Utah
NPS mourns loss of ranger who died on-duty after falling at Bryce Canyon in Utah
A 78-year-old ranger at the Bryce Canyon National Park died due to injuries he sustained after he tripped and fell while on-duty.
Tom Lorig was working with park visitors, directing them to a shuttle bus, at Bryce Canyon’s annual Astronomy Festival around 11:30 p.m. Friday when he fell and struck his head on a large rock, the National Park Service said in a news release.
A visitor found Lorig unresponsive and immediately alerted a law enforcement ranger. Park rangers, medically trained bystanders, and local EMS personnel provided Lorig with initial lifesaving care but were unable to revive him, NPS said.
Deceased worked was a volunteer park ranger
Lorig, who served as registered nurse in Seattle for 40 years, worked with the NPS as a permanent, seasonal, and volunteer park ranger.
He began his work with the National Park Service at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in June of 1968 and served at 14 national park sites including Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, El Malpais, Florissant Fossil Beds, Glen Canyon, Klondike Gold Rush, Mount Rainier, New River Gorge, Olympic, Saguaro, Yosemite, Zion, and Dinosaur National Monument, “of which he was especially fond,” NPS said.
“Tom Lorig served Bryce Canyon, the National Park Service, and the public as an interpretive park ranger, forging connections between the world and these special places that he loved,” said Park Superintendent Jim Ireland, said in a statement.
“As our community processes and grieves this terrible loss, we extend our deepest condolences to all of Ranger Lorig’s family and friends.”
Ireland also thanked NPS officials, emergency services staff and local bystanders who helped in administering first-aid to the ranger.
Bryce Canyon National Park is located in southern Utah, within a couple hours drive of both Zion National Park and Capitol Reef National Park and about four hours from Salt Lake City.
Bryce Canyon is the smallest and highest of Utah’s “Mighty 5” national parks at 56 square miles and an average elevation of 8,000 feet (some areas top 9,000 feet above sea level).
Contributing: Eve Chen, USA TODAY
Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X @saman_shafiq7.
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.
The Utah Jazz are rolling into a big offseason before they into what’s projected to be a wildly different-looking 2026-27 campaign from what they had just seen this past 22-win season.
But before that season is able to get underway, the Jazz have some priorities to address in the offseason––both in terms of constructing their roster and retaining a few key pieces from last year’s group into next year.
That makes their salary cap situation and everything around it important to be aware of in the next few months. So with that in mind, we’ve put together an offseason cap tracker for a glimpse of what the Jazz are dealing with in terms of cap space, contracts, and any of their own free agents hitting the open market.
Let’s break it down:
Maximum Possible Cap Space: $24.7M
The Jazz are currently projected at just under $25 million in cap headed into the summer. That’s without any additional moves made to the roster from how they’re entering the offseason, and without factoring in any free agents’ pending cap holds.
That number is bound to get smaller once the Jazz hash out their contract situation for Walker Kessler, but it could also see an uptick if Utah were to shed salary with some of their non-guaranteed deals, or any other player they wanted to pivot from.
As of now, it allows the Jazz to make a couple of moves around the edges in free agency, but the main focus will lean on signing Kessler to a long-term deal.
Contracts
A glimpse of the Jazz’s contract values for the 2026-27 season, and when they’re slated to hit free agency from their current deals:
– Jaren Jackson Jr.: $49.0M, ’29 PO
– Lauri Markkanen: $46.1M, ’29 UFA
– Ace Bailey: $9.5M, ’29 RFA
– Keyonte George: $6.5M, ’27 RFA
– John Konchar: $6.1M, ’27 UFA
– Cody Williams: $6.0M, ’28 RFA
– Brice Sensabaugh, $4.8M, ’27 RFA
– Svi Mykhailiuk: $3.8M*, ’28 UFA
– Kyle Filipowski: $3.0M, ’28 RFA
– Isaiah Collier: $2.7M, ’28 RFA
– Hayden Gray: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Bez Mbeng: $2.1M*, ’27 RFA
– Blake Hinson (two-way), ’27 RFA
Total: $142.1M
*- non-guaranteed
The biggest chunk of the Jazz’s salary leans on their top two veterans, Markkanen and Jackson Jr., each making a combined $95 million next season alone.
However, the rest of the roster isn’t taking up much money. No one else will be making more than $10 million, and their payroll is a little less than $150 million in total.
Another noteworthy fact: the Jazz’s key roster pieces outside of George and Sensabaugh are all under contract through the next two seasons.
Both of the aforementioned names are also bound to see extension discussions take place this summer, which might lock in their future for even longer.
Free Agents
A look at who from this season’s roster is set to hit the free agent market in July:
– Kevin Love (UFA)
– Jusuf Nurkic (UFA)
– Walker Kessler (RFA)
– Oscar Tshiebwe (two-way)
– Elijah Harkless (two-way)
The biggest name of note is, of course, the Jazz’s restricted free agent big man, Walker Kessler, who Utah is bound to hand a big payday, but it remains to be seen how much that contract––or offer sheet from another team––will be.
Jusuf Nurkic and Kevin Love have also expressed their desire to return to the roster as they hit free agency. Re-signing both likely wouldn’t cost much for the Jazz financially, but instead relies on a question of whether the roster space is readily available to keep both.
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