Utah
House Speaker to put a 'pause' on major new water legislation in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY — House Speaker Mike Schultz is planning to put a pause on any major new water legislation to see how big bills already passed by the legislature are working.
“We have moved the needle so far with policy over the past couple of years, I think it’s important maybe to take a break for just a minute,” he told FOX 13 News in a recent interview. “Not take our foot off the gas pedal, but just a look back and say, ‘These are policies we’ve put in place, are they working the way they’re intended to?’”
This week, the Speaker will hold an annual water symposium which began when the Great Salt Lake started to post record declines. The Utah State Legislature has passed a number of bills and spent over a billion dollars on water conservation efforts. Some of those policies are just being rolled out.
Speaker Schultz, R-Hooper, told FOX 13 News he is pleased with some things they have accomplished. There is proof that water conservation is working. “Agriculture optimization,” which offers financial support to get Utah’s top water user to switch to new water-saving technologies, has been so successful that the Speaker offered support for ongoing funding. He said it benefitted farmers, ranchers and the food supply as well as the rest of the state.
But he acknowledged they are still rolling out policies to track what happens with saved water.
“I’m in favor of the voluntary stuff,” he said. “Using incentives, such as helping for some of those things, are better off than mandates.”
But the legislature faces pressure from environmental groups who argue the state simply has not done enough to address water problems, particularly the crisis facing the Great Salt Lake. A judge is deciding if a lawsuit over the lake will proceed to trial or be dismissed.
This article is published through the Great Salt Lake Collaborative, a solutions journalism initiative that partners news, education and media organizations to help inform people about the plight of the Great Salt Lake—and what can be done to make a difference before it is too late. Read all of our stories at greatsaltlakenews.org.
SALT LAKE CITY — A California man in Utah, as part of his duties with the National Guard, is accused of trying to solicit sex from a young teenager.
Joshua Ruben Rodriguez, 29, of Fresno, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with attempted rape of a child, a first-degree felony, and enticement of a minor, a second-degree felony.
The investigation began when an agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation posed as a 13-year-old girl on a “popular social media site … in an attempt to locate and apprehend adults attempting to have sexual contact with children,” according to charging documents.
On April 16, Rodriguez sent the agent a message — believing he was talking to a teen girl — that stated, “I’ll be direct with you, I would like to get to know you and (have sex with) your mind into a daze to where you feel like a woman,” according to charging documents.
When the “girl” asked if he had a problem with her age, Rodriguez replied, “I don’t have a problem with your age,” the charges state.
The agent told Rodriguez to meet at an apartment complex in Salt Lake County where the girl lived, claiming her mother would be gone. When Rodriguez arrived, he was taken into custody, the charges state.
“(Rodriguez) does not have ties to Utah. He is a resident of Fresno, California. (He) was in town as part of his military service with the California National Guard,” prosecutors stated in charging documents while requesting he be held without bail pending trial.
ST. GEORGE, Utah (KUTV) — One person was hospitalized at the St. George Regional Hospital after a car rolled and caught fire just south of the Utah-Arizona border.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department in Arizona said its crews responded to the crash near the Black Rock Road exit – roughly two miles south of the state border – on Sunday night.
Upon arrival, crews put out the car fire and found the driver had left the scene. A single occupant, who was able to get out of the car on their own, was transported to the hospital by a Beaver Dam ambulance.
MORE | Crashes
Their condition has not been publicly released.
Details on what led to the crash and the condition of the driver were not immediately available.
The Beaver Dam and Littlefield Fire Department said law enforcement investigated the scene.
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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Jazz missed out on the NBA Playoffs, but still scored a big win thanks to a coin flip.
In Monday’s tiebreaker coin flip to determine who had the fourth-worst record in the league last season, the Jazz came out winners over the Sacramento Kings, who had the same 22-60 record.
Had the Jazz lost the coin flip, they would have been fifth in NBA Draft Lottery odds. Only the worst four teams are guaranteed to remain within the top eight of the lottery.
If Utah had fallen to fifth, there would have been the chance they could have dropped out of the top 8 teams in the lottery, and owed the draft pick to Oklahoma City, which was top-8 protected in a previous trade.
The Jazz now have an 11.5 percent chance to win the first overall pick in the NBA Draft Lottery, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 10.
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