Wayne County is nearly 2,500 square miles of alpine peaks, green farm fields and red rock deserts in south-central Utah. The scenery is plentiful, but people are not — especially if you’re looking for orchestra kids.
“There’s probably three or four people that play violin, and we all have to drive down to Torrey to go to the same teacher,” 11-year-old violin student Journee Pace said of her hometown of Lyman.
These kids come from very small towns. Lyman and Torrey have around 200 residents each, and unlike many urban or suburban school districts, Wayne County doesn’t offer an orchestra program.
That’s why, for kids like Pace, getting to take part in a one-day youth strings workshop in their backyard is a big deal. Two dozen students came together at the county community center in Bicknell, population 323, to learn from world-class symphony musicians from as far away as England and Germany.
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“They’re professional violin players, and just seeing how far they went makes me want to do it, too,” Pace said.
Opening small-town kids’ eyes to those types of big dreams matters, said the county’s only local strings instructor, Lynsey Shelar. She started to teach private lessons in 2011, and her Sleeping Rainbow School of Music now has 12 students from all over the county.
“The best part for me is when I see my own students … to see that ‘A-Ha’ moment on their face,” Shelar said. “This is what music is about.”
Local strings teacher Lynsey Stelar, center, talks with students at the workshop in Bicknell, Utah, June 15, 2024.
The workshop is part of the Torrey Chamber Music Festival, which has used donations and grant money to host similar classes and camps for strings students since 2017. Even though the kids may not grow up to play in a symphony, the lessons they learn now about connecting with themselves and with others can have far-reaching ripple effects.
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“Music is about playing with emotion and expressing and having that ability to communicate beyond words,” Shelar said. “So if we can get kids to feel that, we are building empathy in our communities — and compassion. I feel like we need a lot of that right now.”
There are plenty of barriers when it comes to picking up strings in rural areas like Wayne County, she said. First, there’s often a lack of exposure to these instruments and this type of music.
Cello student Cru Peterson, right, volunteers to lead his small group during rehearsal, June 15, 2024.
Geographic isolation plays a factor, too. The nearest music store that sells, rents or repairs string instruments is a 2.5-hour drive away, Shelar said. There are also financial barriers. Students often borrow their first violin or cello from school to try it out, but Wayne County’s district doesn’t give them that option.
Even for those who can get the right equipment and learn to play, there aren’t many chances to perform as a group, which Shelar said is vital for keeping kids engaged and helping them see the progress they’ve made.
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“They love playing together,” Shelar said. “It’s exciting to see the light in their faces.”
Viola student Brigette Winters from the nearby town of Loa, population 595, agreed isolation can be a downside of learning these instruments in a community where there aren’t many other people your age who play. But that also makes the rare occasions when they come together all the more special.
“Sometimes I think it’d be nice to go out and be with people who are really good to help push me, but I really enjoy doing it here,” Winters said. “It’s just fun to think, ‘Oh, this small town that has not much of anything has a pretty awesome orchestra group.’”
The workshop’s instructors came from as far away as Germany and England, giving local students a rare opportunity to learn from a variety of professional musicians.
The challenges strings students in Wayne County face can be seen statewide. Utah State Board of Education Fine Arts Coordinator Laurie Baefsky said small-town schools deal with several obstacles when it comes to adding string music programs.
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First, there’s a lack of orchestra instructors broadly. The typically smaller salaries for teachers in small towns also make it harder to keep them in those positions for the long term.
“We’re very aware, statewide, of a teacher shortage, and that is not exclusive to rural areas. Although we see it more acutely in the rural areas.”
Demand for music education in small towns is not the problem, she said. As a matter of percentage, participation in the secondary school band in Wayne County outpaces that of much more populous Salt Lake City or Utah County. The smaller tax bases in sparsely populated places, however, can make ongoing funding for extra programs hard to come by.
“If something gets cut, are they going to cut the football team or the strings program?” Baefsky said. “So I think there’s a sense of insecurity with our arts educators in Utah, where we always have to make a case for the arts.”
This can be especially challenging, she said, because some small-town residents may not see the value of teaching kids an instrument when the local economy is based on something different.
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Even if the workshop’s students don’t grow up to play in a symphony, the lessons they learn about connecting with themselves and with others can have far-reaching ripple effects in their communities.
While each elementary school in the Salt Lake City School District has a dedicated music education specialist, Wayne County only has one fine arts teacher — the local strings instructor, Shelar. In that role, she splits her time between music and visual art and doesn’t teach strings at all.
Festival Chair Ada Mae Crouse, who grew up in a musical family, said passing these opportunities on to the next generation — as well as making classical music more accessible to the public — is central to the workshop’s mission.
“We wanted to not just bring the music, but also bring people together with music.”
The workshop culminates in a concert where the students perform side-by-side with the professionals. The setlist featured the kids on seven songs, including classical mainstays like “Ode to Joy” and the “William Tell Overture.” The students even requested “How Far I’ll Go” from the Disney movie Moana and the workshop had it arranged especially for their skill levels.
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In the community center lobby, 9-year-old violinists Seffie Fullerton and Bethany Wing ran through William Tell’s opening bars.
“I’m nervous because I get stage fright a lot, and my mom usually puts it on video,” Fullerton said, “and it gets me super nervous.”
Fullerton made a few attempts but still couldn’t quite land the melody’s progression — adding frustration to her nerves. Fortunately, she’s learned that the instrument she’s holding can help.
“When I’m sad and I play it — like, yesterday, I got super sad … so I played the violin — and it helped me. If I’m angry, I can play it, and it will make me calm.”
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Violin students Bethany Wing, Seffie Fullerton and Emery Robinson (right to left) listen to their small group instructor during the strings workshop, June 15, 2024.
Another of Shelar’s students from Lyman, 11-year-old Cru Peterson, felt a common mixture of excitement and nerves.Getting to sit next to a professional cellist, however, helped him remember why he was there.
“I just want to play cello as long as I can,” Peterson said. “I love it.”
As families crowded the community center’s main room for the performance, Keri Pace watched her daughter, Journee, in the violin section.
“It’s amazing to see it all come together,” she said. “I mean, people that are as talented as you’ll find anywhere in the world are here playing with them in Bicknell at a community center. It’s amazing.”
This one workshop and concert may not be able to erase all the geographic barriers these students face. But it can help them feel less alone, Shelar said, and give them a chance to perform together, which is vital to helping them build confidence.
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“For me, to see them in this setting where they get to take the stage and they get to be first chair of their section, and they get to lead the entire orchestra for starting the piece — that is a really big deal. … It brings tears to my eyes.”
So at least for a few hours in this community center, the string students of Wayne County got to feel what it’s like to be a real orchestra.
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — A wrongful death lawsuit filed in Utah alleges a counterfeit airbag turned a routine crash into a fatal explosion that killed a teenage driver within minutes.
Alexia De La Rosa graduated from Hunter High School in May of 2025. On July 30, 2025, she was involved in a crash.
The lawsuit alleges that when the vehicle’s driver-side airbag deployed, it detonated and sent metal and plastic shrapnel into the cabin.
MORE | Crashes
A large, jagged piece of metal struck Alexia in the chest, and she died minutes later, according to the complaint.
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The lawsuit, filed by Morgan & Morgan in Utah’s Third Judicial District Court, was brought on behalf of Tessie De La Rosa, as personal representative of the estate of her 17-year-old daughter.
The defendants are AutoSavvy Holdings Inc., AutoSavvy Dealerships LLC, and AutoSavvy Management Company LLC.
Morgan & Morgan alleges that the Hyundai Sonata had previously been declared a total loss after a 2023 crash and issued a salvage title. The suit claims AutoSavvy later purchased the vehicle and had it repaired — during which counterfeit, non-compliant, and defective airbag components were allegedly installed — before reselling it to the De La Rosa family.
The complaint further alleges that AutoSavvy knew or should have known the vehicle contained counterfeit and nonfunctional airbag components when it was sold.
“This is the third wrongful death lawsuit we have filed involving alleged counterfeit airbags that we believe turned survivable crashes into fatal incidents,” Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan said in a statement. “No life should be cut short because a corporation puts profits above safety.”
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Attorney Andrew Parker Felix, who is leading the case, said the firm is committed to uncovering how allegedly illegal airbag inflators enter the stream of commerce and are installed in vehicles sold to consumers.
“To make this perfectly clear, these are not supposed to be in the United States at all,” Felix said. “They are not approved for use in any vehicle that’s being driven in the United States.”
“They don’t have approval from any governmental agency to be installed in vehicles that are driven within the United States and regulated here,” he added.
Morgan & Morgan says it is investigating at least three additional deaths involving other defendants and alleged counterfeit airbags.
KUTV 2News reached out to AutoSavvy multiple times by email and phone. We were told a member of the company’s legal team would be in touch, but as of publication we have not received a response.
Randall will be among several key visitors in attendance for a meeting on March 6
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) University of Utah President Taylor Randall speaks on campus during an event on Feb. 7.
University of Utah President Taylor Randall is scheduled to meet with President Donald Trump this week.
Randall is expected to be among several attendees at a White House roundtable meeting on Friday to discuss solutions for the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics with the president, a U. spokesperson said.
The meeting could be postponed, however, due to the war in Iran. As of Monday, “the odds of it happening this week are 50-50 at best,” according to Yahoo Sports.
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If the roundtable happens as scheduled, the guest list includes several current and former notable figures in sports, including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, golf legend Tiger Woods and former Alabama head coach Nick Saban.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox confirmed in a social media post on X that he would be in attendance as well.
“Thank you [President Donald Trump] for inviting me to participate, and for your commitment to addressing challenges in college sports,” Cox said on X. “[Taylor Randall] is a great university leader who will work with us on solutions for this critical issue.”
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) University of Utah President Taylor Randall speaks on campus on Feb. 7.
Earlier this year, Randall was called on by the federal House Committee on Education and Workforce to schedule a briefing to discuss the school’s planned private-equity partnership with Otro Capital, according to a report from Sportico.
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The Utes announced their proposal in December of last year, which is a first-of-its-kind agreement between a university’s athletic department and a private equity company.
Utah’s deal with Otro has yet to be finalized. In a Feb. 10 interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Randall said the university is “still just working through all of the issues systematically.”
“We want to do this in the right way to set both of us up for future success,” he added.
The move is expected to infuse hundreds of millions of dollars into the U.’s athletic department to help sustain the financial future of the program with rising deficits across the industry.
“I don’t think any of us would prefer to be in this situation right now,” Randall said in a faculty senate meeting in January. “But it just is what we’re facing.”
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SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The 2025-2026 winter season isn’t quite over, but it’s no secret that it’s been a rough one when it comes to snow. Right now, statewide snowpack numbers are hovering around 60% of the median.
But you don’t have to know those numbers to understand what a strange winter it’s been.
“It’s kind of good,” said Carrie Stewart, who lives in Salt Lake City. “I mean, I like it because I like a milder climate. But I realize this summer is going to be hard.”
MORE | Snowpack
“I’m not sad I’m not shoveling,” said Sally Humphreys of Salt Lake City. “But it’s definitely worrying.”
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State water officials are also worried. The clock is ticking to bulk up those snowpack numbers.
“We’re running out of time to get the snowpack that we need,” said Jordan Clayton, supervisor of the Utah Snow Survey. “We have about 40 or so days until our typical snowpack peak.”
There is still some time to make up lost ground, but the odds aren’t great. Clayton estimates a 10% chance of reaching normal by the end of the season.
“Those are terrible odds,” he said.
In fact, the odds of having a record low snowpack are greater, sitting at 20%. It’s a grim reality that has officials looking toward the summer anxiously.
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“I would expect to see watering restrictions outdoors for a lot of places,” said Laura Haskell, Utah’s drought coordinator.
It’s unknown what the next few weeks will bring, but if Haskell had to guess, she doesn’t see state reservoirs filling up much from where they are now.
“In the spring when that runoff hits, we do get a noticeable peak in our reservoir storage,” Haskell said. “The water just starts coming in. But this year, we don’t anticipate getting that.”
Haskell says we have enough reservoir storage to likely make it through the summer, but there are other implications to worry about.
Our autumn season was pretty wet. That led to decent soil moisture levels, which can then lead to higher vegetation growth.
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“If we then have a snowpack that melts out really early, we’ll have a longer than normal summer, if you will, with forage growth that might dry out, and so that’s kind of a bad recipe for promoting fire hazard,” Clayton said.
Utahns have dealt with low snowpack levels in the past. Many Utahns are familiar with their lawn turning brown because of water restrictions.
“We’ll probably just let it go that nice, sandy, golden color that it gets in the summer in a dry climate,” said Dea Ann Kate, who lives in Cottonwood Heights.
As we wait to see what the next few weeks bring, people like Carrie Stewart are just reflecting on an unusual winter.
“It is worrying,” she said. “We need snow. We’ve only shoveled once this season, and that’s very unusual.”
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Water officials are now hoping for something else unusual: climbing out of the snowpack hole that’s been created.
“But there are no times going back where the snowpack totals for the state were close to where they are right now, and we ended up actually at a normal peak,” Clayton said. “So while it’s possible, it’s very unlikely.”
