night.

___

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba

Jan. 28, 2026, 10:45 a.m. ET

State leaders are pushing this legislative session to see a big J-U-M-P in students’ test scores after a dire new report noted that only about half of the kids in kindergarten through third grade are reading at their age level.

That leaves Utah far off the mark of hitting the 70% reading goal it had set to reach by 2027. Gov. Spencer Cox is suggesting, to help accomplish that, having schools hold back students a year if they’re not achieving.

But already, there are a few Utah schools who are having success without that step — which some in the education community worry is extreme.

At least four charter schools and one district — North Summit — had reached the 70% mark for reading by 2023. And another school, which joined the list in 2025, is now being held up as an example for dramatically moving the needle through other efforts.

That’s Mona Elementary School in the small, rural town of Mona in central Utah.

Last year, the school saw a 20 percentage point increase in third grade students reading on grade level, to now 70% in total hitting the mark.

“That type of achievement and growth doesn’t happen by chance,” said Rich Nye, senior education advisor for Cox and a former superintendent of both Ogden and Granite school districts.

The governor’s office highlighted the school during a literacy conference it held earlier this month.

The principal of Mona Elementary, Brandi Webster, along with two teachers at the school, Jennifer Schaugaard and Megan Montoya, spoke on a panel about their efforts. Part of it was getting all of their teachers certified in the science of reading and revamping their curriculum to match.

But it really started, Webster said, when she first took on the role of principal and noticed the school’s reading scores had been stagnant for about a decade, stuck at about 50% of students hitting the mark for their grade level — the same as the state average.

“Teachers were working so hard,” she said. “And I couldn’t figure out what was going on. I couldn’t figure out what else they could do.”

Mona Elementary is small, with about 280 students in kindergarten through fifth grade; and there are two teachers per grade.

Webster said those teachers had already been coming in early and staying late to help students with tutoring.

That’s when she decided to dig further into the data on a student-by-student level, Webster said. And she realized each student needed individualized plans that accommodate their specific needs.

The school worked to create student profiles for every kid in the school to track their progress throughout the year — not just at the end with final exams. They set check-in points throughout the year, as well as individual progress monitoring every Friday where the teacher would sit down with each student one-on-one while an instructional assistant watched over the class.

“We have seen so much progress in the kids,” Schaugaard said.

“It’s knowing the individual student,” Montoya added, and building a relationship there.

Students have been excited about their growth, both teachers said.

Each class spends at least 180 minutes a day working on reading — with 30 minutes of targeted intervention — and there’s movement between grade levels, too. For instance, if a third grader is reading on a first grade level, that student can be sent to a first grade classroom to get more tailored teaching that is specific to their needs.

Webster also said that the school decided to make it a community effort — with every employee involved, as well as parents. It couldn’t solely be on teachers, she said. The school engaged bus drivers, lunch workers and paraprofessionals to all help in different ways.

Mona Elementary held a meeting, too, that almost every parent in the community attended to talk about what could be done at home to help students read better. The school even made videos for parents to help instruct them on best practices — beyond just reading more books to their kids.

“They want their children to be good readers. But they don’t know how,” Webster said.

She said now the school doesn’t feel that 70% is good enough. They are pushing to have 100% of students reading on grade level.

Some concerns about matching that success

Webster acknowledged that it’s helpful to have the small class sizes they do in Mona, which makes a huge difference. The classrooms there have an average of 25 kids.

Utah, on average, though, tends to see K-12 classrooms with as many as 40 or 50 students.

Tiffany Hall, executive director of teaching and learning for Salt Lake City School District, said that’s a concern for her as others try to replicate that success — and might not find it as easy.

What schools need, Hall said, is more money to hire additional teachers or provide more training.

During his conference, Cox said he also saw that as a problem. And he emphasized that he doesn’t see the reading levels as “a failure of our teachers.”

He also promised that a bill this legislative session would provide more funding.

Montoya at Mona Elementary said without resources, more demands from the state won’t amount to changes in reading levels. It took her school leadership setting aside the money and time, she said, to make the changes there.

“You can give us the policy all you want,” she said, “but if you’re not giving us the help to get there, it’s not going anywhere.”

Correction • Jan. 28, 9:48 a.m.: This story has been updated to correct Mona Elementary‘s student enrollment.

Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

Originally reported by Santanu Das on Reality Tea

The post Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival appeared first on theFashionSpot.

PROVO, Utah (ABC4) — Anti-ICE protests continued Tuesday in Salt Lake and Utah counties following the fatal United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis Saturday.

More than 100 Kearns High School students walked out of class shortly before 1 p.m. and marched to the Kearns Library.

“This is so important because we just wanted to make a change because there’s been so much violence with ICE,” Kearns High School student Charlie Robinson said. Students at Bingham High School in South Jordan also held a similar demonstration.

In Provo, dozens of demonstrators protested outside of Senator John Curtis’ (R-Utah) office ahead of a Senate appropriations bill that would provide the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) more money.

“We are here to make sure that he hears Utahns and knows that we expect him to vote no against the upcoming Senate appropriations vote,” protester Sarah McConkie said. “What’s at stake is more funding for ICE, DHS. Given everything that has happened in Minneapolis, right now we can’t imagine anyone voting to give them more money and more power to carry out terror on that community.”

If Congress fails to pass that bill on January 30, it will lead to another partial government shutdown.

On Monday, Curtis posted a statement about the shooting on X, calling for an independent investigation.

“We must have a transparent, independent investigation into the Minnesota shooting, and those responsible—no matter their title—must be held accountable,” Curtis’ post said. “Officials who rush to judgment before all the facts are known undermine public trust and the law-enforcement mission.”

Protests today come after thousands attended anti-ICE protests over the weekend in Salt Lake City and Park City amid the Sundance Film Festival.

Copyright 2026 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.

While actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt was in Utah for the Sundance Film Festival, he also made a quick stop at the state Capitol to speak in support of an Artificial Intelligence transparency bill.

The actor, known for his roles in “Inception” and “10 Things I Hate About You,” spoke at the House Economic Development and Workforce Services Committee hearing in support of HB286 on Tuesday. The bill sponsored by Rep. Doug Fiefia, R-Herriman, would require AI companies to post child safety plans and publish risk assessments for their AI models.

Gordon-Levitt pointed out that he believes AI is a big deal that will eventually impact everyone’s lives.

“It’s very powerful already, but it’s getting more and more powerful all the time, and look, a lot of that impact is going to be great,” he said, pointing out that it will help boost productivity and advance science and medicine.

He continued: “But like with any powerful technology, it can help and it can harm. It can be both. It’s all about how we use it, right?”

The bill has been drawing national attention. Fiefia said this is because other states have had legislation around AI transparency, but Utah is the first to include child safety.

It is not common for major actors to show up at committee hearings here in Utah. Fiefia has been working with a number of national groups in the development of HB286, and it was these groups that got him connected to Gordon-Levitt.

What Joseph Gordon-Levitt said about the need for AI regulations

Gordon-Levitt spoke for about four minutes before leaving the hearing. As he made his way out of the building, multiple state lawmakers introduced themselves to him and some even got pictures with the actor.

He introduced himself as someone who works in TV and film and started a tech startup. He added that he is directing a movie for Netflix about AI. Gordon-Levitt has recently been outspoken about AI issues and attended a number of events in the last year, including Utah’s AI summit in December.

“The question is what are the principles, what are the morals that are guiding the development and the design of this technology,” he said. “And I’ll tell you, from what I’ve learned, to me, there’s only one principle at play right now: making money.”

Gordon-Levitt pointed out that society works best when there is a balance between market incentives and the public good. He said there is no balance in the AI industry right now.

“There is no balance because there are virtually no laws governing it,” he said. “There are more laws in place governing how you make and sell the sandwich than there are governing this incredibly powerful new revolutionary technology that’s going to change all of our lives.”

Gordon-Levitt shared that he has three kids, ages 10, eight and three.

“I’m worried about them growing up in a future that’s dominated by these amoral AI businesses that have proven time and time again that they are incapable of prioritizing the well-being of kids,” he said.

What does Utah’s AI bill do?

Utah has been working to lead the way in AI development and regulation. In 2023, state lawmakers created a first-of-its-kind AI policy lab that guides innovation and helps craft consumer protection reforms.

“Some AI systems today are extremely powerful. When they fail or are misused, the damage doesn’t stay small. It can spread fast and affect a lot of people at once,” Fiefia said.

Fiefia used to work for Google and has crafted this bill to help protect children who he said are the ones most harmed by the failures of AI.

The sponsor said that if passed, the bill would do four “simple things”:

1. Require companies to post public safety and child protection plans on their websites.

2. Require companies to be honest about the risks of their AI models.

3. Require companies to report incidents when they happen.

4. Protect whistleblowers so that engineers and other employees can speak openly about safety problems without fear of retaliation.

Under this bill there would be a civil penalty of $1 million for the first violation and subsequent violations would incur a penalty of $3 million.

On Tuesday, Fiefia introduced a substitute bill that would send money from these penalties into a fund that would allow the bill to pay for itself.

Critics of the bill say it could stifle the progress of AI development in Utah and go against the Trump administration’s goals with AI.

Fiefia denied these claims, saying there are “no content mandates, no government preapproval, no micromanaging algorithms. It doesn’t touch development, which means it doesn’t stifle innovation.”

He is working on a second bill that would address how minors use AI chatbots. That one has not yet been made public.

“Both bills really come from the same place, which is AI is already shaping kids’ lives and the rules just haven’t caught up,” Fiefia told the Deseret News.

During the hearing, May Kennedy, chief of staff of the Abundance Institute, spoke against the bill. She said that her organization supports transparency and protecting children but said the bill lacks important details.

“There’s several pieces of the bill that lack specificity, specifically in the definition area which will not help create the desired effect that we’re looking for,” Kennedy said. “If we’re here to try and regulate AI, a new technology like this deserves to have some specificity and clarity.”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s AI advocacy

In December, Gordon-Levitt joined Utah Gov. Spencer Cox at Utah’s AI summit. He spoke at the event about how society should prevent artificial intelligence companions from replacing real human relationships.

“The bedrock of any civilization is human relationships,” Gordon-Levitt said, as previously reported by the Deseret News. “There’s more to a human relationship than what any chatbot can do.”

In September, Gordon-Levitt made a video with The New York Times where he said “Meta’s AI chatbot is dangerous for kids.”

In 2025 he gave multiple other speeches about AI, mainly focusing on the need for AI regulations and how generative AI models are using the creations of many artists, as previously reported by the Deseret News.

In June, when he addressed the United Nations’ internet Governance Forum, his short speech focused on AI regulations and ended with a simple principle.

“Your digital self should belong to you. That the data that humans produce — our writings and our voices and our connections, our experiences, our ideas — should belong to us. And that any economic value that’s generated from this data should be shared with the humans that produce it,” he said.

Tonight’s Coast 2 Coast Tuesday NBA excitement begins at 8:00 PM ET when the Milwaukee Bucks head to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers. Then, at 10 PM ET, it’s the LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz in a West Coast showdown. Live coverage of tonight’s doubleheader begins at 7:00 PM ET on NBC and Peacock. See below for additional information on how to watch each game and follow all of the NBA action on NBCSN and Peacock. Peacock will feature 100 regular-season games throughout the course of the 2025-2026 season.

Click here to sign up for Peacock!

LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz Preview:

Tonight’s game marks the third and final meeting of the season between the Clippers and Jazz. Utah won the first matchup 129-108 at home on October 22, before Los Angeles answered back with a 118-101 victory on January 1 to even the series.

The Clippers enter tonight’s game on a hot streak, going 15-3 over their last 18 games, including wins in eight of their last nine games. Meanwhile, the Jazz are still searching for consistency, having lost six of their last seven and 12 of their last 15 overall.

The dog days of the season in January is when we see some odd results.

How to watch LA Clippers vs Utah Jazz:

• When: Tonight, Tuesday, January 27
• Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, UT
• Time: 10:00 PM ET
• TV Channel: NBC
• Live Stream: Peacock

What other NBA games are on Peacock tonight?

• Milwaukee Bucks vs Philadelphia 76ers – 8 PM ET on NBC and Peacock

How to watch the NBA on NBC and Peacock:

Peacock NBA Monday will stream up to three Monday night games each week throughout the regular season. Coast 2 Coast Tuesday presents doubleheaders on Tuesday nights throughout the regular season on NBC and Peacock. On most Tuesdays, an 8 p.m. ET game will be on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones, and an 8 p.m. PT game on NBC stations in the Pacific and often Mountain time zones.

Check local listings each week. Both games will stream live nationwide on Peacock. NBC Sports will launch Sunday Night Basketball across NBC and Peacock on Feb. 1, 2026. For a full schedule of the NBA on NBC and Peacock, click here.

How to sign up for Peacock:

Sign up here to watch all of our LIVE sports, sports shows, documentaries, classic matches, and more. You’ll also get tons of hit movies and TV shows, Originals, news, 24/7 channels, and current NBC & Bravo hits—Peacock is here for whatever you’re in the mood for.

NBA on NBC 2025-26 Schedule:

Click here to see the full list of NBA games that will air on NBC and Peacock this season.

What devices does Peacock support?

You can enjoy Peacock on a variety of devices. View the full list of supported devices here.

Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

The post Nina Dobrev Poses in a Bathrobe in Utah for Sundance Film Festival appeared first on Reality Tea.