Utah

Salvadorans in Utah casting ballots in Central American nation’s presidential election

Published

3 months ago

February 3, 2024

Press Room

Salvadorans in Utah casting ballots in Central American nation’s presidential election

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KEARNS — Sofia Zelaya, now living in Utah, is thousands of miles away from her native El Salvador.

That doesn’t mean she’s left the tiny Central American country behind.

With presidential elections in El Salvador set for Sunday, she and many other Salvadorans and Salvadoran-Americans in Utah are paying close attention to what’s happening in the country and aim to have a say in the process. The government has created new openings for voting by expatriates, with Salt Lake City to host one of many remote polling sites around the United States and beyond on Sunday to accommodate the global Salvadoran diaspora.

“We still have loved ones at home. We want our loved ones to live in a peaceful environment,” said Zelaya, a naturalized U.S. citizen and dual national who was offering voting information to Salvadorans at a table set up inside the Kearns Library in Kearns. Some 13,000 to 20,000 Salvadorans and Salvadoran-Americans live in Utah, according to varied estimates, and the money they and others around the world send back to relatives is a pillar of the Salvadoran economy.

Indeed, becoming a U.S. citizen, Zelaya went on, “doesn’t mean we don’t have cultural and family ties to where we came from.” The pride is still there and she and many more Salvadorans in Utah have already voted online — which started for eligible expatriates on Jan. 6 — or will do so in person on Sunday at the Salt Lake polling site, 850 E. South Temple, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Gladis Rodriguez and Sofia Zelaya talk while at the Kearns Library waiting to assist anyone who might need help understanding the voting process for elections in El Salvador, on Friday. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

Fernando Pérez, consul general of the Salvadoran Consulate in Salt Lake City, called the expatriate community “a fundamental part of our nation,” noting the money those living and working abroad send to family members in El Salvador. According to the Salvadoran newspaper El Mundo, expatriate Salvadorans sent $8.2 billion to El Salvador in 2023 — more money than generated by exports — benefitting 25% of households in the country.

The laws allowing expatriates to vote “aim to make sure that the voices of our compatriots are heard, that their opinions are taken into account and that their rights are respected in the electoral process,” Pérez said in a message to KSL.com.

Laura Morales, originally from El Salvador but now living in Kaysville, already cast her ballot online, a new option this election cycle open to Salvadorans who have registered their foreign addresses with Salvadoran election authorities. Now she’s keeping tabs on what’s happening in El Salvador in the lead up to next Sunday.

“It’s my first time voting in 24 years, and for my kids it’s the first time in their lives,” except for balloting in U.S. elections, she said. “It’s been a month of civic joy.”

The Salvadoran elections come at a critical time, observers and others say. Incumbent President Nayib Bukele, elected to his first term in 2019 and widely expected to win his second term handily, has spearheaded a massive crackdown on the gangs that once dominated life in the country. He warns the country could slide backward if he’s not reelected, according to Reuters. But he’s not without critics, who charge his administration with employing repressive tactics and blast changes to election laws enabling his reelection bid.

Among the other hopefuls are Manuel Flores, a leftist former mayor and Salvadoran Legislative Assembly deputy, and Joel Sanchez, a conservative aspirant, according to CNN en Español.

Whatever the case, Zelaya and Morales are enthusiastic Bukele supporters, both crediting the leader with turning the country’s fortunes around. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, the country was wracked by civil war, violence that pushed many out of the country. Mara Salvatrucha and other gangs dominated the urban landscape after that, also pushing many from the nation.

“Mara Salvatrucha — that’s all we were known for, crime and nothing more,” said Zelaya, who fled El Salvador in 1981 during the nation’s civil conflict and now lives in Herriman. She was operating the information desk at the Kearns Library Friday with Gladis Rodríguez, another Salvadoran now living in Utah, as part of their volunteer efforts with Comunidad Salvadoreña de Utah, a cultural group.

Street crime, kidnappings and gang violence pushed Morales and her family from the country to the United States in 2000. “The last 20 years has been difficult for our country,” she said.

Changes implemented by Bukele, though, have inspired a renewed sense of pride in El Salvador, prompting much of the excitement among expatriates in Utah like Morales in the presidential contest. What’s more, Bukele has pointedly reached out to Salvadorans living abroad, opening more consulates, including the Salt Lake consulate, and streamlining the voting process for expatriates, she said.

“It’s a peaceful environment,” she said, describing the changed atmosphere in El Salvador thanks to the crackdown on gangs and street crime. “All the Salvadorans living abroad support the president so we can keep cleaning up the country.”

Francisco Raymundo, a Salvadoran expatriate now living in Taylorsville, is an unabashed supporter of Bukele and his New Ideas political party, promoting the incumbent’s candidacy among Salvadorans here in Utah. He left El Salvador with his wife and four kids in 2002, worried about crime and violence and fearful of getting caught up in it.

Gladis Rodriguez and Sofia Zelaya answer questions while at the Kearns Library waiting to assist anyone who might need help understanding the voting process for elections in El Salvador, on Friday. El Salvador expatriates have started presidential online balloting ahead of Election Day in the country, Feb. 4. Among the voters are many in Utah excited over the prospect of being able to have a say in the country's future. — Gladis Rodriguez and Sofia Zelaya answer questions while at the Kearns Library waiting to assist anyone who might need help understanding the voting process for elections in El Salvador, on Friday. El Salvador expatriates have started presidential online balloting ahead of Election Day in the country, Feb. 4. Among the voters are many in Utah excited over the prospect of being able to have a say in the country’s future. (Photo: Scott G Winterton, Deseret News)

“We really didn’t want to go but we left to keep my family safe,” he said. “It was personally painful to see people dying every day, people being extorted.”

Accordingly, seeing the change in the country and being able to vote and have a say in the nation’s future is exciting for him. “We are excited and engaged,” he said.

Salvadorans in Utah who wanted to vote in the 2019 elections had to travel to the Salvadoran consulate in Las Vegas, the closest one before the Salt Lake office opened, or cast a ballot by mail. Raymundo had hoped to vote by mail, but his ballot arrived from El Salvador after voting ended.

Morales, too, is charged by the new atmosphere in El Salvador. She already cast her ballot online and recalled the strong emotion as she clicked the screen prompt on her computer so her vote could be tallied.

“You cry. When you click and it says, ‘You voted,’ you cry,” she said.

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Tim Vandenack covers immigration, multicultural issues and Northern Utah for KSL.com. He worked several years for the Standard-Examiner in Ogden and has lived and reported in Mexico, Chile and along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Lost Utah cat found in Amazon box in Riverside area

Published

2 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Lost Utah cat found in Amazon box in Riverside area

Galena, a 6-year-old house cat from Utah, likes hiding and playing with cardboard.

Last month, the combination of the two made for a stressful trip in an Amazon package, a feverish search, a rescue near Riverside and a tearful reunion.

Her family is still waiting to “reintroduce cardboard to her again,” owner Carrie Clark said Tuesday, April 30, because they don’t want to stress her out.

Clark got Galena as a kitten after her aunt rescued a pregnant feral cat. The American short hair with calico and Siamese coloring has been a constant companion and source of emotional support.

“I’ve been through a bunch of health things and she and I have gone through all of that together,” Clark said. “And she’s she just has this extra great part about her personality that’s very loving.”

So when Galena disappeared Wednesday, April 10, Clark was beside herself.

They searched the neighborhood, put up flyers and posted notices on Facebook lost pet pages in Lehi, Utah.

“I cried my eyes out for seven days trying to figure out what had happened,” Clark said.

She also ran through all the worst-case scenarios, wondering if the cat could have gotten out of the house and been nabbed by a predator or run over by a vehicle.

Clark said she received a “text that changed my life” on April 17, saying that Galena’s microchip had been scanned, so Clark knew she had been found somewhere. Soon after, she got a call saying her cat was near Riverside, after being found in a box along with steel-toed boots that had been returned to an Amazon warehouse.

Clark’s husband had ordered several pairs of boots, kept one and returned the rest in a large box on April 10.

“We realized that that our sweet kitty must have jumped into that box without us knowing,” she said.

Amazon employees knew who to call when they found the feline — co-worker Brandy Hunter, who rescues cats, Clark said.

Hunter took the cat home and to the vet the next day, where the microchip was scanned.

Clark spoke with Hunter who “calmed me down and told me that my kitty was OK,” despite having spent six days in a cardboard box without food or water.

“I wanted desperately to be with her,” Clark said. She and her husband flew to California the next day, reunited with Galena at the veterinarian’s office and rented a car to drive home.

It was an emotional week.

“I went from hysterically laughing that she was stuck like that — we mailed our cat — you know … just the humor part of that, to hysterically crying all within like five seconds,” Clark said.

The family was lucky to get Galena back, Clark said, in part because the weather was not harsh during the time the cat was missing, the box was torn at a seam, allowing her to get more air, and because Hunter took her to a vet and had her scanned for a microchip.

Since word got out, Clark has been sharing her cat’s story — along with advice to microchip your pets and to double-check your Amazon boxes before returning them.

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Utah

Utah tops Western states in Chief Executive Magazine's 2024 survey of Best & Worst States for Business – Utah Business

Published

9 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Utah tops Western states in Chief Executive Magazine's 2024 survey of Best & Worst States for Business – Utah Business

Nashville, TN — CEOs surveyed for Chief Executive magazine’s annual list of the Best and Worst States for Business ranked Utah as the top Western state and the ninth-best state for business overall, moving up from last year’s tenth spot. The rankings, released in the Spring issue of Chief Executive, reflect Utah’s ongoing efforts to create a welcoming environment for businesses of all sizes and industries.

The ranking is based on a survey of more than 500 CEOs across the country who were asked to rate states based on their opinion of how easy it was to do business in that state versus others. Utah’s high ranking is due in part to strategic policies and smart fiscal decisions.

“Utah’s stellar performance as a top state for business underscores its exceptional qualities,” said Chris Chalk, Publisher, Chief Executive magazine. “Its dedication to economic growth and prosperity sets a strong example, making Utah a standout destination for businesses of all sizes and industries.”

Large tech and manufacturing deals demonstrate the growth in the Beehive State and underscores its favorable ranking. Texas Instruments announced in February 2023 it will invest $11 billion and create up to 800 jobs at a semi-conductor wafer fabrication plant in Lehi, while Proctor & Gamble Paper Products Company announced in February 2023 a $400 million capital investment.

“Professional, scientific and technical services remain one of the fastest growing sectors in the state, said Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. “The growth in Utah is the result of top-notch higher education institutions and a thriving innovation economy that has been expanding over the past decade.”

Here’s what some of the CEOs we surveyed had to say about why they ranked Utah so highly:

“Large workforce, low taxes and restrictions, quality of life”

“Utah’s workforce is exceptional.”

“Friendly, welcoming business growth environment in these states. Utah has created an environment for active collaboration between industry and end-users. The Utah Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Initiative or UAMMI, is a collective group of industry representative, private industry, Govt organizations and higher education, which provides integration assistance between interested parties. UAMMI has been an overwhelming success in the State of Utah.”

The Top 5 States for 2024:

1. Texas

2. Florida

3. Tennessee

4. Arizona

5. North Carolina

The Bottom 5 States for 2024:

46. Washington

47. New Jersey

48. Illinois

49. New York

50. California

Biggest Gain, 2023-24:

North Dakota, + 13 to 16th place

Biggest Loss, 2023-24:

Colorado, – 16 to 29th place

Enhanced Coverage online: https://chiefexecutive.net/best-worst-states-business/

About Chief Executive/Chief Executive Group

Chief Executive Group, a leading community for business leaders worldwide, exists to improve the performance of U.S. CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CHROs and corporate directors. We publish Chief Executive magazine, ChiefExecutive.net, Corporate Board Member magazine, BoardMember.com, StrategicCFO360.com, StrategicCIO360.com and StrategicCHRO360.com, and run some of the nation’s most essential peer-networking communities, including The CFO Leadership Council, Chief and Senior Executive Networks, Corporate Board Member Network and The American College of Corporate Directors. Learn more at ChiefExecutiveGroup.com.

For media inquiries, please contact:Dan Bigman, Editor, Chief Executive, [email protected], 203-889-4980

SOURCE Chief Executive Group

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Utah

Utah Pride Center cuts spending for festival, with 'leaner model'

Published

16 hours ago

May 2, 2024

Press Room

Utah Pride Center cuts spending for festival, with 'leaner model'

SALT LAKE CITY — As the 2024 installment of the Utah Pride Festival and Parade looms, the new leader of the sponsoring entity, the Utah Pride Center, says the organization is moving beyond the tumult that has characterized its operations for the past several months.

“We definitely are stable right now financially,” Chad Call, the new executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group, said Wednesday. “We do have a very stable path forward.”

It’s required a dramatic shifting of gears, though. Call says the organization has sold its former location to offset debt incurred in the 2023 festival, dramatically reduced planned spending for the 2024 installment of the event and slashed full-time staffing from around 23 to four, which includes a contractor.

“I don’t see us returning back to a 20-person staff anytime soon. I think that we are working off the leaner model now and more sustainable model,” he said at a press conference at the center’s new headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City. Financial stability and sustainability are key goals.

Likewise, planned spending for the Utah Pride Festival and Parade, scheduled for June 1 and 2, has been cut considerably from 2023. The Utah Pride Center, he said, stemmed from an apparent “gross overspend,” though a report into the matter isn’t yet complete. This year, spending on staging and production will be cut considerably, with a reliance on Utah talent to mitigate performance fees. Smaller stages will be used, and nighttime hours will be limited to reduce spending on lighting.

More specifically, the total production budget, just one element of the overall spending plan, reflects an 80% reduction from 2023, he said, back to a level more on par with 2022 spending.

Overspending on the 2023 festival led to upheaval in the organization as Pride Center officials wrestled with financial uncertainty in the aftermath of the event. The organization temporarily closed its doors to the public last September and the new executive director brought on about that time, Ryan Newcomb, stepped down in late March due to health reasons after about six months on the job. What some viewed as high booth prices, meantime, prompted grumbling among some in the lead-up to last year’s festival.

Call, who took over from Newcomb as interim executive director before formally taking on full-time leadership duties, acknowledged the frustration the tumult may have generated among some. At the same time, he defended the organization — which operates support groups for the LGBTQ community and, significantly, manages the pride parade and festival each year — as needed.

“There’s purpose in this organization. It’s clear to me that, despite all of the turmoil and change, that this organization is still wanted, and it’s still needed by the community,” he said.

The annual festival and parade probably impacts more people in the LGBTQ community than any other single event in Utah, he said. Moreover, he emphasized increased efforts to reach out to other LGBTQ organizations around Utah, which will be able to set up booths for free for the first time at this year’s festival.

“We want to support those organizations. We want to partner with them. We don’t want to compete with them,” he said. The parade will include more than 16,000 participants while 100,000 more are expected to watch.

Call had served as a volunteer for the Utah Pride Center before taking on executive director leadership duties. “This organization has been something that has meant a lot to me over the years, and it’s something that I have seen a lot of growth in and a lot of potential in,” he said.

He previously worked as a producer for WEBB Production, a corporate production company.

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