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Source: Utah News
Abilene Christian Wildcats (10-11, 2-6 WAC) at Utah Valley Wolverines (16-6, 6-3 WAC)
Orem, Utah; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Utah Valley takes on Abilene Christian after Trevan Leonhardt scored 20 points in Utah Valley’s 83-55 win over the Tarleton State Texans.
The Wolverines have gone 10-0 in home games. Utah Valley averages 19.3 assists per game to lead the WAC, paced by Leonhardt with 6.0.
The Wildcats are 2-6 against WAC opponents. Abilene Christian ranks seventh in the WAC with 18.8 defensive rebounds per game led by Bradyn Hubbard averaging 3.6.
Utah Valley’s average of 7.0 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.9 more made shots on average than the 6.1 per game Abilene Christian allows. Abilene Christian has shot at a 44.7% clip from the field this season, 4.1 percentage points higher than the 40.6% shooting opponents of Utah Valley have averaged.
The Wolverines and Wildcats square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tyler Hendricks averages 2.3 made 3-pointers per game for the Wolverines, scoring 11.6 points while shooting 45.5% from beyond the arc. Jackson Holcombe is shooting 52.0% and averaging 17.0 points over the last 10 games.
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Hubbard is scoring 15.5 points per game and averaging 4.8 rebounds for the Wildcats. Rich Smith is averaging 14.1 points and 4.0 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wolverines: 7-3, averaging 83.2 points, 35.6 rebounds, 18.8 assists, 9.0 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 50.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.3 points per game.
Wildcats: 3-7, averaging 70.3 points, 24.5 rebounds, 13.3 assists, 9.4 steals and 2.5 blocks per game while shooting 44.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.5 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Source: Utah News
UT Arlington Mavericks (14-7, 6-3 WAC) at Utah Tech Trailblazers (13-11, 6-4 WAC)
Saint George, Utah; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Utah Tech hosts UT Arlington after Noah Bolanga scored 23 points in Utah Tech’s 65-59 win over the Tarleton State Texans.
The Trailblazers have gone 7-2 in home games. Utah Tech is seventh in the WAC with 8.7 offensive rebounds per game led by Ethan Potter averaging 2.5.
The Mavericks have gone 6-3 against WAC opponents. UT Arlington has a 1-0 record in games decided by less than 4 points.
Utah Tech averages 76.6 points, 10.4 more per game than the 66.2 UT Arlington gives up. UT Arlington has shot at a 44.6% rate from the field this season, 0.8 percentage points higher than the 43.8% shooting opponents of Utah Tech have averaged.
The Trailblazers and Mavericks square off Thursday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Jusaun Holt is averaging 10.6 points and 3.3 assists for the Trailblazers. Potter is averaging 14.9 points over the last 10 games.
Marcell McCreary averages 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Mavericks, scoring 13.9 points while shooting 36.0% from beyond the arc. Raysean Seamster is averaging 11.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and two steals over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Trailblazers: 6-4, averaging 74.1 points, 30.2 rebounds, 15.8 assists, 7.9 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.6 points per game.
Mavericks: 7-3, averaging 72.1 points, 34.8 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 7.8 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.6 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Source: Utah News
The Utah men’s basketball team has seven international players on its 2025-26 roster.
Of those foreign talents, two — Jacob Patrick (Germany) and Lucas Langarita (Spain) — arrived to Salt Lake City after competing in one of the many professional leagues Europe has to offer.
Recruiting players from pro circuits overseas has grown in popularity over the past few years (just ask Gonzaga and Arizona how its worked out for them), but with the rise of NIL and the challenges the NCAA has enforcing its eligibility rules in court, more and more NBA and NBA G League players alike are looking for avenues that lead back to college.
Utah has explored whether those paths are a viable option for the program as well, according to Runnin’ Utes head coach Alex Jensen.
“We’ve explored all that,” Jensen said Tuesday when asked whether he’d consider adding a G-League player or more professional players from Europe to the roster. “It’s interesting because there’s still a lot of questions of who has eligibility and who doesn’t, and you’re trying to anticipate how those rules are going to change.”
Jensen, a former assistant coach with the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks, has an understanding of how college and the NBA operate. The professionalization of the collegiate game has started to blur the lines between it and the pro level over the past few years, though, allowing for former second round pick James Nnaji to join Baylor midway through the season and Charles Bediako to return from the G League to Alabama.
Amari Bailey, who entered the 2023 NBA Draft after playing one season at UCLA, is striving to become the first person to return to college after playing in NBA games. Bailey made 10 appearances for the Charlotte Hornets after being selected by the franchise in the second round of the 2023 draft.
At the moment, Utah doesn’t have anyone on its roster with that kind of experience. Patrick has the richest pro background, having played four seasons with MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg out of the German BBL prior to joining the Runnin’ Utes for the 2025-26 campaign. Langarita, a 6-foot-5 guard who joined the team in December, averaged 16.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists in nine games with Casademont Zaragoza in the ACB U22 league.
The teams that have enlisted a former G League player or NBA draft pick have been subject to scrutiny by fans, coaches, media members and the president of the NCAA himself, Charlie Baker, who in a statement released in December said that the NCAA “has not and will not grant eligibility” to anyone who has signed an NBA contract before.
Gonzaga head coach Mark Few gave his perspective on the “wild” landscape following a Dec. 28 game at Pepperdine.
“It’s just wild out there right now,” Few said. “I mean, we really don’t have any organization or any real rules right now, and so guys are just trying to do whatever they can do. Until there’s a rule that says you can’t do it, it’s hard to blame anybody for doing what they’re doing.”
To Few’s point: until there are hard and fast rules stopping coaches from doing something they think will give them an edge, they’re going to look into it.
“We haven’t focused on one thing, but I think it’s the type of player,” Jensen said. “But yeah, we’ve explored all that.”
Here’s more of what Jensen had to say about Wednesday’s matchup with Arizona State, what he’s learned in his first year at the helm of his alma-mater and much more during Tuesday’s media availability session.
“The first year — it’s not an excuse — is never easy, but again, it’s day by day. And when you’re trying to build something, when you know next year rolls around and people come in, they can sense — I’m always hesitant to use the word culture — but what [and] how things are done, and what the expectations are, which has gotten better over the year. Again, being the second year, I think it’ll get better.”
“I think they’re dangerous, they’re explosive. They can score a lot of points. I think there’s some similarities to Oklahoma State.”
“Hopefully we can be led off of our defense. I think that helps us offensively. Then vice-versa; if we shoot shots on the first and second side, as opposed to the third and fourth, it makes defending them a lot harder, and I think it plays into their strengths.”
“That was one of the things that stuck out to me. I knew it was going to be like that, because we’re busy in the season, and that’s the advantage of this year, because obviously we weren’t here [this time last year].”
“You got to have somebody dedicated to that kind of leading that charge, instead of the coaches, because you have games and scouts and the other players that are here. But you kind of have to prep, so when the portal comes, you’ve done that work.”
It’s kind of fun, it’s interesting. It’s similar to the NBA in some aspects, but the pools so many more players, so it’s actually been fun.”
“That’s another reason I think you need a general manager, or even a front office, because the communications with agents is crucial because it’s got to be ongoing throughout the year, whether it’s next year or injuries with players. That’s one thing [Utah general manager Wes Wilcox] has been invaluable for us, because he has those conversations and leads that charge.”
“We’re in those discussions at the same time as trying to win the next game. But I don’t know how you do it without somebody like Wes.”
Source: Utah News
After weeks of reports saying that the Jazz were likely not going to make any big moves at the trade deadline, Utah’s front office dropped a nuke on the NBA landscape that nobody — Jazz fan or not — saw coming.
On Tuesday morning, the Memphis Grizzlies agreed to send former defensive player of the year Jaren Jackson Jr. to Utah along with Jock Landale, Vince Williams Jr. and John Konchar. In return, Memphis received rookie Walter Clayton Jr., Taylor Hendricks, George Niang, Kyle Anderson and three future first-round picks.
This trade left Jazz fans with a lot of excitement, confusion, frustration and seemingly every possible feeling in between.
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Let’s take an in-depth look at what this trade means for the Jazz this season, and for the years to come.
Jackson is listed at 6-foot-10 and 242 pounds, making him a really big power forward — which is the position that he should play.
Statistically speaking, he is not having his best season, but to his defense, it’s hard to put up great performances when your franchise cornerstone never plays and there is no plan in place for the future. He’s averaging three less points than he did in his all-star season last year (19.2 ppg) in similar minutes, and he didn’t even sniff the all-star ballot.
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But we’ve seen Jackson be great in the NBA before. He’s made the all-star team twice in his eight-year career, which is impressive since he was only the second-best player on his own team. He’s never made an all-NBA team, but he has made the first-team all-defense twice and the second-team just last season. In 2023, he led the league in blocks and took home his first and only defensive player of the year award.
Jackson has two very glaring weaknesses:
He can’t rebound.
He fouls a lot.
For a guy his size, his rebounding numbers are pretty atrocious, only averaging 5.6 in his career. This season, he is averaging a career-worst 0.9 offensive boards a game. He is one of the worst rebounding big men the league has to offer.
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And for as good of a rim protector as he is, he fouls a lot. This season, he is fourth in the league in fouls per game with 3.8. This has been a problem his whole career, and the numbers are pretty consistently bad. There’s no sign of it going down anytime soon.
But even with his flaws, Jackson is one of the premier shot blockers in the league, and his offensive skill set is as good as any Jazz big man in recent memory.
The vision seems to be pretty clear for the Utah Jazz: It’s all about size.
The Jazz could run a lineup of 7-foot-1 Lauri Markkanen at the small forward, 6-foot-10 Jackson at the four and 7-foot-2 Walker Kessler at center. That would be one of the biggest front courts in the NBA, and all three of those guys are top 100 players in the league.
The pairing of Jackson and Kessler actually really makes sense. Kessler’s stellar rebounding abilities could nullify Jackson’s lack thereof. Plus, I don’t think many people are going to want to try to finish at the rim with Kessler and Jackson awaiting them. Together, the two will average about 4 blocks a game.
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One issue with this grouping is that none of the three players mentioned are known for their playmaking and ball movement abilities. Between Markkanen, Jackson and Kessler, the three only have a career average of 4.2 assists per game. That’s not nothing, and I think people are valid to have a concern about the team’s ability to create.
This is where the glorious hypotheticals come in.
Let’s say the Jazz get lucky in the lottery in May and wind up with the No. 1 selection. As of today, I think the obvious choice would be Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, who could really help on the playmaking side of things for the Jazz.
Utah could see a lineup of Keyonte George, Peterson, Markkanen, Jackson and Kessler, plus Ace Bailey coming off the bench. That’s a really talented starting five and one that has a clear direction and chance to make the playoffs.
But make no mistake, the Jazz could still make moves before the start of next year. They’re going to have to pay to keep Kessler around, they already are paying Markkanen over $40 million, Jackson will make $50 million a year for four years starting next season and George will be looking at a deserved sizable extension next year too. It’ll be an expensive starting unit.
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I don’t love Jackson at the five, which is why I think pairing him with Kessler is so vital, but will such a unique lineup work? I wouldn’t be surprised if more trades happen over the next eight months.
The Jazz aren’t losing sleep over giving up Kyle Anderson and Georges Niang. The big “loss” was cutting ties with former No. 9 pick Taylor Hendricks and last year’s No. 18 selection Walter Clayton Jr.
Hendricks has not impressed in his first season coming off of a gruesome leg injury and was struggling to get minutes for a team that could desperately use anyone to step up. He logged zero minutes in four of the Jazz’s last six games. Clayton didn’t show much for the Jazz to be sad that he is no longer on the team, but I am still curious to see how he pans out in the league.
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The three picks given up are as follows:
The most favorable 2027 pick between the Jazz, Timberwolves and Cavaliers.
The Lakers 2027 first-round pick, top-four protected.
The Suns’ 2031 first-round pick, unprotected.
Giving up the Suns’ 2031 pick is rough. All signs point to that pick being pretty valuable, but to do big trades you have to give up big assets.
Two of the three other players that the Jazz got in the deal really intrigue me: Vince Williams Jr. and Jock Landale.
Williams is going to really help with the playmaking concerns if he is also on the team next year. In only 20 minutes a game he averages 8.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. He doesn’t shoot as well as one would hope, shooting only 32.0% from deep, but it’s not deplorable by any means. He also immediately becomes one of the Jazz’s best on-ball defenders, a skill that Utah desperately needs.
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Landale is having a career year, — albeit on a bad team — averaging 11.3 points per game on 38.3% 3-point shooting. Anybody that can shoot that well from deep will always be welcome on an NBA roster.
I see what the Jazz are doing. It is the first time since the Mitchell-Gobert era that Utah seems to now have a clear direction, which is refreshing.
Even with the concerns about fit or style of play, I think Will Hardy has shown that he is a good enough coach to make things work. I expect the Jazz to be a playoff team next season.
But even with this newfound faith that has been instilled in the Jazz, they still need to get a top-three pick in this year’s draft. The whole purpose of this rebuild has been to build a championship-level team, and the Jazz are not one without Peterson, AJ Dybantsa or Cam Boozer.
Source: Utah News
Source: Utah News
After over 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival has had its last hurrah in Park City, Utah, this week. The yearly film festival is arguably the country’s premier event for independent filmmakers, drawing nearly 100 feature films every year that often snag major distribution deals (the SF-set film “The Invite” reportedly just sold for over $10 million). In 2025, the festival attracted 85,472 attendees, an increase of 17% year over year. But come 2027, those attendees – and the $196.1 million they spent – will be heading elsewhere.
To the dismay of many Park City residents, the festival decided last year that it would be packing its bags for Boulder, Colorado. That came after a competitive bidding process, of which a joint bid from Salt Lake City and Park City was a finalist (the other finalist was Cincinnati). The move will mean an end to an endearing tradition that’s become synonymous with the small Utah ski town and a boon for many local businesses.
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However, according to the mayor, Park City isn’t as concerned as one might think.
Channing Tatum attends the “Josephine” premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles Center Theater on Jan. 23, 2026, in Park City, Utah. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images)
“I wouldn’t say [it’s] crushing. We made our best effort to keep it, but we’ve also had Sundance around in town long enough that we know Sundance’s challenges really well,” Mayor Ryan Dickey told SFGATE.
Dickey, himself a longtime attendee of the festival, says the city is not worried about a budget shortfall, or considering cutting any services. Even if Sundance chose to stay in Utah, the state’s proposal was to move the festival’s epicenter to Salt Lake City, using Park City as a satellite site for special events (currently Salt Lake City hosts some screenings, but seldom has premieres). The state proposed a free bus service running every 30 minutes, 18 hours a day to help bridge the gap between the two cities.
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“Even in trying to keep Sundance, it wasn’t, ‘Hey, stay here and do the same thing over and over again.’ We proposed a really different festival. Our bid was to keep it in partnership with Salt Lake,” he said.
Utah reportedly offered Sundance over $12 million annually in cash and in-kind contributions to incentivize the festival to stay in the state, plus $10 million in private donations. However, Park City Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff told NPR affiliate KDCW that many components of the bid required application through a grant process, compared to Colorado’s guaranteed offerings.
FILE: Skiers sit in a chairlift on March, 2, 2015, in Park City, Utah. (EyesWideOpen/Getty Images)
Colorado’s bid included $34 million in incentives over the next 10 years, plus another $34 million in state tax credits. The package included $150,000 in renewable energy credits, $355,000 for free buses and 5,000 e-bike passes, $75,000 for city support, $200,000 for public safety staffing, up to $250,000 in city tax revenue and $500,000 worth of free parking.
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It’s a hearty package, but Cris Jones, Boulder’s director of strategic partnerships, feels that the money is only part of the appeal.
“Sundance in many ways – at least in what they’ve communicated to us – has outgrown the Park City footprint a long time ago,” Jones told SFGATE.
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For locals, the traffic is one of the biggest pain points brought on by the festival. Dickey said that 88% of the town’s workforce lives outside city limits. Talk to any local on the bus clad in ski gear, and they’ll tell you that the parade of black SUVs carrying stars isn’t a particularly welcome sight.
“It’s interesting, it’s always been a sort of love/hate with our residents. With Sundance, it is gridlock traffic for more or less four or five days in a small mountain town,” Dickey said.
Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival, speaks onstage during the Sundance Legacy Party presented by Kanopy at the Park on Jan. 28, 2026, in Park City, Utah. (Fred Hayes/Getty Images for Kanopy (OverDri)
Lodging is often one of the biggest gripes for attendees. Despite Boulder having a population over 10 times the size of Park City (108,000 compared to 8,900), Park City actually has a larger amount of hotel rooms than Boulder (4,000 compared to 2,900). The major difference is the surrounding areas – within 40 miles, Boulder has 74,000 rooms compared to 20,000 in Salt Lake City. Jones also said the city is exploring ways to allow more local homeowners to offer short-term rentals. According to data from AirDNA, Park City saw 33,594 nights’ worth of booking in 2025, with an average rate of $677 per property. With such a high cost, it’s not uncommon for attendees to pack multiple people into a bedroom (this reporter has stayed both on a living room floor and in bunk beds).
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“If you think about who is attending film festivals, young filmmakers, they just couldn’t afford to come stay in Park City,” Dickey said.
For many, Park City is synonymous with the festival, but its year-round identity has more to do with skiing. The ski industry contributed $2.5 billion to Utah’s economy during the 2024-2025 season, including $1.32 billion from Summit County, where Park City is located. And the region continues investing in attracting more skiers, with major resort companies Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company (which own Park City Mountain and nearby Deer Valley Resort respectively) undergoing major renovation projects: Deer Valley is unveiling 80 new runs and Park City is adding a new lift.
However, the city is currently going through a snow drought. As of Dec. 21, only 4% of Park City Mountain’s terrain was open to skiers. It’s a stark contrast to 2024, which in February had its snowiest month ever. Dickey expressed that he believes that a successful ski season can fill the gap left by the festival’s departure.
Daeyoon Jung, left, of South Korea races against Ikuma Horishima of Japan in their semifinal race in the men’s dual moguls final during the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup at Deer Valley Resort on Feb. 8, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
“We’re not sure it’s going to have any economic impact at all,” Dickey said. “Sundance has a big economic impact, but we actually have this history from COVID of two different years where we had no Sundance Film Festival. And what we had was two extra weekends that were just monster ski weekends, and we expect to have that again.”
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If you consider ski season to be seven months long, 10 days of ski revenue for the county equates to about $87 million – a giant sum, but well short of Sundance’s $196 million impact.
Even so, local bar and restaurant O’Shucks White House also concurred with Dickey’s sentiments, despite the major influx of Sundance business. On the first weekend of the festival, the bar was standing room only at lunchtime. The festival accounts for the 10 busiest days of the year, according to manager Manny Luna, resulting in nearly four times as much business. He said many of his peers also see increases of 200-300%, and vendors struggle to keep up with supply.
“It’s hectic, it’s crazy, you’re running like a chicken with your head cut off, because there’s no way you could predict how much sales you have,” Luna said.
Manny Luna, manager of O’Shucks White House, is picture at the entrance to the popular Park City, Utah, bar and restaurant. (Dan Gentile/SFGATE)
Even so, he didn’t seem all too concerned about the void the festival will leave. He expects more locals to come through the doors this time next year, since many leave town during the fest, and the additional skiers will help soften the revenue gap.
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“The only thing that’s scary is to not have snow. Because if we don’t have snow, we’re not going to have people coming, that’s the scary part,” Luna said.
Beyond the economic impact, the cultural void left by the festival will be felt throughout the city. The Egyptian Theatre on Main Street, whose history dates back to the early 1900s, was the original home of the film festival. It operates as a venue for live music, theater and comedy through most of the year, but its sparkling marquee has become one of the images most associated with Sundance. The theater boasts the only remaining work in town by street artist Banksy, a little rat from 2010, when “Exit Through the Gift Shop” premiered at the fest. And it has seen its fair share of celebrities over the years.
“In terms of star power, our theater is a magnet for that,” owner Randy Barton said. “One day there was a panel about the power of story. It featured Robert Redford to my right, Bill Gates is standing 5 feet away, and here comes Bill and Hillary Clinton. So it was a pretty good little moment in the small town lobby of a theater.”
But he insists that jobs won’t be going away as a result of the festival leaving, and that there will be some bright sides for locals and skiers.
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“I know room rates won’t be as high, and it’ll be easier to get into restaurants for locals and others visiting,” Barton says. “It was a 10-day period out of a 365-day calendar – it’s not like this is our deal and we rely on it to keep us afloat.”
John Cooper and Sarah Pierce speak onstage during “Everyone Has A Story: Four Decades of the Sundance Film Festival in Utah” during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Marquis on Jan. 30, 2026, in Park City, Utah. (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
For longtime attendees of the festival, a couple of extra ski weekends is no substitute for the wealth of world-class cinema. Sean Baker of Salt Lake City has attended the festival for 30 years, volunteering for about 20, and has seen around 850 films by his account. This year, his favorite so far has been “See You When I See You” from director Jay Duplass (“The Puffy Chair,” “Jeff, Who Lives at Home”), and one of the most memorable experiences was the 2001 screening of Christopher Nolan’s “Memento.”
“[I was just] thinking, ‘Oh, he’s going to go somewhere.’ It’s so much fun to watch all these budding directors start somewhere so small, and then go on to be these powerful juggernauts in the film industry,” he said.
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Baker was in disbelief when he heard the news of the departure, since Sundance has renewed the contract many times over the years despite bids from other cities. Even so, he plans to follow the festival to Boulder next year, but it won’t be the same to not have the festival in his backyard.
“It’s just so many memories, it’s just crazy. To see it leave, it’s kind of heartbreaking,” he said.
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This article originally published at Utah is losing $196M in Sundance revenue. The state isn’t scared..
Source: Utah News
Election officials across the Western United States, including Utah, are leaving office at a record pace, often citing personal reasons to resign from their positions before their terms have expired.
About 50% of chief local election officials in Western states left their jobs between November 2020 and November 2025, often in the middle of their tenure, according to a new analysis by Issue One, a nonprofit political advocacy organization. That number was especially high in Utah, which ranked fourth of the 11 Western states included in the study.
Utah has generally reported a higher rate of turnover compared to other states as 69% of the state’s 29 counties have experienced turnover in at least one election for a chief election official since 2020, the study shows. Of those who left, 90% stepped down voluntarily compared to just 10% who lost reelection or who were fired.
Nearly half (47%) left before their terms were over. One of the election officials who resigned, former Utah County Deputy Clerk Josh Daniels, told Issue One he stepped down “largely because of the political dynamic.” Internal politics within the country, he said, had made the job “difficult because (elected political officials) were giving credence to false and misleading election conspiracies and turning the administration of elections into a political issue.”
Arizona had the highest turnover rate with 100% of its counties reporting at least one chief election official leaving since 2020, according to the report. That was followed closely by New Mexico with 91% and Nevada coming in third with 65%.
The report raises concerns as it compiled data from 11 states in the Western region — Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming — and is home to about 23% of the country’s population. Overall, more than 250 people have left their jobs over the last five years, amounting to 50% of the 430 chief local election official positions.
Fifty-three of those officials left after the 2024 election alone.
Officials as Issue One listed a number of policy recommendations to better protect election officials from political threats and better retain those in the highest positions overseeing local races. The group also suggested “doing more to financially assist cash-strapped jurisdictions” to ensure counties have the resources needed to carry out elections as well as dedicating resources to retain current officials.
“Election officials are the unsung heroes of our democracy, and they need additional support now more than ever. High turnover rates are alarm bells we cannot ignore,” Issue One Policy Director Michael McNulty said in a statement. “Lawmakers and policymakers across the country at every level of government can help alleviate the effects of this alarming trend. And instead of sowing confusion or distrust, political leaders in both parties should stand up for the dedicated officials who ensure free, fair, safe, and secure elections in our country.”
Source: Utah News
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A report from the NRCS-Utah Snow Survey announced that there is a new record low for statewide snowpack.
The survey reported that as of Jan. 31, Utah’s snow levels started setting records. Utah’s statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) measured at our SNOTEL weather stations was an average of 5.1 inches. This marks a new record low since the start of the SNOTEL era in 1980.
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“Unfortunately, we are setting records now for how poor our snowpack is, and we will continue to do so every day until we start to see some snow,” said Jordan Clayton, supervisor of the NRCS-Utah Snow Survey.
Snowpacks measure the water content of the snow. The amount of water in the snowpack is important because it is critical for future water use, such as for municipal needs.
“We get most of the water that we need from our snowpack,” Clayton said. “95 percent of the water that we use for municipalities, for domestic use, for agriculture, for industry… comes from our snowpack.”
Snow water equivalent percent. Courtesy: NRCS
31 of Utah’s 140 SNOTEL sites are reporting a record low level of SWE. Of Utah’s major basins, four have record low SWE based on current conditions. The statewide snow water equivalent (SWE) is only about one-third of our usual statewide peak SWE.
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More information on the survey can be found online.
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.
Source: Utah News
Graphic videos showing the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk while he spoke to a crowd on a Utah college campus quickly went viral, drawing millions of views.
Now, attorneys for the man charged in Kirk’s killing want a state judge to block such videos from being shown during a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Defense attorneys also want to oust TV and still cameras from the courtroom, arguing that “highly biased” news outlets risk tainting the case.
Prosecutors and attorneys for news organizations urged state District Judge Tony Graf to keep the proceedings open. But legal experts say the defense team’s worries are real: Media coverage in high-profile cases such as Tyler Robinson’s can have a direct “biasing effect” on potential jurors, said Cornell Law School Professor Valerie Hans.
“There were videos about the killing, and pictures and analysis (and) the entire saga of how this particular defendant came to turn himself in,” said Hans, a leading expert on the jury system. “When jurors come to a trial with this kind of background information from the media, it shapes how they see the evidence that is presented in the courtroom.”
Prosecutors intend to seek the death penalty for Robinson, 22, who is charged with aggravated murder in the Sept. 10 shooting of Kirk on the Utah Valley University campus in Orem. An estimated 3,000 people attended the outdoor rally to hear Kirk, a co-founder of Turning Point USA, who helped mobilize young people to vote for President Donald Trump.
To secure a death sentence in Utah, prosecutors must demonstrate aggravating circumstances, such as that the crime was especially heinous or atrocious. That’s where the graphic videos could come into play.
Watching those videos might make people think, “’Yeah, this was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel,’” Hans said.
Further complicating efforts to ensure a fair trial is the political rhetoric swirling around Kirk, stemming from the role his organization played in Trump’s 2024 election. Even before Robinson’s arrest, people had jumped to conclusions about who the shooter could be and what kind of politics he espoused, said University of Utah law professor Teneille Brown.
“People are just projecting a lot of their own sense of what they think was going on, and that really creates concerns about whether they can be open to hearing the actual evidence that’s presented,” she said.
Robinson’s attorneys have ramped up claims of bias as the case has advanced, even accusing news outlets of using lip readers to deduce what the defendant is whispering to his attorneys during court hearings.
Fueling those concerns was a television camera operator who zoomed in on Robinson’s face as he talked to his attorneys during a Jan. 16 hearing. That violated courtroom orders, prompting the judge to stop filming of Robinson for the remainder of the hearing.
“Rather than being a beacon for truth and openness, the News Media have simply become a financial investor in this case,” defense attorneys wrote in a request for the court to seal some of their accusations of media bias. Unsealing those records, they added, “will simply generate even more views of the offending coverage, and more revenue for the News Media.”
Prosecutors acknowledged the intense public interest surrounding the case but said that does not permit the court to compromise on openness. They said the need for transparency transcends Robinson’s case.
“This case arose, and will remain, in the public eye. That reality favors greater transparency of case proceedings, not less,” Utah County prosecutors wrote in a court filing.
Defense attorneys are seeking to disqualify local prosecutors because the daughter of a deputy county attorney involved in the case attended the rally where Kirk was shot. The defense alleges that the relationship represents a conflict of interest.
In response, prosecutors said in a court filing that they could present videos at Tuesday’s hearing to demonstrate that the daughter was not a necessary witness since numerous other people recorded the shooting.
Among the videos, prosecutors wrote, is one that shows the bullet hitting Kirk, blood coming from his neck and Kirk falling from his chair.
Source: Utah News