West
Rodeo star Spencer Wright's son awake after previously being considered brain-dead following river accident
Saddle bronc riding champ Spencer Wright and his family are clutching onto hope after 3-year-old Levi, feared to be brain-dead after falling off a toy tractor into the Utah River, opened his eyes and lifted his head Thursday night.
On Thursday, the boy’s mother took to Facebook to share the miraculous update to the boy’s condition.
“LEVI WOKE UP! I am shook,” mother Kallie Wright wrote. “We don’t know how much, but the doctor said it was okay for me to get excited about that and I AM! My baby is so tough!”
Wright family friend Mindy Clark, who has been posting updates about the boy on social media since the child was admitted to Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City after his accident Tuesday, explained further in a post of her own.
RODEO STAR SPENCER WRIGHT’S 3-YEAR-OLD SON HOSPITALIZED AFTER FALLING INTO UTAH RIVER ON TOY TRACTOR
Spencer Wright, 33, is ranked No. 40 in the world in saddle bronc riding. His 3-year-old son Levi remains in critical condition after falling into the Utah River on his tractor. (Stacie Scott/The Desert News via AP)
“He opened his eyes and tried to lift his head,” Clark wrote. “The nurse was in the room and they were telling him how much he loved excavators, and wouldn’t you know it, there he was.”
In another post, Clark said Levi’s EEG monitor showed brain activity when he heard his sister’s voice telling him “how she was hoping he’d get better and couldn’t wait for him to come home.” The monitor also reacted when the family played him dinosaur sounds from one of his favorite books and when his mother kissed him, Clark said.
Days earlier, Clark and the family had a darker outlook on the boy’s condition, with the friend writing, “We… feel strongly that his spirit is no longer with us” because “his sweet little brain was without oxygen too long and there is no coming back from that.”
Levi was playing outside his family’s Beaver County home when his mother briefly went inside. When she returned, the toddler was nowhere to be found.
“I need everyone in Beaver to come to my house and help find my son in the water,” she posted on Facebook during the search.
PENNSYLVANIA DAD DEMANDS ANSWERS AFTER SON, 5, HAS TEETH KNOCKED OUT IN BLOODY ASSAULT AT SCHOOL, LAWYER SAYS
Although they didn’t disclose the child’s name, the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a statement that it had received a call about a boy who had fallen into the river off a toy tractor around 6 p.m. that day.
After “life-saving measures were administered on scene,” Levi was transported via ambulance to Beaver Valley Hospital, then airlifted to Primary Children’s Hospital, the office wrote in its Facebook post.
“[Kallie] saw his little tractor overturned and immediately dialed 911 and jumped into the water to find him,” Clark told KUTV. “We don’t know how long he had been in the water, but he had been carried quite a ways.”
Initially, the family’s outlook was grim, but testing performed Wednesday began to lift their hopes.
Spencer Wright competes in the saddle bronc riding BP Super Series during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo March 5, 2014, in Houston. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“Our doctor was a little taken aback by her exam as they came in the room to end care. She felt strongly that we needed to give him more time,” the family said Wednesday. “Now this doesn’t mean that in 12 hours we won’t be right back in the same position with him in my arms preparing for goodbye but it does mean we have time for a miracle…. Don’t give up on my boy just yet.”
Clark wrote that the family is “unbelievably humbled” by the love and prayers they’ve received since the child was injured.
“We miss our other babies, Mom hasn’t spent a night away from baby until now but Brae and Steeley are in the best hands!” Kallie said through Clark, referring to their other two children.
3 DEAD INCLUDING CHILD AFTER AMTRAK TRAIN PLOWS INTO CAR ON TRACKS IN NEW YORK
Stetson Wright, Jesse Wright, Ryder Wright, Rusty Wright, Spencer Wright and Cody Wright pose onstage during the “Outside the Barrel” with Flint Rasmussen show during National Finals Rodeo’s Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas Convention Center Dec. 7, 2019, in Las Vegas. (Mindy Small/FilmMagic)
The toddler’s father, 33-year-old Spencer Wright, is ranked No. 40 in the world in saddle bronc riding. He and his three brothers made history in 2014 when all four qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Wright ultimately won the championship.
The family was the subject of the book “The Last Cowboys” and has been featured on an episode of “60 Minutes.”
Earlier this year, Wright won the Rio Grande Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, Texas.
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Oregon
Oregon Says Racism Is a Health Crisis, Now It Has a To-Do List
Oregon lawmakers have a new roadmap for tackling racism as a public health issue, and it’s packed with more than 100 recommendations for the 2027 legislative session.
According to KGW8, the Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office released the four-year report this week, built on input from more than 200 Oregonians of color and developed alongside the Oregon Health Authority. It digs into how Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color face unequal access to stable jobs, education, health care, and housing — the everyday conditions that shape locals’ lives.
“This is an opportunity for state government to earn trust with communities of color who have been historically excluded,” said executive director of the Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office, Jeff Selby, per the outlet. “The report process is a model for community engagement, as we all work together toward meaningful outcomes in community.”
State Rep. Travis Nelson said the findings have already shaped legislation, with several bills signed into law over the past two sessions covering topics like culturally specific health services and school staffing diversity. One concrete example: After residents flagged that Spanish-speaking applicants were passing the DMV’s written driving test at a rate of roughly 21%, versus 51% for English speakers, organizers connected the DMV with community groups to address the gap.
The report dates back to 2021, when Oregon lawmakers formally declared racism a public health crisis. “Racism in Oregon has left a legacy of trauma from one generation to the next, impacting Oregon tribes, Black and indigenous communities and people of color through a cumulative effect,” a section of the declaration reads.
A separate report from the Commonwealth Fund found Oregon has more severe racial and ethnic health disparities than its neighbors in the West, with Native American, Black, and Hispanic residents lagging behind white and Asian American residents on access, quality, and outcomes. Researchers warned that federal changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act since 2025 could make those gaps worse, not better.
The Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office says the goal now is turning research into real policy before lawmakers reconvene — and building trust with communities that have historically been left out of the process.
The full report can be seen here.
Utah
Utah State celebrates a new era, as Aggies join the Pac-12 Conference
The move gives the Aggies “instant credibility” on the recruiting trail, Bronco Mendenhall says.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Old Main building at Utah State University in Logan on Monday, Nov. 17, 2025.
Washington
Kalispel students experience international conference at WSU
Mathematicians and statisticians from around the world descended onto Pullman to attend the regional conference of the International Biometric Society (IBS) in early June. Joining leading experts in data science and biometrics were several special guests: high school students from the Kalispel Tribe in northwestern Washington.
The eleven students from Cusick are participants in a collaborative tutoring program between the WSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Camas Learning Center (CLC), an in-school and after-school program managed by the Kalispel Tribe. They were invited to the IBS conference by Regents Professor Jan Dasgupta, department chairperson and the current president of the IBS western North American region. Dasgupta saw an opportunity to share the Pullman academic experience with both leading researchers and the students tutored by her undergraduate students.
“The IBS conference includes an Access and Opportunity workshop focused on engaging local students, and we wanted them to experience WSU and see the possibilities that exist in STEM education and careers,” Dasgupta said.
Undergraduate students from the WSU “Future Teachers of Math” club typically tutor the high schoolers via one-on-one Zoom consultations, supported by CLC staff. The tutoring program has evolved since 2023, but the focus has always remained on student math preparation, for those learning and those teaching the subject. The partnership creates stronger pathways to both higher education and STEM opportunities for students in rural and tribal communities across Washington.
Integrating high school students into the IBS conference proceedings is not a new concept. In 2024, the annual conference’s Access and Opportunity Workshop invited community college students from the Denver area to network with attendees and participate in a data skills seminar. The next year, the workshop invited students from around Whistler, B.C. to the conference proceedings. This year, it was time for the students from Cusick.
Eleven students and four chaperones made the trip from Pend Oreille County to Pullman, where they stayed in Stimson Hall as an on-campus dormitory experience. While the students’ conference activities included hands-on experiences with biostatistics, data science, and biometry analysis, they were also treated to a campus facilities tour. Physics professor Guy Worthy provided a tour of the WSU Planetarium, and Squeak Meisel from the Department of Art led students on a tour of the art facilities and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at WSU. Other tour locations included the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and the University Recreation Center for some earned relaxation time in the pool.
Cross-discipline researchers also sat down for a panel discussion with the students, discussing their education, career, and life experiences. The speakers included Denise Dillard, director of the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH); Mikaela Nishida, PhD scholar in statistics from University of California, Irvine; and Courtney Meehan, Dean of the WSU College of Arts and Sciences.
“One of the most important things we can do as a university is help students see new possibilities for themselves,” said Dean Meehan. “Hosting international conferences like this on our campus creates powerful opportunities for students to interact with researchers and explore potential career paths firsthand. These connections can have a lasting impact long after they leave Pullman.”
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