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This past Monday marked the 20th anniversary of President Bill Clinton using the Antiquities Act to create the 1.5 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah. For most Utahns, this date is not a cause for celebration. It’s a source of anger toward what many see as an out-of-touch and overbearing federal government Infamously, the Clinton administration failed to notify the people of Utah prior to announcing the monument designation—probably because the administration knew that nearly everyone in the state was opposed to the idea. Utah’s congressional delegation, state and county leaders, and local residents all warned that a...

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin on Sunday labeled Republican nominee Donald Trump a racist, calling for more people to "come out and say that cleanly." "Donald Trump is a racist," McMullin said in an interview at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. "Trump is a racist brand. We need to call a spade a spade, and any American leader needs to stand up for equality in this country."

There were two sightings of Western yellow-billed cuckoos this year, both in Delta County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said. The secretive birds are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is considering designating parts of western Colorado as critical habitat for the migratory bird, including lands along the Colorado River through Mesa County. Sightings — which frequently involve people hearing the cuckoo’s distinctive “klak-klak” sound — have been recorded in Mesa and Delta counties in previous years. ... “We have changed the initial map due to comments from the proposed...

Grand Junction will no longer be home to a district Bureau of Land Management office after the agency’s Grand Junction Field Office gets transferred from the northwest Colorado district to the southwest district under a reorganization. ... Mesa County Commissioner John Justman is uncomfortable with the Grand Junction Field Office no longer being part of the Northwest District, despite Mesa County’s close economic ties to the oil and gas development that takes place in northwest Colorado. Many area oil and gas jobs are based in Mesa County. “Financially the county is much more attached to the Northwest District than the...

(KUTV) Researchers at the University of Utah say there's a strong case to impeach Donald Trump, should he be elected as president. Law professor Christopher Peterson said he found ample evidence to charge the Republican candidate with fraud and racketeering, both of which are considered felonies within state and federal law.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee on Friday rejected Donald Trump's Supreme Court nomination proposal, saying he already has the job he wants, Politico reported. "Sen. Lee already has the job he wants which is why he is campaigning to represent the great people of Utah again this year," Lee's spokesman Conn Carroll told Politico in a statement.

LIVE on #Periscope: Bomb threat - potential active shooter at Utah grade school

SALT LAKE CITY – Well-known Hispanic activist Tony Yapias was charged with rape after he allegedly assaulted a woman who ended their four-year relationship a few months ago. Yapias, 50, known as Adolfo Tony Yapias-Delgado, was formerly charged in the 3rd District Monday with rape, a first-degree felony and evidence tampering, a class A misdemeanor.

Sea Bears is a successful restaurant serving sea food in Ogden, Utah.  They have made national news by their policy of open carry for restaurant employees and guests.  The policy brought them attention, and they have been successful enough to expand to larger quarters.  The family owned restaurant signed a lease for a new space at Union Station.  Union Station is home to four museums, including the John M. Browning Firearms Museum and the Utah Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.  This appeared to be a good fit for an open carry themed restaurant.The management of Union Station decided to...

A reader alerted me to this incredible story of patriotism at a high school in Heber City, Utah: Student Ben Schofield is known around Wasatch High School for his American spirit. He flies an American flag from the back of his red pickup truck. "I think it's really important," Ben told Fox 13 in Salt Lake City. "It's not just the material part of the flag, it's the meaning behind it." The other day someone set fire to Ben's flag in the school parking lot. Part of his truck was scorched by the blaze. Some of his classmates saw what...

A US student who supposedly died in China in 2004 has reportedly turned up alive in North Korea after being kidnapped to serve as Kim Jong Un's personal tutor. David Sneddon of Brigham Young University disappeared in Yunnan Province aged 24, in what Chinese police said was probably a hiking accident. But the reality, according to Choi Sung-yong, head of South Korea's Abductees' Family Union, is that he was kidnapped to be an English tutor to the then-heir to North Korea Yahoo News Japan reported Wednesday.

Fresh after Congress and the White House scored the largest transportation spending package in a decade, both presidential candidates this year are proposing billions in funding to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. While both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump—and the parties they represent—agree the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rail system, and ports are in need of repair, the new proposals invite familiar questions over how the spending would be paid for, and whether the federal government is the best provider to pay for it. Those questions, and the lack of a must-pass infrastructure initiative requiring Congress’ attention in 2017, mean that...

The Environmental Protection is admitting to a spill from a treatment plant it set up after it dumped 3 million gallons of toxic wastewater into a Colorado river last year. The EPA said Thursday night that the spill happened on Tuesday, and officials are still attempting to determine how much and what metals were contained in the sludgy discharge, ... The Navajo Nation sued the agency over the spill last week after the EPA inspector general and the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the incident a few days before the Aug. 5 anniversary of the 2015 spill. The...

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials improperly withheld information from The Daily Caller News Foundation confirming its reporting that the contractor responsible for the August 2015 Gold King Mine spill was awarded nearly $2.7 million not long after the disaster. The EPA internally acknowledged the award and crafted a response to TheDCNF’s finding, according to emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, but the response was never sent to the news organization. (RELATED: Feds Obstruct Media Probe By Blocking Interviews With Key Officials) “It just slipped through the cracks,” EPA spokeswoman Melissa Harrison told TheDCNF 32 minutes after deadline. “It...

PPP.com reported: Clinton's unpopularity makes Utah probably a step too far for Democrats even in a year where Trump's weakness as a candidate is putting unusual states on the map. Trump leads the state with 39% to 24% for Clinton, with Gary Johnson at 12%, Evan McMullin at 9%, Darrell Castle at 2%, and Jill Stein at 1%. If voters had to choose just between the two major candidates, Trump's lead would grow to 20 points at 53/33.

If my theory about his candidacy is correct then this was the only state ballot that really mattered to him and his team. Mission accomplished. McMullin, running as an alternative to Donald Trump, filed the required 1,000 signatures on Monday to be on the ballot, Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox’s office confirmed. “Petition filed. He will be on the ballot,” Mark Thomas, Cox’s director of Elections told POLITICO moments after members of McMullin’s campaign walked into his office to file. The deadline to file the signatures was Monday by 5 p.m. Mountain Time, 7 p.m. Easter

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight and House Judiciary Committees laid out the case for perjury charges against Hillary Clinton in a letter sent to the U.S. Attorney in Washington, D.C. on Monday. Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Virginia Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the chairs of Oversight and Judiciary, respectively, say that Clinton may have violated 18 U.S.C. § 1621 and § 1001, federal laws which govern perjury and false statements, respectively, during her Oct. 22, 2015 testimony in front of the House Select Committee on Benghazi. In a letter to U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips, the lawmakers point to four...

The BLM released its draft environmental impact statement Thursday. It is proposing amending up to 11 resource management plans in the two states. In 2014, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined the Gunnison sage-grouse requires listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. ... about 5,000 breeding Gunnison sage-grouse live in the two states. Some 4,000 live in the Gunnison Basin, and the others in six satellite populations in Colorado and a seventh in Utah. ... Fish and Wildlife pointed to the low numbers of birds in the other populations and their range of habitat threats as...

I’m running for president to make sure our country continues to live up to our founding principles. Those timeless ideas teach us that we’re stronger together when we work in unison to solve our problems, no matter what we look like, where we come from or how we pray. That last one is important. As Americans, we hold fast to the belief that everyone has the right to worship however he or she sees fit. I’ve been fighting to defend religious freedom for years. As secretary of state, I made it a cornerstone of our foreign policy to protect the...

House Speaker Paul Ryan wins primary, defeats longshot GOP challenger praised by Donald Trump. Ryan was being challenged by Paul Nehlen. Nehlen had been courting Trump supporters and won praise from the Republican presidential nominee last week. But Trump endorsed Ryan days later. Ryan had largely ignored Nehlen in what had been a sleepy primary before Trump thanked Nehlen on Twitter for his comments defending Trump. Nehlen won the backing of some prominent conservative figures, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, but it wasn't enough to overcome Ryan's popularity in his southeastern Wisconsin district. Ryan was first elected in 1998...

Donald J. Trump has vowed to turn blue states red in November, but as he continues to rattle Republicans with his combative style and provocative proposals, voters in some of the country’s most conservative strongholds are considering a radical idea: supporting Hillary Clinton. The dilemma posed by this year’s choice of candidates is perhaps most apparent here in Utah, the mountain state that has not backed a Democrat for president since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. More than 50 years later, a large Mormon population with a strong distaste for Mr. Trump has left the state up for grabs, and...

A coalition of national LGBT advocacy groups is urging the Big 12 not to admit BYU as a new member, FOX Sports has learned. On Monday, Athlete Ally, a non-profit that conducts LGBT awareness campaigns for sports leagues, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, sent a letter to Big 12 administrators detailing what they believe are discriminatory policies by BYU, a religious institution owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the letter addressed to commissioner Bob Bowlsby, the authors write in part: “BYU … actively and openly discriminates against its LGBT students and staff. It...

Could a Clinton finish third in Utah again? A new UtahPolicy.com survey suggests Hillary Clinton could be on a path to repeat the ignominious defeat suffered by her husband Bill in Utah 22 years ago?

Evan McMullin, a former CIA counterterrorism operative, will run for president as a third-party conservative alternative to Donald Trump, the group backing the candidate told ABC News today. The group, Better for America, has been working for months on trying to select a candidate and get on ballots throughout the country. In some states, like Texas, they will likely have to sue to get on the ballot. It's an extreme uphill climb, but they are confident McMullin, 40, can act as a disruptor who they hope can peel off some red states in a race where some Republicans are still...

Building that bridge or expanding that highway just became more difficult under a rigorous standard issued Tuesday by the Obama administration that will make it easier to block a wide range of projects in the name of climate change. The final guidance broadens the National Environmental Policy Act by requiring agencies to quantify the impact of activities that require federal permits not just on the environment but also on “projected direct and indirect GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions.” ... Republicans blasted the guidance as the latest in a flurry of resident Obama’s end-of-term executive actions, led by the Clean Power Plan,...

(KUTV) The Republican and Democrat national conventions are over and as the dust starts to settle, it looks like Hillary Clinton has a chance to carry Utah in the U.S. presidential election. A new Hinckley Institute-Salt Lake Tribune poll shows the two are virtually tied with 35 percent for Donald Trump and 36 percent for Hillary Clinton. That is as close as a Democratic candidate has been to victory in more than half a century. Clinton declined to campaign in the state during primary season and came in the spring only to raise money. Republican Mitt Romney, popular in Utah,...

DENVER (Reuters) - Federal investigators said on Monday they have opened a criminal probe into the 2015 spill of some 3 million gallons (11 million liters) of toxic wastewater from a defunct Colorado gold mine that was triggered by a contractor with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). At the urging of congressional leaders, the EPA's Office of Inspector General is investigating the rupture from the Gold King Mine above Silverton, Colorado, that fouled waterways in three states and Native American lands, the agency said in a statement. "Based on requests from several members of the House and Senate, the OIG...

COLORADO SPRINGS (CNN) —The powerful political network helmed by Charles and David Koch is ruling out running advertisements intended to hurt Hillary Clinton, another sign of their insistence on avoiding the presidential race. The Koch network has previously said they will not back Republican candidate Donald Trump, but on Saturday officials told reporters that they would not run negative Clinton spots, a position taken by some Republican groups that are uneasy with the controversial GOP standard-bearer. The group is laser-focused on maintaining and expanding the Senate majority -- in the midst of a $42 million television advertising campaign focused on...

Republican strategist, lobbyist, and Donald Trump confidante Roger Stone joined Breitbart‘s Milo Yiannopoulos on the latest episode of the Milo Yiannopoulos Show to discuss voter fraud and how Trump has the ability to beat it.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Planned Parenthood branch won't hand out condom packages printed with a symbol associated with Mormon youth teachings after an image of the wrappers on its Facebook page generated backlash. The wrappers stamped with a popular design symbolizing the phrase "Choose the Right" were a limited run intended to spark open conversation about sexual health, Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Katrina Barker said.

Multiple-fatality crashes in Utah road construction zones have drawn increased scrutiny to the inherent hazards of work areas and the lackadaisical attention many drivers pay to safety warnings there. “Despite all of our work with Zero Fatalities and safety messages, people are on their cell phones talking and texting and looking at other things,” said Vic Saunders, Utah Department of Transportation Region One spokesman. “Within the confines of construction zones, with narrower lanes and barriers that make it a little bit tighter, people are wavering back and forth, and the danger is magnified for everyone.” Utah road construction zone crashes...

SALT LAKE CITY — By all appearances, it was a half-hearted attempt at a school protest. . . . Parents and students were upset with the State Office of Education's April 29 decision to shut down the financially struggling charter school . . . In the days since the state voted to revoke Beehive's charter, the Deseret News has scoured hundreds of pages of public records and interviewed dozens of people inside the Salt Lake City school. The emerging facts paint a troubling picture . . . . Beehive's financial problems came to the board's attention in July 2009 when...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Shortly after being officially introduced as Donald Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence was trending on Twitter — but it had nothing to do with politics. Pence posted a photo of his family eating at a Chili’s restaurant in New York, prompting a storm of tweets.

Lee denounced the result in the room in front of the 112 committee members and a large contingent of reporters, and then spoke exclusively with Yahoo News for 15 minutes afterward in a room down the hall. In the committee meeting, Lee did not concede that Trump — who is now all but certain to be named the GOP’s nominee next Wednesday night — will in fact be the party’s choice. “I hope whoever the nominee is going to be this time will in fact win over the delegates,” Lee said. “But rules like this are not going to help...

BLANDING, Utah (AP) -- Laminated sheets of paper held in place by rocks rest inside ancient cliff dwellings nestled underneath a spectacular red rock overhang in southeastern Utah. "Don't erase the traces of America's past," the signs read. "Please do not enter interior rooms." The weathered signs and a similar warning at the trailhead are the only protections in place for these easily accessible ruins along a canyon hiking path. -snip- Opponents agree the area is a natural treasure worth preserving but fear a federal designation would create restrictions on oil and gas development as well residents' ability to camp,...

The Republican Party’s Platform Committee adopted a draft document Tuesday that not only recognizes the unborn child’s “fundamental right to life,” but also calls for defunding Planned Parenthood and states that the GOP will “not fund or subsidize health care which includes abortion coverage.” The draft platform still has to be adopted by the full GOP Convention, which will be held in Cleveland next week. The Platform Committee, which was chaired by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) — who has a 100 percent pro-life voting record, according to the National Right to Life Committee — and dominated by social conservatives, adopted...

Trump-resistant and election battling Republicans including two former Presidents, two former Republican nominees, and several former 2016 presidential hopefuls are offering up excuses for why they will not attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next week, notably among them a break with a history of former Presidents attending their party’s convention. Here are ten of the most prominent Republicans who say they’ll skip out on the convention and a few more who will or maybe won’t.

WASHINGTON — Transgender women won two congressional primary races Tuesday night — and made history as the first trans people to become major candidates for the U.S. House or Senate. Utah voters chose Misty Snow (D) to run against Sen. Mike Lee (R) in November. In Colorado, voters backed Misty Plowright (D) to take on Rep. Doug Lamborn (R). It’s a long shot for either to get elected. Utah is a solidly Republican state, and Lamborn’s district in Colorado is extremely conservative. Still, it’s a positive sign that transgender candidates aren’t just out there, they can also succeed. “In what...

A former adviser to Donald Trump floated Utah Rep. Mia Love on Friday as a possible pick for vice president on the real-estate mogul's ticket. "If you were to name some people that nobody is talking about, to keep an eye on with the vice president [pick] … who would you say we should keep our eye on?" asked Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News Radio host. The former adviser, Michael Caputo, prefaced his answer by saying he was "never in those discussions" because they were "above my pay grade." That said, he provided a couple names. "The two people I...

In a nine-word per curiam decision, eight justices of the United States Supreme Court have revealed they are deadlocked in a 4 to 4 divide on the new immigration procedures of the Obama administration, with its executive decision to not deport the immigrant parents of children born in the United States (thus citizens) and give them legal status but less than citizenship in the process. The State of Texas, joined by 25 others states, filed a lawsuit to block this executive action, which affects between 4 and 5 million immigrants in the United States. The case was before the Supreme...

Sen. Mike Lee on Wednesday cited Donald Trump's use of a baseless tabloid report that Ted Cruz's father helped conspire to kill President John F. Kennedy as a reason he has yet to endorse the presumptive Republican nominee in a heated exchange.

Mitt Romney still can’t see himself voting for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. However, he can’t bring himself to vote for the Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton, either. But the 2012 GOP nominee has a solution: putting his own wife’s name on the ballot. “It’s a matter of personal conscience,” Romney told CBS News’ John Dickerson Wednesday at the Aspen Ideas Festival. “I can’t vote for either of those two people.” Romney explained that he simply cannot get behind Trump’s divisive character. “Our nominee is saying, ‘Hey look it’s these people here. It’s these Mexicans coming across the border... it’s...

Two transgender women — both named Misty — won Democratic nominations for Congress on Tuesday, becoming the first transgender politicians to ever win major-party nominations. Utah grocery store cashier Misty Snow will take on incumbent Sen. Mike Lee in November, while IT consultant Misty Plowright is set to challenge US Rep. Doug Lamborn in Colorado’s 5th Congressional District. Snow, a liberal Bernie Sanders supporter, defeated marriage therapist Jonathan Swinton, a moderate Democrat who campaigned for limitations on abortion rights.

Democrats in Utah and Colorado will have their first transgender nominees in the general election. In Utah, Misty Snow, a resident of Salt Lake City, outpaced marriage counselor Jonathan Swinton by almost 19 points, earning the right to take on Republican Sen. Mike Lee in November. Snow said her platform is inspired by Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders. She supports a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave and criminal justice reform. In a statement after her win, Snow remarked on the nature of the campaign. "While I’m not running on the basis of being a trans woman, my experiences as...

The U.S. may soon see its first transgender senator and member of Congress, as two transgender women are running for Congress as Democrats. In Utah, Misty Snow, a 30-year-old Salt Lake City native, will run against incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee after defeating Jonathan Swinton in the Democratic primary by nearly 19 percent. "While I'm not running on the basis of being a trans woman, my experiences as a trans woman have given me the empathy to understand the struggles of groups that feel that the American Dream is out of reach. I'm running to give a voice to...

Utah voters picked a historic, and largely unknown, Democratic candidate to challenge Sen. Mike Lee this November. Misty K. Snow is the first transgender nominee from a major party to run for a U.S. Senate seat and she shares the distinction of being the first transgender person to run for Congress. Misty Plowright, a transgender woman, claimed the Democratic nomination in Colorado's conservative 5th House District on Tuesday. "A lot of people have told me whether I win or lose, I'm already making a difference just by running," Snow said. Throughout the primary, the 30-year-old Salt Lake City resident has...

Utah Rep. Mia Love joined the ranks of Republican leaders and lawmakers who will be skipping their party's convention next month, saying that she would instead visit Israel with a congressional delegation.

Former Romney Adviser on Trump Alternative: ‘Until Donald Trump Has the Nomination…All Things Are Possible’ By NOAH FITZGEREL Jun 24, 2016, 5:01 AM ET There remain deep rumblings inside the establishment of the Republican Party about presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. This week’s episode of ABC’s "Powerhouse Politics" podcast paints a picture in which the Republican National Committee may focus its efforts on down-ticket races to hedge the risk of losing the White House in November to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, leaving a Trump operation with little infrastructure of its own scrambling to catch up. Noting the frustration...

Brad Thor dropped a major bomb-shell on Glenn’s radio program Thursday, saying he’s committed to running for president of the United States. Glenn introduced his friend by reminding listeners about the author’s courage in the face of controversy. “I believe Brad is one of the most courageous people out there. Because — he is in business. You’re selling a book. And what you said — I shouldn’t say what you said — because what you said was not controversial,” Glenn said. Some may recall the flak Glenn received following Thor’s fiery remarks about Donald Trump in his previous interview on...

Democrat Hillary Clinton leads Republican Donald Trump 47 percent to 42 percent in a new CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday. When voters are given a choice of a four-way race, Clinton's advantage over Trump narrows to 42 percent to 38 percent, with Libertarian Gary Johnson receiving 9 percent and Green Party candidate Jill Stein 7 percent.