Free Republic

SALT LAKE CITY — Four people involved in an apparent robbery attempt at a hotel, resulting in the shooting deaths of two of their friends, have been charged. But no charges were filed against the alleged gunman. "We have charged all the appropriate people with criminal charges in this case," the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office told KSL.com on Thursday. Tiffani Marie Papach, 40, of West Jordan, and Kendra Diane Mitchell, 38, of Salt Lake City, were charged in 3rd District Court with aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery, first-degree felonies; and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony. Kevin Leroy...

SANDY — A Utah couple is being accused of money laundering and smuggling oil into the U.S. alongside Mexican cartels, after they were arrested during a multi-state raid by U.S. Marshals, according to court documents. James Lael Jensen and his wife, Kelly Anne Jensen, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday. The couple and two of his sons are being federally indicted for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 2,881 shipments of oil from Mexico that they knew were illegal. The family is accused of moving at least $300 million from Mexico to the U.S. The couple was arrested...

Two Honduran nationals were charged in connection with an alleged drug trafficking organization. Jorge Luis Hernandez-Valle, 36, and Luis Alfredo Hernandez, 35, both of Honduras, were living in Salt Lake County, the U.S. Attorney's Office District of Utah said. Detectives with the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force had been investigating an alleged drug trafficking organization since March 2025. They reportedly purchased narcotics during a controlled buy and identified two possible "drug runners" and their vehicles. On April 8, 2025, one of the vehicles, a Toyota 4-Runner, was stopped in Kearns

Two Mexican nationals were arrested in Colorado last month after authorities found them transporting 180,000 rounds of ammunition during a traffic stop, federal officials have announced. Caesar Ramon Martinez Solis, 41, and Humberto Ivan Amador Gavira, 24, were pulled over on March 26th in Cañon City, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado. Detectives from Fremont County stopped their white Chevrolet van after it failed to dim its headlights, didn’t signal a turn, and had a broken license plate light, according to an arrest affidavit.

An explosion on Wednesday destroyed a building at Northrop Grumman’s rocket testing complex in northern Utah. According to Air & Space Forces Magazine, Northrop Grumman’s Innovation Systems plant in Promontory, Utah, is where the company manufacturers “solid rocket motors for government and commercial customers.” WATCH: MULTIPLE VIDEOS AT LINK................. Per Air & Space Forces Magazine: There was no immediate report of casualties, which occurred at 7:35 am local time. Local officials said they are investigating the accident. Northrop officials say the accident will not delay any of its programs. The Air Force referred inquiries to Northrop. A Northrop spokesman would...

On March 24, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill laying groundwork for major higher education improvements after more than a century of U.S. universities undermining American moral and intellectual virtues. The law vaults Utah toward competing with Florida for the best higher education reforms that support American self-governance. Senate Bill 334 requires “every student at Utah State University to take a full year-and-a-half course in Western civilization and an additional one-semester course in American civics,” writes Stanley Kurtz, co-author of a model bill inspiring this law. These new core courses will be taught by professors employed by a new...

Former Rep. Mia Love, who served in Congress representing Utah's 4th District from 2015 to 2019, has died after a battle with cancer. Love was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer in 2022. Earlier this month, her family announced that the cancer was no longer responding to treatment, and that they had "shifted our focus from treatment to enjoying our remaining time with her." Her family announced Sunday evening that she passed away "peacefully ... in her home surrounded by family." She was 49 years old.

By the end of April, the new home of the Sundance Film Festival should be public knowledge with the Salt Lake City/Park City combo, Boulder, Colorado or Cincinnati bid picked as the host for the next decade. However, a bill heading toward Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s desk that would ban the Pride flag in schools and other state government buildings might be an eleventh-hour obstacle to the Beehive State’s hopes of keeping the Robert Redford-founded shindig past 2026. “What are they thinking?” a Sundance insider said late Tuesday of the bill to ban the LGBTQ+ flag after a virtual meeting...

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Following a 2News Investigation into accusations of prosecutorial misconduct at the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, the case at the center of it all was heard by a juvenile court judge on Wednesday. This comes after criminal defense attorney Nathan Evershed filed multiple motions to dismiss the case against 15-year-old Emiliano, disqualify the DA’s Office from the case, and a motion for immediate release from custody. On August 17, 2023, at Scottsdale Park in West Valley City, Emiliano was robbed at gunpoint by 24-year-old Niusami Auelua, an AP&P probation fugitive who had extremely high...

America bends over backward to financially support Islamic expansion within its borders, while Kuwait and other Islamic nations would never allow the same for Christianity. This isn’t religious freedom—it’s a one-way street to submission to Islam. The United States is allowing a foreign, Islamic government to plant its flag in Utah—of all places. A state known for its conservative values and strong Mormon heritage is now home to a Kuwaiti-funded Islamic center, openly acknowledging its financial and ideological ties to a foreign nation. The Islamic Center of Kuwait in Utah, previously known as the North Utah Islamic Center, was fully...

Utah State Senator Daniel Thatcher left the Republican Party this week to join the Forward Party, becoming the first sitting member of the Utah State Senate affiliated with the organization and its ballot line. In a statement released Friday, the Forward Party said that Thatcher changed his registration on the last day of the legislative session. Reasons provided from a speech Thatcher gave that afternoon include his disappointment with the Utah Republican Party’s leadership on voting rights and legislative priorities. Specifically, Thatcher voiced concerns over the passage of HB 300, which he believes undermines the vote-by-mail process, as well as...

Republican lawmakers in Utah are moving a bill through the legislature that if passed and signed into law would allow vendors working with the state to be paid in gold – a change that could inspire other states and the federal government to do so and perhaps return the U.S. to the gold standard. The bill has already passed in the state House and is working its way through the Senate, as this year's legislative session is coming to a close. The leader sponsor for the House bill is Rep. Ken Ivory, who says the measure will give vendors –...

The Republican-led state legislatures of Georgia and Utah are considering legislation to leave a voter roll data group, pushing back on their respective GOP state election officials who have advocated for remaining in the coalition. A nonprofit organization called the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), was founded in 2012 and calls itself "the most effective tool available to help election officials maintain more accurate voter rolls and detect possible illegal voting."for voter roll maintenance has had nine GOP-led states leave it since 2022, with two more looking to follow their lead. [snip] As these state legislatures have been concerned about...

Netflix series American Primeval has come under fire from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-say Saints (LDS), which has branded the show "dangerously misleading." The Mormon church responded to the series in a release on Friday, calling it "dangerously misleading" and the portrayal of Young "egregiously mischaracterized." "A recently released streaming series presents a fictionalized interpretation of events in mid-19th century Utah. While historical fiction can be illuminating, this drama is dangerously misleading," the church wrote. "Brigham Young, a revered prophet and courageous pioneer, is, by any historical standard, egregiously mischaracterized as a villainous, violent fanatic. Other individuals and...

Under the restored Trump administration, the rule of law is giving way to the law of the jungle. Fear, suspicion, bullying and “thuggery” are ascendent, and it won’t only be immigrants and refugees who will suffer as a result. It is going to be up to all Americans, public officials and private citizens alike, to stand up to the administration’s lawlessness and to publicly call out abuses of power whenever and wherever they occur.

An illegal migrant from Mexico has been charged with murdering his girlfriend in Utah — just a week after he was deported from the US for a second time, authorities said. Nestor Rocha-Aguayo, 24, is accused of killing 31-year-old Talia Benward and dumping her body in a remote area in Tooele, just outside Salt Lake City, last week after surveillance footage showed them arguing in a car. The accused killer, who has a string of drug and domestic violence raps, had already been deported back to Mexico twice — most recently on Christmas Eve, following a drug-related arrest. But he...

Gov. Spencer Cox plans to discuss unlocking energy potential on public lands among other issues as he heads to Mar-a-Lago on Thursday along with Republican governors from across the country to pitch their priorities to President-elect Donald Trump. “I plan to talk to him, if I get the opportunity, about energy and about public lands and how we can unleash the energy potential, especially in the West,” Cox told reporters Wednesday after his ceremonial inauguration. “We need significant reform in the energy space, especially when it comes to nuclear, being able to permit nuclear.” One of Cox’s main goals for...

Nineteen people were detained in Aurora, Colorado, Tuesday after two people were assaulted ... 100 percent gang activity,” Police Chief Todd Chamberlain ... During the fall, video of armed members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang roaming through an apartment complex in Aurora took center stage in America’s debate over the cost of Joe Biden’s immigration policies. .. Chamberlain said that .. the apartment of a man and woman was invaded, and the victims were taken into a different apartment where they were assaulted. Chamberlain said 13 attackers were male and, he believed, three suspects were female. ... The...

Venezuelan who is running for office in Utah warned that local authorities “are not ready” to deal with Tren de Aragua — as the vicious prison gang has expanded its territory to at least 18 states. Carlos Moreno, who is running for Salt Lake County Council in District 2, spoke out against Tren de Aragua gangbangers .. who have been linked to at least two separate crimes in the Beehive State capital — including a prostitution ring. “Our law enforcement people are not ready,” ... They are not ready yet to face these kinds of gangs in Utah because the...

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., took NBC News to task for "selectively omitting" a key part of the 14th Amendment in a question about birthright citizenship during an interview with President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday… "All persons born … in the United States, *and subject to the jurisdiction thereof,* shall be citizens of the United States," Lee wrote on X, highlighting the missing words in asterisks. "Those words matter," he added. The senator continued to break down the issue in a lengthy 12-part thread. "Congress has the power to define what it means to be born in the United States ‘and...