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Bill limiting future municipal grass usage reaches Utah Senate – The Daily Universe

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The 2024 General Session of the Utah State Legislature began Jan. 16 and will end March 1. If House Bill 11 passes both the House and Senate, and is signed by Governor Cox, it will go into effect May 1. (Ethan Pack)

A bill limiting the amount of non-functional grass used for state and municipal landscaping has passed the Utah House and is now being debated in the Senate.

Rep. Doug Owens sponsored the bill, titled H.B. 11 Water Efficient Landscaping Requirements. The bill would affect new state and local government landscaping in the Great Salt Lake Basin, Owens said in a House Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment Committee hearing on Jan. 18.

“It would apply up and down the line to government construction: everything from a state building to a county building to a city building to a school and to a road,” Owens said.

The bill states the limit on non-functional turf would be 20% or less of the total landscaped area. It would not affect active turf, like is used at parks, playgrounds and cemeteries, Owens said.

“You can still have all the functional turf you want … but you’re supposed to limit the use, this bill says, if you’re just doing landscape for aesthetic purposes,” he said.

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The bill passed several House and Senate meetings in 2022, but failed in the Senate on the last day, according to Owens. The bill’s scope was much wider but was narrowed to the Great Salt Lake Basin this year.

“I know I’m preaching a little to the choir here, but we know conservation is critical to Utah’s water future,” Candice Hasenyager, director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, said at the House committee hearing. “How we grow matters and changing how we grow to be more waterwise and use our water efficiently is super important.”

Hasenyager later said roughly 60% of home water usage in Utah goes towards watering lawns. Setting a limit to how much lawn can be used in government landscaping sets an example of water-wise development for the rest of the state, she said.

Citizens and lobbyists at both the House committee meeting and the Senate Business and Labor Committee meeting shared their support or opposition to H.B.11. The Utah Farm Bureau’s House of Delegates debated about and voted on several policies relating to water use for turfgrass at their most recent meeting, according to Terry Camp, vice president of Public Policy with the Federation. 

“Consistent with our policies, Utah Farm Bureau actively supports efforts among all stakeholders to enhance Great Salt Lake. We support marketing and wise use of drought and heat-tolerant varieties of turfgrass and other ornamental plants, and we oppose limits on the use of turfgrass and other ornamental plants in public or private spaces,” Camp said at the Utah Senate hearing.

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The bill has been read twice in the Utah Senate and was voted on Feb. 1 to be read a third time. If passed in the Senate, H.B. 11 would go into effect on May 1.

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Utah

Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival

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Nina Dobrev Wears a Bathrobe While in Utah for Sundance Film Festival


Nina Dobrev‘s bathrobe photo has fans checking in from Park City, Utah, during Sundance weekend. She posted it 18 hours ago, tagged Park City, and wrote, “Final Sundance in Park City, Utah? bittersweet doesn’t begin to describe it…” Nina’s carousel from the Sundance Film Festival reads like downtime between screenings. The post shows about 480.8K likes and 888 comments.

Nina Dobrev shares a bathrobe photo from Utah during Sundance Film Festival

Have a look at Nina Dobrev in a bathrobe:

Photo Credit: Nina Dobrev Instagram

The “Vampire Diaries” alum wears a plush white hotel robe, loosely cinched at the waist. It falls open at the neckline. Her hair looks half-done, pinned up at the crown, with loose lengths down.

The warm bathroom lighting highlights marble counters and polished wood doors. The photos also landed after she discussed recovering from a dirt bike injury. Fans replied fast, with one writing, “Such a cutie,” another said, “Gorgeous,” and a third added, “THE DIVA”.

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Originally reported by Santanu Das on Reality Tea





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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.

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State officials killed three wolves in northern Utah. Here’s why.


The killings took place in a region exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

(Dawn Villella |AP) A gray wolf is pictured in 2004 in Minnesota. Utah officials recently killed three wolves after they were seen near livestock in Cache County.

In a rural stretch of southwestern Cache County, state officials killed three wolves earlier this month after the animals were spotted near livestock, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday.

The wolves were shot Jan. 9 by the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said DWR spokesperson Faith Jolley, a move allowed because the animals were found in a small corner of northeastern Utah exempt from federal gray wolf protections.

The region, which lies mostly east of Interstate 15 and extends roughly as far south as Ogden, is considered part of the greater Yellowstone region, where the predator is in recovery. It is the only part of Utah where the state is allowed to manage wolves.

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(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)

Across the rest of the state, the animal is considered an endangered species. It’s illegal to hunt, harass, trap, shoot or harm them without permission from the federal government.

Jolley said state law directs DWR to prevent wolves from breeding in the delisted area. While the animals were not considered a pack, she said they were believed to be traveling together.

“Lethal removals ensure they don’t establish breeding populations in Utah,” Jolley wrote in a text message.

Caroline Hargraves, a spokesperson for the state agriculture department, said the wolves were found near Avon, a small census-designated community in Cache County of about 500 residents, surrounded mostly by farmland.

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Utah leaders have long been hostile to wolves for preying on livestock and thwarting hunters. The state has doled out millions in taxpayer dollars in an effort to get gray wolves removed from the federal endangered species list.

Most confirmed wolf sightings in Utah have involved lone wolves, Jolley said, though small groups have been documented on a few occasions since the first confirmed sighting in 2002.

During the past year, she said, a handful of lone wolves have migrated into Utah from Wyoming and Colorado.

Wolves from Wyoming and Idaho have made their way into Utah at least 21 times since 2004, according to DWR. In September, the agency said it was aware of at least one lone male wolf present in the state.



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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia

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Utah family fights to bring children home after mother reportedly arrested in Croatia


Family members of four Utah children who disappeared with their mother in November are speaking out after the children were located in Croatia.

Now, the family is working through international legal channels to bring the children back home.

The children were last seen on surveillance video at Salt Lake City International Airport boarding a flight with their mother, 35-year-old Elleshia Seymour. Authorities say Seymour took the children without the permission of their fathers after posting what family members describe as “doomsday” claims on social media.

MORE | Missing Children

Seymour was arrested in Dubrovnik on January 15 after the family says news articles alerted people she was talking to in Croatia about the accused kidnapping. She now faces four felony counts of custodial interference. Since her arrest, the four children have been placed in a government-run children’s center in Croatia.

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Jill Seymour, the children’s aunt, has been in Croatia for nine days with her brother Kendall Seymour, who is three of the children’s fathers. They are trying to secure their release.

“We’re just kind of in limbo waiting to get them out,” Seymour said. “These are our kids, and we can’t get custody of them.”

She says the family is only allowed to see the children for two hours a day. Despite providing the requested documentation, the family has not yet been given a clear timeline for when the children can return home.

“They are most definitely trapped there, and they feel trapped,” Seymour said. “We don’t have a clear-cut answer. We’ve provided all the documents we’ve been asked to provide.”

The family has hired Croatian attorneys and is working with the U.S. Embassy to navigate the legal process. Utah-based attorney Skye Lazaro, who has experience with international custody cases, says Croatia’s participation in the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction could ultimately help the family.

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“In this case, it’s a good thing and a benefit that they are part of this Hague Convention,” Lazaro said.

However, Lazaro explained that the process can be slow due to translation requirements and court procedures in the foreign country.

“It requires retaining an attorney in that country who can translate the documents into Croatian and provide all the necessary information to a court,” Lazaro said. “That stuff just takes time.”

If local legal efforts stall, the family can formally petition under the Hague Convention, which may speed up the process, though it could still take several weeks.

“To have to continually say goodbye every day is very hard,” Seymour said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster.”

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As the legal battle continues, the family is also facing mounting expenses, including short-term housing in Croatia and international legal fees. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs and pay for the children’s flight home.

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