Utah News

In his first 100 days back in office, Donald Trump signed five bills into law — fewer than any president in decades — but Sen. John Curtis, Utah’s newest U.S. senator, isn’t blaming the president.

“This is not so much, in my mind, dependent on the president, but on us,” Curtis said during a recent interview.

Congressional Republicans currently have a majority in both chambers, holding 53 of 100 seats in the Senate and 220 seats in the 435-person House. Despite the majority, Congress passed six bills during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, according to a Time Magazine analysis.

“Having not been in the Senate with a new president,” Curtis said, “this is kind of a new experience for me, but my a-ha moment was, ‘Holy cow, we have a lot of nominations, and the reconciliation [budget process] is taking a lot of time.’”

In his last session as a member of the House of Representatives, where Curtis served beginning in 2017 until taking office as a senator this January, the former Provo mayor was ranked the fifth most effective House Republican by the Center for Effective Lawmaking, as three of the 48 bills he proposed during the session were signed into law by then-President Joe Biden.

He’s hopeful he’ll be back on the same track soon. Once lawmakers are through with the budget and the Senate is done confirming nominees, Curtis said he thinks Congress will make more legislative progress.

As of Wednesday, no member of Utah’s congressional delegation has had a standalone bill signed into law during Trump’s second term, though several pieces of legislation sponsored by the federal lawmakers have begun to move through the House and Senate in recent weeks.

The Salt Lake Tribune looked at all the legislation Utah’s congressional delegation has introduced so far this year. This assessment focused largely on bills — not resolutions — that are chiefly sponsored by Utah’s members, and do not include legislation they are signed onto as co-sponsors.

Here’s a look at what all of Utah’s representatives are pushing in Congress right now:

Sen. Mike Lee

While most members of Utah’s congressional delegation have largely tailored their legislative proposals in the early months of this session to their areas of expertise and committee assignments, Mike Lee, the state’s senior U.S. senator, has proposed more than 50 bills already this year, which touch on a wide range of issues.

Lee’s office did not respond to a request for an interview or comment regarding his legislative priorities, though he has frequently highlighted his SAVE Act on social media in recent weeks. The bill, should it become law, would require proof of citizenship to vote, and a House version of the legislation passed the lower chamber last month.

In his public comments about the bill, Lee has frequently pushed misinformation about immigrant voters.

“Illegal immigrants and non-citizens across the nation are being improperly registered to vote, allowing them to cast illegitimate ballots in federal elections,” Lee said in a statement last year when he first introduced the bill. “At a time when trust in voting is more important than ever, we must stop foreign election interference and pass the SAVE Act.”

According to voting rights organization The Brennan Center for Justice, cases of non-citizens voting are extremely rare: In a 2016 assessment of 42 areas in the U.S. with high immigrant populations, the center found just 30 cases of suspected noncitizens voting, or just 0.0001% of votes cast.

Lee has also proposed legislation that would ban the use of federal funds for a federal database tracking racial disparities in affordable housing access; lift restrictions on abortion clinic protesters; terminate the U.S.’s membership in the United Nations; require age verification for app store purchases and online adult content; ban the use of union “official time;” and shift Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, costs onto states, a move that could hit Utahns particularly hard.

Since taking office in 2011, Lee has introduced more than 500 bills. Six have been signed into law, according to GovTrack.

Sen. John Curtis

In his first term in the Senate, Curtis said he continues to focus on energy, climate and public lands issues, and that he sees the U.S.’s relationship to China and tackling the national debt as high-priority issues for this session.

“I’m not afraid to talk about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and reform,” Curtis said. “I think it’s a false narrative that you have to take away benefits to do it better, and [for] Social Security, that you somehow have to hurt our seniors to reform it. So I’m going to be really aggressive about that, because the debt really, really bothers me.”

One of the other early legislative focuses for Curtis has been the Fix Our Forests Act, which aims to reduce wildfire risks in U.S. forests.

“I think this is a really good example of coming together on an issue that Republicans and Democrats don’t always agree on,” Curtis said of the legislation. “Fires are becoming a bigger deal, and … I think this really is a very, very important bill.”

Despite its bipartisan group of co-sponsors, the bill has attracted some pushback from environmentalists, as it would allow for increased logging on federal land. A House version of the bill passed through the chamber in January.

Curtis has also introduced bills that, if passed and signed by Trump, would require a report on possible money laundering by the Chinese government, aim to address the presence of Hezbollah in Latin America and look into the expansion of Utah’s Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

“I aspire someday to have that run all the way across the state,” Curtis said of the trail. “The better that will be for recreation, for access, and once again, the more people that recreate there, the better. We’re giving them access, literally right out [in] their backyard, to just some amazing recreation.”

Curtis also had his first piece of legislation as a senator — a resolution undoing a Biden-era EPA rule — pass through the Senate earlier this month.

tk

Rep. Blake Moore

Rep. Blake Moore, who took office in 2021 and serves as the House Republican conference vice chair, is the first Utahn to serve in House leadership. A member of the House Ways and Means and Budget committees, most of the legislation Moore has proposed this year focuses on changes to the tax code. During a recent interview, he said the budget reconciliation process has been his central focus in recent weeks.

Moore, who represents Utah’s 1st Congressional District, is the main sponsor of the Family First Act, which aims to enhance the Child Tax Credit, a benefit for families of up to $2,000 for each dependent child under the age of 17. Moore said he is “highly confident” the proposal will be included in and passed via the reconciliation process.

“If we don’t do anything about the child tax credit in the next nine months, that will drop back down to $1,000, which is pre-2017 levels,” Moore said. “When you look at the time value of money, that would be a significant decrease in the Child Tax Credit, so we’re trying to enhance that, and it would be part of this larger package.”

Moore said he was not as confident that some of his other proposals would progress via reconciliation, including a bill that would provide an affordable housing tax credit for members of the armed forces, but that he intends to focus on passing them as standalone legislation once the budget process is complete.

As of Thursday, Moore has so far been the most successful member of Utah’s congressional delegation, having had two bills he is sponsoring, the MAPWaters Act of 2025 and the Hershel Woody Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act, pass the House.

​”That’s going to be something that will be lasting and pretty neat to be able to have as a legacy piece that doesn’t cost the government any money,” Moore said of his work on placing the monument in Washington. “The development of it, the design of it, is all in conjunction with private owners … so it’s a neat little thing that is fiscally sound and also will enhance visitation to our nation’s capital and honor those… [who have] entered our armed services.”

Rep. Celeste Maloy

Rep. Celeste Maloy joined the delegation in 2023 following the resignation of former 2nd Congressional District Rep. Chris Stewart, and has so far proposed legislation this session related to water rights, congressional authority to designate national monuments, and the right for states to decide if they want to stay on daylight savings time year round, among other issues.

Maloy became one of the first members of Utah’s delegation to get a full vote on the House floor last week, as the House passed a joint resolution she sponsored to block a National Park Service rule limiting the use of off-road vehicles and ATVs in Glen Canyon Recreation Area.

“I introduced a resolution to nullify a senseless rule that limits recreation in a National Recreation Area, and I’m thrilled to see the House advance it,” she said in a statement. “Ensuring that agencies are managing land for multiple uses, as directed by Congress, is a continuous battle that I will continue to fight so that people in Utah and across the country are free to continue exploring and enjoying the land that was set aside for them.”

Maloy’s office did not respond to a request for an interview or comment regarding her legislative priorities this year.

Rep. Mike Kennedy

Rep. Mike Kennedy is Utah’s newest member of Congress and has thus far proposed eight pieces of legislation in the early months of his first congressional session.

“It has been my priority since I arrived on Capitol Hill to be a voice for Utah issues and safeguard United States interests,” the 3rd Congressional District representative said in a statement to The Tribune. “So far, I have proposed legislation to clean up federal government waste in Moab, fight back against [Bureau of Land Management] overreach when it comes to our public lands, and protect children from the dangers of ultra-processed foods in their school lunches. As I continue my work, I remain committed to elevating Utah’s priorities at the federal level.”

Kennedy is the lead House sponsor on the Moab UMTRA Project Transition Act of 2025 — a bill that Curtis has taken on as the lead Senate sponsor — which aims to transfer federal land previously used for a uranium milling operation in southern Utah to Grand County.

He has also joined with both Curtis and Lee to sponsor the Historic Roadways Protection Act, following a decision by the BLM to close a number of historic Utah roadways. Should the bill become law, it would prevent the agency from closing certain roads while a court fight over closures is ongoing.

Additionally, Kennedy has waded into “Make America Healthy Again” territory with his school lunches bill, which would ban “ultraprocessed foods” and several types of food dyes under the National School Lunch Act.

Rep. Burgess Owens

Rep. Burgess Owens, who originally took office in 2021, has focused most of his legislative proposals through the early months of this session on culture war issues in the education system, including the Say No to Indoctrination Act, which would ban federal funding for any school teaching “radical gender ideology,” as Owens said in a news release last month.

“[T]oo many schools are using taxpayer dollars to push political agendas instead of focusing on outcomes,” Owens said in a statement at the time. “The Say No to Indoctrination Act codifies President Trump’s commonsense executive order and puts a stop to this, ensuring that federal education funds go where they belong — into the classroom, not activism.”

Owens, who represents Utah’s 4th Congressional District, has also been promoting his Accreditation for College Excellence (ACE) Act. The bill would require that accreditors, according to a release from Owens’ office, “confirm their standards do not require, encourage, or coerce an institution to support or oppose specific partisan or political beliefs, viewpoints on social or political issues, or support the disparate treatment of any individual or group.”

In practice, the bill would mean that accreditors could not consider diversity, equity and inclusion teachings in the classroom as part of the accreditation process, and would protect the right for religious schools to require students to adhere to a religious code of conduct.

Owens also recently introduced a bill that would require unions to disclose any payments to consultants and legislation he proposed regarding the disclosure of foreign investments in U.S. universities included in the Defending Education Transparency and Ending Rogue Regimes Engaging in Nefarious Transactions (DETERRENT) Act, which passed the House last month.

Owens’ office did not respond to a request for an interview or comment on his legislative priorities during this session.

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.

Utah quarterback Cam Rising is hanging up his cleats, but he won’t be leaving the game of football entirely behind.

Rising, 25, announced on social media Wednesday that he would be retiring from football over medical reasons after suffering a hand injury during a game against Baylor in September.

Advertisement

“Due to a hand injury I suffered during the Baylor game, I’ve been advised by two orthopedic physicians that I will never be able to return to playing football,” Rising said. “I’ll be obtaining a 3rd medical opinion and will undergo the recommended surgery. I will continue to rehab and do all I can to get healthy. In the meantime, I will unfortunately be forced to medically retire from the game I love.

“My why has always been my family. I have always thought of my teammates as my brothers and always will. Thank you guys for always pushing me to improve and just making this game enjoyable. Thank you to the coaches for guiding me in the right direction to become a better man and football player. Coach Ludwig, thank you for turning me into a football nerd and showing me the correct way to respect that game. Lastly, thank you to all the fans and everyone that supported me throughout my career. You all made the moments special.”

While Rising won’t be on the field for Utah anymore, he will be on the sidelines for his high school alma mater, Newbury Park, as its offensive coordinator, ESPN reported.

Advertisement

Rising was a three-year starter at the California high school from 2015-17 before spending his first college season at the University of Texas.

The 25-year-old played 30 total games during his time with Utah and led the program to Pac-12 championships in 2021 and 2022.

But injuries hindered his time on the field, and this past season, he played in just three games.

DENVER (KDVR) — An NHL team now located in Utah has gone through some massive changes over the years, initially starting out as the Phoenix Coyotes, then the Arizona Coyotes before packing up and relocating to Utah altogether.

This Colorado water park was named the second best in the US

Advertisement

The newly moved team started in its new home, Salt Lake City, as the Utah Hockey Club during the 2024-25 season. However, as the end of the NHL season approaches, the team is due for one more change — the official name selection for the team, which will now be known as the Utah Mammoth.

Nexstar affiliate station ABC4 in Salt Lake City posted the update on Wednesday morning.

The Smith Entertainment Group used four rounds of voting in an over-year-long process that saw upwards of 850,000 fans vote to select the permanent name of their new hockey team.

“We couldn’t be more excited to launch the official name and marks for Utah’s NHL hockey team,” said Ryan and Ashley Smith in a joint statement. “When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented – going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also potential logos. We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity.”

Advertisement

While the news may be breaking in Utah, Coloradans might have heard the name somewhere else in their own state.

Lacrosse is a fast-growing sport and may not have as much popularity as football, baseball or basketball yet, but it has been a staple for professional sports in Colorado since 2003, the year the Colorado Mammoth were officially introduced as the newest franchise in downtown Denver.

April Schofield, a senior lecturer of marketing at Metropolitan State University Denver, as well as an avid Denver sports fan, told FOX31’s Greg Nieto that the pair of names “presents a fascinating case of identity and differentiation.”

She says the same name and logo can create some brand confusion with social media, merchandising and digital spaces.

Advertisement

“For sports branding, fan identity is everything,” Schofield told Nieto. “Sports teams are selling a lot more than tickets and merchandise … they’re selling pride and emotional connection.”

After hearing of the Utah NHL team’s name change, the Colorado Mammoth threw a playful jab at the Utah Mammoth in a post on X.

The Utah Mammoth posted on X, “A new Ice Age Dawns. Introducing Utah Mammoth.” The statement was accompanied by a video and the hashtag #TusksUp.

The Colorado Mammoth quoted the post and in its own post said, “Mammoth since 2003.” The post included the hashtag #TuskUp, a singular tusk as opposed to Utah’s plural, a hashtag that has been used in the team’s social posts for a long period of time.

Advertisement

The Colorado Mammoth won the National Lacrosse League championship twice during the team’s time in Denver, during the 2006 and 2022 seasons.

While it’s not an ideal situation for a team’s identity, shared names have popped up in professional sports many times. Some of those teams include:

• Rangers — NHL: New York, MLB: Texas

• Giants — MLB: San Francisco, NFL: New York

• Panthers — NFL: Carolina, NHL: Florida

• Kings — NBA: Sacamento, NHL: Los Angeles

• Jets — NHL: Winnipeg, NFL: New York

• Cardinals — MLB: St. Louis, NFL: Arizona

Fan sues NFL for $100M after Shedeur Sanders’ late draft pick

NHL teams across the league, including the Colorado Avalanche, responded to the Utah Mammoth’s post on X with fun memes and GIFs involving mammoths.

The Avalanche responded with “Cold environments,” followed by a handshake emoji.

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

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.

The Utah Hockey Club is no more.

After an exhaustive search that lasted more than a year, the NHL’s Utah team announced they are rebranding as the Utah Mammoth for the 2025-26 NHL season.

“More than 10,000 years ago, herds of mammoth claimed Utah as their home and, ever since, the mammoth has embodied strength, momentum, and an earth-shaking presence – qualities that are brought to life by the passion of Utah’s hockey fans and that mirror the franchise’s bold emergence into the NHL. In a process driven by the community, the Utah Mammoth name was chosen by fans during a 13-month process involving four rounds of fan voting and more than 850,000 votes,” began a statement on the team’s website Wednesday.

Advertisement

The team also released this video on social media:

“We couldn’t be more excited to launch the official name and marks for Utah’s NHL hockey team. When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented – going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also on potential logos. We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity,” said Ryan and Ashley Smith, owners of the Utah Mammoth.

“From day one, we committed that this team would be built with and for the people of Utah, and we are excited to celebrate today’s launch with the entire state. The community chose the Utah Mammoth, and it stands as a symbol of who we are, where we came from, and the unstoppable force we’re building together.”

Here’s the franchise’s new sweaters. Yay or nay on these?

Advertisement

The main logo for the franchise will be the “Mountain Mammoth” logo, which contains subtle nods to the state of Utah. According to the team, the logo “captures the fierce power of the mammoth mid-charge, tusks up, and ready to attack. Within the mark are nods to the state, including the Wasatch Mountain Range and snow-capped peaks that form the beast’s crown; the shape of Utah, which is subtly embedded in the mountain silhouette; and the curved tusk to form a bold ‘U.’”

The team also released secondary logos, as well as a team badge:

The most fascinating aspect of the announcement might just be a new font, for the typeface enthusiasts among us. “Accompanying the visual identity is a unique custom-designed typeface, Mammoth Sans, which features a 10-degree forward slant that mirrors Utah’s mountainous terrain and reflects the team’s relentless pursuit of progress.”

Advertisement

The team will also introduce a mascot for home games next season, in the months to come.

More from sbnation.com:

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Tusks up, Utah! The Utah Hockey Club has officially rebranded into its new official and permanent name: the Utah Mammoth.

The Smith Entertainment Group said the name was chosen by fans during a more than year-long process involving four rounds of fan voting that included more than 850,000 votes.

“We couldn’t be more excited to launch the official name and marks for Utah’s NHL hockey team,” said Ryan and Ashley Smith in a joint statement. “When it came to naming the team, we did something unprecedented – going through four rounds of community voting, including getting feedback not only on potential names but also potential logos. We love the passion of the people of Utah and the way they showed up for the team during its inaugural season and the energy they brought to voting on its permanent identity.”

Advertisement

The Utah Mammoth will keep the color palette of Rock Black, Salt White and Mountain blue from the inaugural season, but will feature a new “Mountain Mammoth” primary logo on the chest and a Utah Badge on the shoulders. The away jersey will continue to have the inaugural UTAH stairstep design with the Mammoth featured on each shoulder.

Utah HC moves up to #4 pick in NHL Draft

Eager to get your hands on some merch featuring the new look? Good news. Smith Entertainment Group said a limited selection of first-run Mammoth merchandise, including shirts, hats, and hoodies, will be available at the Delta Center starting Wednesday, May 7.

Behind the name

According to the Smith Entertainment Group, the name selected by fans represents strength, momentum and an “earth-shaking presence.”

Advertisement

Over the years, mammoth fossils have been found throughout the Beehive State, including near Bear Lake, Fillmore, Orem, Park City and Lake Powell. In 1988, a complete mammoth skeleton was found in Huntington Canyon.

“These massive, relient creatures stood over 14 feet tall, weighed up to 22,000 pounds, and used their curved tusks to dig through snow, fend off predators and thrive in Utah’s glacial terrain,” SEG said in a statement unveiling the new brand. “Evidence suggests mammoths charged in herds at speeds exceeding 25 miles per hour, comparable to the speeds reached by the fastest skaters in the NHL.”

Latest headlines:

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

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

Dentists in Utah can tell rather quickly whether their patients grew up in the Salt Lake City area or in a different part of the state.

Salt Lake County, neighboring Davis County to the north and nearby Brigham City – home to about half of the state’s population – have been adding fluoride to the public drinking water for decades with local voter approval while other parts of the state generally have not.

“It’s pretty obvious. If I have new patients come into my practice, I can guess probably eight or nine times out of 10 if they’ve grown up in a fluoridated community,” said Dr. Darren Chamberlain, a pediatric dentist who practices a bit farther south in the state. “The reason I know is because, generally, they don’t have cavities.”

But that may soon change. Community fluoridation – considered one of the top public health success stories of the last century – has been banned in Utah, with a new law taking effect Wednesday. The change worries dentists and public health experts, who are concerned that it will lead to a rise in avoidable oral health issues, especially among young children from low-income families.

Fluoride is a mineral that can be found naturally in some foods and groundwater. It can help prevent tooth decay by strengthening the protective outer layer of enamel that can be worn away by acids formed by bacteria, plaque and sugars in the mouth. Adding fluoride to public water systems started in the United States in 1945.

The sponsor of the Utah legislation, Republican Rep. Stephanie Gricius, acknowledged fluoride has benefits, but said it was an issue of “individual choice” to not have it in the water. Discussions about financial costs of community fluoridation were also raised during legislative hearings in the state, as well as recent studies that raise questions about whether high fluoride levels negatively affect brain development in children.

The Trump administration has also ramped up scrutiny of fluoride, and US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said that he plans to tell the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation for public drinking water in communities.

Utah is the first state to pass a law banning public water fluoridation, and Kennedy championed the move during his visit to the state last month.

“I think it’s a moral imperative that we all believe in freedom of choice in this country,” Kennedy said. “It is one of the bedrock principles of our democracy, and the government shouldn’t be making decisions, intimate decisions about our own lives.”

Other states are also considering the change or taking action; on Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged to sign a bill passed by lawmakers to ban fluoride in municipal drinking water statewide.

Public health advocates stress that the amount of fluoride added to public water systems is far below the amount that would pose any health risk and that there is stronger evidence that removing fluoride from public drinking systems causes harm.

Experts say it may take a few years for the consequences of the change in Utah to become apparent. One study of Medicaid claims from a city in Alaska shows that five years after community fluoridation ended, there was an average of one additional procedure to treat tooth decay per child. And a city in Canada recently voted to add fluoride back into the drinking water after seeing that local second-graders had significantly higher rates of cavities than those in a neighboring city that fluoridated its water.

Action is left up to residents

Health officials and other concerned groups in Utah have been working to get the word out about the change and share information about alternative ways parents can get the protective benefits of fluoride for their children or adults can get it for themselves.

On Friday, the Utah Department of Health & Human Services released guidance encouraging residents to talk to their dentist, doctor or pharmacist about fluoride supplements.

“While community water fluoridation will no longer be available, there are measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of developing cavities,” Dr. Stacey Swilling, state dental director, said in a statement. “We encourage Utahns to have regular checkups with a dentist or healthcare provider to make sure they are doing everything they can to protect their oral health.”

The Utah Oral Health Coalition, a volunteer group of dozens of oral health professionals and advocates, is also launching a public awareness campaign centered around the tagline “My Smile Matters.” It’s a comprehensive initiative focused on steps people can take to keep the teeth and mouth healthy, including regular dentist visits, regular brushing and flossing, and use of fluoride supplements.

“Half of our state will be losing water fluoridation. The other half has not had it. So for half of the state, the message is: ‘You no longer have water fluoridation. Our job has become a little harder, and here are things we need you to know,’ ” said Lorna Koci, program director and chair of the coalition. “To the other half of the state that hasn’t had it, it’s still a wonderful message: ‘Here are the things you need to do to really have good oral health.’ ”

The hope is to use a wide range of partners – including health departments, community clinics, hospital systems, insurance companies, dental schools and school districts – to get the message out in as many different ways and places as possible.

The coalition also plans to partner with local universities to develop a plan to track the impacts of the fluoride ban. The goal is to collect information that many advocates wish the state legislature had before passing the fluoride ban.

“When we asked the governor to veto this bill, we said we really don’t have the information that’s needed to make a decision of this impact,” Koci said. “We wish we had more data available.”

An insufficient alternative

The new law in Utah allows pharmacists to provide fluoride directly, without a prescription from a dentist or doctor. While this broadens access for some, experts say supplements are an insufficient alternative to community water fluoridation – and may create new risks.

Fluoride supplements tend to have poor compliance, said Dr. Scott Tomar, professor and associate dean at the University of Illinois College of Dentistry and the American Dental Association’s spokesperson on community water fluoridation. There’s a financial burden as well as a steep logistical burden that falls on the family to administer the supplement every day, he said.

“We’re all just dealing with lots of other demands in our in our daily routine. You’re talking busy parents of young children, expecting them to now add one more thing to their daily routine,” Tomar said. “We just know from experience that the families that would benefit the most from that are probably the ones least likely to ensure compliance with daily administration.”

Fluoride supplements are available in the form of a chewable tablet or a lozenge that is sucked for at least a minute, according to the CDC. They are meant to be used every day and typically geared toward children.

Fluoride supplementation is not indicated for adults, Tomar said, so there’s no strong alternative for adults in areas that are stopping community water fluoridation.

The appropriate dosage for fluoride supplements varies, and experts worry that pharmacists and health care providers who are new to prescribing it – or haven’t had to do so in many years – may not have all the training or information they need.

The CDC has historically put out a report that providers use to assess the baseline level of fluoride in a community water system before supplementing it with tablets or drops, but Trump administration cuts to the federal agency’s oral health department leaves a critical gap.

These challenges could lead to overprescribing fluoride – a key argument for ending community water fluoridation in the first place.

“So now the Utah Dental Association is doing a lot of research to be able to help pharmacists, and we’re hoping to give reports out to say, ‘Hey, this is the natural amount of fluoride in these communities,’ because we are nervous about that,” said Chamberlain, who is a past president of the Utah Dental Association. “We want to make sure that the public is protected and that they’re getting the right amount of fluoride prescribed from whatever source it is from.”

Community water fluoridation was effective at preventing cavities, but now the burden falls on public health for more active messaging about prevention in oral health, said Brian Hatch, the Davis County health director. That will require a lot more public health resources, which are already stretched thin.

“Public health will have to do more in the future to make sure that we reinforce that message going out to every individual in the community,” Hatch said. “There hasn’t been a huge need to do a lot of that outreach, but now there is a need to make sure that it’s a reoccurring message.”

It will require more effort from individuals to support their own health, he said.

“The big shift that I’m probably most concerned about is how we make sure that we get the same bang for the buck by moving people to an active role in their own personal health instead of it being a passive system,” Hatch said.

Simple shift, big impact

The logistics around stopping the flow of fluoride into public water systems in Utah have been simple.

Three water treatment plants in Salt Lake City had already disconnected the system before the May 7 deadline. The fluoride was stored in a large tank and pumped into water in measured doses as it came out of treatment plants and ground water wells.

“The process of removing additional fluoride from the system is essentially just disconnecting the tanks that are used to store the acid from the treatment system,” said Laura Briefer, director of the Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities. “It’s basically just removing the feed pumps that are used to dose the water. It’s quite simple.”

But the department has been planning for this change for months, she said. Fluoride is bought in bulk like other treatment chemicals, and there are strict regulations around disposing of excess, so it made sense to start tapering off before ordering more.

There is some naturally occurring fluoride in the Salt Lake City water system, but the water company estimates that any additional fluoride will be processed through the system in a matter of days.

The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is in charge of ensuring that water systems across the state are complying with the new law, and it’s requested photo documentation that treatment has been disconnected.

In the weeks since the legislation was passed, the Salt Lake City public utilities department has had a “diversity of feedback from community members,” Briefer said; some residents have called to ask that fluoride be removed immediately while others have suggested that they should go against the law and keep adding fluoride.

“As a public water system, we’re charged with implementing the regulations before us,” she said. “We are also ultimately involved in protecting the public health.”

The Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities was not supportive of a fluoride ban in Utah and had lobbied legislators for a “compromise bill” that would include some monitoring of fluoride levels instead of “outright prohibition,” Briefer said. And it hasn’t determined whether it will dispose of the equipment used for community water fluoridation or save it for the possibility of future use.

“One of the things that I would like to see as an outcome of this is some additional monitoring about public health outcomes once the fluoride is removed from the systems that has been historically added to in our state,” Briefer said. “Since we’ve taken this action, I feel like, as a community, we have an obligation to understand what those impacts are, so that we can mitigate any negative impacts to the community we serve.”

Some of the world’s most influential experts on international relations will convene in Salt Lake City this week to help Utah businesses navigate the upheaval of global markets.

The second annual Crossroads of the World International Trade Summit will feature conversations with three former U.S. secretaries of state and two former prime ministers.

“It just shows once again that Utah is not just the crossroads of the West, it’s a crossroads of the world,” said Jeff Flake, former U.S. ambassador to Turkey, in a Deseret News interview.

“There are not many gatherings anywhere — in Washington, D.C., or New York, or L.A. — that have three former secretaries of state, along with former heads of state, ambassadors. So it just shows again that Utah is a significant player in international trade.”

Sponsoring the event is the state‘s largest financial institution, Zions Bank, and the state‘s nonprofit arm for international business outreach, World Trade Center Utah, which recently led a trade mission with Gov. Spencer Cox to Canada.

On Wednesday, attendees will hear from Flake, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a number of Utah executives, legislators and manufacturers, and Presiding Bishop Gérald Caussé of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On Thursday, attendees will hear from Cox, former secretaries of state Antony Blinken and Condoleezza Rice, former prime ministers Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand and Theresa May of the United Kingdom, and Australia Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd.

“It‘s an impressive list that I don’t think most states could do,” said Shad Morris, the director of the Whitmore Global Business Center at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School.

The fact that these high-profile players on the world stage are considering Utah’s important role during a period of economic turmoil is a sign that the state’s rapid acceleration is being noticed worldwide, Morris said.

Over the past decade, Utah has led the nation in GDP growth, according to the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Institute, and was the fastest growing state in the nation according to the most recent census.

“Coming to Utah just for this I think shows that Utah has been doing something right,” Morris told the Deseret News. “In the way we’re dealing with international trade, with economic policy, with business development.”

Building on past momentum

This year’s event hopes to build on momentum from World Trade Center Utah’s first global summit in 2024, which featured remarks from former President George W. Bush, former Mexican President Vicente Fox and past Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

World Trade Center Utah CEO Jonathan Freedman, who has held the position since 2023, said his goal is for the annual event to become a “world-class” conference “that just happens to be in Utah.”

“We want it to be known around the world,” Freedman said.

Appointing Flake as the board chairman for World Trade Center Utah in September was a big step in this direction, Freedman said.

Other board members with international experience, including Scott Anderson, the former CEO of Zions Bank, contribute to World Trade Center Utah’s strength which is its “global network,” Freedman said.

But in addition to raising Utah’s status on the global stage, events like Crossroads of the World provide essential resources for the small, medium and large businesses that make up the membership of World Trade Center Utah, Freedman said.

The organization has created a tariff dashboard to help Utah businesses navigate the complex timeline of executive orders, retaliatory actions and temporary pauses that have filled the months since President Donald Trump started his second term.

Many of the companies Freedman works with are struggling to plan for the future as the price of imported goods varies from day to day, he said. For some, the uncertainty has ruined their operations entirely.

“Companies need predictability, they need certainty, and they need to know where they can turn for answers,” Freedman said. “And although we do not have all the answers, we do not have a crystal ball, we can provide lots of resources to companies such as access to the best information.”

Conversations on Wednesday will focus on how businesses can handle “policy whiplash” and will give leaders the rare opportunity to engage with former officials from Republican, Democratic and foreign administrations who are able to speak candidly about the realities of global trade and foreign policy.

“Everyone is wondering how they navigate the situation we’re in; it’s a difficult environment for any companies here that rely on trade,” Flake said. “A lot of other companies benefit from hearing those who are going through this, have gone through it before, and have experience.”

Utah: A global hub?

Freedman’s hope is that as Utah shows an eagerness to strengthen ties with the world, the world will look to Utah as a hub for trade.

“I want people around the world to look at Utah as a source of answers and predictability, as a safe haven for investment, as a destination for a talented, skilled workforce,” Freedman said. “These are all the things that we’re proud of in Utah.”

Utah already stands out from its competitors because of its highly educated population, according to Morris. The state has the third most well-trained adult population in the country in terms of post-secondary degrees, credentials and certificates, according to the Kem C. Gardner Institute.

Morris has lived around the country and the world but says he has never lived in a place as entrepreneurial as Utah, from its “Silicon Slopes” tech sector, to its university system, health care and life science industries.

But one of the things that sets it apart most is its orientation toward the rest of the planet, Morris said. The state sends young people to countries around the world, and this exposure to the world has allowed Utah innovators to bring the world back home.

“We’re not an insular or protectionist state,” Morris said. “We’re very much a state focused on growth and development and bringing in ideas, regardless of where they’re coming from, that are good for the economy, for the people, for the culture, for society.”