Utah
FOX 13 Investigates: Lawsuit against rural newspaper is test for new Utah law
DELTA, Utah — Diane Mecham was born and raised here.
And she’s a reader of the local newspaper, the Millard County Chronicle Progress, which traces its history to 1894.
“It’s just the hub of our wheel of the whole community,” Mecham said. “It gives us our information all the time.”
Mecham calls a lawsuit threatening the newspaper “scary.”
“They keep us up to date on the county progress, the city,” she said. “There’s birthdays, obituaries. There’s wedding announcements. It’s a social as well.”
Businessman Wayne Aston filed a lawsuit against the Chronicle Progress in December. The suit asks for “not less” than $19.2 million. A judge Wednesday in Fillmore will hear an argument from the newspaper asking the lawsuit to be thrown out, citing a statute the state Legislature passed in 2023.
If Aston receives even a fraction of the money he’s seeking, the Chronicle Progress — 2,500 copies of which land in mailboxes and on store shelves once a week in desert communities stretching from central Utah to the Nevada line — would likely close.
BUSINESS PROPOSAL
In early 2023, Aston proposed to manufacture modular homes and other projects at a parcel across from the airport in Fillmore, the Millard County seat. The Chronicle Progress reported how Aston sought public funding for infrastructure improvements that would benefit his projects.
In December, Aston sued the Chronicle Progress in state court. He claims defamation, contending the Chronicle Progress published “false and defamatory statements.”
The Chronicle Progress in Wednesday’s hearing will ask the lawsuit be dismissed because of the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act. Passed in 2023, the Utah Legislature was concerned that lawsuits — and the cost of litigation — were being used to silence First Amendment activities.
The Act provides a legal mechanism for a judge to quickly determine whether slander lawsuits have merit and to dismiss such suits if they don’t. The defendants also have opportunities to recover their legal fees.
At a Utah Senate hearing in January 2023, media law attorney Jeff Hunt testified in favor of the bill. He was representing a media coalition that includes FOX 13.
“And the purpose, I think it’s important to emphasize,” Hunt testified, “in bringing these lawsuits is not to vindicate someone’s legal rights, but rather to intimidate citizens and subject them to costly litigation for speaking out on matters of public concern.”
Hunt now represents The Chronicle Progress in the suit filed by Aston. (Hunt has also had FOX 13 News as a client.) In their written briefs, Hunt and the newspaper have argued the reporting was accurate.
They’ve included citations to Aston’s bankruptcy cases and the business lawsuits filed against him. Aston has claimed reporting on those issues was false.
“This case is a retaliatory lawsuit brought by a litigious real estate developer,” the defense brief says, “who seeks to silence the voice of the small-town newspaper that dared report on his efforts to convince Fillmore city to help him raise hundreds of millions of dollars….”
PLAINTIFF ARGUMENTS
Aston’s lawyer, Ryan Fraizer, sent FOX 13 News a statement on behalf of his client. It reads:
“We support the constitutional rights of free speech, including those espoused in the principles behind the Uniform Public Expression Protection Act. However, the statute (is) not intended to shield media outlets from the consequences of publishing malicious and demonstrably false allegations or information that harms individuals or businesses.
“We believe that is the situation at issue in the lawsuit. We trust that the Court will carefully examine the facts and hold the newspaper responsible for any damages they have caused.”
Meanwhile, Aston’s plans for the Fillmore development have not come to fruition. City Council minutes show no discussion since March.
Mecham calls the Chronicle Progress “very factual.”
When asked whether she thought the newspaper was the reason Aston’s project hasn’t blossomed, Mecham replied: “I think our communities can think for themselves. They don’t need someone telling them how to do it.”
Utah
‘2.5 minutes of terror’: Passengers sue Delta, alleging crew flew into dangerous weather despite warnings, injuring dozens
Twenty passengers allege the airline ignored repeated weather warnings before the flight hit severe turbulence that sent dozens of people to hospitals
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Delta airplane travels down the runway at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City last March. Passengers on a Delta flight last July are suing the airline over injuries suffered because of violent turbulence.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Environmental Protection Agency awarded Utah and Salt Lake County a total of $3.5 million in grants to assess potentially polluted properties for eventual cleanup and redevelopment.
The agency announced a $2 million grant to Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality and $1.5 million to Salt Lake County to conduct environmental assessments and inventory brownfield sites for cleanup. Brownfields are sites that may be difficult to redevelop or expand because of “the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant,” according to the agency.
“These brownfields grants will help Utah communities clean up contaminated sites and unlock opportunities for redevelopment and investment,” EPA Regional Administrator Cyrus Western said in a news release announcing the grants earlier this week. “By transforming underused properties into community assets, EPA is helping create healthier neighborhoods and stronger local economies.”
The two grants awarded to Utah and Salt Lake County are among more than $248 million awarded to nearly 200 communities nationwide for brownfield assessment and cleanup. Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality plans to focus the resources on several areas in Ogden, Heber City and Fillmore, among others, according to Bill Rees, who leads Utah’s brownfield cleanup program.
“What we do is work to secure the funding and then begin to reach out to our communities across the state, say, ‘Listen, there’s opportunity to do some assessment work in your community if you’re interested,’ and then work with our rural partners, work with our urban partners to see if there are sites that will fit that bill,” he told KSL.
The state has received similar grants in the past, and Rees said the money can help local governments determine what to do with ailing properties such as old schools, hospitals or private property that have gone to waste.
“Is there asbestos in it, or is there hazardous material in it? Or could there be something that’s impacting the soil or the groundwater, and a policymaker needs to make a decision?” asked Rees. “Knowledge allows you to make good decisions.”
The $1.5 million awarded to Salt Lake County is the largest brownfields assessment grant the county has ever received, according to a county press release.
“This grant is a real win for our communities,” said Mayor Jenny Wilson. “This funding will let us do vital environmental work on a larger scale and in more neighborhoods. It reflects exactly the kind of partnership between local and federal government that gets results for residents.”
The county grant funds will be used to help create cleanup plans in three areas, including a vehicle storage yard in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark Neighborhood, a 4.26-acre vacant lot in Millcreek and a small commercial building in Magna that was damaged during an earthquake in March 2020, according to the EPA.
Contributing: Don Brinkherhoff
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued red flag warning Friday morning as emergency workers continued to battle one of the state’s largest wildfires in its history.
The red flag warning, issued when critical fire warnings are occurring or imminent, was to be in place through midnight Saturday.
“This is the FIRST Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warning issued in NWS Salt Lake City history. This is an exceptionally rare event,” the federal agency said in its warning.
A map of the area under the warning covered much of central and southwest Utah, with an area of the southwest, central and southern mountains also outlined as “particularly dangerous red flag.”
The particularly dangerous area includes the Cottonwood Fire, near the town of Beaver, which started Monday and had grown to covering almost nearly 71,000 acres by Thursday, 15 News reported. The fire forced evacuations.
The NWS warned that gusty winds and dry conditions would lead to rapid fire growth.
Utah also was dealing with the Iron Fire, which started June 19, and nearly destroyed the town of Eureka. The fire was about 27% contained Friday morning.
The fire danger led Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to issue executive order restricting fireworks statewide during the July 4 holiday, which marks the nation’s 250th birthday this year. The ban is in effect through July 5.
“Nothing about this decision was easy,” Cox said in a statement issued by his office Thursday.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations” Jamie Barnes, Utah state forester and director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, added in the statement.
Cox allowed cities and local communities to set aside areas where fireworks could be safely used. The city of Provo announced it would enforce a citywide prohibition on fireworks and would not designate a safe area for fireworks.
“This year is different,” Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins said in a statement. “The wildfire danger facing our community is real, and protecting lives, homes, and our natural spaces must come first.”
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