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5 issues Utah’s House Democrats will focus on this session

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5 issues Utah’s House Democrats will focus on this session


  • The Utah House minority leadership opposes the Utah Fits All voucher program and wants more funding for public education.
  • The Democratic House Caucus is concerned over the majority’s proposed funding cuts to higher education.
  • The lawmakers will also work on improving housing conditions and addressing the safety of unhoused people in Utah.

As the Utah Legislature’s 2025 general session begins, Utah House Democrats plan to oppose the Utah Fits All education voucher program, as well as making sure students in higher education are getting what they need and standing up for the safety and rights of everyone in Utah.

On Tuesday’s first day of Utah’s legislative session, the House minority leadership held a press conference to announce their priorities for the session.

The minority caucus has divided their priorities into five issue areas: sustainability, health and well-being, education, good governance, and inclusion and representation. They said they will oppose funding private school scholarships,

The House Minority Caucus opposes the Utah Fits All voucher program

Rep. Sahara Hayes, D-Salt Lake City, emphasized opposing the Utah Fits All voucher program as one of the caucus’ top focuses for education during this session.

“We do not believe that public dollars should be ever used to fund private businesses, particularly when it’s a lot of money,” Hayes said. We’ve put $80 million into that program so far, and there’s no accountability metrics built in.”

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She said this is especially a problem when that money could go to bolstering public education. The representative shared that she sat with a group of teachers earlier this month who were pleading for better resources.

“They do not have the tools that they need right now to support their students, and it is hard for them, and it is hard for the students, and they need an increased (weighted pupil unit) in order to do the job that they are given,” Hayes said.

House Democratic Whip Jennifer Dailey-Provost speaks as members of the Utah House Democratic Caucus talk about their priorities during the legislative session as part of a press conference held at the Utah Capitol on the first day of the legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

The House Democrats concerns over cutting higher education funding

The legislators shared their concerns with the majority party’s plan for 10% across the board cuts to higher education funding.

Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, said there is value in looking into programs at universities to see what can be changed. But, she said, it is most important to keep students’ needs at the center.

“At the end of the day, we need to focus on what’s best for students, and the fact that higher education is a critical place for students to learn critical thinking skills to make them ready, not just for the workforce, but to take on the world in general,” Dailey-Provost said.

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House Minority Leader Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, added that while we do need to open additional seats in programs like nursing and mental health, it is important that the state still allows students to have their own academic freedom to study whatever they want for however long they want.

“So I’m just really, really, really concerned about what is the true agenda?” Romero said.

House Democrats will work on LGBTQ+ issues in Utah

When asked about the caucus’ strategy to approaching proposed restrictions to the LGBTQ+ community, Hayes said they are focused on stopping bills as they come up, but that often does not work. The next step is to talk “with the speaker, with the sponsors, trying to convey why there are problems with the bill or problematic language.”

Romero emphasized that the caucus is going to stand up and fight for the rights and protections of everyone in Utah.

“We’re not going to discriminate against somebody because of who they are,” Romero said.

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Speaker Mike Schultz speaks in the Utah House of Representatives chambers as part of their opening session on the first day of the legislative session held at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

House Democrats are concerned about the tone used when talking about immigration

Romero said she is concerned because from a national level and on a state level as well, immigration is being equated with public safety.

The caucus is concerned about public safety and believes in holding criminals accountable for the crimes they commit. But, Romero said, they don’t care what their immigration status is, if they’re committing crimes they need to be held accountable no matter what.

Concerns about public safety should not justify criminalizing an entire community, Romero said.

“There is a tenor to the conversation that seems to insinuate that immigration and criminal behavior is the same thing, and they are not,” Dailey-Provost said.

As a part of the caucus’ focus on health and well-being they will work in improve housing in Utah

“One of the critical ways that health and safety manifests is being safely housed and having a home,” Dailey-Provost said.

The caucus wants to make sure that all individuals and families in the state have access to housing.

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To do this and to address the state’s growing homelessness crisis the caucus is working with partners to decrease building costs, increase housing supply, implementing common sense density policies and address issues with institutional investors which contribute to increasing home prices.

The representatives will also work to protect unsheltered people from being targeted by organized crime.

“By providing safe housing, mental health support and addiction services, we can reduce their vulnerability and improve their safety,” Dailey-Provost said.



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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas

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911 recordings detail hours leading up to discovery of Utah girl, mother dead in Las Vegas


CONTENT WARNING: This report discusses suicide and includes descriptions of audio from 911 calls that some viewers may find disturbing.

LAS VEGAS — Exclusively obtained 911 recordings detail the hours leading up to the discovery of an 11-year-old Utah girl and her mother dead inside a Las Vegas hotel room in an apparent murder-suicide.

Addi Smith and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, lived in West Jordan and had traveled to Nevada for the JAMZ cheerleading competition.

The calls show a growing sense of urgency from family members and coaches, and several hours passing before relatives learned what happened.

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MORE | Murder-Suicide

Below is a timeline of the key moments, according to dispatch records. All times are Pacific Time.

10:33 a.m. — Call 1

After Addi and her mother failed to appear at the cheerleading competition, Addi’s father and stepmother called dispatch for a welfare check.

Addi and her mother were staying at the Rio hotel. The father told dispatch that hotel security had already attempted contact.

“Security went up and knocked on the door. There’s no answer or response it doesn’t look like they checked out or anything…”

11:18 a.m. and 11:27 a.m. — Calls 2 and 3

As concern grew, Addi’s coach contacted the police two times within minutes.

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“We think the child possibly is in imminent danger…”

11:26 a.m. — Call 4

Addi’s stepmother placed another call to dispatch, expressing escalating concern.

“We are extremely concerned we believe that something might have seriously happened.”

She said that Tawnia’s car was still at the hotel.

Police indicated officers were on the way.

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2:26 p.m. — Call 5

Nearly three hours after the initial welfare check request, fire personnel were en route to the scene. It appeared they had been in contact with hotel security.

Fire told police that they were responding to a possible suicide.

“They found a note on the door.”

2:35 p.m. — Call 6

Emergency medical personnel at the scene told police they had located two victims.

“It’s going to be gunshot wound to the head for both patients with notes”

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A dispatcher responded:

“Oh my goodness that’s not okay.”

2:36 p.m. — Call 7

Moments later, fire personnel relayed their assessment to law enforcement:

“It’s going to be a murder suicide, a juvenile and a mother.”

2:39 p.m. — Call 8

Unaware of what had been discovered, Addi’s father called dispatch again.

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“I’m trying to file a missing persons report for my daughter.”

He repeats the details he knows for the second time.

3:13 p.m. — Call 9

Father and stepmother call again seeking information and continue to press for answers.

“We just need some information. There was a room check done around 3:00 we really don’t know where to start with all of this Can we have them call us back immediately?”

Dispatch responded:

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“As soon as there’s a free officer, we’ll have them reach out to you.”

4:05 p.m. — Call 10

More than an hour later, Addi’s father was put in contact with the police on the scene. He pleaded for immediate action.

“I need someone there I need someone there looking in that room”

The officer confirmed that they had officers currently in the room.

Addi’s father asks again what they found, if Addi and her mother are there, and if their things were missing.

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The officer, who was not on scene, said he had received limited information.

5:23 p.m. — Call 11

Nearly seven hours after the first welfare check request, Addi’s grandmother contacted police, describing conflicting information circulating within the family.

“Some people are telling us that they were able to get in, and they were not in the hotel room, and other people saying they were not able to get in the hotel room, and we need to know”

She repeated the details of the case. Dispatch said officers will call her back once they have more information.

Around 8:00 p.m. — Press Conference

Later that evening, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police held a news conference confirming that Addi and her mother, Tawnia McGeehan, were found dead inside the hotel room.

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The investigation remains ongoing.

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing

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Ban on AI glasses in Utah classrooms inches closer to passing


AI glasses could allow you to get answers, snap photos, access audio and take phone calls—and now a proposal moving through the legislature would ban the glasses from Utah school classrooms.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Kizzy Guyton Murphy, a mother who accompanied her child’s class on a field trip to the state Capitol on Wednesday. “You can’t see inside what the student is looking at, and it’s just grounds for cheating.”

Mom Tristan Davies Seamons also sees trouble with AI glasses.

“I don’t think they should have any more technology in schools than they currently have,” she said.

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Her twin daughters, fourth graders Finley and Grayson, don’t have cell phones yet.

“Not until we’re like 14,” said Grayson, adding they do have Chromebooks in school.

2News sent questions to the Utah State Board of Education:

  • Does it have reports of students using AI glasses?
  • Does it see cheating and privacy as major concerns?
  • Does it support a ban from classrooms?

Matt Winters, USBE AI specialist, said the board has not received reports from school districts of students with AI glasses.

“Local Education Agencies (school districts) have local control over these decisions based on current law and code,” said Winters. “The Board has not taken a position on AI glasses.

MORE | Utah State Legislature:

Some districts across the country have reportedly put restrictions on the glasses in schools.

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“I think it should be up to the teachers,” said Briauna Later, another mother who is all for preventing cheating, but senses a ban could leave administrators with tired eyes.

“It’s one more thing for the administration to have to keep track of,” said Later.

The proposal, HB 42, passed the House and cleared a Senate committee on Wednesday.

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state

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Kalshi sues Utah over efforts to stop prop betting in the state


SALT LAKE CITY — A prediction market is suing Utah over plans to regulate proposition betting that it says would run afoul of federal regulations.

Kalshi is a New York-based prediction market that allows users to place “event contracts” on future outcomes and earn a payout if they are correct. Those transactions are regulated through the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, the company said Utah has plans to prevent the company from offering contracts in the state and asked the courts to block any enforcement that “interferes with the operation and function of plaintiffs’ futures market.”

“Plaintiff KalshiEX LLC believes the governor of Utah and the Attorney General’s Office of Utah will imminently bring an enforcement action against Kalshi with the intent to prevent Kalshi from offering event contracts for trading on its federally regulated exchange,” the complaint states. “Defendants have repeatedly represented that they believe Kalshi is operating unlawfully under Utah anti-gambling laws.”

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The lawsuit points to a couple of posts from Gov. Spencer Cox and an op-ed written by Attorney General Derek Brown in the Deseret News on Sunday. After Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Mike Selig announced that his agency would “defend its exclusive jurisdiction” over prediction markets last week, Cox took to X calling the markets “gambling — pure and simple.”

“They are destroying the lives of families and countless Americans, especially young men,” he wrote. “They have no place in Utah. Let me be clear, I will use every resource within my disposal as governor of the sovereign state of Utah, and under the Constitution of the United States to beat you in court.”

He followed that up last Thursday, saying Utah is “ready to defend our laws in court and protect Utahns from companies that drive addiction, isolation and serious financial harm.”

In his op-ed, Brown argued that prediction markets are “the newest iteration of gambling” and said he didn’t see a difference between betting and trading futures.

“Although traditional sports betting apps are illegal under Utah law, these platforms argue that they merely allow users to hedge their risk,” he wrote. “But what is the real risk to hedge when you are simply predicting whether LeBron James will score more or less than another player? It’s simply a bet, dressed up in different clothing.”

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The lawsuit also comes as the state Legislature is advancing a bill that would clarify that proposition betting — or betting placed on specific players or events during games — falls under the state’s definition of gambling, which is prohibited by the Utah Constitution. HB243 has passed the House and a Senate committee and is awaiting consideration on the Senate floor.

But Kalshi says its contracts are lawful thanks to a carveout in Utah’s anti-gambling laws that allows for “lawful business.” Its lawsuit claims Kalshi’s attorneys made “multiple attempts” to contact Brown about potential action against the company but were “met with silence, even though the Utah AG had previously been willing to communicate with counsel.”

Asked about the lawsuit on Tuesday, Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he is “standing with the governor on this one.”

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.



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